I am sooooooooo stupid!!

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puan
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I am sooooooooo stupid!!

Post by puan »

A few days ago, I was in a Sunee Plaza go-go bar. Paid the check bin without looking at it closely. Was cheated and overpaid.

Yes...I am one stupid ass. :shock: ALWAYS "CHECK" THE CHECK BIN!! I know I have learned my lesson.

What go-go bar?? Send me a pm and I will tell you.
fountainhall

Re: I am sooooooooo stupid!!

Post by fountainhall »

Inaccurate bills are far from limited to go-go bars - although others are perhaps more due to carelessness than a deliberate action. There are three TOPS supermarkets quite near me which I visit regularly. Sometimes the marked price is not what appears on the bill. In each location I find I am charged the wrong price about once every 3 months. In one case it was by as much as Bt. 320. A punnet of blueberries that should have been Bt. 179 appeared as Bt. 499. At least that chain has a policy that if you are wrongly charged and you notice this before leaving the store, they provide a full cash refund for the item and give it to you free. Notice it when you get home, though, and your chance of a refund is slim.

Restaurants are another. Several times I have been charged for a premium bottled water when I had ordered and received the local brand of bottled water. On a few occasions I even get billed for a dish I had not ordered. Mistakes will always happen, but checking bills takes only seconds. I learned my lesson too - the hard way!
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Gaybutton
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Re: I am sooooooooo stupid!!

Post by Gaybutton »

puan wrote:Was cheated and overpaid.
You were not necessarily intentionally cheated. I know of no bars in Pattaya doing that. What happens much more often than being overcharged is giving the waiter a 1000 baht note, but given change as if you had given a 500 baht or even 100 baht note. When you complain and argue about it, you're not going to leave the bar happy with the outcome.

If you are paying with a note higher than 100 baht notes, make sure you say to the waiter, "This is a 1000 baht note," and you might even want to say it loud enough so that someone sitting next to you hears it, in case of a dispute - and make sure the waiter looks at the note and verbally verifies the denomination. But when you say it to the waiter just as you are handing over the money, such a dispute arising is extremely rare. Again, it is extremely rare for a waiter or cashier to intentionally try to cheat customers.

Be careful next time. The time to settle a dispute is before such a dispute can even arise.

How much did you lose?
fountainhall

Re: I am sooooooooo stupid!!

Post by fountainhall »

There has been a practice in many bars for some years now to have a small almost hidden slip at the bottom of the bill folder. When change is returned, many patrons do not notice that two or three Bt. 10 coins have been inserted and take the rest of their change without checking. I would normally leave a small tip anyway so it doesn't bother me. I have never known notes to be folded and inserted there. If that happens now, the practise should certainly be stamped out.
RichLB
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Re: I am sooooooooo stupid!!

Post by RichLB »

Just to underline that sometimes the error in charging is inadvertent, I recently had just the opposite experience. I paid my restaurant check with a 500 baht bill and the waiter returned change for 1000 baht. Surprisingly, when I pointed out the mistake, the waiter argued with me and insisted I had given him 1000. When I assured him I had no 1000 baht bills that night, he continued to argue. I finally left and happily pocketed the excess cash.
Jun

Re: I am sooooooooo stupid!!

Post by Jun »

Thanks for the warning.

This doesn't just happen in gogo bars, or even in Thailand.

1 Two different staff in my local UK co-op short changed me within a month. I've never had too much change there.
2 I was given change from a £10 note in a London fast food chain, when I had paid with a £20.
3 I was short changed when collecting foreign currency at Heathrow T3 (obviously pre-ordered, to get a good exchange rate)
4 A UK branch of Subway gave me the approx £5.50 change for my purchase in £1 coins, even though there were plenty of £5 notes in the till. This was £1 short.
5 I was once short changed by 20 baht in a Bangkok 7-eleven. Despite them counting the money twice, as is normal practice.

I spotted this in time to correct it for all purchases, except #4. Always check your change.

Another gogo bar tactic is to deliberately slow down returning the change, presumably in the hope that the customer gives up & leaves.
I've seen Toy Boys leave the change on the counter for 10 minutes, before returning it to the customer, even when it's substantial change from 1000 baht for one water. Guess what, they got no tip.
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christianpfc
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Re: I am sooooooooo stupid!!

Post by christianpfc »

I have a simple policy: in dimly lit places (that applies to all bars), I pay the exact amount (I don't tip); in well lit places like 7-Eleven or restaurants I use 1000 THB notes to get small change. In gogo bars I want to get out after paying as quickly as possible as I have seen anything and move on to the next, that's another reason to pay exact amount and to not have to wait for change.
thaiworthy

Re: I am sooooooooo stupid!!

Post by thaiworthy »

I’m much the same as Christian. I would never pay a bar bill with a 1000 baht note. Means hauling around a lot of 100s and 500s, though — not that you still couldn’t get stiffed, but I don’t want to have to worry about if I’ve had a drink or two or three . . .
gerefan
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Re: I am sooooooooo stupid!!

Post by gerefan »

Jun wrote:Another gogo bar tactic is to deliberately slow down returning the change, presumably in the hope that the customer gives up & leaves.
I've seen Toy Boys leave the change on the counter for 10 minutes, before returning it to the customer, even when it's substantial change from 1000 baht for one water. Guess what, they got no tip.
I’ve noticed that in Boyz Boyz Boyz and just put it down to them being too busy.

I’m beginning to think you are right because they are quick enough serving you drinks when you arrive.
puan
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Re: I am sooooooooo stupid!!

Post by puan »

Another lesson I have learned from this go-go bar's tricks is to ask prices EVERY TIME no matter how frequent of a customer you are to that bar.

I had been a regular customer to this go-go bar for several years and had been consistently charged the same price time after time. Suddenly she, the owner, decides to "up" the price on a bottle of 100 Pipers by 300 baht with no forewarning for just this one night.
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