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Thailand’s taxi and tuk tuk scams and annoyances


webfact

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9 minutes ago, Penicillin said:

Taxi drivers are all (fake) smiles and good cheer ...until you catch them trying to scam you , then they turn very very aggressive and ugly.

I've had some very nice taxi drivers who didn't try to scam me. I've had some who spoke good English and we had a nice conversation during the trip. And I've had some bad taxi drivers, very bad. I try not to lump everybody into one pile.

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20 minutes ago, nickstav said:

I'm sorry, but I disagree on some of your points. Yes, restaurants often have menus in Thai and menus in English. When I go to a restaurant with my girlfriend they give me an English menu and she gets the Thai menu. The prices on both are the same. Can it happen that they have higher prices on the English menu? Sure, but I don't think this is the norm. Mostly I just drink local beers in a restaurant, so I'm not worried that they're substituting my Leo with Heinekin, but it could happen that some bar could be putting Pipers in JW bottles, but again, choose to believe this is not the norm. A devoted JW drinker could probably tell the difference. Yes, there are rigged meters and not just in Thailand. As for long routes, just plug in your destination on your phone app and you can follow along to see if you're being taken for a ride. If you let a tuk tuk take advantage of you like you've described then you deserve it (even if a newbie tourist).

If you don't think it's the norm, as in happens more often than not, that may be accurate. 

 

Any decent person would want to belive that most Thais are honest. 

 

However, I have reason to believe it's unfortunately probably not the case. 

 

Just like China, I'm not sure what types of ethical attitudes Thai culture encourages in average Thais... 

 

Now, I'm NOT saying Thais are inherently more or less honest than any other group. However, culture plays a role. Also, Thailand has weak institutions to keep human bad behavior in check. That also plays a role. 

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Just now, JAG said:

Traditional market stalls rarely if ever display prices, fair enough. I ask the price, and if they are obviously quoting a "falang price" I just move to the next stall. Like you, I will not even bother asking the price in a shop or kiosk, - the classic examples of this are the kiosks which you find in front of all the supermarkets selling various phones and tablets - no price no interest.

They rip off anyone it is not just farang they do that for. They do it to rip off their own people. Those markets are all a joke. I can barter but it's just a waste of time. I got a nice beef restaurant near me she tried it on last week gave me a steak of fat. Got home just a piece of 6x3cm fat on my plate. Took it back told her if she ever does that again will never buy. She gave me a decent piece of raw beef in exchange. 

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Here is a tuk tuk tip: be wary of those tuk tuks that have the glaring green lights in the passenger area at night. When you open your wallet to pay they make a 100 Baht note look like a 20 Baht note. This I think is intentional, and so does my girlfriend.

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Have taken Bangkok taxis for 30 years, rarely if ever had a problem.
 

I look at the driver, if he is friendly, the taxi is clean, if the vibe is good.
Like to tip helpful drivers who are honest, even a small tip brings a smile.

 

Recently left my 40,000 Bt phone in a taxi, he came after me and returned it. 
 

But then, I had been very respectful to him, thanking him as I got in, thanking him for finding my stop, bowing as he gave me change, wishing him a good day.

 

 

 

In my younger days I did not understand how important this is, and how many doors it opens. 

 

Had I known this, many problems would never have happened.

 


 

 

 

 

 

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10 minutes ago, toast1 said:

Have taken Bangkok taxis for 30 years, rarely if ever had a problem.
 

I look at the driver, if he is friendly, the taxi is clean, if the vibe is good.
Like to tip helpful drivers who are honest, even a small tip brings a smile.

 

Recently left my 40,000 Bt phone in a taxi, he came after me and returned it. 
 

But then, I had been very respectful to him, thanking him as I got in, thanking him for finding my stop, bowing as he gave me change, wishing him a good day.

 

 

 

In my younger days I did not understand how important this is, and how many doors it opens. 

 

Had I known this, many problems would never have happened.

 


 

 

 

 

 

And the thing is, how much effort does it take to have this attitude.

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44 minutes ago, Mikisteel said:

They rip off anyone it is not just farang they do that for. They do it to rip off their own people. Those markets are all a joke. I can barter but it's just a waste of time. I got a nice beef restaurant near me she tried it on last week gave me a steak of fat. Got home just a piece of 6x3cm fat on my plate. Took it back told her if she ever does that again will never buy. She gave me a decent piece of raw beef in exchange. 

Yes, what many farang fail to understand is that the nationality that trusts Thais the least is OTHER THAIS. 

 

Farang with actual close, educated Thai friends and family are more likely to know this. 

 

Thais, as a rule, trust their families (the most but also in limited degree) and distrust all other Thais outside that circle. 

 

It's the best indicator of the societal inclination. 

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Here is a tuk tuk tip: be wary of those tuk tuks that have the glaring green lights in the passenger area at night. When you open your wallet to pay they make a 100 Baht note look like a 20 Baht note. This I think is intentional, and so does my girlfriend.

Do the green lights make the ฿100 printing look like ฿20 as well?
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31 minutes ago, toast1 said:

Recently left my 40,000 Bt phone in a taxi, he came after me and returned it. 

{snipped}

It does make you realise there are some good guys out there, despite the flak I and others do give them.

 

A few years back I was in Bangkok with my wife and had an embassy appointment. I had a briefcase with some important documents in it, all of no monetary value.

Wife was holding my briefcase. We got out having paid the driver. As he drove away wife realised she'd left the briefcase on the seat of the taxi.

Panicked, looking for the call centre number to try and contact a taxi driver, whose details we didn't have apart from where he picked us up and dropped us off.

As my wife was on the phone, the taxi driver re-appeared, having noticed the briefcase. He'd done a U-turn further down the road and found us still in the same place at the side of the road.

He was reluctant to accept the 200 Baht my wife gave him.

 

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Some Taxi drivers in Thailand are hard working, decent people. Unfortunately they are the minority. The vast majority are opportunistic rogues that sit on their behinds all day outside hotels and tourist attractions waiting for an unsuspecting foreigner to rob blind. These people are the scum of the earth.

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Perceptions. Peoples decisions about holidays are often decided by perception. Taxi and Tuk Tuk scams of the various types described in the OP are perceived as being widespread in Thailand, and have been for many years. Tourists who have been "taken for a ride" on a previous trip are less likely to be repeat tourists, and their experiences are now (social media) much more widely shared than before. Thailand's reputation for these scams is considerable, and the corruption and lack of any basic regulation or enforcement to attempt to control them is also widely recognised. After years, it has now reached the stage where the Western Tourists perception  is that they will inevitably be scammed. So many will look elsewhere. 

 

Elements within the tourist industry have through the widespread practice of these scams, shafted themselves. Those supposedly managing the tourist industry have allowed, often connived at, these scams, and have shafted the industry which they are supposed to be managing.

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19 minutes ago, kellersphuket said:

Some Taxi drivers in Thailand are hard working, decent people. Unfortunately they are the minority. The vast majority are opportunistic rogues that sit on their behinds all day outside hotels and tourist attractions waiting for an unsuspecting foreigner to rob blind. These people are the scum of the earth.

"Some Taxi drivers in Thailand are hard working, decent people. Unfortunately they are the minority. The vast majority are opportunistic rogues that sit on their behinds all day outside hotels and tourist attractions waiting for an unsuspecting foreigner to rob blind... "

 

And I add, 'many are looking forward to serious arguments, abuse, harassment, some violence, bashing customers etc., and enjoying it.'

 

 

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44 minutes ago, KMartinHandyman said:


Do the green lights make the ฿100 printing look like ฿20 as well?

Nope, but if it's late at night and you've had a few drinks, you might just mistakenly grab a green note without looking. It happened to me one time (my bad). After realizing what happened that time I now check the numbers.

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5 hours ago, canuckamuck said:

 A tuk tuk should always be your last option. Not cheap, not comfortable, prone to scams.

I was staying at a guest house in Hua Hin, the tuk tuk ambush was always at the end of the Soi waiting to pounce. I was on my way home & wanted to get dropped off at the nearby mini-van pick-up point

about 5 minutes up the main road.

200 baht say's the guy, okay no thanks says I, I'll give it a miss, a song taew then passed, I waved it down and jumped in the back... price 25 baht !

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6 hours ago, canuckamuck said:

 A tuk tuk should always be your last option. Not cheap, not comfortable, prone to scams.

And they can be more obnoxious that Massage Pretties on Loi Kroi who haven't had a male farang customer for a week.

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1 hour ago, hotchilli said:

I was staying at a guest house in Hua Hin, the tuk tuk ambush was always at the end of the Soi waiting to pounce. I was on my way home & wanted to get dropped off at the nearby mini-van pick-up point

about 5 minutes up the main road.

200 baht say's the guy, okay no thanks says I, I'll give it a miss, a song taew then passed, I waved it down and jumped in the back... price 25 baht !

To tuk tuk I simply say in Thai: "No want. Have car."  Then flag down a 30 baht Songtaew if I need to travel locally and don't want to drive. 

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5 minutes ago, connda said:
7 hours ago, canuckamuck said:

 A tuk tuk should always be your last option. Not cheap, not comfortable, prone to scams.

And they can be more obnoxious that Massage Pretties on Loi Kroi who haven't had a male farang customer for a week.

Looks like both could be prone to some sort of rogering.

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7 hours ago, ezzra said:

To be fair, all third world countries and even some who are not practice some sort of taxi/public transport price gouging and little scams, not every country can be like Japan or Singapore or HK, dose it make it right? absolutely not, but you' can control hundred of thousands of Thai taxi and tuk tuk drivers and there will always be stories of greed and dishonesty... 

I care not about Japan, Hong Kong and so forth. I don't care that "...there will always be...". I live in the present, in Thailand and the local issue at hand I do care about.

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6 minutes ago, tonysilly said:

The Thai government should stop this Crap!!! Maybe this is part of the whole experience. Scams with a smile 555

I just noticed that 'Scams with a smile' are initial letters of the Sanskrit word swastika, (blatantly stolen by the Nazis)

It made me wonder what the rest of swastika could become an acronym for?

Perhaps: Scams With A Smile Thailand Is Korrupting All.

 

Any other suggestions?

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Tuk tuk drivers here are usually scum of the earth. Taxi and Songtew drivers not far behind. Thank the universe for services like Grab. Not ideal, I still prefer Uber, but it’s 1000% better than dealing with those scumbags. 

 

I’m looking forward to the day when they are all out of business. Let them starve. You reap what you sow.

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13 minutes ago, canuckamuck said:
50 minutes ago, bluesofa said:

Looks like both could be prone to some sort of rogering.

You'll have to buy the tuk tuk guy a few drinks first.

:cheesy::cheesy::cheesy:

I meant financially regarding the tuk tuk driver, but who knows. He'd probably make me pay for a lima tango, then 'bugger' off after a sierra tango. So we could both end up rogered.

 

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1 minute ago, Don Chance said:

Why don't they just ban Tuk Tuk's?  They polluted, are noisy and their owners are annoying.

Do the same as soi dogs - sterilise them, then put them out on the street to scavenge amongst themselves.

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I think that the meters that are mentioned as 'turbo-charged meters' are the type of scam that is maybe the most tricky. Even people who aren't naive about scams can easily be a victim of it; especially if the meter's 'cheating level' isn't too obvious to realise. That is the scam I worry about the most in terms of taxi scams. It has happened to me once, several years ago (and maybe a few more times, especially maybe amongst the times I was drunk). I can't remember now but I think I paid around 200 baht, when it should have been around 100. So, it was in a way obvious, but that time, I didn't know that route and the usual rate for that, but I could see from the way the meter ran that there was a 90 percent chance it was rigged. Anyway, since there wasn't much traffic (and thus not causing major loss of money) and since I had just gotten back from upcountry by bus (I took that taxi at a bus station) and thus was too tired for a confrontation, I didn't say anything.

 

I wonder how common this rigged-meter thing is in Bangkok.

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5 hours ago, hotchilli said:

I was staying at a guest house in Hua Hin, the tuk tuk ambush was always at the end of the Soi waiting to pounce. I was on my way home & wanted to get dropped off at the nearby mini-van pick-up point

about 5 minutes up the main road.

200 baht say's the guy, okay no thanks says I, I'll give it a miss, a song taew then passed, I waved it down and jumped in the back... price 25 baht !

Songtaews in Hua Hin are only 10 Baht.

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13 hours ago, leeneeds said:

A meter taxi I will always tip, 

and the ones who start by saying inflated price, no meter.

I just wait on the next taxi, 

Exactly.  Usually my tip will just about equal the scammer’s rate. Sometimes I’ll tell the driver the story as well. Respect for respect. 

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14 hours ago, Mikisteel said:

Yh I'm just sick and tired of scams. I won't even buy from a market shop who does not put prices up anymore. It's annoying and not convenient to have to ask the price.i always buy from stalls with prices displayed. 

I am the same. No price shown and I will walk on.

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