Bangkok Scams
Every country has people who try to deceive others into giving them money through a scheme or a trick, Bangkok Thailand is no different. There are many different levels of scamming people but in the end the fact is these people are all trying to steal money from you, even if it is for only a few extra baht.
Bangkok can be the place where all your dreams come true but be careful or you might get scammed. The first section will discuss some common scams in Bangkok, Thailand and the second section will provide you with some helpful advice to avoid these Bangkok scams.
Common Scams in Bangkok
Jewelry Scam/Tuk Tuk Scam/Thai Gem Scam
Common Gem Scam by dougww via Flickr
This is one of the most prolific scams in Thailand and is believed to have been going on for over 20 years. When you are walking around a tourist site, such as Siam Square, Khao San road, Wat Po or the Grand Palace Wat Pra Kaew you will be told that the Palace is closed or the venue you are going to is closed. For example lets say you are going to Wat Pra Kaew, the initial scammer will make up a reason for why the palace is closed, such as Monks are chanting, it’s a Buddhist holiday or another reason.
He will then take you to a tuk tuk driver who will claim to take you to the nearby Big Buddha and Lucky Buddha, which actually doesn’t exist. He will actually end up taking you to a jewelry shop and try to get you to invest in some jewelry, which the jewelers claim will fetch you a lot of money back in your home country.
In the end, if you fall for this Bangkok scam and actually buy the jewelry for about $2,500 dollars or about 100,000 baht you will leave with some fake jewelry, which is probably made out of glass that won’t net you much money at home.
Patpong Sex Show Scam
This is another Bangkok scam, which has been going on for awhile. The patpong area is famous for its sex shows and cheap shops surrounding them. If you choose to go to a sex show you will be asked to buy some of the dancers an optional drink, which most people don’t do, unless they really like a girl. Drinks in Patpong will usually cost anywhere from 80 to 120 baht, however when new tourists who have just arrived to Thailand come to Patpong they may be tricked into going to the second floor of a nudie bar and watching a sex show.
When you enter any one of these bars you have to buy a drink which is typically about 80-120 baht but if you go to the 2nd floor of Patpong the owners will make you pay 1000 baht, they will charge you for a service fee, drink fee and nonexistent sex show fee. Be careful sometimes the bill can be higher than 1000 baht!
Taxi Scams
This Bangkok scam can occur anywhere in Thailand but it usually occurs at the airport. Drivers will ask where you want to go and just throw out a random figure, such as 500 baht or 1000 baht. However if they used the meter the ride would be a whole lot cheaper.
500 baht or 15 or 20 dollars is nothing for most Americans for a Taxi ride but the regular price would probably be 200 baht or less, so they are making a lot of money scamming you.
How to avoid Bangkok scams
- Travel buddy – Travel with or meet up with someone who has been living in Bangkok for a few months or years. If the person is Thai your risk of being scammed drops tremendously.
- Don’t take discounted rides or free rides – Don’t take free rides from anybody unless you know them, especially if they are tuk tuk or taxi drivers, they will probably bring you somewhere shady. Keep in mind that these drivers will get a cut of the money that they scam from you.
- No meter no problem! – Many taxis will approach you and offer a steep price for their services, such as 500 baht. Don’t go into these taxi’s, be patient and find one which is willing to be legit and use a taxi meter.
- Try not be too greedy – If a suit or jewelry deal seems too good to be true than it probably is. Don’t be blind-sided by your own greed.
- Never put too much faith in complete strangers – Thailand is known as the land of smiles and the people in Thailand are actually very friendly, the problem is their smiles and kindness will cause you to put your guard down, don’t go with or trust random strangers you have just met. You may end up drugged and scammed!
Scams on travellers in Bangkok
Dear friends, travellers,
I spent really unexpectedly amazing stay in Bangkok. I can recommend this beautiful city, as it is one of the most beautiful cities with warm people, which I’ve ever visited. There’s a couple of things there, which I’d like to share with you, which can be a nuisance for your stay. I know, that what I’m writing, that’s just my own experience (maybe naivety), and I know also, that the other of those, who will visit this magic city, will have to go through this, but at least, I’d like to warn those, who have got the oportunity to read this text.
Be careful, especially from the beginning of your stay, and being in the city for the first time in your life. Different people will ask you: Where are you from, how long will be staying in Bangkok, when did you arrive, what you would like to see and visit here etc.
Be extremely careful with tuk tuk (mini taxi 3 wheeled vehicle) drivers and smartly looking mostly men with good spoken English (Thais sometimes hardly understand English – not all of them, but that’s common thing).
I can understand tuk tuk drivers – as driving around the city is obviously not a gold mine, so they try to get some extra commissions and try to persuade the travellers for offers on the river cruises (obviously much more expensive that with a travel agency), which are quite expensive. In my case they required 2000 baht for whole the boat. I was in the euphoria from the city, so managed ‘to bargain’ the price to 1700 baht. The inetersting thing was, that when I met German speaking visitors after the cruise and they asked my, how much I paid, the staff started be in a hurry, maybe me not to say something, which they didn’t like – they obviously knew why…
The next ride went on, that we visited a couple of temples (wats), and after the next attacks on the wallet – a tailor’s shop. The aggressive attitude of the staff was also obvious. They try to force and press the travellers to purchase a shirt, or for them even better whole the suit – even if I objected, that I wasn’t in a need of those things. Next of the scums of the business mafia. I agreed in the end and bough shirts for an excessive price – this wasn’t the most clever decision, but can survive with humour, it isn’t the end of the world, is it?
If you want to buy a shirt though – the quality seems quite good and they work quick – I strongly recommend hard bargaining – 1000 baht (about 20 Euros) is a maximum – they gain profits on that too.
I was told, that the company is called ‘THAI FACTORY’ (obviously just a general name not a brand), and was allegedly ‘government controlled’. This doesn’t seem to be the truth, that the company called BOBE COLLECTION GROUP CO., LTD. (the address is: 476 Soi Suanmali 3, Bamrung Muang Road, Debsirin Promprab, Bangkok, 10100, phone 02-2230839, e-mail: bobe-collection.group@hotmail.com, no accessible website at all for checking the goods), would be somehow connected to the government, especially after checking their price policy – government controlled companies don’t behave as aggressively as this one did, but opposite way…
However much more tricky are men with good English. They hunt on the spots, full of travellers, and if they see, that you look at the map, they ‘helpfully’ come to you and ask: ‘Where are you going, how long have you been in the city, etc.’, the same questions as the tuk tuk drivers. They give you advice very ‘helpfully’ (almost like unselfish it looks like – a guy like this even refused 20 baht, I offered him for that). They call a tuk tuk for you, and tell the driver, where you would like to go (if your direction is not very suitable for them, they try to tell you rubbish – e.g. the wat is closed now, it’ll be open in the afternoon from 2 o’clock etc.) They tell you, that the driver will bring you to interesting places around: one of them is just mentioned ‘THAI FACTORY’. Be therefore very careful – some people in Bangkok see in us from the West only walking wallets and credit cards and tell you rubbish, that you’ll be unpleasently surprised after… How many times I could hear: ‘You are lucky today, because of this is only today open’. I heard this even in the wats – temples sacred to Buddha – who is considered as an idol!!!
I want to tell you in the end, that I met many smiling and nice people in Bangkok – wish we would be like that, us from the West – really helpful and welcoming (I know that’s not always like this, unfortunately), and either the tuk tuk drivers or even more the hustlers, couldn’t spoil my stay here. I wish a great stay in this amazing city.
SUGGESTIONS IN THE END:
Just a couple of suggestions, if you meet the described situations;
1 TUK TUK
– go only from a point A to a point B
– refuse a change of your required route – always connected with a ‘visit’ of
overcharged river boat trip or a tailor shop with aggressive staff
– if it happens to you, that the driver brings you to the shops: Say inside, that
you already have got everything – suits, shirts etc. You can also say, that
you know, that the driver will get vouchers for petrol, if he drives you there
– if they ask you, where you bought the things (shirts, suits) a how much you
paid for them – say without a hesitation for example 1 shirt for 1000 baht in
Thai Factory (or other shop in Bangkok), or that you thank them, but
everything was paid already – they’ll leave you alone (the best way out of
this situation)
– don’t believe everything, what they tell you – E.g. that a shop is ‘goverment
controlled’ – should it really be like this, they couldn’t shave customers like
this / or it’s open just today, you’re lucky today, the wat is open just in the
afternoon etc. – they want to ‘offer’ you a morning tour around the shops
– don’t shout, swear – it will not help anything – just keep smiling and think your
own (I did the same)
– modify the truth after yourself – drivers and hustlers do the same…
2 HUSTLERS
– if somebody comes to you and very ‘helpfully and overzealously’ with good
English ‘explains and helps’ to find out the directions, it’s very dodgy – if you
don’t know, ask rather by yourself (even foreigners – they could be also
helpful as they know us being here foreigners too…)
– they ask questions (the same as tuk tuk drivers and in the tailor shops) –
how long have you been in the city, where are you from, where have you
been, where are you going etc.
– they try to make you a part of their business (tailor shops, boat trips –
overcharged…)
– advice – ignore them absolutely, or pretend not understanding them (they
see walking dollars, euros… or credit cards)
– don’t get on to ‘helpfully’ called tuk tuk for 30 or 40 baht – they give
instructions to the driver, where to bring you (shops, tailor shops…) – see
TUK TUK part also
– if there’s somebody persistent in their actions, just turn around and ignore
them (the same with drivers – do, that you don’t see them…)
– be careful especially on the busy places (wats, railway station etc.), they are
waiting there..
Scams can easily be avoided though by reading tips like these and being mindful. Glad to hear you had a great stay in Bangkok, the best city in the world 🙂
Thanks for your kind response. I hope, that it’ll help at least somebody to avoid this. It was my first trip to Asia and I will never honestly forget… 🙂
I fell victim to a couple of scams during my first visit to Bangkok (and Asia) too. But that was before there were tips and warnings like these readily available on the internet. I hope that we at least get to some people before their first visit. It is a shame that many people get a tarnished view on Bangkok after having been duped.
My wife and I have been scammed today. However, as opposed to your situation, the scam that we have been exposed to actually involved a lot of people, apparently. The “tuk-tuk driver -> fake jewelry” pattern has undoubtfully changed, and is now really a caveat emptor.
We were exiting the Grand Palace when we were “coincidentally” passed by a smiling and well-spoken Thai man in his 40-s. He had a trustworthy smile and spoke very well English. He asked us a few ‘basic’ questions’, like where we were from and how long we have been in Thailand and so on. He said that he was working as a guide at the Grand Palace and offered to show a few places of interest on a map, like “Ancient temple”, “Thai Factory” and “Marble Palace”, all of which could be accessed with a cheap (20 Baht per person) tuk tuk ride.
Sure enough, the “ancient temple” turned out to be a small Buddhist temple somewhere in a residential area, and while beautiful, the temple was as “ancient” as an iPhone 4 (though some may have already rendered any iPhone below 5 as “obsolete”). Then, we were taken to the “Thai factory” (in reality, an Indian-Thai tailor shop “BOBE Collection Group; there is no information about them anywhere on the net). The tailor there appeared as an somewhat aggressive all-out seller. After that, we were dropped of at the Golden Mount Buddhist temple instead of the Marble Temple.
This story has a happy ending of sorts: I have indeed purchased a full 4-pieces suit for about 17 000 Baht (which is ridiculously small a price compared to what one would have to pay in my home country), and besides, I really need a new suit. My wife agrees. In addition, we have, as previously agreed, only paid 40 Baht for two for a quite long tuk tuk ride (something we intended to do anyway) and also seen the beautiful Golden Mount, a temple which also offers a great view of residential Bangkok.
However, if you do not appreciate being scammed, or travelling on a tight budget, or are price-concious, or all of the above, please beware! The easiest way to avoid scams, in our experience, is to tone down the “tourist appeal”, for example, do not hold a map or look lost; even if you are lost, try to look like you have a purpose to your walking. This way, there is less chance to be approached by “helpful” local “guides”.
Do not accept any offers made by tuk tuk drivers, taxi drivers and “tourist informations” (if you need some touristic information, ask a concierge or a staff at your hotel – they are usually very helpful and professional, – or see the net or a local TAT Information Office, which is official; other “tourist informations”, especially ones selling tickets, are usually travel guides who overcharge you for your bookings). Avoid answering persona questions like the country of origin and how long you have been in Thailand etc.
And most important: if an offer seems to be too good to be true, it usually is.
In our case, the chain of scammers was longer (the “office clerk”, the tuk tuk driver, the “anceint temple” keeper and BOBE Collection Group tailor). We have been doing a lot of extensive reading on this issue and were well equiiped to deal with any tuk tuk or taxi scam; this, however, was somewhat unexpected. Well, it is an experience anyway.
In all honesty, I must say that both the tuk tuk driver and the tailor were professional, polite and informative, and we didn’t feel threatened or forced, and we could’ve left the tailor shop without making a purchase.
Thanks for sharing Alexander. Hopefully someone will read this before they are scammed. It is basically the same scam, although not all involve so many people. There are many variations of this flourishing, and they have become more advanced over the years. I guess these guys have perfected it so that even if you were prepared you did not see it until it was too late.
I am glad you were still happy afterwards though. Most people react the same way as you, having gotten a suit much cheaper than at home anyway and were able to get some cheap sightseeing. That being said it is still a scam and it is sad that they are allowed to operate this way.
Hope it hasn’t tarnished your view of Thailand too much.
hi all, now i think this trick will never go bad! everyone keep falling for it including myself. I got scammed by Erawan Lapidary and I haven’t even pay off my credit card bills..
if anyone of you would like to go to BKK, let see if we can meet or go together. I’m from malaysia. my e-mail: mia.f20118@gmail.com
Sorry to hear you were scammed Mia. Unfortunately a common thing. Good idea to suggest to meet up with fellow travelers. And of course good idea to read up on tips like this in the internet 🙂
Hello, I think I was scamed!
I read this article after i spend my money by the “Thai Factory” (Bobe Colletion Group CO., LTD.) Now my question. Is it also a bad quality of the suit? It would be pleasent when someone give me an answer.
I paid for a jacket, trouser and a shirt 12000 Baht!
I have never personally dealt with that outfit myself, so I can’t tell you about the quality of your suit.
Generally though many tailors in Bangkok use the same suppliers, meaning the same people sow the suits for many different tailors. The shops themselves act more like show rooms in most cases.
The price depends most on the fabric chosen. So 12.000 Baht though it seems very expensive can be an ok price. That being said unless you have very special fabric and the cutting and sowing is superior I dare venture to say that you have probably paid a lot more than you should have.
This is a very common scam so I wouldn’t be surprised if you fell victim to it, just like I did on my first visit to Bangkok 😉
Thanks for the comment Patrick and I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more help.
If a Thai is nice to you….BE CAREFUL.
Every one of them think you are a target.
That is awfully cynical of you JJ. But unfortunately it can feel that way until you have been there long enough to make real friends.
I felt the same way many years ago after I had only been to Thailand 3-4 times. I think the reason for feeling that way is that the majority of Thais you meet in tourist places see you like an open wallet.
Normal Thai people don’t frequent those places. If you want to meet nice Thais you have to stop hanging around places like that. Thais are like other people, some are nice and some are not so nice.
But you are right in being wary when meeting overly friendly people in tourist places. Normal Thais don’t behave that way.
Hi !
I’m actualy in Bangkok and a tuk tuk driver drive me to Thai factory because i would like some suits.
I paid 20 000 bath for 2 suits, 2 trousers and 2 shirts.
Do you think is a scam ? I have to o tomorrow to try my suits.
And second thing, the tuk tuk driver drive me to a happy bouddha temple and say also its only today ^^. I have to e careful with this men ? Because I will see him again tomorrow.
Thank you !!
Hi Capo. Paying 20.000 Baht for that sounds very expensive to me. Unless the fabrics you have chosen are the most expensive and of the best quality I dare venture to say you have paid far too much.
One thing you should know is that when you go with tuk tuk drivers or other people they receive kickbacks from your purchase. Depending on the deal they have with the different shops this can be anything from 20-40% of the total price you pay.
I’m not sure I understand what your second question is. One normal scam is to say they will take somewhere and along the way they will stop at tailor shops or jewelery shops urging you to go in to “just look”. What follows is a high pressure sales situation. If you buy something they will get a percentage of what you pay. Another normal scam is when you ask some driver to take you somewhere they will say that the attraction is closed and say they will take you to see the happy Buddha or something. And then follows the same scam as above.
It’s not normally dangerous to go with these people. They will certainly try to make you pay a lot more than you need to but they rarely get violent.
If you want our help we can recommend you to good and honest tailors where we have already negotiated prices for you (yes we will receive a small kickback). But you will get good quality suits starting from about 5.000 Baht depending on the fabric chosen. If you are interested you can email me at frank@bangkokbeyond.com
Hi Frank.
Sorry to answer so late.
I’m back to France now so it’s too late to go to another tailors but if you have a good one, I will go next time I will go to Thailand.
I get my 2 suits, the quality is very good so I think 20 000 bath isn’t too much expensive for that if you look the price in France or another european country.
I talked with some tuk tuk driver and I understand them more now. It’s exactly what you said, if you buy something, they get a coupon (= money). But we can say no, they just ask in case we are okay.
My tuk tuk driver help me a lot during 2 days so I hope when a buy some things, he gets money 😉
My email is vinccapo@hotmail.com . Can you give me a good, honest and cheap tailors ? I think I will go back to Thailand next year.
Thank you !!
I’m glad that you are happy with your suits Capo. Normally the quality is not
the problem. And like you say it’s much cheaper than in Europe anyway. So
if you’re happy then all is ok.
Sure if your tuk tuk driver has been helpful it’s nice to be able to help
them out. They make little money on their driving. They get “gas money” or
a “coupon” just to take you to the shop, so no matter if you buy anything
they get a little something (usually 200-300 Baht). But if you pay 20.000
Baht you can figure that anywhere from 4.000-8.000 of that ended up in his
pocket. But that is probably better than the shop keeping all that money.
This arrangement exists with virtually any tailor in Bangkok (and probably
around Thailand). They need the business brought in from these drivers as
the competition is very hard.
What we do different is that we have already agreed on a fair price with a
couple of shops that we know deliver quality and guarantee their work.
That way you don’t have to bargain and can be confident in your buying
decision.
If you go by yourself then you can make a good deal but you will have to
bargain with expert salespeople. I’m from Norway and we are not used to
this so that’s why we have such deals for our customers.
Just shoot me an e-mail when you are going next time and I can give you
the name of a shop if you prefer to go at it alone.
The problem is, they promise you Cashmere, but it turns out to be synthetic. My suit once delivered was not the color or fabric I chose.
Hello Frank,
it would be nice when you send me an email about good tailors in Bangkok as well.
Thank you in advance!
Email sent Patrick 🙂
hello frank, could you please delete my email adress?
thanks in adavance!
Patrick
hello frank, could you please delete my email adress?
thanks in advance!
Patrick
Deleted Patrick
Hi Frank,
thank you for sharing your experiences about Bangkok, we got scammed first day in Bangkok and I bought one suit with shirt for 10000 Baht by Tom’s International Collection – the price is not too bad, but is this company good or belongs to scammers as well, do you know something about them?
Cheers
Tomas
Hi Tomas.
I don’t know Tom’s International Collection but after a quick search on the internet I discovered that it used to be called Tony’s Fashion. If that is the case I know the place. I bought a suit there a long time ago. The owners of Tony’s Fashion owns several tailor shops around Bangkok. Among them is one of the most famous among tourists in Bangkok, James’ Fashion. They have been in the business a long time and, at least before, they delivered good enough quality work.
It seems that you have overpaid, though that depends on the fabric and the quality as they use different levels of tailors who actually make the suits.
I don’t think you have to worry about delivery or the quality. But again you have probably paid too much. Like virtually all tailors catering to tourists in Bangkok they use tuk tuk drivers and other people to bring them customers, so if you went with somebody there then probably 20-30% of what you have paid ended up in his/her pockets.
Damn it, I’ve been scammed by bobe collection, I just hope they produce the goods! The scams are now so elaborate!!! We thought we were prepared. Have you heard that they take the money without honoring the order?
Hi Maz. I have not personally dealt with Bobe Collection but from what I gather from other comments and internet searching they will honor the agreement. Like most tailors in Bangkok the problem is not with delivery but most of them overcharge and some of them do not deliver the quality and/or fabrics promised. We would appreciate it if you let us know how it went.
Just scammed… 8000 for suit, shirt and tie. I let you know how it is. My friend from thailand says, 5000 baht is normal price thought
Yes can get suits for 5.000 Baht, or even less. But it depends on the quality and the fabric chosen though. 8.000 is not bad if it is a better quality suit. Where did you buy it? Please let us now how it goes.
Hi,
I am currently in Thailand staying at the Sheraton on the river. I am on honeymoon with my wife and we experienced a scam on our first day here. We were walking through China Town and spoke to a ‘local’ who spoke very good english. He flagged down a ‘government’ tuk tuk which took us to a temple and then for some hard sell at a tailors. I eventually agreed to purchase two suits made from finest italian cashmere for 20000 TB. Although I think this is quite expensive for Thai tailoring for a suit purchased in Britain it is relatively cheap. I just hope the quality is good. We also got scammed on that evening as we were trying to find a restaurant in little india. We were taken by tuk tuk to a seafood restaurant miles away from our hotel. The meal was relatively expensive (1500 TB) for 3 dishes, a large beer and a sprite. My advice would be to anyone visiting Bangkok for the first time is get a taxi on the meter to a chosen destination. These are cheap, air conditioned and regulated. We can definately recommend the Talin Pling (excuse my spelling) restaurant near Silom Road. Excellent food at very reasonable price.
Hi Joseph,
Thanks for sharing. Unfortunately there are many people everyday that fall victim to those scams. I did too on my first trip to Thailand many years ago. 20.000 Baht sounds very expensive but it depends on the quality and the fabrics. For top tailors that is a very reasonable price but in my experience that is not where the tuk tuks takes you. They have deals with certain shops where they receive kickbacks normally ranging from 20-30%, so the driver probably had a very good day.
Seafood restaurants also offer kickbacks for drivers and you can be quite certain that a lot of what you paid ended up in the driver’s pockets.
Good tip about the taxis. They are normally cheap, safe and hassle free. Though there are some rotten apples among them too. If you want to be sure to have a smooth ride check out:
https://www.bangkokbeyond.com/blog/bangkok-taxi-tips
Or send us an email if you want the ultimate in comfort 🙂
JSquare Leisure Co. Ltd. Owned by Mr. Vivek.B who also owns Swagath Restaurant cheats innocent Indians, he promises them to open a company in Thailand, takes money from them. He then sends fake company papers which is in Thai, tkaes signature etc. He constantly keeps changing his phone numbers, he never responds to any phone calls or emails.
He also tlaks to giving them a partnership in his business, prints visiting cards, gives them thai phone numbers etc. Then he is absconding, nobody answers his office landlines, and his restaurant, his staff say he is not there.
The money in question is in lakhs of Rupees.
His company website is http://www.vivekgroup.net, he currently has these four nos.
870 277 100, 811 770 305, 811 770 503, 800 800 465
Thai govt. should not allow such people to run business in thailand. If they can cheat their own friends and relatives, they can definitely cheat the Government as well.
Hi APrakash,
Thanks for sharing and the warning. I personally don’t know of this guy and what he’s up to. But if this information is correct I’m happy to help spread the word and hopefully avoid that more people get scammed.
Hi! Frank,
Thank you very much. We are writing about this to Thia embassy in India and Indian Embassy in Thialand regarding this.
No problem. Glad to help 🙂
Me and my girlfriend had the same scam pulled on us on are first day here!! We payed 25000 for a mans suit with shirt and tie a women’s suit a dress a skirt and 2 winter jackets! And we pick up when we finish are trip in 8 weeks I feel so stupid! And hope they delivier the goods.
The place was called ram fashion and seemed very busy!
No reason to feel stupid Craig. This probably happens to hundreds of people everyday. Though you have probably paid too much they will almost certainly deliver the goods. Thanks for sharing your experience.
A propósito de Craig, soy Chileno, y estaba buscando información de Ram Fashion una tienda de ropa.
La verdad que mi experiencia fue bastante buena, a esto hay que sumar que en Tailandia me convertí en un experto en negociación, y logré comprar un traje de dos piezas (con seda en el interior muy bonita), 4 camisas con cuellos y aplicaciones en seda, y una camisa mas de seda total. Además de 4 corbatas a mi elección, y pagué por todo esto 10.000 baht, un valor imposible de encontrar en mi país. De hecho una sola camisa en Chile a medida y de estos materiales cuesta unos 120 dólares. Así que estoy muy contento con la compra y la recomiendo. Incluso, me arreglaron las mangas del traje que no me había dejado conforme.
Obviamente llegue ahí, por medio de un TUK TUK y sus trampas, pero este me informó de lo que ocurría, y me dijo que el ganaba vales por esto, pero también me dijo que daban cervezas. Así que en estos viajes además me tome alrededor de 12 cervezas jajaja así que fue una compra feliz, económica y de buena calidad.
Saludos.
Thank you for the comment. Nice to hear that you had a good experience. Not everybody has that.
I do not speak Spanish so I translated the text and pasted it below for our readers. Not the best translation though, courtesy of Google 🙂
——-
Speaking of Craig, I am Chilean, and was looking for information of Ram Fashion clothing store.
The truth that my experience was pretty good, to this must be added that in Thailand I became an expert in negotiation, and managed to buy a two-piece suit (with silk inside very nice), 4 shirts with collars and applications silk, and more silk shirt complete. In addition to 4 ties to my choice, and I paid for all this 10,000 baht, a value impossible to find in my country. In fact one custom shirt in Chile and the materials cost about $ 120. So I’m very happy with the purchase and recommend. I even managed the sleeves of the suit had not left me satisfied.
Obviously I get there, by a TUK TUK and its pitfalls, but this told me what was happening, and he said that the vouchers earned by this but also told me that gave beers. So I take these trips also about 12 beers lol so it was a happy purchase, economical and good quality.
Greetings.
Went for the fitting today the suits seem pretty good spoke to a guy from Denmark and he has bought a few suits from there in the past and he goes back there everytime he’s on business! Just hope the end product is good.
Also asked the tuk tuk driver to take us to a travel shop think we also got overpriced for travel and accommodation from there too! we payed 25000 for two of us for flight to Phuket 4 nights there and four on phiphi and all the island hopping transfers! The ‘helpfull stranger’ told us to go to this travel shop.
It is probably the same deal with travel agents. Though I think that the “friendly stranger” in this case received a smaller cut of the profits.
These scams are about money only so they usually deliver on their promises. They are happy when they have received their money.
Thanks for the update Craig. Hopefully somebody will read this post and the comments before traveling so that they avoid these kinds of situations.
Enjoy Phuket and Phi Phi. And beware of the jet ski scam going on down there. If you want to read more about that check out:
https://www.bangkokbeyond.com/blog/pattaya-jet-ski-scam
Just scammed… I went out in my first day in Bangkok without having time to read about these kind of scams. I avoided many tuk-tuks drivers and “friendly” Thais before but I eventually ended up on one this goverment tuk-tuk (after talking with a friendly Thai), and paying 12500 B for 1 men suit, 3 shirt and 2 Ties.
Same story, free temples, lucky budha, big budha, goverment, 20 bath per 3 hours.
Once in one of these free temples, another good english speaker and friendly Thai, that seemed to be working there, told me about this “special day” and about the Thai Factory (I didn’t mention it), commenting that the temples were closed at that moment for whatever reason (a kind of ceremony related with this day). So, I thought “…mm, many people in different “random” places talking about the same day… it seems to be true.. lets have a look”.
When I arrived there (Bobe Collection), it didn’t look like a special day, so I asked about it and they “confirmed” the information with a poor explanation…. I wasn’t trusting them, but after having a look on the fabrics, prices and jobs already done that they used as examples, it didn’t seem too bad for me, so I ended up buying !!.
I picked up my product today, and I tried it there. I think is not that bad, but I also reckon that I should have paid around the 60-70% of what I paid.
At least I have what I bought. After leaving the factory and thinking twice, the first time, I got really scared cause stupidly I paid everything in advance… I thought it would be worse, especially the next day when I was looking for the reclining buddha and another Thai guy tried to scam me with the same story, saying that it was closed because they were “praying”… after 5 minutes I was taking pictures of it, but also worried about the scam already done the day before.
The first scammers are always in the corner of “Th Ratchadamnoen Klang” and “Th Tanao”, so, avoid friendly Thais in that area …. They also took me to a jewellry store and “goverment travel agency” (fake of course, very friendly at the begining but very rude after I said I had to think about their offers),….
… I was 3 times in the factory (fitting and picking it up) and there were always more than 2 tourists buying there, so, unfourtunetly it’s still happenning very often…
I’m going to Cambodia soon (Angkor Wat). This time I did have time to read about the scams. Appearently every ticket to Siam Reap and Visa offer is fake, so the best way is going there by your own…
Thanks for the detailed description and warnings Dojeda. Hopefully someone will read this before going and thus avoid being scammed. Yes you have probably overpaid, that is the normal way of it.
But every operator out there does not give fake tickets though. Most of them are legit. But of course when going with “friendly strangers” there is always some sort of scam going on.
Anyway thanks again and have a great trip to Angkok Wat.
I have become one more statistic in the scam of tourists by the ” ERAWAN LAPIDARY”. I paid 139,600 BHT. I sent the email with the complain letter to Mr. Suchat Sinarat, The Department of Internal Trade ,Ministry of Commerce, about the scam, but I haven’t receive any reply . Would you tell me how you get back your money?
I would really appreciate any help anyone can give or advice as to what else I can do to get my money back. I can be contacted through Email: fwtang2000@yahoo.com.hk.
Alan
Thanks for sharing your story Alan. I do not know of any easy way to get your money back so I hope some other reader can help with tips.
I would talk to TAT (Tourism Authority of Thailand) and the local police or tourist police. They should be able to help out. The Department of Internal Trade should be able to help but if you haven’t received any answer then maybe not.
I have searched a bit and found some links that you can check out to read what others have done in the same situation. One thing is for certain, you are not the first and you will not be the last to be caught up in this scam.
Check out:
http://www.theviewingdeck.com/2011/12/erawan-lapidary-gem-scam-successful.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheViewingDeck+%28the+viewing+deck%29
or this (although old post and maybe outdated):
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=1582979
Hope this helps
Frank, please help me to post my event at your blog, I have to use the internet to spread it to more people around the world to prevent them from falling into these scams. Thank you.
Posted 🙂 I hope it works out for you. It is terrible that scoundrels like this is allowed to operate.
I was taken by a tuk-tuk driver to the Bobe Collection group while in Thailand over a year ago. I paid somewhere around 30,000 baht for 2 suits, 3 shirts and 3 ties. That’s under $1,000 american which is an incredible steal for tailored shirts and suits. That would easily be more than twice the cost here. So I don’t really consider this a scam. You can turn down the tailors that the driver brings you to. My driver was nice, I saw a lot of sites, I didn’t buy any jewelry as I knew the situation there and he even told me that he gets a cut and they also get gas coupons just for going there. It’s just an affiliate deal – they bring me to places they work with, they should get a cut.
My question is that they have all my measurements and I’m thinking of buying more shirts from them. The only thing I’m worried about is they only accept western union and I have to get them bank information. Should I avoid this? Is it worth the risk or do you think they’ll deliver as promised?
I basically agree with you Andrew. This is not a scam in the basic sense. These companies deliver the goods. In fact it is a widespread tactic among tailors to get customers. The competition is fierce.
The reason this has been labeled as a scam is in my opinion because often people get talked into entering such shops while all they had planned was to go sightseeing. Once inside they are put in a high pressure sales situation. You can argue that they just have to say no, and they can, but many people are not used to such selling, gets talked into buying and end up regretting afterwards. And normally they are overcharged and sometimes not given the fabrics or quality promised.
Sure the drivers gets a cut, and that is only fair. But pressuring people, who had no plans to be there in the first place, into buying at inflated, individual prices is not good customer ethics and I would say just plain wrong.
I don’t have any personal experience with Bobe Collection. So I don’t want to give any specific advice. But I have had a talk with a tailor or two about shipping suits. They complained that they had tried accepting credit cards but that they were often scammed by people who canceled the order after the suits had been shipped. Or that customers claimed that they never received the goods or were faulty.
Generally tailors deliver. The ones I have talked to relies heavily on repeat customers and given the prices they can offer, people from all over the world orders regularly from them. So I would think the risk is low but I make no guarantees.
Hope this helps.
We just got scammed by Bobe too! Paid 50 000 baht for a mens three piece suit, two shirts, two ties, a woman’s suit, skirt, two shirts and a dress. We went for our first fitting and the suit looked ok but the dress was awful. We talked with the tourist police and they offered to call the police and take us back to the store to get a discount. We dont know if we can trust them. We are back in BBK at the end of the month for our last fitting and want to take the tourist police up on their offer. Can you offer us any advice?
That sounds very expensive Ala. Though it might depend on the fabrics chosen and the quality. But if you have already been there once then you know something about the quality, and from what you write it did not sound that exceptional. So my guess is that you have paid far too much.
I have no personal experience with that company but the way it normally goes is that tailors charge as much as they can get away with. And the quality is usually ok but not exceptional. And they usually pay off the police so they do not get into any big trouble.
The tourist police (and the local police) are well aware of these kinds of scams and they should be able to help. I do not think that they will get you a refund though. The best you can probably hope for is a substantial discount. If I were you I would probably bring the local police and negotiate a new price with the tailor and leave it at that. Usually companies like this will give a discount if pressed.
If it doesn’t work out I would talk to the tourist police again and make some noise if needed.
Hope this helps.
I wish I had read this earlier. The friendly Thai fellow sent me to Thai Fashion and Bobe Collection didn’t just scam me, they defrauded me. I ordered 2 suits and 2 shirts for 20,000THB, and they tried to deliver items missing buttons, with crooked collar, different sleeve lengths, dirty, and of course, ill fitting. I filed a police report, but they are experts at showing up there too and avoiding any kind of repercussion. Beware of Bobe Collection Group! Your credit card company will not reverse the charge, even with a police report.
So what happened at the police station? If the clothes were not useable the should do something. Normally the people I have heard about that has involved the police has received some of their money back. Have you talked to the tourist police?
We filed a police report at the tourist police station, and they called in Bobe to discuss it right there in the station. The tourist police wanted to see whether we were being too picky or whether this was shoddy merchandise. Bobe didn’t bring the blouses since they were in such bad shape, but what they did bring was awful and the police totally agreed with our account. The police tried to negotiate money back but Bobe refused and for some reason the tourist police did not pursue it further and rather advised me to take it up with my credit card company. Apparently if you pay in advance and use your PIN to do it, your credit card company allows the fraud to be perpetrated.
That’s strange, the police have the authority to make them pay you back and normally they do if they agree that the merchandise is not what it was promised to be.
I would imagine that the same goes for the credit card company even if you used the pin but…
Bottom line is the police should fix this so I would go back there again and demand that they do something.
We actually left Bangkok the following morning so we can’t renew this fight in person. I’m open to suggestions since the credit card company isn’t helping either.
So they delivered the goods? With missing buttons and all? I don’t really know what you can do now if the credit card company won’t help. I doubt that there is any point contacting the police again, once you have left they will probably just stall until you give up. Even though they might agree with you they are likely paid off by the tailor so as far as they are concerned it is over.
The way it normally goes is that they will negotiate for you and bring the price down as they are quite used to these complaints. Normally when they are pressed they try to figure out the least they can do to make you accept. But that is normally the extent of it.
But in your case when there is so much money involved I understand your frustration. I’m sorry that I cannot be of any more help. But I will spread the word and warn other people. The problem is that like you most people get scammed first and then they search for information. It’s little solace that this has happened to many before you. I just don’t understand why the authorities don’t crack down on this. It hurts Thailand reputation and the government knows how important tourists are for the economy.
Ah, totally fell for the tuk-tuk driver telling us the Grand Palace was closed for prayer… It turned out to be the best day though, so we weren’t offended at being scammed 🙂
Went to James Fashion, and spend 60 000B on leather jackets, shirts, wool coats, dresses, etc (went a little over-board!). The quality is amazing, and we’re happy with our purchases, though know to bargain the price next time!
The tuk-tuk driver was honest about getting petrol coupons, so we told him we’d spend 5 minutes in the jewellery store to help him out (no money spent there!). He was a good tour guide (despite lying to get us aboard), and took us to 3 different wats, pointed out things, and told us all about Bangkok.
That’s usually the way it goes Ern 🙂
Like you say you have probably paid too much and put a lot of money in that tuk tuk drivers pocket, but why not, you had a great day and were happy with the quality.
That has happened to a lot of people (including me) and that is why this scam has been around for decades. It works because most people are happy even though they figure out that they have overpaid and a bit deceived.
Hi Craig again!
Back in sunny England now and I can say Im really happy with the quality of all the items we bought! We went for another fitting and my girlfreinds items looked awful but after some adjustments all is good, spent about £250 on a two suits 2 winter jackets 2 shirts and a women’s dress! They delivered the products and I’m happy I reckon I could of got the price down if I tried a bit harder but hey you can’t buy tailor made items at that price anywhere in Europe so I can’t complain, just felt stupid at the time and money was at a low from all the traveling.
Thanks for the update Craig. Understand what you mean, I too (along with most others I believe) felt pretty stupid when I realized I had been duped. But later when I had distanced myself from the situation I was happy to have a smashing suit for those special occasions for a fraction of the price I would have to pay at home. Ok I overpaid, so what. It was still a pretty good deal.
We went to Bobe also and unhappy. Quoted a price much lesser by a fast talking salesman, but the end price was more – 90,000BHT for 6 suits , 9 shirts, and 6 ties and although we told them of the error once we realized within an hour of purchase, they still have faulty math and claimed they cut the fabric even though they closed right after we left and our phone message and email was left basically immediately… BS- 100%
will be talking to police and tourist police and have leaned a very valuable and expensive lesson.
We have some time here so hopefully something can be done.
SCAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ps. Also don’t get scammed for the discount long tail boat ride for 1 hour to see the floating market and orchid farm…takes over an hour to go far enough to see the farm. We found the street hustler and told him and all he sad was oh no- he did not give the tour he was supposed to -you should have told him! CRAP- the driver did not understand English, or so that was the cliam… SCAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
90.000? Sounds very expensive unless you ordered very expensive fabrics. I was not aware that they tricked up the total when people wanted separate bills, thanks for sharing that. Yes you should definitely talk to the police, normally they will negotiate a lower price for you. I would not expect to get all the money refunded though. They most likely have an arrangement with the police and they get a cut. They are playing the numbers game and gamble on most people just accepting and leaving without making any problems.
Can you explain again what happened at the floating market? Was that at Damnoen Saduak? Did you go there with a taxi driver or an organized tour?
Don’t let Bobe do seperate bills for you- this was how they could cover their later inflated prices
Also was told Bobe was “government controlled” and was shown the certificate…moreover, the day we bought we were supposed to get the 35% discount due to it being a holiday…but of course that never happened.
The one that told us about the 35% discount only that day was the “guide/ secuirty” at Happy Budda Temple…first stop before Bobe… part of the set up? Not sure… he claimed he never heard of Bobe, but would not doubt it.
As far as I know it is a private company. I am pretty sure he knew about Bobe.
What do you mean, that there was a holiday so all stores offered 35%? That does not happen. And as far as tailors go when they have no fixed prices 35% can be anything.
Hi,
the tuk tuk scam – exactly as you described in your article happened to us last week.
We were taken to Bobe Collection Grup and my husband spent 42,000 baht on 3 suits, 4 shirts and three extra pairs of pants.
When we got back to the hotel we saw this blog and totally freaked out. We called Bobe and told them about our concerns, they said not too worry as we would see the quality when we went back for the fitting the next day. At the fitting my husband was happy and we arranged to pick the suits up two weeks later.
Thankfully my husband is REALLY HAPPY with the quality of the suits. He is 2 metres tall so it is really difficult to buy him suits at home and they are really expensive.
The quality of the suits is the same as the examples we were shown at the time of purchase.
In closing if this Happens to you don’t freak out. Make sure you go back for you fittings and the other two things we did was one, raise our concerns and two, made it clear that we would buy more if we were happy with the quality. We did feel like we got scammed at the time and were told a lot of lies, which is unpleasant.
Otherwise we had a great time in Bangkok.
Good advise Anna. This scam is normally only about overcharging, most companies deliver on their promises. And like you say if you have the time it is important to go to at least 2-3 fittings. And of course it does not hurt to mention that they might get more business if they deliver quality, smart move I bet 🙂
Good to know…did we pay too much- absolutely! We went to the tourist police who then sent us to Bobe to try to renegotiate ( the police we spoke with kept thinking there was a fitting problem instead of price problem)
Anyways, we agreed and went. Prior to going I had a week and wrote Bobe posing as a business man wantig to buy only top quality suits and they responded with a much lesser price etc plus some extras we did not get while there.
We spoke with the sales man who kept changing his story when he first stated that he gave us “free” shirts so the price had gone up in the end; when explained that “free” meant there is no charge countless times, he then changed his story that the original price he quoted was more etc and that he did not promise anything free; when catching him in that lie he then changed his story again about the prices. He also stated that” he did not rob us since he did not steal our credit card so there was nothing we could do about it” as we already foolishly paid in full via creditcard and he was not concerned about any report filing with the government or tourist police.
We then supposedly spoke with the manager again and I stated again I had a lesser price in writing from the company proving we had been overcharged etc. He asked for a proposal from us to remedy the situation. I told him it all depends if the remedy is in cash/credit card refund or in product. Now I will need to research a little more if in product as I do not believe a word on prices from them if my refund has to be in product. DOES ANYONE KNOW?
In the end – not sure how will turn out. DO NOT BUY FROM MR.SOMKID
ps. They also claimed via email as they did in person that they are government certified/controlled and do have the certificate.
So Jack ( the supposed manger) is claiming the prices are fixed, so he cannot give the price quoted in the email or promised as the sale price that was never applied, even though I forwarded the emails from Bobe…in the end it looks like a visit back to tourist police and perhaps they can do something about these scammers….
STAY AWAY FROM BOBE COLLECTION GROUP-
Sounds like he claims they have fixed priced now to justify the exaggerated prices quoted before and avoid reimbursing you. From previous comments made here and around the web it looks like they try to charge whatever they think they can get away with, so that fixed price stuff is just BS.
Kudos to you though Simone for following up and exposing them for what they are. I bet they are not used to such persistence. They normally get away with such behavior because most people don’t have time or the courage to confront them like you have. And smart move posing as a business man.
Thank you for keeping us updated Simone. This will certainly help others and hopefully a few people will read before actually buying themselves.
Okay- last post on this- update re Bobe.
Went to the Tourist Board and they stated if the police cannot help settle the matter, then go to the media.
Went back to the tourst police station with the written proof about the same promise of 30% discount etc and the quote for top price ( much less than I paid originally)
In the end, the police said we could not cancel the contract and lose 10-20% ( what would have been a deposit). Stupid us- we paid for everything in full upfront. We then held firm to having min 30% of our money refunded and the proper price quoted via email. End story, is that you must be persistent and keep relying on the proof. Without the email proof I doubt anything would have been done.
We ended us settling on the proper price ( price of suits and 30% discount) with the remaining 30% owed back to us taken 1/2 in product and 1/2 in cash refund.
In the end, I think we learned a lesson or two. Thank you for this info and site- it really helped us and hopefully will help many more.
Also credit card companies- even though our receipt said we received our goods and were 100% satisfied,which was not true since we did not even have our items yet, hold that you first try to settle the agreement ( first on your own with shop owner, then with tourist police in this case) then file a dispute.
My advice:
Do not take tuk tuk rides to suit places as part of any temple tour etc
Do shop around and know your prices etc
Do RECORD the end negotiation when negotiating (most cell phones have a record feature)
Do get the final sales price ( package price) and items written down for you
Do get a sample of the material you are having your items made from
Only pay the min deposit amount until you have your items and are 100% satisfied
Keep all receipts
and DO research on the website such as these info boards to know which are the good tailors prior to purchase and what to do if you get scammed. Scammers prey on the tourists that have no clue and are gullible so believe the lies being told from the wolves in sheep’s clothing…it is better to avoid a situation then to try to fix it later.
Also I have to say the Tourist police were super and were fair in the dealings.
Thanks again Frank for this webspace. You were a light in the darkest hour in my feelings of stupidity, as well as isolation- no idea what to do or how to get help. I felt informed and supported because of you. God bless.
S
No problem, glad I could be of some help. Thanks again Simone for the detailed updates. This will help others for sure. And great advice and it is worth repeating:
“My advice:
Do not take tuk tuk rides to suit places as part of any temple tour etc
Do shop around and know your prices etc
Do RECORD the end negotiation when negotiating (most cell phones have a record feature)
Do get the final sales price ( package price) and items written down for you
Do get a sample of the material you are having your items made from
Only pay the min deposit amount until you have your items and are 100% satisfied
Keep all receipts” – S
After the help of Mr. POM, The Department of Internal Trade Ministry of Commerce and Mr. CHOW, The China Embassy, I get back 90% refund from the gem scam. If any people involve in the same event, they can seek for the help of The Department of Internal Trade Ministry of Commerce and their own Embassy,
Thanks for the update Alan. And thanks for the advice, this will help others for sure. It’s great to hear that you got most of your money back.
So back in Canada- update on Bobe –
Dropped off very defective product the night before we had to leave. Unwilling to do anything on the 6 suit jackets, and some shirts, that do not fit properly- too small) and also gave us a stained shirt and wrongly cut outdoor coats that do not fit properly. Only option now is fight though MasterCard.
7 tailors ( 3 there) and 4 here have all deemed the product defective and non-repairable.
Oh they also tried shorting us on our order to boot!
Again STAY AWAY FROM BOBE!
s
Sound advice Simone if this is the way they do business. Sorry you had experience this side of Thailand. Hope the other parts of your trip makes your overall impression of the country a positive one. Again thanks for the update Simone. Hope it works out with the credit card company.
Hello!
My husband and our two young children will be travelling to Thailand this December. We have our plane tickets purchased so we know when we are arriving/departing, but nothing else yet. My husband wants to hire a car and driver and drive through Thailand, stopping for the night at preplanned destinations. I’m concerned about 1) scams and 2) the safety of driving in Thailand. Do you have any opinions or recomendations for us? Thanks!
The roads of Thailand are generally good and in the countryside you could also drive by yourselves, but I would not recommend it unless you are well traveled people and know where you are going. A lot of people rent drivers to take them around and most operators are serious and have good standard vehicles.
Scams are not likely to happen if you go with a local and in the countryside they are rare. Most scams happen around tourist spots and are easily avoided (but are also easy to be caught up in). Though there are also tour operators etc that scam people by not delivering what is promised or partake in scams like for example “the tailor scam”.
I don’t know if you are aware but we have drivers for rent and do trips like this all the time. Though we are almost fully booked for December. But if you are interested you could send me an email and tell me the dates you are considering and the plans you have and we can see if we can help you out.
My email is:
frank@bangkokbeyond.com
Hello Frank,
thanks for supplying this board to us. I was supprised and shocked in parallel how much issue occur around Bobe Collection in Bangkok. Actually, we are Thailand and left Bangkok now. Basically, we have planned to buy a suite in Thailand and we heard from several (different) sources, that Thai Factory is a good producer of suits.
Indeed, we got this advise from other people in Bangkok. As our TukTuk driver suggested to drive us to a tailor, it was not dubios for us, when we read that their suits were sewed in Thai Factory.
The shop made a good impresssion to us and the manager (Mr. Jack) promised us to give us a perfect cashmere suite for me and a cashmere coat for my girlfriend.
The problem here is, that he told us, that a cashmere suit is much more expensive than typical suits (wool). OK, at the end I bought the suite (jacket and trousers) for 11800 Baht, a cashmere shirt for 2000 Baht and the mentioned cashmere coat for 8000 Baht. He said today is a special day with discount and normally, it would cost more. I wanted to trade, but he promised to give me the best material (the old story). Additionally, I got a tie as a gift (finally I saw the same tie by several tailors priced for 100 Baht…).
Stupidly, I believed in his promises and paid by credit card. Back in the hotel, I recognized hat price is much to high. Directly after quitting the TukTuk ride, we met other tailors which offered us a much cheaper price (starting by 8000 Baht).
At this point I googled around and found your blog.
As promised, on the same day an employee from Mr. Jack came to our hotel for final fitting. As promised he sends the stuff on Sunday evening (11pm) to our hotel. On the next day (today), we were at Bobe’s again, to do a last change for the suit.
The problem here is, “I think” the quality is good for us, but it is hard to prove! The shopper there promised “of course” the spoken quality (85% cashmere 15% wool for the suit, and 30% cashmere and 70% wool for the coat). If we paid to much – defenetely yes!
So please tell me: what should I do, what do you recommend? Shall I call the The Department of Internal Trade – Ministry of Commerce? Is there a chance with only having this price problem (material problems are not detectable for me. I think we paid 30% of our price too much (all together 21800 Baht). 15000 Baht would be appropriate and still a big deal for several tailors.
To be honest, I had to deal harder with Mr. Jack.
Greetings from Chiangmai
Dominik
Thanks for sharing Dominik. I am not sure there is much you can do if you have paid them already. You could talk to the tourist police but unless the goods are not as promised they are not likely to do anything. In clear cases of overpaying they can help to renegotiate the price though so it might be worth trying. If that does not work you could try the Department of Internal Trade but I am not very optimistic about that either.
If you are happy with the quality my recommendation is just to let it go. Ok you probably overpaid but the hassle of fighting these people might not be worth it.
We would love to hear how this ends though (especially if you win) so if you can post what happened here at least it might help somebody in the future.
Hello Frank,
I didn’t do anything about this BOBE collection issue and didn’t go to the police. I tried to call the Minitry of Trade, unfortunately there were no people which can speak English well. So there was no help for me by telephone.
I am not a tailor and I can’t figure out, if the quality of my suit is as promised by Mr. Jack.
In my case, I spoke with other German people which are in Bangkok for the 5th time. Five years ago they bought a suit at Thai Factory and were satisfied with the quality (only the price doesn’t match).
Therefore I hope I got good quality and just have to accept the high price.
At the end, please stay away from Bobe Collection. They will offer very high prices and it is not worth to buy.
Best regards
Dominik
PS: I only found this blog, when I googled Bobe Collection. Unfortunatelyou only will google this name, until you bought something from them. I think it is worth to make it more public…
What do you think?
Thanks for the update Dominik. It’s sad that you just have to accept it but I think it’s the right move. The most important thing is that you are satisfied with the suit.
Before we were listed almost at the top in Google when people searched for scams in Bangkok but it seems we have dropped down the list. But anyway most people find us or other similar sites after they have been duped. I guess most don’t think about it before it happens or if they do they don’t recognize the signs until it’s too late.
We have actually been discussing making more posts about scams or working to improve the visibility of this post. It’s an important issue and we would love to be able to get this information out to people before it’s too late. If you have any ideas on how to do that we would love to hear them.
Here is a little extra about this sadly infamous BOBE Collection Group:
– they are way too overpriced
– they never, EVER, hold their word of delivery (we were expecting a suit fitting at the hotel – they never showed up; neither did they deliver the suit as promised when it was finished – again, we had to go to them to pick it up)
– the stitching is of poor quality and it is very obvious to anyone who had ever worn a suit
– the material they make these “custom-made” suits out of is definitely not silk nor cashmere, it is some cheaper substitute (mostly just simple cotton and polyester)
– anything that is called “Thai factory” or “thai silk factory” or “government Thai silk factory” MUST be avoided at all costs, lest you are willing to pay the cost thrice over. Just like all and any suggestions made by tuk tuk or taxi drivers. NEVER agree to go somewhere unknown and which is not your destination.
Another thing, the police was not even remotely interested in our case, and the tourist police office was nowhere to be found, so we just left our woe with the concierge at the hotel, hoping it would get somewhere. The best way out of a scam is to avoid it in the first place. I have a positive impression of Thailand and Bangkok; of the local BKK Thai – not so much.
Good advice Alexander 🙂
Hi Frank,
the latest ‘investor’ in a suit by the Bobae Collection here. Myself and my girlfriend fell for the old lucky budhha day scam and ended up paying 8000 baht (up front may I add) for a suit, shirt and tie to the infamous Mr Somkid. We are to attend the second fitting today. Judging by the prices some others have paid on here we may not have been ripped off too badly but we shall see. We have to come back to Bangkok a few times in the next few months so if they screw us (which I imagine they will in some way) we have time to be somewhat persistant with complaints.
My other concern is that during our ‘tour’ of Bangkok we were also taken to the Grand Palace Travel Centre (365/2-3 Phasumen Rd, Borworniwet, Phanakom, Bangkok 10200) where we looked into booking three bus tickets for going from Bangkok to Sihanoukville (including one nights accomodation at a guesthouse before crossing the border to Cambodia the next day) for January 2nd 2013. We were quoted a price of 6750 Baht for all three tickets which we thought was a pretty ok price (about 45 pounds each) considering the amount of time and distance. Our travel representative was extremely good at his job, spoke excellent english and seemed so straightforward and knowledgable. However we did not know whether our friend who was to use the third bus ticket would want to go at that exact date so he offered to provisionally book it for us for a deposit of 500baht which is what we did.
It was only later yesterday evening that I was thinking about our experiences that day and how ‘fortunate’ we were that I googled ‘lucky budhha day’ and realised we had been duped. So I will let you know how our meeting with the enchanting Mr Somkit goes at Bobae. However I’m not sure quite what to to about our travel tickets. Our travel guy Chris seemd so legit and helful (they always do in scams) and the price isn’t that bad (perhaps a bit over priced) but I dont know whether to pay in full as we were taken there as part of the budhha day scam soI’m obviously dubious. As of now if we dont take it we have only lost 10 pounds deposit if we don’t. I think I’ll see how the suit fitting goes today and use that as a marker. Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks for this thread it makes for interesting and for some reason reassuring reading. I suppose I just don’t feel so stupid or on my own for falling for this scam…
Regards
Ben
Thanks for sharing Ben. Sorry for not answering right away. I have been taking a couple of days off to spend with my family during the holidays.
8.000 Baht does not sound too bad. But you can be fairly sure that when you go with a tuk tuk driver 20-30% of that ends up in the driver’s pockets. That is fairly standard. Not that you would normally be quoted a better price if you go alone. The only difference is that the company have to share the profit with the driver.
Regarding the bus tickets I don’t know. We don’t sell bus tickets as we are a tour operator just doing our own tours. It would depend on the bus company and the standard of the bus. But 6.750 Baht sounds a bit expensive to me. I did a search on the Internet and it seems that normal price is $25-30. But that does not include accommodation.
It is the same deal with many travel agents as tailors. They have a cooperation with some drivers who receive kickbacks. Normally they tailors and travel agents deliver on their promises though. The scam normally is about making people pay a bit (or a lot) more than they should.
Hope it works out for you. And if you have time for giving us an update on how everything goes we would appreciate it and it might help others in the future.
Another owner of a suit from Bobe Collection here, although i have appeared to come off a little better then most. I originally went to Thailand with the intention of buying a cheap suit so in essence i dont feel scammed by my purchase but can only doff my cap to them for getting me despite thinking i was switched on enough to avoid such a scam.
Staying near to Khao San Rd we were constantly approached by tuk tuks offerring rediculously cheap tours and knowing straight away this would be a scam and take me to shops we constantly declined and explored on our own. It wasnt until we went to a temple near to Khao San and wandered a bit that the we unknowingly became ‘marks’. We were approached by an older man aged maybe 60 who rather then speakingly perfect english was understandable but not fluent which led me to believe he was genuine and drop my guard. He followed the scam as per above minus the ‘temple is closed or monks praying business’ but followed the route of indicating on our map other temples we could visit and it was just our luck that it was the non existed holiday sponsored by the ministry of tourism and that we could get all around the city for a cheap fare using tuk tuks bearing the yellow government flag. He also indicated that if we should visit the Thai Factory subsidised by the government after recent floods to help locals recover. We thought nothing of it as we didnt intend to go.
After leaving the temple we headed up the street a bit before a tuk tuk slowed to see if we needed a lift pointing at his yellow flag to indicate he was a government taxi, so we jumped in and headed to the first temple. There another old man praying struck up another understandable but in no way fluent conversation about where we are from and what we are doing, are we going to other temples due to the holiday. When we told him we were he asked if we had a map to show him which temples we were going to for him only to be surprised we were visiting so many and also the fact we had thai factory circled which he was proclaimed was great and followed the same lines about the government subsidy etc. This lowered the guard even more as he was just a polite old man praying at a temple right?
Few more temples and the inevitable stop at Bobe Collection came round and i shrugged my shoulders and thought i intended to buy a suit anyway so i may aswell head in with an open mind and prepared to negotiate. The salesman was very aggressive and very forceful, which rather then be bullied i somewhat enjoyed what i percieved as a challenge. After his forceful behaviour trying to get me purchase multiple suits, shirts, ties etc i went with one two piece suit for from memory 2500-3000bht or approx $100 australian which i was ok with.
After agreeing to purchase we arranged a collection date when i returned to Bangkok (3weeks later) the day before i was to travel home. When i went to collect i was again hit with the hard sell for more goods which i refused only to then try on the suit i was fitted for which was nowhere near complete with no sleaves on jacket, pants not complete or taken up amongst other thing. I then was quite forceful about them returning my money as they have failed to complete on the agreed date which was met with promises that the suit could be completed by the next morning and delivered to my hotel before my departure. I agreed for them to only suggest that because they were going out of their way to complete the suit for me that i should provide a tip to show my gratitude for their extra efforts, i firmly refused and informed them i would not pay for their failure to meet their side of the agreement.
The next day i fully expected the suit to never arrive and for me to be down $100au and take it as a lesson learnt, but to my surprise the suit was delivered prior to my departure and had been completed, yes its not top of the line quality, but for the price i paid it was more then adequate. I have used the suit for almost 12months for occassional events and most recently the pants as work pants over the last 2 months. The jacket is still in perfect condition but the pants have started to look a tad cheap.
All in all, i was ‘scammed’ but only ended up with a suit i would have purchased at some other place, a day of sightseeing and a giggle at myself becoming a ‘victim’ when i never thought it would happen to me….not bad for $100au.
Thanks for sharing Jared. Looks like you are good at bargaining though. A suit for that price that has served you that long is not bad at all 🙂
This a great post with plenty of information on various scams here in Thailand.. myself and my girlfriend live here now, but when we visited first a few years ago we got a tuk tuk three times, each time we ended up going around the sights just as Frank suggests… one time we got to the third place, came back out ready to go to next location on the tour and the driver had gone, replaced by five more drivers offering to start us on on the “tour” again.
Alot of the replies on this page though… seem a little off to me.. so the ‘scam’ is, a tuk tuk driver will take you to some famous free admissions sites, and one of the stops on your tour will be a suit or gem shop… but that is as far as the scam goes.. you don’t HAVE to buy anything, relax.. if you find yourself in this situation, doesn’t matter.. just don’t buy anything.
Also, if your going to buy an expensive suit or gems, probably a good idea to shop around anyway so on the stop buying just because you have been taken to a place is crazy.
The third time we got a tuk tuk was rush hour, wanted to go to MBK and taxi’s all said no… tuk tuk driver said we would take us free if we went to a suit shop first to “pretend”… i offered him 300 baht for a 5 minute trip just to take us straight there.. he did not want to go with that so we agreed to his deal…
No doubt somebody paid for our “pretend” visit to the suit shop.. probably a small business man.. the suit shop tuk tuk scam seems to hurt those guys the same as it hurts the tourists in my opinion.
Cheers !
Happeee
Good input there Happee. Whether the tailor/tuk tuk scam really can be called a scam is a matter that is often debated. On one hand you get practically a free tour of the city, and like you say all you have to do is say no enough times and that is it. So it is perhaps not a scam in the basic sense of the word.
On the other hand, taking people to shops they had no intention of going to, putting them in a high pressure sales situation, making them pay much more than they should and often deliver poor quality and/or not the fabrics promised is in my mind just plain wrong and people should be warned about it. So whether it is a scam or not this is a practice that ethical businesses should not be participating in and it is hurting Thailand’s reputation quite severely.
I went to the Ram Fashion on Wisutkasat Rd. The guys were great, much better than the place I was taken to before by my TukTuk driver who told me “this is not a restaurant” when I asked for a glass of water for my friend on an extremely hot day. When they were trying to close me they brought me beers and were very friendly. I bought a custom suit, coat, and two shirts and they said they would come to my hotel for fittings.
This is where they were very unreliable. They would call and say they were coming and then not show up at all. I would wait at my hotel for hours and then they wouldn’t show. Sometimes they would show 5 hours after they were supposed to and call and say they were in my lobby. This happened a few times.
They did not give me what I paid for. They said they would bring the final shirts on Sunday and I told them that they HAD to on Sunday because I was leaving on Monday from Thailand. Of course, they never showed up on Sunday. So I called and said I needed everything Monday first thing in the morning and of course, it came in the afternoon. Now I was really leaving on Tuesday and just said Monday just to be safe but if I were to had left on Monday morning like they thought, I would never have gotten my suit.
So it’s Monday and I put on my shirts and one of them was never fixed. The shirt does not fit me at all. I called and emailed a few times for them to pick it up at my friends hotel but I never heard back.
Thanks for sharing Nir. I don’t personally know of this place so I don’t know if this is a common practice for them. But like you say if they thought that yo would be going home that day they should have made you a priority. Most better tailors don’t behave this way and they normally deliver on their promises, so this seems like a very unprofessional company.
Though I have heard many stories about shirts or other items not fitting well and not of the ordered quality before so that is not unusual.
Sorry that I cannot help you out here. But thank you again for this warning and hopefully others will read this before buying a suit, and not buy from them.
Another unwitting Bobe client reporting. Through scamming all these people Bobe might actually be getting half decent at tailoring. I received my suit today and without having googled them I would have had no idea that my Friday morning joy-ride around town was an impressive collaboration between about 5 seemingly unrelated people.
Same story as everyone else here. The big budha, the man at the second temple who recommended Thai Export Factory. I figured I was already interested in a suit (this would have never worked for jewelry) and Thailand is known for tailors so why not. The whole trip there I wondered if these first 3 guys: the man on the street, the tuk-tuk driver and the temple ’employee’ could be related. I figured that level of scamming and the timing required would be beyond most of these guys. Oh how I was wrong.
I didn’t find the tailor over aggressive, just really fast at moving the process through. He could probably read me like a book. I should have bargained more (much more) before accepting 10000 baht for a 2 pc suit and a shirt. I figured I would just pay for it in quality later. I should have also figured that I am ordering a custom suit to be made in less than 24 hours.
After the stop at the tailors I took a 1000 baht river boat tour with my girlfriend which lasted about an hour. $33 CAD for a 1 hour boat ride. I don’t appreciate being tricked into this but it was actually a pretty nice tour.
After getting home and reading all these stories about Bobe I felt pretty dumb and frustrated. I called them and told them I was flying out that night last minute to attend a cat funeral back home (because in Canada we worship the cat) and I had to cancel my order. After 10 minutes of arguing I said I would call them back. I ate dinner and figured I was probably screwed so maybe I can should make the best of it. I called them back and said the cat funeral had been cancelled and that I would come in for a fitting the next day rather than take a hotel drop off as planned. I figured if they didn’t produce a suit I could freak out in the store and maybe mess the place up a little or go home with the nice sample they showed me that fit quite well.
The next day I walked over to the place, observed the government tuk-tuk parked outside and watched the door man send a quick text message as we passed. They made me wait about 30 minutes but eventually produced a suit that fit quite well first try. Who knows if it will last but it looks good. I figure I overpaid by about $50-150 CAD and I have no idea if the quality of the material is as promised. A relatively small price to pay to learn the lessons once again. Things that are too good to be true are too good to be true and don’t trust friendly people on the street. This was indeed an impressive scam.
Do the research before hand and buy a suit on your own terms.
Welcome to the club Robbie 🙂
Sad to hear yet again the same sad story. I wish we could reach people before it happens but unfortunately it seems that everyone does the research after the scam has occurred. I guess that is normal as I fell for the same scam myself 14 years ago.
Thanks for sharing though and I hope the suit lasts for a long time.
Update: We won the credit card dispute with Bobe. Having said that, it was a very long and tedious process and I do believe my law background was helpful. I am uncertain if one is not used to building cases, if the outcome would have been the same. Not to mention, while in Thailand it only caused us unnecessary stress and made us waste a considerable amount of time between going there and to the Tourist police multiple times to try to settle the dispute.
Long story short- DO NOT deal with Bobe.
I also visited and bought items at other Bangkok tailors. I strongly suggest Thai Fashion House, close to Khao San Rd. Their customer service is excellent, there are no pushy sales people, AND they will work with you to custom design clothing if you have something in mind. Moreover, their prices were VERY VERY good!!! ( of course like anywhere you negotiate but they are NOT going to scam you)
Nice to hear that it worked out Simone, especially after all the trouble you went through and the precious holiday time lost.
thank you for the tip about Thai Fashion House. I’m not familiar with them but perhaps one of these days we’ll go check them out.
so lots of scams here, does anyone have advice as to quality tailors to try out? anyone with a positive experience? surely there are a few good ones out there…
Hi Op. There are a lot of scams but there are also many good tailors.
Buying tailor made clothes is a very popular thing to do, so there are many discussions on travel forums and review sites. My best advice is to check out some of those, just make sure that the information is current.
Generally I would avoid those who have signs out in the street offering some package deal at a ridiculously low price, and have people out in the street trying to get you to go into their shop. You will always end up paying more than advertised or receive poor quality fabric and/or work.
[…] The Classic Three Bangkok Scams – Bangkok Beyond […]
I found this page after making a purchase from Bobe collection group and decided to give the suit a try to see how it turned out. I am pleased to say the suit fits very well and I feel the price (6500 bhat) didn’t include too much gouging. As an above poster said, this company must have gotten decent at making suits after so many scams. I will post again if the quality of the suit deteriorates with wear, but for now I’m quite pleased and, honestly, relieved.
Thanks for sharing Corey. It is nice to hear positive experiences for a change. Keep us updated.
Please read and be careful when traveling anywhere. I was scammed by impressive tour company. They seem quite legit since they have offices all over the airport. They charged me 1,500baht ($50) just to drive me up to the floating market. I was also told pick up time was at 6:30am but they actually arrived to my hotel at 7:20am. I understood they were picking other people up from other hotels. However, the scam entailed a promised lunch which I never received. We were told that we would arrive at the market at 9am but ended there at 10:30am. Upon entering the floating market I paid another 250 baht for an entrance fee. I asked about this to our tour guide (Cindy) but she exclaimed, “you don’t have to go if you don’t want to pay.” Dumbfounded because I already paid 1500 baht ($50USD), trekking up north for the floating market was the whole point, I paid. Moreover, we were told that this was the “oldest floating market” in Bangkok called Damnoen Saduak but it was clearly a tourist market made to appear authentic. I knew I was ripped off at this point!! Red flags everywhere!!! I am still upset I paid a total of 1750 Baht (total $60USD). Hopefully my hard earn cash goes to the right hands. Anyway, as we toured the river I noticed no locals. The only locals there were shop owners. Did I mention that the market was 1.5 hours away from Bangkok too? There’s no escaping the scam once you’re involved and paid upfront. Talking to our guide was useless as she smiled and acted as if she didn’t understand us. I therefore had to wait it out. After leaving at 11:45am from the floating market (roughly only 1 hour and 15mins) we preceded to be taken to an “elephant conservation” and by the way this was never in our itinerary. None of us was interested in the Elephant conservation camp since we never signed up but our tour guide insisted. Soon after we were offered to ride an elephant for 30 minutes (350 baht), shoot pellets in a shooting range (200 baht), and other small arcade games. The place was extremely tiny, it was obvious this was another gimmick. We waited for another 2-3 hours to leave this place. Not only did Impressive tour company scam me, they wasted my entire day. I, curious to find out what other tourists paid, I asked a nice French couple who sat right next to me how much they forked out for this and they said 600 baht each and I was like WHAT?!!! Another couple paid 880 baht each! Different prices for the same tour!?? Okay so I paid almost triple what others paid. Another person I met on the floating boat tour told me he arrived on his own and that the trip cost him total 440baht (transportation included). If anyone is interested in seeing a floating market please go on your own and don’t go to this one. Furthermore, by the time I was dropped off at my hotel it was 4:30pm. Total of 10 hours completely wasted (6-7 hours just in travel time alone because of traffic). What saddens me is that these scam artists don’t understand the power of word of mouth, blogs, and many other rating systems we have here. Eventually if we make enough noise about these issues, scams will ultimately stop. It puts a damper on anyone’s trip and on Thailand’s culture especially those who may be truly good intentioned. There are better ways to help an economy grow and it doesn’t start with scamming people, It starts with there own government system. Scamming innocent foreigners makes it unsuitable for tourism. I love to help those in need but its definitely not by being scammed. I will never do a tour again. Checked off, lesson learned. You have been warned.
Sorry to hear about your experience Sydney. Thank you for sharing.
Unfortunately these things are still going on, and TAT does not seem to do much about the matter. I made practically the same mistake myself the first time I went to Thailand. I arrived in the airport and thought that a sign saying “tourist information” meant that they were there to help people. Little did I know that it was just a private company trying (and partly succeeding) to sell me all kinds of stuff.
Since that was a joined tour you have clearly overpaid. And they should of course not take you to places not disclosed (another fairly common practice in Thailand). Like you said the worst part is that they actually take away precious holiday time. Not much you can do about it now I suppose except telling others of your experience. Let’s hope many people ready it before making the same mistake as you and I did.
In response or the tailor scam….. I was also scammed by an elaborate but classic scheme. The name of the tailor is Dusit Collections. They use tuk tuk drivers I collaboration with other to make you believe you’re getting a good deal. In reality, it’s crap. It is absolutely not cashmere wool and they do sub-par work. I was duped by them, so I really hope this post will prevent others from falling into the same trap!
Thank you for telling us Ole. If they do not deliver promised fabrics or quality people should be warned. Hopefully some will read before going rather than after like most. If going with tuk-tuk drivers you most likely don’t know the name of the company until you are there though, so that is yet another reason not to go to tailor shops with them.
Same experience here with ‘Dusit Collection’ by Nakorn Sawan Tailor. Promise Cashmere, deliver synthetic. And get this on the invoice:
‘Your satisfaction presumed upon payment, not refundable.’
Scam guaranteed !
“Your satisfaction presumed upon payment, not refundable”. The nerves of these guys. If they were serious about their product they would never say something like that. I agree, that is a scam. Thanks for sharing Tom. And I’m sorry you had to experience that.
Hi,
I’m in Bangkok rigt know, and I got scammed pretty soon!
The tuk tuk driver took me to the Thai Factory, the place is called Thai Fashion House, I haven’t got the suit, two shirts and two ties I ordered for 11.000 thb, do you think I will get them?
Do you know that tailor?
Thank you for sharing your experience Marco. I don’t know that place so I cannot answer any specifics. But normally tailors deliver. Mostly these scams are about overpaying or not getting the promised fabrics or quality. Whether you have overpaid I can’t say, that depends a lot on the quality and the fabrics. But it seems like a high price. In Bangkok suits costs anywhere from 3,000 to 20-30,000 Baht.
The main thing is if you are happy or not in the end. Let us now how it turned out if you have time.
Hi Frank, great list you have shared over here helping fellow travellers protect their sanity and their wallet 🙂
Just to share some of me experience, the best thing to do in Thailand is to avoid engaging anyone from the streets, especially if they dress well/speak good English/or simply have no good reason to do so. And if things seem too good to be true. They are.
Oh and Frank, maybe you would like to add on this Timeshare scam to your article (I share about it on http://travelscams.org/asia/21-common-scams-thailand/). Basically, a street scammer will trick you into going to a timeshare apartment presentation either via a questionnaire or so called to claim a prize after giving you a scratchie card.
Good advice there. And I am happy to share your article as it is a very good read
Video Part 1 / http://youtu.be/G18dNKOpJDA
Part 2 / http://youtu.be/xD31TACIy8M
bad experience and worst ever!! in Bkk
please help and share
yesterday not just us , have a lot people have seem like that too
we have fake guide people ripped off with bad experience about trip boat in Bkk
no safety shirt,
diver drink and drive on the boat , never stop on th spot like they’re said
if someone try to put you ,
invite you sit in private Boat for the trip don’t pay for it
there have 3 place near river in bkk , they’re do same game ,
later they gonna left you like trash,
thank you
PS,
it’s not about how much you pay , it’s all about hurt you feeling later !!!
The Khlong Scam
Similar to the Grand Palace scam, the khlong scam is not as popular as it used to be as the khlongs are not what they used to be either. A friendly Thai man (he could be young or old) will approach you in the street, noticing your unmistakable lost look. He will ask the usual non intrusive questions: “where do you come from”. Those guys always have an anecdote about your country and always know a couple of sentences in your language… they also seem to know all the football players from every country, so if you are a football enthusiast, you just found yourself a buddy who will happily hit on that nail. The man will offer you to ride his friend’s longtail boat to go around the famous khlongs of Bangkok for a ridiculously low price (you know, the canals). It’s too nice to be true will you think (indeed) and the man is so friendly and he can even speak English! The tour is real and actually very nice so enjoy it. He is so kind he might even stop at a riverside bar and offer you a coke. So far so good, and as the ride is about to end you think how lucky you have been today! As you approach the pier, you are about to find out how lucky you really have been. The engine stops 200 m from the pier and your new friend will ask for an additional 1,000 baht – or more – for the cost of the boat ride. No matter what you say and how much you argue, the boat won’t get any closer to the pier. You will of course pay because they are two, the guy and the boat driver, and the idea of swimming back to the pier with your expensive camera and smartphone isn’t worth a thousand baht.
How to Avoid it: Once again, use your common sense. Don’t trust strangers approaching you in the middle of nowhere with too good intentions. Just smile and decline. If you want to explore the klongs by boat, book from a tour agent or at the piers. (note that smiley guys might try to approach you at the pier as well, just buy your own ticket at the counter)
Thank you for sharing Sornswan. I am sorry to hear about your experience. Hopefully many will read your comment and avoid the same situation
yes, will be help them a lot , even i’m thai they’re still went scam you
anywhere , in Bkk
i’m just new for Bkk too , i’m have to learn here a lot
will be move back home as soon
my home it’s north form chiang mai
so thankyou for you comment
Yes they try scamming anybody they can. I thought Thai people would escape most of the scams but I hear about some of them are being scammed too from time to time. Best tip then I guess is to do some research first and follow other travellers advice.
If you want to know a GOOD tailor shop in Bangkok that has honest and exceptional tailors- go to Thai Fashion House – had 4 suits and a dress made there and the workmanship is great, as is the customer service!
Prior to this I was totally ripped off from Bobe Collection Group and DID get ALL my money back from the credit card company after dealing with the tourist police twice in trying to get Bobe to deliver quality product as promised.
Another victim here. Taken to the Thai Fashion House 2 days ago, in the middle of the Thai New Year. Ordered a cashmere suit and a shirt for 15000 BHT. The shop looked convincing, I needed a new suit, and paid in advance. I only realised what might be happening later that day when I put the pieces together and found this forum.
The story isn’t finished yet though. I’m staying two more days in Thailand. I’m going to the shop for a fitting tomorrow. I’m now afraid of what to expect — an ill-fitting suit, a missing shirt or something along those lines. The above poster (simone) had better be right about the Thai Fashion House. Will post an update later.
Let’s hope it works out for you Michal. Normally tailor shops deliver. It is most often the quality of the suit that is questionable (wrong fabric, ill fitting or bad stitching). Would be nice with an update when they are done with it.
Thanks for your replies, Frank and Simone.
I went to the shop today, prepared for the worst. To my pleasant surprise, the suit, the trousers as well as the shirt were a rather good fit (as far as myself and my friend can tell) and looked pretty good, too. There was just one detail that needed modification (the shirt neck button). They even threw in one free tie.
I took the suit to the Khaosan street which is flooded with tailors (with prices less than half of what I’d paid) and asked one of them for his opinion. He said the material was OK, but he had objections to the stitching ( then again he was trying to sell me another suit ).
I’m carefully optimistic, we’ll see how the suit holds in time. In any case, I paid too much ( I’d guess that everybody involved in the tuk-tuk set-up must get his share ). Next time I’ll be more careful.
Thanks for the update Michal. Sounds good so far. Do let us know how it turns out in the end.
One thing though. You cannot believe the prices people advertise their suits for outside the stores. That is the price for the cheapest fabrics and simplest suits. The price is always much higher than that if you want anything of quality.
Michal,
I can honestly say they are great when I was there. The suits are fantastic I had made there and they also educated me on what to look for regarding suit quality, scam places etc. By the end of it all I seriously consider them friends. I would have suite made there again any time! ( I don’t know if there is more than one there- I went to the one not far from Khaosan Road- a few blocks down) I got all my items and they fit perfectly. I did not pay in advance though as only gave a deposit ( after learning from by Bobe bs experience).
Let me know how it turns out but I think you will be more than happy with them!
Hi Michal,
I am so happy things turned out for you! We have had our suits for about 2.5 years now and no problems- they still look like brand new even.
I don’t know about the price of cashmere suits but I would be guessing about 10 000 to 12000BHT and a shirt for about 1500 BHT to 2000BHT. Of course, the more you buy the more you can negotiate prices down, like anything else. So in the end I think you paid about fair market value depending on the quality of cashmere, as well as shirt material. The tuk-tuk drivers make about 20-30% I think if I recall correctly plus gas vouchers. Mind you a shop that does good work and fitting, plus does not rip you off by shady dealings, cause you to lose valuable time, and create headaches, is also worth something in my opinion. I would recommend Thai Fashion House to anyone and have to lots of friends back home. The customer service is also super- they really listen to you and take pride in their product and want to make you happy! 🙂
Thx for the update and hope you enjoy your suit for many years to come!