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[BugJackBaron]

OK I'm going to mention Villa-in Market again
This time in the Bangkok location nearest to Nana Plaza..

I was there a couple of months ago checking it out, dressed
in typical tourist threads. There were almost no farang - or anyone - there.
But to top it off, as I was browsing the various ailes and came around a corner
I saw a security(in plain clothes) hastily retreat. He had obvioussly and amateurishly
been following me for no good reason..
And they didn't even have Grape Nuts!


LAST TIME THERE

Edited by BugJackBaron, 2009-02-19 20:41:05.

[Thanh-BKK]

Hi.

There used to be a place near On Nut that had this "79 Baht Buffet" kind of thing where you can eat as much as you can and pay 79 Baht. I been to many such places and always happy, so when this one opened me and my BF went there.

We ordered the regular 79 Baht buffet, Pepsi for me and water for him.

And in the end the bill came to slightly over 300 Baht, WTF..??

They charged extra for:

- ice
- the bucket for the ice (!!)
- the stove to keep the soup warm (which we didn't order but assumed it was part of the menu)
- the chopsticks (!!!) and
- the car park, or rather the boy with the stupid whistle who "directed" me to an imaginative "dedicated spot" in the huge, empty, yard.

Then they added 10% "service charge" (what service at a buffet?? We got everything ourselves, except for the Pepsi and water bottles!) and 7% tax on top of the whole bill.

LAST TIME THERE.

The place has since shut down.

Best regards......

Thanh

[NaiGreg]

Thanh-BKK, on 2009-02-19 20:50:20, said:

They charged extra for:

- ice
- the bucket for the ice (!!)
- the stove to keep the soup warm (which we didn't order but assumed it was part of the menu)
- the chopsticks (!!!) and
- the car park, or rather the boy with the stupid whistle who "directed" me to an imaginative "dedicated spot" in the huge, empty, yard.

Then they added 10% "service charge" (what service at a buffet?? We got everything ourselves, except for the Pepsi and water bottles!) and 7% tax on top of the whole bill.

I think we have a winner!

[dave9988]

when i go to sunrise tacos i always go "Huh???" when I get the bill cause they tack on other charges (VAT, SERVICE, ETC) it does not stop me from eating there and at other places but i would rather they just put that stuff into the initial price because it always makes you feel like you were deceived.

[Jingthing]

I would like to add a case of a restaurant I am sticking with. I like their food and their prices but more often than I like, they mess up the order. For example, make it spicy, and not spicy. Here is the BIG difference. When I talk to the owner about the problem, three times now he has immediately offered to completely redo the order! This is so incredibly unusual in Thailand that I have been truly moved by the gesture and declined the offers. Now I know if an order comes that is completely unacceptable the offer will be made again, and I will accept it. Just an example of a restaurant that is not perfect (no such thing) but that CARES about their customers satisfaction and CARES that the customers are happy enough to come back. For me anyway, that makes a huge difference.

Edited by Jingthing, 2009-02-20 00:21:15.

[yabaaaa]

Most of the time all I want is a decent apology just to change the whole tone of the converstaion. If i see someone apologise to me I am much more amenable and willing to forget it and likely to go back.

[Lost in LOS]

dave111223, on 2009-02-18 19:44:58, said:

BugJackBaron, on 2009-02-19 11:16:22, said:

Here is something that gets me, though I sometimes still come back..

Take the Villa Market restaurant ...they have a "grandma's turkey" with a picture on the
wall showing turkey and COOKED VEGETABLES like brocolli..
When you get it you will get the Turkey but only a small salad with dressing on the side...
In the west we would call that misleading advertising...

Come on dude (although i'm not a big fan on Villa since they forgot my turkey one year), if you believed you were getting everything in every advertisement picture you'd be pretty disappointed all the time.
Unless the sign actually said "Comes with cooked vegetables" then assume that you are only getting the product specifically named in the advertisement.

I'm still wondering why my car didn't come with a hot babe inside.

mine did, i would complain if i were you.........

[Lost in LOS]

I used to go to the open bar at the walking street end of soi happy with a friend who always ordered coffee, I had something else. they have an espresso machine to make it and its ok. no problems until the time we both order coffee. mine comes out good with the nice yellow cream that comes out when it is brewed right and his is like dishwater. they put the check in the cup on the table. we call over the waitress and I explain to her that instead of disposing of the coffee from the first cup someone used it a second time and the coffee was really bad. she said she will make a new one. it was delivered by the thai man owner with a bill in his hand, oh oh, i see it coming. said pay now and they had charged for 3 cups [waitress even took the second one back before]. this coffee looked fine but we told him we didnt drink the other cup, they took it back because it was bad and this was the replacement. he insisted we pay. we paid and he now misses his 3x weekly guests including many of my friends that used to go there. That was a year ago so that was an expensive sham he pulled.

[p_brownstone]

Whenever I hear people complain about bad Service in Thai restaurants I am reminded of a (true) incident when I lived in Nigeria several years ago.

There was a Fast Food type place in downtown Lagos; one lunchtime, as usual, the place filled up with local office workers on break – everyone sat down waiting for the waiters to attend to them. None of the Customers knew that there was a labour dispute in progress between the serving staff and the manager ……….. the staff were on strike.

So horrendous was the usual "service" that the customers sat at their tables for over 20 minutes – un-served – before they realised something was wrong.

Patrick

[Jingthing]

Quote

That was a year ago so that was an expensive sham he pulled.

This kind of short sighted behavior is sadly common here. One time rip off and lose customers for life. even recognized regulars.

Edited by Jingthing, 2009-02-20 17:04:58.

[actiondell4]

Well.....I can name a few,first big disapointment was a fish and chip restaurant I used to frequent nearly everyday on the main road in Jomtiem.
They had employed a very pushy waitress who insisted on telling me her financial problems whilst i was ordering and told me she expected a tip at the end of my meal .

When the checkbin arrived she loudly begged me for a tip and i looked over to see the farang owner from the kitchen stare at me to see how much tip i was going to give her so i only gave her 20 bbaht,only to see him shake his head and walk off.
Here was a business i had gone to everyday for lunch and dinner,LAST TIME !!!!!!!

Another was a now defunct small hotel/guesthouse on the way to jomtiem,it was july 2005 if i remember and i dont know what made me pick this place,but it was 600 baht a night run by a thai lady and her farang european husband.
He seemed very nice and i paid for 3 nights planning to go to Chiang Mai for 3 nights and come back to stay in jomtiem when i get back.
Anyway its 11pm at night when i arrived so went up to have a long awaited shower and no soap,the nearest convenience store was a baht bus ride away so i went down and asked and he the farang owner gave me a bar of soap.
I was quite happy with the place so the day before leaving to go to chiang mai i paid for
a extra week and gave the thai lady cash,i was the only customer they had.,and they booked me a cab to take me to bangkok airport and one to pick me up in a few days to return me to them.
so i partied in pattaya and unfortanetely woke up at 1230pm, the taxi was booked for 11am,so i rushed downstairs to find the taxi not there plus the nasty thai lady telling me that i must pay a extra night because checkout was 12pm.
she then told me the taxi had arrived and left,she told me "this not her job to knock on my door"".
I had already paid a extra week for when i get back from chiang mai so i told her i wanted to cancel that.
She wanted to argue until her nice husband asked her in front of me not to be so spiteful.
He apologised and she then said she would not charge me a extra night but i wanted a refund.
I thought it was nasty of her to try to charge me a extra night because i was 30 mins late ,she missed out on a further 4 nights of my business.
Additionaly she charged me a extra 50 baht for soap plus kept the taxi money.

[toptuan]

When I treat a guest to a meal, it's usually my purpose to converse with them during the meal. Duh. I never go back to a restaurant that plays the music or TV so loud you can't hear the other person talking. You feel so stupid just sitting there silently eating when conversation is impossible, or trying to shout over the noise until you're hoarse.

(Interestingly, Nakon Chai Air buses always turn on the video really loud about the last 30 minutes of a trip--presumably to wake up the passengers--but it makes it impossible to receive or make any phone calls which usually come in abundance near the end of a trip for ongoing transportation or pick-up. Very customer-unfriendly. I think it goes along with the whole "noise" thing in Thailand--which is definitely not most westerners' cup of tea!).

[Lost in LOS]

I will go back but a funny story

yesterday i went to chilies restaurant on pattaya thai, I love their pad thai gai, about 12:30 for lunch. suprisingly, i was the only one there and sat on the patio. the waiter came up, handed me a menu and asked if i wanted to order a drink while i read the menu. i told him i will order everything at once as i know what i wanted. he said i should order a drink first till kitchen opens. i said when does the kitchen open, and he said he didnt know. i asked why not and he said there was no power on pattaya tai and he didnt know when there would be. I smiled and left.

I will go back but strange the thought process as they would have let me order the drink, drink it, then tell me there is not food then want me to pay for the drink.

TIT

[sgunn65]

When I set up my business here I got in touch with a tour company to take our clients out on a sunday excursion. I asked for a private van and guide once a week. They quoted me 3,500 baht.

I thought this reasonable so I said to the owner I will book you for a year and will pay you once a month and if we dont need you one wekk we will pay you anyway. So they were guaranteed 52 weeks work whether they worked or not.

I asked what the price would be thinking that I would get a block booking discount.

They phoned me back the next day to give me the price.

5,000 baht per trip!!!!!! Go figure.

[mangostays]

I never eat at restaurants attached to bungalow resorts on the beach. The food is always rubbish and the service crap.
Golden moment when I blacklist a restaurant is when I suspect I've been overcharged (farang price) or I get an ounce of attitude off any of the staff.
Note, I am an easy client. I eat almost anything and accept that sometimes a place just get's it wrong. Dishonesty, anti-foreign sentiment; whatever - they can stick it up there arse.

Bad service happens all over the place, however it is aggravated in Thailand because:
1. Many business owners see the farang as simply somebody who passes through and thus no serious comback on rip offs is likely.
2. Many business owners think that they will automatically win any legal dispute with a foreigner on account of being Thai.
3. Many business owners have no concept of the 'ongoing business model'.
4. Many business owners think foreigners are stupid and know nothing about Thai food.



They don't really give a toss what we think at the end of the day.

[freddy]

I have a classic!! Some years ago I ordered a capaccino in a small but long running restaurant in south Pattaya. It was taking a while to come so, using the extensive mirrors that run down each side of the restaurant, I managed to take a peek at the girl behind the counter who was "making" my capuccino. Lo and behold it seems the machine was not working and so she was blowing through a straw into my coffee to try to make it look like capuccino!! When it arrived I did not have the heart to point this out to someone so obviously retarded so I merely paid, had a glass of water instead and left!!!! Amazing Thailand eh!!??

Edited by freddy, 2009-02-22 15:05:18.

[BugJackBaron]

freddy, on 2009-02-22 15:03:45, said:

I have a classic!! Some years ago I ordered a capaccino in a small but long running restaurant in south Pattaya. It was taking a while to come so, using the extensive mirrors that run down each side of the restaurant, I managed to take a peek at the girl behind the counter who was "making" my capuccino. Lo and behold it seems the machine was not working and so she was blowing through a straw into my coffee to try to make it look like capuccino!! When it arrived I did not have the heart to point this out to someone so obviously retarded so I merely paid, had a glass of water instead and left!!!! Amazing Thailand eh!!??

You should have at least tried it

Seriously, this reminds me of the small convenience store inside the Pattaya Bus Terminal(intercity)
They have a machine that offers coffee such as expresso, cappicino, cafe au lait..
It's quite cheap - maybe 20 baht or so..
Cafe au lait was coffee with a bit of milk on top!
I refused to pay and the owner got quite miffed.

[brahmburgers]

Only read the 1st page, but here's my spin:

first off, in the US, it's annoying that tips at eateries are totally expected. You don't tip, and they look at you like scum - and expect intentionally crappy service next time.

Sorry to hear that required tipping is becoming more evident in Pattaya and other heavily touristed places.
It goes without saying that required tips are never mentioned before the fact. That, in itself, would be a major reason for me to avoid a place - whether an eatery or hotel, or whatever.

Thankfully for me, there are as yet, no required tip places here in northernmost Thailand (that I know of). However, there is one restaurant here (I've heard of) with a dual pricing - for farang and for Thais. That would also be a complete turn-off for me.

Two of my favorite restaurants are run by Muslims. Not only is the food a whole lot tastier (for me) than Thai places, the service at both places is 2nd to none. Plus it's very low price for high quality. Oh, and they put decent sized soap in their clean bathrooms.

[dave111223]

BugJackBaron, on 2009-02-22 15:18:00, said:

freddy, on 2009-02-22 15:03:45, said:

I have a classic!! Some years ago I ordered a capaccino in a small but long running restaurant in south Pattaya. It was taking a while to come so, using the extensive mirrors that run down each side of the restaurant, I managed to take a peek at the girl behind the counter who was "making" my capuccino. Lo and behold it seems the machine was not working and so she was blowing through a straw into my coffee to try to make it look like capuccino!! When it arrived I did not have the heart to point this out to someone so obviously retarded so I merely paid, had a glass of water instead and left!!!! Amazing Thailand eh!!??

You should have at least tried it

You're assuming she was using her mouth to blow the bubbles

[Jingthing]

More stories please! I am happy that this thread has encouraged some truly amusing ones.

[rch1023]

Tinkelbell, on 2009-02-18 03:42:22, said:

quoted........am seeing an explosion of both farang oriented and Thai restaurants starting to tack on a 10%-15% "service charge". This is in addition to tax and tip. When I find a place that has newly implemented this policy, I tip the staff as I normally do and cross the restaurant off my list. Hundreds more to choose from..."

..........................................................................


I'm with you on this.

Being a Thai from the US, I tend to be a fairly tipper, normally between 15%-20% (if cocktails being served). Quite often if I enjoy the meals so much ( the chef prepares all the dishes to my liking), then I tips the chief separatedly .

But I can not stand any eating establishments automatic added the service charges on the restaurant tab WITHOUT printing this policy on the menu where the customers can see. So usually we end up double tips without knowing.

As you already know, in the US you would find a small print at the bottom of the menu; a 18% service charged will be added for a party of 5 and more. Fairs and squares.

One thing is funny when dining out in BKK, I was the one who found out ( 2 years ago) that we had been double tipping for ages, my group of Thai friends never once looking at the tab one item at a time. All they did was to pay the total plus 15% tips.

Now we avoid those places ( they must be missed our tips), we feel it's not nice to do that to your regular customers.

Tipping: I was told a long time ago that the tip you put on the table goes in the pot - and the managers dip into that pot. The tip you put in the hand goes in that peosons pocket - by Thai custom. Guess where my tips go!

Equally, if its not on the menu, they can't charge you (service charge) - but try hanging on to the menu.

Caveat emptor

[wileycoyote]

We had used a very good restauarant for several years & also purchased take-aways from them.
Well after New Year ,they announced that they would be closed for extensive refurbishment as they had bought the restaurant next door & would be combining the kitchen,serving areas etc
However their chef & cooks would be temporarily working in the the other kitchen offering take-away service.
Well the take-away was disastrous,I am always suspicious when you find "extra sliced onons" as this is the cheapest cooking ingredient and conceals other omissions.
Anyway ,we put the takeaway down to transition,waited for the Grand Opening ,and boooked a table .
When we received our food ,we discovered that it was the same standard or worse than the take-away.
When I mentioned our disatisfaction to the waiter ,he said that all the old staff,chef,cooks,waiters all gone....
We had been rooked !

[G54]

Several places lost my patronage but the one that sticks out most is a certain moon place. The g/f ordered a fish dish that came with vegetables. She got one small fish on a plate and even that did not look appetising LOL. No veggies.
Same place. I ordered a Leo beer. A different waitress had a word with the girl serving me and I was given some of that cr*p Heineken. I was served from behind so did not see the bottle until too late. Words were spoken over the change of order but the attitude stank.

Terrible service in some places. One dish arrives 10 minutes before the next, the next etc. Wrong dishes and asked for in Thai by a Thai. The attitude to work sucks in many places, maybe due to low wages or whatever, but they are given a chance or two before I refuse to go back.

Have to admit that most places do make an effort and the odd mistakes will happen so cannot condemn a place on one mistake.

[ozzieovaseas]

Time to get a grip fellas

you wouldnt even get a decent entree back home for the price you pay for a banquet here.

[Jingthing]

ozzieovaseas, on 2009-03-11 00:12:29, said:

Time to get a grip fellas

you wouldnt even get a decent entree back home for the price you pay for a banquet here.

How many years do we have to live here in Thailand for you to give us permission not to bother comparing things to "back home"?

To take this to the absurd level, say a Thai person visits America and realizes that pad Thai costs at least 250 baht there. So now every time he eats a 30 baht pad Thai do you think he should think about the great bargain he is getting?

Also, money is only one aspect of the reasons food businesses lose our business here.

Edited by Jingthing, 2009-03-11 00:26:25.