Bangkok-pattaya Taxi Meter Scam

[redrio]

i checked out of the queen pattaya hotel on friday night to go back to suvarnbumi aiport. The queen hotel got me a taxi meter for 800 bahts.

They wrote out a receipt and said give it to the driver when he comes to pick you up outside the hotel at 10.30 pm.

I wandered about till 10 and went back to the hotel and the taxi was waiting outside. I gave the receipt to the driver and he passed it onto somebody outside.

He then drove me off and on sukhumvit road, he told me his name and all of a sudden he said you pay motorway 60 bahts and a tip for me.

Then he said " Too much corruption in pattaya, you pay 800, 300 baht for mafia and 500 hundred for me."

Well I thought that was it, I am getting stopped off and ripped off somewhere on the journey.

HE was doing 120 mile an hour on the bang na and looked as though he was drunk or on drugs.

I was swallowing my tongue for a whole hour an 20 minutes.

We got to the airport, but still was convinced he wanted more money the way he was looking through the mirror.

about 3 k from the airport his phone rang and someone talking in thai.

When he got to the airport he opened the doors and got out, he had his hand out, I gave him 100 baht and walked off fast, then another falang bloke jumped in the taxi and off.

I am under the assumption that the drivers from bangkok are using the pattaya taxi meter sellers there phone number and a 300 baht tip for return journeys to the airport illegally. the driver was bragging to the wrong person. I took his car number " 2458" and am posting it on this website and a thousand others. Some of the taxi meters are taking falangs to the aiport illegally via these mafia so called touts.

I cant believe that the queen hotel are in on the scam. These drivers are dangerous and are part of the thai mob. It only takes one accident or rip off or someone may even be killed by people like this.. They are breaking the law full stop. BEWARE EVERYBODY I did not trust this one bit.

[markah]

i checked out of the queen pattaya hotel on friday night to go back to suvarnbumi aiport. The queen hotel got me a taxi meter for 800 bahts.

They wrote out a receipt and said give it to the driver when he comes to pick you up outside the hotel at 10.30 pm.

I wandered about till 10 and went back to the hotel and the taxi was waiting outside. I gave the receipt to the driver and he passed it onto somebody outside.

He then drove me off and on sukhumvit road, he told me his name and all of a sudden he said you pay motorway 60 bahts and a tip for me.

Then he said " Too much corruption in pattaya, you pay 800, 300 baht for mafia and 500 hundred for me."

Well I thought that was it, I am getting stopped off and ripped off somewhere on the journey.

HE was doing 120 mile an hour on the bang na and looked as though he was drunk or on drugs.

I was swallowing my tongue for a whole hour an 20 minutes.

We got to the airport, but still was convinced he wanted more money the way he was looking through the mirror.

about 3 k from the airport his phone rang and someone talking in thai.

When he got to the airport he opened the doors and got out, he had his hand out, I gave him 100 baht and walked off fast, then another falang bloke jumped in the taxi and off.

I am under the assumption that the drivers from bangkok are using the pattaya taxi meter sellers there phone number and a 300 baht tip for return journeys to the airport illegally. the driver was bragging to the wrong person. I took his car number " 2458" and am posting it on this website and a thousand others. Some of the taxi meters are taking falangs to the aiport illegally via these mafia so called touts.

I cant believe that the queen hotel are in on the scam. These drivers are dangerous and are part of the thai mob. It only takes one accident or rip off or someone may even be killed by people like this.. They are breaking the law full stop. BEWARE EVERYBODY I did not trust this one bit.

whats the problem? you got to the airport for 900 baht. thats not too bad.

[redrio]

i checked out of the queen pattaya hotel on friday night to go back to suvarnbumi aiport. The queen hotel got me a taxi meter for 800 bahts.

They wrote out a receipt and said give it to the driver when he comes to pick you up outside the hotel at 10.30 pm.

I wandered about till 10 and went back to the hotel and the taxi was waiting outside. I gave the receipt to the driver and he passed it onto somebody outside.

He then drove me off and on sukhumvit road, he told me his name and all of a sudden he said you pay motorway 60 bahts and a tip for me.

Then he said " Too much corruption in pattaya, you pay 800, 300 baht for mafia and 500 hundred for me."

Well I thought that was it, I am getting stopped off and ripped off somewhere on the journey.

HE was doing 120 mile an hour on the bang na and looked as though he was drunk or on drugs.

I was swallowing my tongue for a whole hour an 20 minutes.

We got to the airport, but still was convinced he wanted more money the way he was looking through the mirror.

about 3 k from the airport his phone rang and someone talking in thai.

When he got to the airport he opened the doors and got out, he had his hand out, I gave him 100 baht and walked off fast, then another falang bloke jumped in the taxi and off.

I am under the assumption that the drivers from bangkok are using the pattaya taxi meter sellers there phone number and a 300 baht tip for return journeys to the airport illegally. the driver was bragging to the wrong person. I took his car number " 2458" and am posting it on this website and a thousand others. Some of the taxi meters are taking falangs to the aiport illegally via these mafia so called touts.

I cant believe that the queen hotel are in on the scam. These drivers are dangerous and are part of the thai mob. It only takes one accident or rip off or someone may even be killed by people like this.. They are breaking the law full stop. BEWARE EVERYBODY I did not trust this one bit.

whats the problem? you got to the airport for 900 baht. thats not too bad.

yes, but illegal, I have been stitched up in the filipines with a gun on an illegal tuk tuk and three blokes, so I arent taking any chances

[unbiasbob]

OP, LOL

[bkkmadness]

When he got to the airport he opened the doors and got out, he had his hand out, I gave him 100 baht and walked off fast

And the taxi driver still gets a tip! Some of you guys are unbelievable.

[ColPyat]

Then he said " Too much corruption in pattaya, you pay 800, 300 baht for mafia and 500 hundred for me."

The taxi driver is absolutely right, and you are wrong - that is the system.

The drivers don't do anything illegal there, they just pick up a return fare to the airport. By law they do not have to use the meter as it is outside the zones for meters, and there are fixed rates for the distance.

[Mobi]

Theer are good and bad taxi drivers in Thailand. I have found a vast majority to be good, hardworking, decent guys.

The guy who took you to BKK doesn't sound so bad. He probably did have to pay off the local mafia, so he needs to get a decent sum for himself.

Personally I would nver ask a hotel to get a cab, or limo for me. We have heard horror stories before - even with the top end hotles. Hotels don't do anything for nothing - and transport is something they use to scam the foreigner. Short sighted, but that's the way they are.

There are loads of boards, signs. phone numbers all over Pattaya advertising Taxis and Limos to Bangkok. It's so easy to find one without using your hotel. If you can get to Sukhumvit, you can usually pick up a returning meter taxi if you're prepared to wait around a bit.

But why bother? Any of these contact phones will provide you will a good limo to the airport for around 1000 - 1,200 Baht - no hassles, and more comfortable than a meter taxi. After all the money you've been spending in our great city, what's 1,200 Baht to get you safely and comfortably to the airport?

Anyone would think they'd ripped you off for 5,000 Baht or something

[sriracha john]

I took his car number " 2458" and am posting it on this website and a thousand others.

:D

[Fun2Fun]

Standard metode in Pattaya, If you are arriving from bangkok to Pattaya in a taxi then you can see several people on the street and/or on motorbikes trying to grab your taxi drivers attention.

WHY - because they want to "book" him for a trip to bankok or the airport.

The "agent" take the larger part and the taxi driver just get the smaller part of the money the customer pay for the trip.

Edited December 12, 2006 by Fun2Fun

[Sing_Sling]

Redrio and markah - is there really a need to quote the whole post on the first and second reply?

Nothing constructive to add by me aside from saying that I have been pleasantly surprised by Thai taxi drivers and unpleasantly as well . . .

In dis world, ya gots bof

[Mobi]

I took his car number " 2458" and am posting it on this website and a thousand others.

:D

Car 54 where are you??

[Tolley]

Paid 900 baht for a one and a half hour drive to the airport......sounds ridiculously cheap to me!

[rocky]

One of the biggest jobs of the British embassy in Thailand is sorting out deaths and serious injury from car accidents it Thailand. This taxi driver like so many others, was driving like a bat out of hel_l, if there had been an emergency on the road, at this speed and old cars as they are, the embassy would have had another job.

This is no Joke, when going to Bangkok, i now take the bus, i feel much much safer. I am carefull when getting into a taxi when i must, only getting into new cars,

REMEMBER YOU CAN ALWAYS WALK AWAY FROM A TAXI AND FIND A NEW ONE.

[Jingthing]

That was a normal ride to the airport from Pattaya! And, yes, this is another mafia so many of you seem to love (as evidenced by your support on the recent baht bus thread). In this case, it is the Bangkok taxi drivers getting most of the shaft.

They always ask for highway toll and most of the time will make up stories about the amount. Asking for a tip should be taken with a grain of salt if they are otherwise lying and abusing you ...

Another case in point of why LEGAL Pattaya taxi meters are needed in Pattaya. Not Bangkok taxi drivers working illegally and paying off a mafia. LEGAL Pattaya taxi meters. Impossible? Why?

And I agree, sometimes these drivers can be threatening and scary. They are being abused by the Pattaya mafia and sometimes transfer this abuse to us passengers. A sorry state of affairs. But thats what happens when a major city transport system is controlled by a mafia.

Also, I totally disagree that if you have booked a taxi to the airport from Pattaya that you have the option of ditching the taxi. Yes, if he is carrying a bloody axe, you would ditch him. But, otherwise, if you ditch him you will MISS YOUR FLIGHT, because, you guessed it, there are no Pattaya taxi meters on the streets of Pattaya and you aren't going there in a baht bus, are you?

Edited December 12, 2006 by Jingthing

[rocky]

That was a normal ride to the airport from Pattaya! And, yes, this is another mafia so many of you seem to love (as evidenced by your support on the recent baht bus thread). In this case, it is the Bangkok taxi drivers getting most of the shaft.

They always ask for highway toll and most of the time will make up stories about the amount. Asking for a tip should be taken with a grain of salt if they are otherwise lying and abusing you ...

Another case in point of why LEGAL Pattaya taxi meters are needed in Pattaya. Not Bangkok taxi drivers working illegally and paying off a mafia. LEGAL Pattaya taxi meters. Impossible? Why?

And I agree, sometimes these drivers can be threatening and scary. They are being abused by the Pattaya mafia and sometimes transfer this abuse to us passengers. A sorry state of affairs. But thats what happens when a major city transport system is controlled by a mafia.

Also, I totally disagree that if you have booked a taxi to the airport from Pattaya that you have the option of ditching the taxi. Yes, if he is carrying a bloody axe, you would ditch him. But, otherwise, if you ditch him you will MISS YOUR FLIGHT, because, you guessed it, there are no Pattaya taxi meters on the streets of Pattaya and you aren't going there in a baht bus, are you?

Not trying to split hairs, but there any many many many taxis on the streets wating to go back to bangkok, yes they pay the mafia, but you could always go and select a car and take it back to the hotel as instead of leaving it to the hotel to get any car....