Got scammed, awful experience doing a visa run yesterday.

[ALFREDO]

Thanks for the information, for your first trip you should of went with a visa run company.

Well I took my Thai girlfriend with me. I thought she could help me avoid any issues that I might come across.

She just told me "I think too much." lol.

Maybe true.

All my Visa or Visa extensions I made by myself, often with a Thai GF, since 1997. Dozens of times.

Never used a Visa service, always drove myself to the border, with motorbike or car,

I would never give my life in the hands of a Thai Van or Bus driver. If its avoidable.

Or made a short flight, to Kuala Lumpur or Singapore, most times, same day back.

Never a problem, only once,

on the Aranyaprathet - Poi Pet Cambodian border crossing I was pick pocketed by children. (1.300 Baht)

a lesson learned.

Edited September 17, 2014 by ALFREDO

[mrfaroukh]

I think the heading of your tread should have been Lousy bad trip experience or something like that and not Got Scammed. I was thinking that you been scammed for at least a million Baht and not 1500 Baht.

Here I got scammed by your heading.

[balo]

why on earth would you tip someone 200 baht after they just ripped you off?

sorry but sounds like you deserved it.

From my understanding the OP is American. Tipping is the daily life over there.

I never tip myself . ok maybe 20 baht,

[ALFREDO]

OP - your main mistakes, in no particular order were:

1. Letting your GF do the typical cruise mode thinking (which means NOT thinking). She should have been your saviour - take that as a hint. If she cares that less, or thinks that little.....I'd be worried. Hopefully she's not taking commission on your condo/hotel/market purchases.

Totally agree, gfs aren't very helpful, when you would expect them to be helpful.

Either a commission, of she didn't give a dam_n.

Taught me a valuable lesson,

Thai gfs only ever ADD to your expenses.

Never thought as a guide of them, they usually, have a very limited horizon of knowledge.

Take the Thai GF with me, so they can entertain me.

Do not like to travel alone.

[ChiTownHustla]

Thanks for the information, for your first trip you should of went with a visa run company.

Well I took my Thai girlfriend with me. I thought she could help me avoid any issues that I might come across.

She just told me "I think too much." lol.

She's probably right. Think less, research more is probably closer to correct. Actual thinking doesn't help much, as logic usually does not apply.

[ALFREDO]

OP - your main mistakes, in no particular order were:

1. Letting your GF do the typical cruise mode thinking (which means NOT thinking). She should have been your saviour - take that as a hint. If she cares that less, or thinks that little.....I'd be worried. Hopefully she's not taking commission on your condo/hotel/market purchases.

2. You used public transport in Thailand. Public transport consists of Suicide Motorbike Taxis, Suicide Car Taxis, Kamikaze Vans, Kamikaze Busses, and Death Trains. You should have hired a car and driven yourself - your safety is then in your hands, and not the hands of a cretin that's high and drunk, can't drive to save himself, and actually DOES aspire to be an F1 driver.

3. If approached by anybody who offers to help you, pretend not to speak English and walk away. That way, you avoid getting scammed and have a chance to figure things out yourself. Also, you won't wake up in the morning with a headache and a phrophylactic hanging out of your rectum.

4. Do your research. This applies to everything in Thailand. Even something simple like going to the toilet has specific differences to western countries. That can apply to knowing how to use a bum gun without spraying your shirt, or how to politely get the plonker in the gogo bars from giving you a massage while standing at the urinal - which tends to affect your aim, thus you end up pissing on your shoes. Before doing anything official, research, research, research!!

We look forward to your future exploits of getting a drivers licence, buying 100 rai up north and building a lean-to that costs three million baht.

(p.s. all tongue in cheek, but take the core messages as gospel - Cheers )

Seriously... It must be knucklehead posting week....

Point number 2 is just ludicrous... Show some respect... granted there are a few dingleberries driving, but you make it sound suicidal!

Knucklehead, you forgot the -ironic- smiley, I hope.

-Gsxmz- Posting, so true. lol, LIKE it.

Edited September 17, 2014 by ALFREDO

[ALFREDO]

Going anywhere by road is the most stupid thng that you could do and just one of the first stupid things that you will do here...

Its funny, i read all these posts and blogs on the internet about drivers in thailand, then i go for a big roadtrip and the fastest and most aggressive driver i see is myself

Similar experience,

BUT, I must admit, there have to be some Thai drivers on Ya ba driving, (or is it you ) which I have to let pass and go, with my sense of reason.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ya_ba

Edited September 17, 2014 by ALFREDO

[ALFREDO]

so funny @ this forum, it seems that members are dumb as <deleted> but thinks that they are so clever, nobody could answer OP how to get a 20$ visa.

You needed, 3,5+ years, to come to that conclusion and find the time, will and determination,

to write that in a posting. lol

[ALFREDO]

Again i ask . Where did you find your (girlfriend) in Thailand ? My guess is she spoke English. Hmmm ? Where did she learn ? You might improve your chances next time by (A) doing some serious research which few tourists bother with and ( Learn Thai before you dealing with ANY Thai women.

Just member and already a "smart aleck", wise guy, know it all.

[Friendly Stranger]

Yes, this sounds familiar as it happened to me too on my first time there. And, I thought to myself I would not fall for something like this while on the bus. It just happened so fast as I thought I was being taken to the boarder then when I figuring it out it was too late. Never again but it was a lesson.

[Jaybee2]

Glad I used a normal visa run service rather than going it alone.

And yes Thai bus/van drivers can not drive, they tend to floor it and hope for the best. The garlands keep them safe. But if they do die they come back for another life, we as farrang, just die.

How much was the visa run service?

2500 all in. So I spent nothing other than buying an ice cream waiting for the agent to do the paper work... Mine was a V.I.P. bus with just 6 seats.

I have seen 1900 baht services also.

Same price I paid last spring for the VIP van (only 6 leather seats). Was the greatest visa run ever. Included breakfast at 7:00 AM at a very nice English-style hotel, and dinner upon our return, which was around 3:30 PM. Also free water and a snack in the bus, while we watched movies on a big screen with excellent sound. Saw "American Hustle", "12 Years a Slave," and "Lone survivor." All excellent movies, we stopped at a place with great food mid-way, and the day just flew by. We never even had to go to Cambodia. We sat in the shade at an outdoor snack shop, having a soda and ice cream, on the Thai side of the border, while a visa run employee crossed into Cambodia with our passports, waited a very short while for his return, and back through Thai immigration. Smooth as a whistle. All in all, it was a lovely day, spent with good company, and made some new friends!

As said, you can get a visa run in a regular (non-VIP) mini-van for only 1900 Baht. Done that one many times in the past, and it was miserable by the end of the day, all cramped up in small seats, and no breakfast or dinner included. The extra 600 Baht is well worth it. When you are traveling with others who are also comfortable, entertained, and not scared witless by a crazy driver (the driver was top-notch), then everyone is a happy camper, so you are having a nice time with happy mates instead of a miserable time with miserable people.

Fact is, given the numbers you quoted, I am thinking you (OP) spent as much or more than 2500, given the bribes, tips, bus and van for you and your GF. And what use was she? Zero. Did you really need her to tell you "you think too mutt!" lol

So next time leave the girl, and have a delightful day, rather than a horrible, scary experience. For the same money, and no worries.

Edited September 18, 2014 by Jaybee2

[ericthai]

Went twice to chong chom border. Cambodian visa was 1100 first time 1200 second. When they give you the visa , you cross the street pay 300 to get stamped out and walk again in Thailand. Thai border security never charged me 1฿

Should only be 1000B with your own picture, 1100 without your picture. Exit stamp tell them no. They will wait and then give in and stamp your passport.

Never paid the 300B exit fee. They get upset but they cant do anything.

[pomchop]

I have found that the absolute best way to avoid scammers or people trying to sell you ANYTHING is to completely and total ignore them...do not make eye contact, do not say no thank you or ANYTHING, certainly do not shake hands etc. TOTALLY IGNORE them and they will quickly give up.

If you try and be polite or give them any acknowledgement whatsoever is the opening they are looking for.

This applies to Indian Tailors, beach hustlers, massage touts, gum girls, shoeshine guys, and just about every single hustler out there. While it may seem rude it actually also saves the hustler their time/energy as they will move on to an easier "mark".

[ubonjoe]

A nonsensical post has been removed.

[Tayida]

Sorry...but why you still call that service a scam?It's a service that costs a lot:but be informed and ask all the price before get in trouble and all the problem are solved.For me scam is other things not that.

When i went to Laos for my business visa,the tuk tuk stops on his way in a building.Inside this building they offer to care my exit situation:i just say yes.Costs few bahts more than if i do all alone,but when i went out that office,i no have to care nothing...is this scam too?

[thhMan]

OP - your main mistakes, in no particular order were:

1. Letting your GF do the typical cruise mode thinking (which means NOT thinking). She should have been your saviour - take that as a hint. If she cares that less, or thinks that little.....I'd be worried. Hopefully she's not taking commission on your condo/hotel/market purchases.

2. You used public transport in Thailand. Public transport consists of Suicide Motorbike Taxis, Suicide Car Taxis, Kamikaze Vans, Kamikaze Busses, and Death Trains. You should have hired a car and driven yourself - your safety is then in your hands, and not the hands of a cretin that's high and drunk, can't drive to save himself, and actually DOES aspire to be an F1 driver.

3. If approached by anybody who offers to help you, pretend not to speak English and walk away. That way, you avoid getting scammed and have a chance to figure things out yourself. Also, you won't wake up in the morning with a headache and a phrophylactic hanging out of your rectum.

4. Do your research. This applies to everything in Thailand. Even something simple like going to the toilet has specific differences to western countries. That can apply to knowing how to use a bum gun without spraying your shirt, or how to politely get the plonker in the gogo bars from giving you a massage while standing at the urinal - which tends to affect your aim, thus you end up pissing on your shoes. Before doing anything official, research, research, research!!

We look forward to your future exploits of getting a drivers licence, buying 100 rai up north and building a lean-to that costs three million baht.

(p.s. all tongue in cheek, but take the core messages as gospel - Cheers )

Seriously... It must be knucklehead posting week....

Point number 2 is just ludicrous... Show some respect... granted there are a few dingleberries driving, but you make it sound suicidal!

Knucklehead - a rather quaint term that I'm not too familiar with but I'll assume it's an insult. You may be familiar with a term I might use to describe your post - Tosser! (You aren't from Mayberry are you? Andy Griffiths country?)

After having driven over one hundred thousand kilometres on Thailand roads at all hours of the day and night, I can say that if I were to estimate the proportion of dingleberries (to use your other quaint phrase that is not familiar to me, but I'm assuming equates to "Plonker"), that are at the controls of busses and vans......I would say that at least 30% and probably as high as 50% are driven by total lunatics.

The other 50%-70% are probably reasonable drivers compared to their less careful brethren, but they tend to fall asleep at inopportune times or mysteriously develop "failing brake syndrome" while approaching a 30klm bend at 100klm/h.

I drove to golf today. A forty klm round trip. If I saw one bus/van being driven in a manner that would have seen the driver arrested in most western countries, I saw twenty. The best one was the full sized double decker bus that sailed through a red light in excess of 90klm/h at least 10 seconds after it turned red, complete with minor traffic crossing against him. He was unusually polite - he did blast his horn in warning.

Hands up all TV members who think public transport here is either inherently safe, or inherently unsafe?

Actually an Aussie and sports bike rider as well...

For those 20 or so bad drivers... how many did you see that werent bad?

Police are trained to do a job. They dont do it, so thats why there is Anarchy on the road.

Australia and New Zealand police would lump us with heavy fines and thats why we tend to obey the law.

Thai people are not granted that and I am sure there are many Thais that are fed up with the minority, just as you and I am... Speak to your Thai friends, Im sure they have opinions about the driving habits of those dingleberries posing as van drivers!

[Grindting]

A quick google search on crossing into cams could have easily avoided your problems. I've only done it once and knew the tricks before arrival - tuktuk driver outside the train station tried to take us to a visa office (scam office) as they all do (according to wiki), I said as we pulled in "no thank you, we already have a visa". Without saying a word he did a U-turn and took us to the boarder, where we got our visas for $25.

She just told me "I think too much." lol.

Get rid of her immediately. She does not have your best interests at heart

[silomplaya]

newbie mistake ,

[tookwan cottage]

I have found that the absolute best way to avoid scammers or people trying to sell you ANYTHING is to completely and total ignore them...do not make eye contact, do not say no thank you or ANYTHING, certainly do not shake hands etc. TOTALLY IGNORE them and they will quickly give up.

If you try and be polite or give them any acknowledgement whatsoever is the opening they are looking for.

This applies to Indian Tailors, beach hustlers, massage touts, gum girls, shoeshine guys, and just about every single hustler out there. While it may seem rude it actually also saves the hustler their time/energy as they will move on to an easier "mark".

Really? I just give a firm, polite "no", with a genuine smile, and keep walking. Never had a problem in a long time.

[The manic]

You travelled - You had an adventure. Welcome to life. If travelling on out of date buses and dealing with 'suspicious characters' in a border towns causes you so much stress then leave the orient and go back to the Western Suburbs where you feel more secure.

[chrissables]

Going anywhere by road is the most stupid thng that you could do and just one of the first stupid things that you will do here...

What a stupid remark, and one that offers no help or insight into the problem. How do you travel then?

[SoFarAndNear]

Where is the problem? You are in a country which sorts out people who are using thai standard transportations and more prefer people who pay 500k THB for a 5 year 'Elite' card or get a wife or children here and even then you have to bring a fortune (for thai standards) to just stay with your family. You pretty much faced the reality that you are only welcome if you show $$$

[brianp0803]

I think a country offers visas because they feel it will benefit their country. Logical.

How does it benefit Thailand if you spend the same money as the local people? BKK already has too many people.

Visas are for the benefit of the country, not the traveler.

But if the traveler doesn't feel it is a good value then they won't come.

Yes. Money talks.

[gk10002000]

I recommend the Bangkok Buddy Travel Service. Fantastic and wonderful lady, there, Kuhn Tanya.