Bad experience on soi diana

[praf974]

a warning to you guys .. stopped for a beer in one of those open front bars on soi diana called jims beer bar (opposite areca lodge), sat at a table facing out onto the road and ordered a beer which arrived plus bin. minutes later after having maybe 3 or 4 sips of the beer a second bin arrived for 900 baht!!! i said whats this .. mamasan says you buy drinks for ladies, well i honestly thought she was joking with me so i tried to laugh it off .. but no her face didnt change at all!! my mind was racing a bit .. i hadnt spoken to anyone or looked at any of girls, id noticed them but wasnt interested i was just sitting facing out to the road! maybe i had accidently bumped into the bell? but no there was no bell near me ... wait a minute i thought 900 baht thats like 9 lady drinks but only 3 or 4 staff there!! ok it dawned on me i was being shaken down .. this is a first for me ive had bill padding and extra drinks arriving for girls im talking to which ive always paid without much fuss, i just put it down as the price to pay for a good few weeks holiday ... but this was something entirely different and for the first time on 20 years coming here i started to lose my temper, i threatened to call the police and voices were raised things started to turn ugly. something at the back of my mind told me this needed to be defused immediately as there were other thais watching the argument and i thought probably 1000 baht wasnt that bad to get a quick exit. I got out my wallet handed over 1000 baht and left (without even finishing my beer). Watch out guys i think some of the beer bars are really struggling at the moment.

[kiwimike]

smart move just handing over the cash. hard to stay here without getting more and more pissed off with the thais. wonder what would have happened if the cops arrived. apparently in this situation it is ok to call the tourist police, apparently they a pretty straigh. anyone had any dealings with them?

Edited June 28, 2010 by kiwimike

[macumba]

Don't bother with police, but tell them you will call tourist police.

 

Not a bad idea to store their number into your cell.

[Ace3]

Tourist police have always been helpful (officers have gone back to an establishment with me to retrieve money when something has happened similar to this), I would of paid the 1000 baht, then went to the tourist police, and requested assistance back at the bar to figure out what happened. That way, if it turns out I cannot get my money back because they don't believe me, the next time it happens again, tourist police will side with the tourist knowing that this place has had a recent incident with the same situation.

[blue1878]

Whats interesting about this particular incident was that the mamasan brought over the new 900B bill in a sepparate bin. The mamasan didnt try and put the bill/reciept in the excisting bin.

I don't know what I would have done if this had happened to me. I know that I wouldnt have been happy at being blatently riped off.

Pattaya in recent years has grown very big. And at the moment the tourist police only have a precence on WS.

Should they now think about having a presence in other areas as well. Examples where they could have a presence could be in the following popular area's

(1) Soi Diana/LK Metro/Soi Boukou area

(2) Soi 7/ Soi 8/Pattaya New Plaza

(3) Soi 2 area

This might cut down on the bad bars trying to rip of the customers because they know that the customer can walk a short distance to complain to a tourist police officer

Edited June 28, 2010 by blue1878

[robio]

I would have laughed, drank my beer, paid for my beer, and walked away. If they want to get violent, it will be them that starts it, not me. I do not believe that they would have pursued you if you had walked away.

 

It is crazy that a small bar in an area like that would try to pull something like that. It is something that I would expect at an upstairs Patpong gogo, but not a ground level beer bar.

[praf974]

yes i think it would be hard for this to happen in Walking Street, too easy to attract the attention of tourist police, soi dianna is quieter than Walking Street in the evenings and not that well lit. thinking back i think i did the right thing, i have to walk up and down soi diana most days and involving the police could well have caused problems for me. 1000 baht, lesson learnt about very quiet beer bars and can continue an otherwise great holiday .. no big deal just very annoying.

[praf974]

I would have laughed, drank my beer, paid for my beer, and walked away. If they want to get violent, it will be them that starts it, not me. I do not believe that they would have pursued you if you had walked away.

 

It is crazy that a small bar in an area like that would try to pull something like that. It is something that I would expect at an upstairs Patpong gogo, but not a ground level beer bar.

 

during the day for sure i would have given 100 for the beer and walked away, i did try to laugh it off initially but this woman was right in my face with no humour at all .. and then id lost my temper a bit by the audacity of the thing so I couldnt see me just walking away by that point, maybe if id just persisted in laughing it off she would have backed down .. possibly ..

[snobbypit]

Would it be possible to get a pic of the place? Your well being comming first of course!!!

[bigkev]

I know the place you are talking about. Have passed many, many times. Though I've never gone in, have stopped for beer at other little bars along that road.

 

Will definitely put "Jim's" on my shit-list now, and will advise others to do the same.

[twoluckyone]

Tourist police have always been helpful (officers have gone back to an establishment with me to retrieve money when something has happened similar to this), I would of paid the 1000 baht, then went to the tourist police, and requested assistance back at the bar to figure out what happened. That way, if it turns out I cannot get my money back because they don't believe me, the next time it happens again, tourist police will side with the tourist knowing that this place has had a recent incident with the same situation.

 

 

 

I second your thoughts.

I think that would have been the best way to deal with the situation.

[bob-chang]

i would have payed for me beer put the money in the check bin and fucked off

[Craig_ozz]

thanks for the info. another bar to avoid.

[drano]

Times must be tough.

better to pay up and leg it.

certainly cheaper than new teeth.

Edited June 28, 2010 by drano

[ingo67]

Very worrying when bars in this area pull this kind of scam. Things indeed must be very quiet. You did the right thing in paying up, but you should have gone straight to the Tourist Police.

[GeeMan]

So does anyone have the number for the Tourist Police?

 

If so, could you please post it as I'd like to add it to my phone now, probably to late once I need it.

 

 

Cheers

 

GeeMan

[ingo67]

So does anyone have the number for the Tourist Police?

 

If so, could you please post it as I'd like to add it to my phone now, probably to late once I need it.

 

 

Cheers

 

GeeMan

 

 

I have it in my mobile - 1155

[duffMaster]

Never liked those bars opposite the lodge, now i have another reason to stay away.

[blue1878]

I wonder if the bar just targets guys who are on there own. I think if the mamasan tried to do when are 2,3 or 4 guys together I think she will have been told where to put the 900 baht bill

[praf974]

I wonder if the bar just targets guys who are on there own. I think if the mamasan tried to do when are 2,3 or 4 guys together I think she will have been told where to put the 900 baht bill

 

yes i suspect so .. it was quiet i was on my own and their only customer .. but then i dont look like a particularly easy target and rarely get anyone taking liberties, i just think they are desperate .. many beer bars with very very few customers - i drank in one on soi honey (the aptly named fantastic bar) for several hours the other night and no other customers came in!

[andypoker]

cheers for the info praf i dont usualy go down soi diana LK Metro etc but was planning on broadining my horizons that way

i will know to avoid that bar now as i often go drinking alone while the wifes sun bathing or getting some beauty treatments or shopping or spending money like its going out of fashion lol

 

maybe we should start a shit list of bars thread with links to previous posts to keep us all informed

Edited June 28, 2010 by andypoker

[blue1878]

yes i suspect so .. it was quiet i was on my own and their only customer .. but then i dont look like a particularly easy target and rarely get anyone taking liberties, i just think they are desperate .. many beer bars with very very few customers - i drank in one on soi honey (the aptly named fantastic bar) for several hours the other night and no other customers came in!

I think this years low season will be a bad one for the business's in Pattaya. And it wont be helped by the fact that tourists from certain countries don't like drinking in the bars. If they have a drink they tend to buy beer from the 7/11's and drink in there hotel rooms

[RandyJohnson]

As much as it hurts our pride, I think you did the right thing.

I have complained many times about such things.

But, in hindsight I reckon it's better to pay and leave.

 

Not worth your health/safety.

The same people that have such disdain for you, will enjoy kicking the crap out of you.

And when the video appears on u-tube - everyone will say stupid drunk farang : " tried to touch non-working girl" - "cheap charlie didn't pay bill",,,etc, etc..

Although I haven't experienced such a magnitude of extortion since upstairs patpong in the late '80s, almost every dealing has some level of ripoff/bad-service/bad attitude...

I also think the loner is more susceptible to it...

cheers..

 

 

 

Edited June 28, 2010 by jackNYC

[Hoff]

 

Praf for the warning I will certainly steer a wide berth from this bar (i do drink in this area), it isn't nice to be so blantently ripped off. I commend you for not causing a fuss by not lowering yourself to their standards but by you simply posting a warning to fellow BM's could be punishment enough through detering potential cutomers to this un-scupuleless bar!

 

 

Hoffmeister

[johnnyh]

think we all need to learn a lesson from this post. the los is heading into trouble as the number of tourist drop then the amount of money going to the girls families is getting cut. So these people will start to find other ways to get money. if you read pattaya one news the number of jewelery snatchs is on the increase,

 

just start to be aware what is going on around you and if pissed then you are a sitting duck. i often go out alone in pattaya and have been warned by the police to be carefull these are people who are friends of my gf who i have know for a feww years now.

 

thanks for info on this bar which has just had bad press and all pattaya addicts know to stay away from.

 

by the way you did the right thing walk away