Four foreign tourists caught up in Chiang Mai karaoke bar ‘scam’


image source: Dailynews.co.th

CHIANG MAI:-- A Chinese tourist and three of his friends have complained to Chiang Mai police about the operators of a local karaoke bar who allegedly overcharged them by several thousand baht.

The incident, which happened on Monday night, resulted in the men requiring police assistance after being handed a bill for 14,000 THB.

The men, who had arrived at the town centre bar at around 8pm, drank a total of 27 bottles of beer and ordered a small selection of food.

Daily News reports the men had also requested to enter the ‘VIP’ area of the bar and asked for four of the female bar staff to service them with drinks and food throughout the night.

When presented with the 14,000 THB bar bill, the men were shocked and refused to pay, which resulted in a minor altercation between the men and bar staff.

Local police were called and took all those involved to Chiang Mai police station, where the incident was finally resolved as the Chinese men reluctantly agreed to hand over 7,000 THB in payment.

This is latest episode is just one of similar such incidents involving foreigners allegedly being overcharged by the operators of Chiang Mai karaoke bars.

In December 2013, a Swedish man claimed one such bar overcharged him by more than 50,000 THB and earlier this year, a group of Malaysian tourists said they were charged a whopping 114,080 THB by the owner of the now closed Pink Lady bar.


-- 2015-10-02

The downside of having no jet-ski's in Chiang Mai

27 bottles of beer, food, VIP section with 4 'ladies' all night.

14000, doesn't sound like a scam to me.

Cheap Charlie Communist Chinese.... sort of has a ring to it.

And anther story makes it onto the world wide web. With emphasis on world wide.destroying millions of baht in tourism income. Thais really are their own worst enemy....?

Who is the farang in the photo?

When will they ever learn ????

Who is the farang in the photo?

I guess he is one of the tourist police volunteers in Chiang Mai but could be wrong?

I have read recently that there are British police on secondment at the Thai police in popular tourist areas- no idea if that is true mind.

Seems like a good idea with trust in Thai police being so low.

And anther story makes it onto the world wide web. With emphasis on world wide.destroying millions of baht in tourism income. Thais really are their own worst enemy....?

Exactly right. More negative headlines and then they wonder why tourism is down.

Som nam na I say!

27 bottles of beer, food, VIP section with 4 'ladies' all night.

14000, doesn't sound like a scam to me.

Cheap Charlie Communist Chinese.... sort of has a ring to it.

Exactly.. Sure its high, but you know its gonna be.. They are clip joints <deleted>..

Spent more than that in a few of towns non clip joint establishments..

Do tourists miss singing that much?

To fly half a day to a new land for singing there?

Do tourists miss singing that much?

To fly half a day to a new land for singing there?

Its called having fun.

Plenty of bars in my home country, does that mean I should not want to go to bars when in Thailand?

Ok, let's see. 27 bottles of beer, plus food, plus VIP area, plus girls to keep them company. And they're bitching about 14,000 baht? Sounds like Cheap Charley Chinese to me.

Ridiculous story. Geez four guys each paying 3,500 B for a night out on the town. Doesn't seem like overcharging to me.

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Who is the farang in the photo?

Thats the 4 girls Sugar Daddy

27 beers x 100 baht = 2,700

4 x bar fines @ 1,000 = 4,000

4 x VIP Room @ 1,000 = 4,000

4 x Short Times @ 1,000 = 4,000

Total = 14,700

Looks like it was 700 for the small amount of food.

Send the buggars back.

They're all noisy ignorant F($&^*$S anyway.

The posters here saying that they where not overcharged, are the ones happy to be ripped of on a daily bases and they think they are smarter and better then the rest of us (Cheap Charlies)

Gosh, misterphil, I didn't know about bar fines and short time charges at karaokes.

Yeah and the 3 cheated their partner out of one beer !

How come the Chinese only got a bill of 14,000 Baht? Precedents suggest a starting bill of 10 times that would be normal which could be halved after a beating and several hours of stressful negotiations at the police station.

Well, mai kao jai. You can take a lady home for the whole night for 3,000 baht so they must have had cash to burn. Still, scrupulous, greedy, and cheating K bar owners and employees should be shut down and put in jail.

14,000 Baht is not really a rip off for their activities if you read between the lines.

Having said that these bars have been operating scams like this for years with protection.

Should be shut down or regulated at least. Won't happen.

Now you know why most (smart) Chinese stick to packaged tours.

To be honest anyone who frequents these K Bars deserve all they get, it's not enough to say they were drunk or unknowing!

If you're that drunk that you "knowingly" go into one of these places for an extra couple of beers and a quick "feel" at a cute waitress then you deserve to be ripped off, did they think it would be the same price as a local bar???

If you're "wordly" enough to travel away from you're homeland in search of beers and entertainment then you must know that (no matter what country in Asia you visit) these places will ALWAYS try to rip you off!!!

14K sounds like a decent night out to me, it'll be a fraction of what their wives will take when they get back home...

27 beers x 100 baht = 2,700

4 x bar fines @ 1,000 = 4,000

4 x VIP Room @ 1,000 = 4,000

4 x Short Times @ 1,000 = 4,000

Total = 14,700

Looks like it was 700 for the small amount of food.

Send the buggars back.

They're all noisy ignorant F($&^*$S anyway.

Where did you read the 4 barfines and 4 shorttimes?

27 beers x 100 baht = 2,700

4 x bar fines @ 1,000 = 4,000

4 x VIP Room @ 1,000 = 4,000

4 x Short Times @ 1,000 = 4,000

Total = 14,700

Looks like it was 700 for the small amount of food.

Send the buggars back.

They're all noisy ignorant F($&^*$S anyway.

Where did you read the 4 barfines and 4 shorttimes?

If you take 4 birds to a VIP room you pump them in it.

times are getting hard boys funds are getting low what can we do next to make money I know dull their senses with a few songs a few drinks then rip them off do it often enough and soon you are of business .

The posters here saying that they where not overcharged, are the ones happy to be ripped of on a daily bases and they think they are smarter and better then the rest of us (Cheap Charlies)

You're awful quick to paint everyone with the same brush. I don't get "ripped off on a daily basis" at all. I also don't drink, so have no need or use for a bar of any kind. When I go out to dinner it is always with my wife, and over half the time it is also with my 32 year old Thai son as well. I called them Cheap Charlies for the simple reason, they were not charged an outrageous price when you look at everything they had and did. It could have easily been double or even triple that on the bill. Then they would have had a reason to bitch. But 14k for the 4 of them, with all they had? Oh, please.

These lustful old men again

they call me "hansum man" all night and then give me bill!!!! i thought we love each other...

why i pay 14000 baht for love!!!

400 USD for 4 people. for Thailand up north.....yea, it's, to me, a little expensive.

300 would have been fine. maybe with tips now we are at 350.....

definitely not expensive enough to call police.

i've had some bad meals in USA and forked over $50. next time i call police!!!!

27 bottles of beer, food, VIP section with 4 'ladies' all night.

14000, doesn't sound like a scam to me.

Cheap Charlie Communist Chinese.... sort of has a ring to it.

Exactly.. Sure its high, but you know its gonna be.. They are clip joints <deleted>..

Spent more than that in a few of towns non clip joint establishments..

...gosh! you must be rich!!!