Banged Up in Thailand

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

BoP will now interpret for the could not care less!

When on holiday in a strange land, do not get slaughtered!

lammy82

Going slightly against the grain, whilst TUI do not have any legal responsibility for what happened, I think that as a reputable travel company they *should* have been more helpful in offering to relocate you when you expressed dissatisfaction with the hotel and area, given that you indicated you would be willing to pay for this. They are a travel agency, so it's reasonable to think that they would be able to arrange a transfer to another hotel, or flights home, if you're willing to pay for them. It seems they weren't able or willing to help you with that. But this is something that you would address through negative feedback or a strongly worded letter, rather than trying to establish that they were legally or contractually negligent in some way.

If you really are in fear for your safety then you should book a flight home or elsewhere and jump in a taxi to the airport. You say you want to leave the hotel but as far as I can see the hotel haven't done anything wrong other than ask for a credit card. Your problem was caused by falling victim to a scam in a local bar.

For what it's worth, it sounds like your business with the bar owner is now concluded, so I don't think you're in an unsafe situation. There's nothing unsafe about the hotel, so if I were you I would just hang out there and enjoy the facilities.

hollydays

I don’t believe it

photome

I loved patpong, 24 years ago, but I knew the pitfalls as I had done my homework. Those scams were about then , so should be easily avoidable


Why did you have so many drinks when your girlfriend was elsewhere

Malthusian

dacouch wrote: »

I think you have added an extra zero to the figure as 80000 Thai Baht is closer to £1900

After at least nine drinks including cocktails and shots "two free cocktails... 4 drinks at 190 TB each... 2 free shots... after happy hour finished I had one or possibly 2 more drinks" a bit of double vision is not surprising.

The OP should have counted his blessings that he's still alive, paid the bill and chalked it up to experience. He's fortunate he wasn't found beaten to death in a dark alley, or beaten to death by his girlfriend after "briefly parting ways" to get pumped with 9-10 drinks by obvious scam artists.

db.8609

Thank you for the constructive feedback everyone.

First I'll clear a few things up which I may have explained poorly.

Then I will describe the outcome (resolved-ish).

I do not want a refund or compo, or anything of the sort. My concern was that if I changed my hotel TUI may not honour the rest of my package i.e. flights. SO I wanted to know my consumer rights. I googled first but I was in a bit of a state at the time and thought it might be wiser to ask those with more knowledge than I.

The gambling was introduced as a "game" and most tables had them. All on CCTV. No money changed hands for this game winning or losing. It was a case of "winning" drinks as explained to me.

Farang: The receptionist knew my name, so I would like to be referred to by my name, as a paying guest in a TUI approved resort.

I didn't simply whip out my camera and start filming her. She disappeared for quite some time at which point I popped my phone down to show that she had my card in her possession for such a long time - despite the debit card being "no good".

A few minutes after this, my debit card bacame blocked due to multiple attempts to transfer 20,000TB (the secuirty deposit was 5,000TB. I spoke to my bank and they explained what had happened. So I'm fairly pleased I had the presence of mind to film this "non-farang" (I that ok??).

Security deposits are fine but all I had was a debit card and GBP (unexpected expenses on he way over. I was told to go home.

I did not film the police - a concerned individual did. I have the footage of the extortion and corruption and the fact that this bar owner obviously has the police in his pocket. I believe these may have been the tourist police but am not sure.

All in all, I doubt anyone cares much - but the British embassy in Bangkok are interested and are creating a file.

TUI did move us to another hotel, a good 20-30 minutes away. I feel much better now because the police told the bar owner my name, hotel, and room number of the previous hotel. Now we feel a lot safer.

Thank you TUI.

db.8609

I didn't have "so many" - I would have been barely over the UK legal limit.

I am here for consumer advice.

duchy

Nah it's a wind up......even the least uninformed person knows nine alcoholic drinks is not "barely over the UK driving limit"

LABMAN

db.8609 wrote: »

I didn't have "so many" - I would have been barely over the UK legal limit.

I am here for consumer advice.

There isn't a 'UK legal limit'. Scotland has a different limit from England and Wales and NI.

kazwookie

You have fallen into a typical tourist trap

Never ever gamble with the locals you WILL lose, no matter even if you win you have LOST.

Stay in the main tourist area go NOT go wandering about in dark off beat streets, you are just asking for travel.

I go to Thailand a lot, and on my own, I never have had any trouble, but then I am not daft enough to do the things you have done.

At least it seems you did not end up 'short time' with a local 'lady'