No short answer for an easy question in Thai?

[Guitar God]

I've lived in many countries, when I go to a store and ask if they sell hammers with a fiberglass handle, D cell batteries, can rotate my tires or even a "complicated" question like I asked today "which water heater has the highest flow rate / can output the most liters of water per minute"? I'm used to getting an answer in a few seconds, or maybe a minute if they have to check. Here, I ask a simple question which I assume they know the answer to and it takes 10-15 minutes. Even if my wife speaks to them in Thai it's a long drawn out conversation that often produces no answer to my question. Am I the only lucky one or have others had similar experiences?

[longstebe]

You'll find this has been covered numerous times.

The customer service in Thailand is almost non existent.

The best way to deal with it is do your homework first either online or ask a friend then go and by the bloody thing.

[CharlieH]

Yes there is, just ask any Thai if they want money, you'll get a quick "yes"! ask them if you can buy them something, even if they they dont need or want it and "yes" will be the shortest fastest answer you have ever heard.

[Langsuan Man]

I have had the same experience. I ask the wife to translate a fairly simple question and it takes her and the questioned 5 minutes of back and forth conversation for me to get back the NO !

Seriously, do you have this in stock requires a treatise

[NancyL]

Well, it would help to learn the language, at least to the point where you can understand much of what is being said. And to be able to ask EXACTLY the right question.

The Thai language doesn't handle verb tenses in the same way as English, so a question like "Do you have D-cell batteries" could be answered with a short "mai mee" but if your wife is asking, they may go into a longer explanation of how they had them last week and expect to get them back in stock next week, but don't currently have them in stock right now. All that takes a lot of words to explain in Thai.

[Crazy chef 1]

i have a complete different experience-whenever i go to a shop and want something special i get a short and straight answer: Mai mee (even if they have it)...

[Jip99]

I am still trying to train the missus not to respond with a question to my questions.

I can't believe it is taught in school so it must be cultural.

I think "mai mee" must be taught in schools as the required initial response to any question.

One brief example; I saw a very decent offer on a hotel website. I emailed them to say could I book a room for one month. The response came back "Mai mee" - nothing else. I didn't actually believe they had no rooms available so I asked the missus to call. Sure enough, there were plenty of rooms available - but not at the discount price advertised on their website.

Were they wrong? Technically no, but they would have lost a sale if we had not followed up the enquiry. Was it really too difficult to say "Sorry, we have no rooms available at the discount price but a room for the period requested is available at xxx Baht"

[Rooo]

Moved to Expat Life.

[arthurwait]

It's hard to get your hands on some D's in this country.

[Briggsy]

2 major hurdles here.

1. Wife's translating skills, particularly with respect to specific vocabulary related to hardware. Does she even comprehend the 2 - word phrase "flow rate"?

2. Larger chain stores tend to have untrained sales staff. They could be selling pies or taps or cars or plastic washers. They just take the money and stack shelves and that is about it.

Solution

1. Find info on internet first and if possible know precisely what you want.

2. Write it down. Print out pictures if you think this will help.

3. Go to a smaller Chinese owned family business and deal directly with the Chinese. They specialise in hardware stores, are more likely to understand English, particularly if written, and are way more likely to know about their products.
4. Don't take the wife. Very important.