Chiang Mai railway station songthaew scam

[puukao]

This reminds me of the Gulf of Tonkin incident.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

People who have been to CM rarely find a songthaew driver and his vehicle so fascinating that they take numerous and detailed photos.

Well yes, but it's not that bad of an idea to take a picture of a taxi/tuktuk/songthaew including license plate and make sure the driver sees you taking it. I see people doing that in Bangkok, especially women alone, take a picture and share it on LINE or Facebook just in case.

This reminds me of the Gulf of Tonkin incident.

Yes.. it is a little puzzling.

When it comes to Songthaews I don't mind the age of the vehicle; if anything the older ones tend to be driven buy older guys who are more likely to go for a reasonable fee, as their vehicle was paid off 20 years ago. The new ones still need to make payments..

And aside from that, yes, walking to the main road is always better, unless you want to go somewhere direct and rent out the entire vehicle. Picture looks like it was nighttime; if late at night then the stream of passing Songthaews tends to dry up.

And then finally when going to a hotel that you don't know the exact location of, and it's not something super well known, then contact the hotel for a printable card with the name, address and basic map in Thai. They all have one.

Anyway, the OP has not been back. So screw this. Another really weird thing: The Songthaew picture is at night, but the picture of the guy is during the daytime. Noting that taxi drivers aren't allowed to wait inside, and looking that he has some kind of tourist guide tag around his neck, I doubt this dude is even the driver.

It's all bullcrap how this is presented, plus it is defamation of the dude in the picture who may not even be the driver.

If it was white person this topic would have been. ">>CLOSED<<" in taunting capitals long ago.

And without the OP coming to clarify... What are we actually doing here?

Edited January 12, 2016 by WinnieTheKhwai

[luke000]

300 Baht from the station to Niman? You cannot be serious. I would have expected to get the songthaew as a free gift for that

Although that was the agreed price

[luke000]

smtsetup : No "scam: has occurred here .

He took you to where you wanted to go and you paid less than the agreed price .

Its quite possible that he got mixed up with the destination.

Ive been taken to the Orchid hotel, instead of Arcade bus station, by mistake .

Ban Tai resort, instead of the Ban mai resort

Mix ups happen.

You felt the need to go back, take his photo, register with TV and make a thread about him .

You are trying to destroy his life , by restricting his income.....because he shouted something to you, after you refused to pay the agreed price

That is nasty and vindictive and defamation is also illegal in Thailand .

He can also not reply to the allegations on here .

You need to stop being so precious

[Thakkar]

A slightly longer than necessary ride for 50 baht less than the agreed price plus a little verbal abuse thrown in for free.

Oh, the horror!

They just don't makes scams he way they used to in the old days.

T

[Rob13]

OP-one post and out- guess his crusade ran out of gas.

[smtsetup]

Me: "Can you take us to hotel <word1> <word2>, very close to Maya?"

Driver: "Hotel <word1> <word2> <word3>? Yes I can."

It is a well-established, three star hotel.

The route I expected him to drive is marked with green arrows on the attached image. There are several other acceptable routes from Chiang Mai railway station to Maya. The one he used after Tha Pae gate is marked with red arrows. Backing into dark bushes and stopping the vehicle there and stopping again after 200 meters at a hotel that was not ours and that is 1.5 kilometers from Maya - read: far from "very close" - makes that route and his behaviour unacceptable.

In that moment I felt very worried about my girlfriend's safety. It was her first trip to Chiang Mai.

The driver's MO is wrong here. And it is against my falang rules to be taken to a long detour just because I am falang and the driver thinks this is an opportunity to make more money or whatever his intentions were. In my falang country this kind of behaviour is called racism. I will not accept that in Thailand either.

I used the motorbike we rented to drive to the railway station the next evening. I used the zoom in my camera to take the photos of the driver the morning we were leaving and had my head covered with the hood of my jacket while doing that. I will not mention the exact name of the hotel.

I made this account for the sole purpose of warning other people of this songthaew driver. There are no excuses for his actions. If he does not know a well-established hotel in central Chiang Mai, he should quit his job. He lost his face in the very moment he backed into the bushes and stopped the car there. This is 21st century and if you screw up, you will end up in social media. Thailand and this man are no exceptions of this fact of life. It was his choice to lose his face, not mine.

[Rob13]

he backed into the bushes and stopped the car there.

This is the problem. You were probably right to feel uneasy about it, seeing how it ended I'd say you handled it OK.I wouldn;t expect a songtaew driver to be too internet savvy though.

Edited January 12, 2016 by Rob13

[luke000]

He could not have turned right at Tapae gate, its a one way system .

He would have to had gone left, all the way to Loi Kroh, then turned back to where he had just came from.

Its quicker to follow the one way system , which he did

[luke000]

Also, you arrived on Christmas eve .

The route that you suggested would have been chock-a-block with traffic

All the people crossing at the traffic lights outside Burger king in Tapae gate to go to the Christmas festivities causes huge traffic tail backs.

It would have been much quicker to take the route that he did .

Straight down and around the one way system , rather than doubleing back through Tapae gate .

Back seat drivers, eh , .always think that they know best

[bangmai]

The train travelers seem to be a special type of Euro-trash. Traffic was/is horrible around there, and you could easily spend 30 minutes going from
KSK to Maya, when you could walk it in less than 15. Sounds like the driver turned into that bar area off of Canal, to make a short cut, anyhow, they had more trouble with Red in their first hour, than I've had in 12 years. As stated, major landmarks are the way to go. I can get from CMU to Tha Phae Gate for 20 thb every time....If I am going within a Km of there, that is all I say. If I say LK, it's 100, if I say Chiang Moi, it's 60 thb....many seem to live by doing things the hard way.