German Fights for Refund After Eating Rotten Lobster at Popular Pattaya Seafood Restaurant

[harrry]

Another wonderful promotion for Thailand and the "Thai Way" ...

Really luudee...I don't know where your from, but can you imagine walking into a police station in New York or London with some fish & chips & expecting them to leap into action because it wasn't up to standard.........Some of you guys really live in fantasy land when you dream of how a farang should be treated........ you should have been around about 150 years ago, along with Somerset Maugham when the sun never set on the Empire---being a white man then you may have got the treatment you feel you deserve now.......

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White man served bad lobster.......150 lashes for the cook

I do not know about England but in Australia a word with the manager that you were reporting the restaurant with details to the local council health department would almost certainly have got a result. They close restaurants there with the details listed on website and posted in a visible place in the restauraunt.

[lormakmak]

As said above in many other countries you have a right to refuse to pay for bad quality food especially if you have just taken a bite out of it which is quite normal when you have a plate of food put in front of you....

Try doing that in Pattaya especially down Walking Street.... you'd get intimidated and once one of them had been brave enough to accoste you the others will follow suit...

So you get bad service in Pattaya down there then vote with your feet.... no point being a hero

[12DrinkMore]

Another wonderful promotion for Thailand and the "Thai Way" ...

Really luudee...I don't know where your from, but can you imagine walking into a police station in New York or London with some fish & chips & expecting them to leap into action because it wasn't up to standard.........Some of you guys really live in fantasy land when you dream of how a farang should be treated........ you should have been around about 150 years ago, along with Somerset Maugham when the sun never set on the Empire---being a white man then you may have got the treatment you feel you deserve now.......

.

White man served bad lobster.......150 lashes for the cook

I don't know about New York, but in UK, if your meal is bad, as long as you explain to the restaurant your problem, by law you can refuse to pay. It is a civil matter.

Try doing that in walking street!

He did the right thing, walked away and dealt with the problem as best he could.

What would have done? PLease do explain and give me a laugh.

In the UK restaurants do not want the hygiene guys to come around. They can shut the place down on the spot.

I have not eaten at a seafood restaurant in the tourist areas for years. They are certainly not going to sling out a 1,000 Baht of lobster because of a slight smell. It will be back out on the ice display tray day after day until sold, along with all the other dead and slowly decaying fish.

[Dancin Dna 11]

Watch out might get done for bringing Thailand into disrepute.

How can he be so Shellfish.

[onemorechang]

Watch out might get done for bringing Thailand into disrepute.

How can he be so Shellfish.

He was just showing the lack of German mussels.

[OMGImInPattaya]

He did the correct thing, taking the evidence to the police.

Had he spoken to the restaurant he would have been given nothing but a load of hassle.

What the police will do (if anything) will be interesting to hear.

Really? Seems to me he should have gone to the city health or restaurant licensing department or the folks who give out those "Clean Food Good Food" restaurant stickers. I don't think his complaint is anything the police can do anything about. As the Dallas police chief has already said, the police can't be called upon to solve all society's ills...I'd add bad restaurant meals to that list.

Edited July 13, 2016 by OMGImInPattaya

[champers]

Mobile Unit For Food Safety is all over the fish market in naklua today.

I've seen that van before. I waved them down for an ice-cream. Now I know why they didn't stop.

[AngelHeather]

Shouldn't have paid, if it's rotten, so they all go to the police station.

[AsiaCheese]

He did the correct thing, taking the evidence to the police.

Had he spoken to the restaurant he would have been given nothing but a load of hassle.

What the police will do (if anything) will be interesting to hear.

Well, the post says that other authorities were alerted - the police won't do much, but if you're a restaurant and the health authorities are being alerted, you're in some <deleted>...! He definitely did the right thing.

[Jingthing]

Shouldn't have paid, if it's rotten, so they all go to the police station.

There is always the risk of violence with such situations in Thailand.

But this was a restaurant which would normally be much lower risk than just not paying a bill in a bar based on a complaint.

I agree I would have fought it harder right there and then AT the restaurant.

I have done such things multiple times on more minor issues at restaurants and won the dispute. Of course you generally can't go back.

[Eli1]

The only reason he probably went to the police it's because Thais don't have anything in place to rectify this kind of problem...

Thais are the most unhygienic people I know.

But they would have the cleanest ass's in the world...fancy saying to a customer just Because he took one bite from the lobster they where not going to exchange it because it was rotten they are on real Thailand at it's best once again you shine Thailand

[gyrosman]

What do you expect for decades of street/restaurants dump their waste in the street drains and use your imagination of sewer systems in Pattaya plus motorboats etc...

Eat fish in Thailand big balls!

[FredNL]

In what year did it happen?

Tonight maybe?

"At 11pm on the evening of July 13"

1848 THB is pretty expensive for a rotten lobster.

Edited July 13, 2016 by FredNL

[onemorechang]

Thais are the most unhygienic people I know.

You not been very far round this world then, ,much worse out there.

been there done that.

[Gillyflower]

A few years ago I was in a restaurant at the street level of a condo in Sathon. Turned the head for a couple of seconds to the chap beside me,, then back again to discover a cockroach sitting comfortably on my plate. The waiter must have been used to it, because he didn't blink an eyelid when he took the plate. The owner refused to refund and we have never been back again and we let everyone know loud and clear.

[Jingthing]

Another point.

Some people may think the thing to do was to contact the tourist police.

However, if seeking to not pay for bad food, etc. that would generally not work.

It's my strong impression that the blanket policy of the tourist police is to advise foreigners to just PAY such bills, and move on, thus avoiding trouble.

Also these police live here and must continue to live with these business owners. Tourists just leave. See the point?

In my experience, the best hope for justice is to be a pain in the arse, right there and then. They know the majority of people will cower and cave, but if you show them, not this time, you can often win the dispute.

Edited July 13, 2016 by Jingthing

[Finlaco]

Its important in life to be aware of what you actually know and what you think/assume you know

In Thailand, the police are involved in different aspects of life that they would not get involved in, in your country or mine. A few years ago a group of school boys got arrested for wasting chilli powder by adding it to their finished bowl of noodles.

irt Thai ways - The German did the right thing

Another wonderful promotion for Thailand and the "Thai Way" ...

Really luudee...I don't know where your from, but can you imagine walking into a police station in New York or London with some fish & chips & expecting them to leap into action because it wasn't up to standard.........Some of you guys really live in fantasy land when you dream of how a farang should be treated........ you should have been around about 150 years ago, along with Somerset Maugham when the sun never set on the Empire---being a white man then you may have got the treatment you feel you deserve now.......

.

White man served bad lobster.......150 lashes for the cook

[xerostar]

Customer in Swiss seafood restaurant:

"Excuse me waiter ! Is this lobster fresh ?"

Waiter answers:

"Yes sir, it arrived from the North Sea this morning !"

Customer:

"Oh I see and I bet it walked all the way .."

[SOTIRIOS]

...and if they go back to their room and die we can say 'medical condition'......

[barmatt]

Mistake #1 going to a seafood restaurant in WS you're garanteed to be ripped off. Many better options around and at half the price.

[manarak]

He did the correct thing, taking the evidence to the police.

Had he spoken to the restaurant he would have been given nothing but a load of hassle.

What the police will do (if anything) will be interesting to hear.

Really? Seems to me he should have gone to the city health or restaurant licensing department or the folks who give out those "Clean Food Good Food" restaurant stickers. I don't think his complaint is anything the police can do anything about. As the Dallas police chief has already said, the police can't be called upon to solve all society's ills...I'd add bad restaurant meals to that list.

in the article it says police has sent the lobster to the public health services. they can certainly do something.

[dunroaming]

oxo1947

Of course in New York or London you wouldn't take your dodgy fish and chips into the local police station because in most civilised countries you can deal with it in the restaurant. Anyone knowing Thailand also knows that you take the chance of being argued with and possibly even attacked for complaining no matter how justified. It is called "losing face".

[Peterw42]

Another wonderful promotion for Thailand and the "Thai Way" ...

Really luudee...I don't know where your from, but can you imagine walking into a police station in New York or London with some fish & chips & expecting them to leap into action because it wasn't up to standard.........Some of you guys really live in fantasy land when you dream of how a farang should be treated........ you should have been around about 150 years ago, along with Somerset Maugham when the sun never set on the Empire---being a white man then you may have got the treatment you feel you deserve now.......

.

White man served bad lobster.......150 lashes for the cook

You try and get a decent Gin and tonic at the empire club, that's what the police should be investigating.

[OldPedro]

Why not just get up and walk out of the joint.....

[malt25]

Why not just get up and walk out of the joint.....

He did !

[DrTuner]

Consumer protection board may be interested too.

http://www.ocpb.go.th/mobile.php

By the time they react the lobster will have mummified.

[Peterw42]

Why not just get up and walk out of the joint.....

He did !

I presume he paid the bill. Otherwise they wouldn't have let him take the lobster.

A better approach would have been not pay the bill. Restaurant calls police. Saved himself a trip.

[Enoon]

Another wonderful promotion for Thailand and the "Thai Way" ...

Really luudee...I don't know where your from, but can you imagine walking into a police station in New York or London with some fish & chips & expecting them to leap into action because it wasn't up to standard.........Some of you guys really live in fantasy land when you dream of how a farang should be treated........ you should have been around about 150 years ago, along with Somerset Maugham when the sun never set on the Empire---being a white man then you may have got the treatment you feel you deserve now.......

.

White man served bad lobster.......150 lashes for the cook

1848baht = about 5-6 days min wage Thailand.

If you had just paid 5-6 days min wage UK, for a meal in UK, and been served rotten food and told no refund it would be no problem?

Hey, you big rich man boss, yessah.

Really oxo1947.......not the "racist card", again.

Edited July 13, 2016 by Enoon

[phantomfiddler]

Had the same thing happen to me in a different restaurant on walking street, the fish was completely rotten and stunk when the protective batter was broken. The restaurant did replace it, however I really do not think that they would have served this particular fish to a visiting Thai person. We farangs are considered fair game to dispense the inedible products on, cuts down on wastage

[Muzarella]

In my modest Italian restaurant I placed a sign: "If you do not like your order for any reason, ask to change it, or your money back" in English and Thai.

Never had a complaint. When a guest ask for a fish order, I always note when frozen fish is used. Some frozen fish taste and smell different after cooked, and some guest can taste the difference very easy. Unfortunately, rotten food can be "masquerade" with a very spicy dressing or soup.

Sorry. Street vendors are not my favorite, specially for fish.