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Chinese tourist charged Bt90,000 over damaged jet skis in Phuket


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Chinese tourist charged Bt90,000 over damaged jet skis in Phuket

Phuket: - A Chinese tourist was charged Bt90,000 for two damaged jet skis he and his friends rented in Phuket on Saturday.

But after the case of Zhang Cheng, 27, was raised to the complaint receiving center at the Phuket Provincial Hall Monday morning, the owner of the damaged jet skis agreed to return Bt40,000 to him.

Zhang was led by Anusorn Saleh, former chairman of the Bang Thao Beach Jet Ski Operators Club, to file the complaint.

Zhang and friends rented four jet skis from Yotharak Co in front of Dusit Thani Laguna in Tambon Choeng Thalay of Thalang district. But five minutes later, two jet skis crashed against each other. The owner of the company initially demanded Zhang to pay him Bt200,000 for the damage but he negotiated for the reduction to Bt90,000.

After he paid the damage, Zhang filed a complaint with the Choeng Thalay police station, saying he was taken advantage of.

Anusorn told the complaint receiving center that all jet skis should have been insured for accidents so tourists should not have been charged for the damage caused by any accident. Anusorn said members of the club had agreed to charge patrons for no more than Bt15,000 for each damage jet ski for the loss of income.

After filing the complaint, Zhang left the kingdom.

The owner of the jet skis reported to the complaint center in the afternoon and agreed to return Bt40,000 to Zhang via a representative. He claimed he had to collect the damage fee because his insurance policy for the jet skis had expired.

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If the skis were insured, I can understand the Thai man wanting some immediate payment because there are costs associated with filing insurance claims. However the guy says he didn't have insurance so my sympathy drops a bit. As for the Chinese renter, well the story seems to admit they did hit the two jet skis together so there was some damage maybe evident or latent. So the Chinese guy should have to pay something. Messy all around. 15,000 Baht is about $500 USD. I don't know what jet skis cost or what the damage is, but I doubt they did more then dent the outer "hull" and scratch the paint. I didn't read anything about the engine or throttle controls or any mechanical damage. Now a shiny well painted and presented jet ski can probably bring in more renters than a dented banged up jetski so I would be sympathetic to a repair bill being needed

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They should not be allowed to operate without comprehensive insurance. These greedy morons will eventually get the message when the tourists stop coming.

I doubt tourists will ever stop coming. IMO, Thais rely on the sheer mass of stupid/ignorant tourists that travel. If tourists really would stop coming, Koh Tao would be empty.

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Look at it from the insurers' perspective. Rule of thumb: each jet ski operator has several claims/week. Each claim is tens of thousands of baht. Unless each insurance premium is at least a hundred thousand baht/month, the insurance company will soon be in deep doo doo.

The insurance company would have a competent damage assessor who unlike tourists do know the cost of repairing jetskis and would not pay multiple times over the cost. But what you say is correct, the cost of insurance premiums would be passed on to the customer. I don't think it would be prohibitive. How does the rest of the world manage with insurance? Only the Thais think it is not necessary.

Or perhaps, it is far, far more profitable to demand money with menaces from tourists who are in a foreign land without assistance from authorities. Indeed the authorities, the police, are co-conspirators in this extortion.

The latter reason, rather than the cost, is more likely to be the true reason.

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Look at it from the insurers' perspective. Rule of thumb: each jet ski operator has several claims/week. Each claim is tens of thousands of baht. Unless each insurance premium is at least a hundred thousand baht/month, the insurance company will soon be in deep doo doo.

Who cares about the insurers?

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And what happens if the uninsured jetski drives into a swimming Quality tourist from Japan or Sweden?

I have seen drunk tourists driving those noisy things very close to swimmers but of course in Thailand those accidents will never happen.

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Phuket: - A Chinese tourist was charged Bt90,000 for two damaged jet skis he and his friends rented in Phuket on Saturday.

But after the case of Zhang Cheng, 27, was raised to the complaint receiving center at the Phuket Provincial Hall Monday morning, the owner of the damaged jet skis agreed to return Bt40,000 to him.

Zhang was led by Anusorn Saleh, former chairman of the Bang Thao Beach Jet Ski Operators Club, to file the complaint.

Zhang and friends rented four jet skis from Yotharak Co in front of Dusit Thani Laguna in Tambon Choeng Thalay of Thalang district. But five minutes later, two jet skis crashed against each other. The owner of the company initially demanded Zhang to pay him Bt200,000 for the damage but he negotiated for the reduction to Bt90,000.

After he paid the damage, Zhang filed a complaint with the Choeng Thalay police station, saying he was taken advantage of.

Anusorn told the complaint receiving center that all jet skis should have been insured for accidents so tourists should not have been charged for the damage caused by any accident. Anusorn said members of the club had agreed to charge patrons for no more than Bt15,000 for each damage jet ski for the loss of income.

After filing the complaint, Zhang left the kingdom.

The owner of the jet skis reported to the complaint center in the afternoon and agreed to return Bt40,000 to Zhang via a representative. He claimed he had to collect the damage fee because his insurance policy for the jet skis had expired.


And how much was this criminal fined for letting his mandatory insurance policy expire? Was he arrested? No. Was he fined? No. Why? The RTP Corp. are his partners in crime.

He didn't renew his insurance, a very simple task. Because it had expired he believes someone else should pay.

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