American expat charged with defamation after leaving multiple negative reviews online

[GinBoy2]

12 minutes ago, CorpusChristie said:

The U.K.

You can sue for defamation in the U.K.

In the UK it's a civil case, not criminal.

 

I'm wondering after reading all these posts if some people don't quite understand the difference between a criminal and civil case?

 

A civil defamation case is where the cops aren't involved and it's basically the plaintiff is getting money if they prove the case. 

 

In a criminal case the defendant if convicted goes to jail

[SomchaiCNX]

1 hour ago, orchis said:

out because he managed to post 100 K thb bail after the weekend.
trial will still follow, 2 years max.

During that time he is not allowed to leave and probably he will not be allowed anymore to work as teacher as well. Yet he will have the living costs during that time. Even if he does not get jail time he will pay for his own stupidity.

[kensisaket]

33 minutes ago, Razek said:

And why they did not let

Him bring beer from outside.

I never saw this in 13 Year Experience with thsi Hotel.

I will never go to this Hotel

Per a letter he wrote (posted on the first page of this article) it was not beer. It was gin.  There aren't many drinking establishments in the world that allow you to bring your own bottle into their establishments.

[lkv]

13 minutes ago, Razek said:

The Manager is from Czech. Czech is an Ex communist. poor coutry is poor than thailand.Czeck is not a western country is a Carbage country

 

Yeah well, with a GDP per capita in Czech Republic of USD 23,078 vs USD 7,273 in Thailand, it appears to me Thailand is 3 times poorer.

 

5 times soon, it's going downhill.

Edited September 27, 2020 by lkv

[snowgard]

29 minutes ago, JensenZ said:

Actually, you could be wrong here. Defamation is always a criminal offense in Thailand whereas in other countries it is mainly a civil matter, and very rarely criminal. This could very well be a "this is only in Thailand" issue.

 

Of course there are 195 countries, so who knows? It would take a lot of research to single Thailand out. Thailand does have some "only in Thailand" laws.

Not easy to find the right answers, but only in europe it is in 23 countries a criminal offence. 

https://www.rcmediafreedom.eu/Publications/Reports/Criminal-Defamation-Laws-in-Europe

[orchis]

1 hour ago, polpott said:

Isn't that a fact?

he is allowed to bring a translator.

[alex8912]

3 hours ago, geisha said:

Unfair and libelous comments should be against the law. I have witnessed a man, who on being refused a takeaway , ( it was a restaurant and had no take away materials needed) screamed he would * let the world know what a bad restaurant this was and ruin them*.  He had been turned down very politely and there was no need at all for the scene he made in front of all the guests. There are people who are vindictive and are using the internet to vent their anger !!! By the way, he did what he menaced. 
Also, you don’t take a bottle of gin , or other drinks into a restaurant anywhere , corkage is quite usual. 

Unfair comments against the law?? I would love to see how you define that!  A normal person can go on TripAdvisor and read 15/20 comments on any establishment. If you have at least a 1/2 of a brain you can tell the drama queens from the others. What restaurant has no takeaway materials btw lol??!! Silly post. From 5 star hotel restaurants to the guy on the sidewalk ( who both do a lot of take out btw) all have containers for take home or away. Many Thais especially, I notice, get an order for someone at home and bring it back to them. 

[sdweller]

Easy to bash on the Yank...it's the rage these days...but jail for a bad review?  Sorry, not in my country.

[Neeranam]

45 minutes ago, polpott said:

Name one Western country where defamation is a criminal offence,

US of A as well as many others. They usually call it libel.

[Pravda]

8 hours ago, James HKT said:

Som nam na, which to anyone that doesn’t understand means “serves you right “

Oh thanks for that. Your Thai must be really awesome. 

 

Can you tell me what 555 is I see it all the time? Also farang ting tong which I hear all the time from establishments I frequent. 

[Neeranam]

16 minutes ago, Pravda said:

Oh thanks for that. Your Thai must be really awesome. 

 

Can you tell me what 555 is I see it all the time? Also farang ting tong which I hear all the time from establishments I frequent. 

It is so annoying when foreigners say "Som nam nah", same with "tabien baan".

[AndrewMciver]

44 minutes ago, QPRFC said:

No it ain't, it's a regular occurrence in Australia and NZ. Fully acceptable. 

 

Nonsense. Not in any proper establised restaurant. 

 

Are you talking Mcdonalds and Burger King?

[SiSePuede419]

Obnoxious Rich Drunk Tourists Surprised When Hotel Owner Fights Back ????

[sncoem]

the nazi at google and tripadvisor are deleting the reviews, please post more, anybody who respect himself as a foreigner should tell the truth about this resort.

whatever happened nobody should be sued for a review or even many reviews !

 

[Mick501]

21 hours ago, Orac said:

How do TripAdvisor reviews work as the ‘guest’ claims that his first review with the human slavery allegation was never published yet the resort have a screenshot of it in their statement - do hotels get to vet reviews before publication?

They can see the review before it is published and ask the author to remove or amend it.  The author can then decide.

 

as a frequent user and reviewer on TripAdvisor, you always have to take 1 and 5 star reviews with a grain of salt.  Most 1 star reviews are down to a single bad experience and in many cases offer little or no useful information (as in this case).  Also need to look at the amount of reviews by the author.  In this case, it is his first review, which also raises alarm bells.

 

there is something extremely unusual about his review.  "Likes" are a much more rare commodity on TripAdvior than on this site.   Many very good reviewer have done hundreds of reviews and have maybe 50 likes.  His singular obvious rant received 141.  Maybe that is support for him for people who think the hotel has done the wrong thing.

 

in the case of this hotel, if I was interested I would have ignored his review and may well have stayed there in the future.  In my view, putting someone in prison, or threatening to do so, should not be supported.  The guy might well be a pain in the ass, but doesn't deserve what he is going through now.

 

 

[sncoem]

20 hours ago, Neeranam said:

That Richard Barrow has poured gas on the fire. He'd better watch out, he's going to <deleted> off the wrong person again and all his gin and tonics with ambassadors on Ploenchit aint going to bail him out. 

 

He should get what he deserves for banning people on his messages...

 

 

[Ebumbu]

Whether this business is right or wrong, if their goal was profits, they've sabotaged themselves in the most profound way. What tourist is going to stay at a hotel with a reputation of imprisoning its guests? What did they think would happen? As I write this, dozens of negative reviews are amassing on both Trip Advisor and Google. Their online reputation is now, or will soon be obliterated. High emotion and business don't mix well. 

[sncoem]

9 minutes ago, Ebumbu said:

Whether this business is right or wrong, if their goal was profits, they've sabotaged themselves in the most profound way. What tourist is going to stay at a hotel with a reputation of imprisoning its guests? What did they think would happen? As I write this, dozens of negative reviews are amassing on both Trip Advisor and Google. Their online reputation is now, or will soon be obliterated. High emotion and business don't mix well. 

 

not true, hundreds reviews posted last 24 hours have been deleted on trip and google...

the DH are protected...

 

 

[Cranky]

Only one issue at stake here - Face, and all the consequences of causing loss of. 
 

Rational behaviour ceases and the wheels come off. Beware. 
 

 

[sncoem]

A small resort with 200 rooms ? how deep can they lie ?

 

The resort is owned by Phisut Ratanawong, one of the most powerful men on the island, nicknamed Sia Toi in acknowledgement of his shady reputation.

Besides the resort, Phisut also owns Koh Chang International, which operates the ferry services between the island and the mainland.

He owns the largest shrimp farm on the island too, in the Salak Kok mangrove forest, and has been accused of illegally encroaching on protected land.

Phisut has frequently boasted of his links to the giant Charoen Pokphand conglomerate, and members of the Ratanawong clan have previously had jobs at CP Group.

Makes total sense now this charge was pushed through. Especially based on a. Thai language post wasn't published yet used w police and b. English speakers wouldn't make a connection to 'avoid this place like corona' and their alleged issue about confusion Inre, :covid

[twizzian]

Just recently gave a Lazada seller an honest one star review of a product that was absolutley useless. A shoe whitener that didn’t whiten the shoes.

Should I revisit and adjust? ????‍????

[Neeranam]

43 minutes ago, sncoem said:

 

He should get what he deserves for banning people on his messages...

 

 

I think he, Barrow, is responsible for an increase in entitled farang. 

[Neeranam]

11 minutes ago, sncoem said:

The resort is owned by Phisut Ratanawong, one of the most powerful men on the island, nicknamed Sia Toi in acknowledgement of his shady reputation.

Might have known he'd be Chinese. I used to know the owner of Koh Samet, another influential Jek.

[Susco]

1 minute ago, Neeranam said:

Might have known he'd be Chinese. I used to know the owner of Koh Samet, another influential Jek.

The owner of Koh Samet?

 

Koh Samet is a national park

[Davo369]

9 minutes ago, twizzian said:

Just recently gave a Lazada seller an honest one star review of a product that was absolutley useless. A shoe whitener that didn’t whiten the shoes.

Should I revisit and adjust? ????‍????

If i was you I'd be on me toes a bit sharpish.... before they come knocking.. 

Just out of curiosity what colour did your shoes come out ?

[Ebumbu]

29 minutes ago, sncoem said:

 

not true, hundreds reviews posted last 24 hours have been deleted on trip and google...

the DH are protected...

 

 

 

And hundreds remain. Easy enough to verify. This business is buried. Many of the bad reviews make no mention of the libel incident. It's bad business to imprison your guests. They will take a bigger hit than 300,000 baht. Nobody wins. 

 

 

[xtrnuno41]

Just checked tripadvisor and now it is not possible anymore to put new reviews for that location.

THey say it is for made up stories.

 

I dont get that as the guest had noticed the situations ! For 2 times even he saw what was happening.

The managers seem to have problems with communicating. Maybe they should train the managers better.

However i saw in docu's many managers have problems with it, not only Thailand.

Big mouth when you try to "complain"/tell about any bad situation. Am i surprised about this, NO.

It seems Thailand is even supporting the companies. Even tripadvisor is making up stories.

As they say, made up stories. That is what im surprised about.

But it is just a negative review on the resort, noticed by customer ! Honest and maybe hard, but hey come on you 

can handle that as a good resort.manager.

[Banana7]

41 minutes ago, sncoem said:

A small resort with 200 rooms ? how deep can they lie ?

 

The resort is owned by Phisut Ratanawong, one of the most powerful men on the island, nicknamed Sia Toi in acknowledgement of his shady reputation.

Besides the resort, Phisut also owns Koh Chang International, which operates the ferry services between the island and the mainland.

He owns the largest shrimp farm on the island too, in the Salak Kok mangrove forest, and has been accused of illegally encroaching on protected land.

Phisut has frequently boasted of his links to the giant Charoen Pokphand conglomerate, and members of the Ratanawong clan have previously had jobs at CP Group.

Makes total sense now this charge was pushed through. Especially based on a. Thai language post wasn't published yet used w police and b. English speakers wouldn't make a connection to 'avoid this place like corona' and their alleged issue about confusion Inre, :covid

Best just to boycott Koh Chang  and stop supporting Phisut. Lots of other islands in Thailand to visit.

 

[JensenZ]

2 hours ago, snowgard said:

Not easy to find the right answers, but only in europe it is in 23 countries a criminal offence. 

https://www.rcmediafreedom.eu/Publications/Reports/Criminal-Defamation-Laws-in-Europe

Thanks for doing the research. We can now state with some certainty that criminal defamation is not unique to Thailand.

[JensenZ]

1 hour ago, Mick501 said:

as a frequent user and reviewer on TripAdvisor, you always have to take 1 and 5 star reviews with a grain of salt.  Most 1 star reviews are down to a single bad experience and in many cases offer little or no useful information (as in this case).  Also need to look at the amount of reviews by the author.  In this case, it is his first review, which also raises alarm bells.

As a sophisticated evaluator of reviews. you might not take much notice of a 1 star review, but many would. At the very least, such a review might leave some undecided viewers uneasy, and they might move onto the next hotel in their search (which has no 1-star reviews) as there is never any shortage of options. "Why take the chance", they might think. It is a competitive market and hoteliers take 1 star reviews very seriously, as they should.