Always Double Check Prices before Buying
When you go to pay make sure that you weren’t charged for something twice. Normally they insist on giving you the receipt, but if they don’t then be suspicious. You may have bought a “gift” for the checkout girl. Another scam is that they give you the wrong change and then pocket the difference. This is sometimes done in Pattaya where foreign tourists might not be familiar with the banknotes. Give them a 1,000 Baht note and they give you change for 500 Baht. Of course, it might not always be a scam as Math is not always their best subject. I’ve been given too much change before!
It just shows you that you do need to be aware of the prices of items when you buy them at places like 7-Eleven and Big C. Have you had any bad experiences like this in shops?
Just last week, I went to eat in the new Coffee World Restaurant in Mega BangNa. I always loved their coffee, and it looks the same as the also very good Black Canyon. No matter the food being horrible (the one I ordered at least, the tomato sauce tasted like “sour honey red cream”, but in the end, they tried charging me for the returned food (inedible, honestly) and for the burger I ordered after that, which took 10min for someone to tell me they didn’t have anymore.
I believe it was a plain mistake from a restaurant which is starting to operate, not any kind of scam, but I always double or tripple check my bills, as mistakes do happen.
You should always ask the price even if there is a sticker on it. Quite a few times I was given a lower price than what was marked. Sometimes even without asking.
I had never have any of bad experience over the issue nor get cheated either. A price is tacked on every each product they sell and all the shop clerks are of course generally honest. Buying something in Thailand is just like same in any other countries.
If you got cheated how would you know if you don’t double check? Most times I take the change without looking. Nor do I usually check to see if the price on the shelf is the same at the checkout.
You need to use common sense as in any shop in any country. Ask first if you don’t know the price. The worst that happened to me was in Terminal 21 when a promotion sticker was slapped up a day early so the till price didn’t match the promotion price.
Also in Flann _O’Brien’s Muang Thong the till clock was slow and happy hour prices weren’t applied. I checked the receipt and got a refund after I pointed out the error. Stand your ground but stay calm.
I had a run in with Tops Supermarket in Suphanburi Town a couple of times over ‘price tags’ and ‘actual prices’ differing. On both occasions the cashier/manager has offered me the product for free; that is the customer’s entitlement. However, that cost of the ‘free’ product finally comes out of someone’s pocket; the employee they find who made the ‘mistake’ (Source: Tops Head Office)
Makro does the same. Last month 20 burgers for 175 baht. Now in the same bag just 19 burgers. Labels on the freezer still says 20 burgers but label on packaging now says 19 burgers.
The problem with convenience stores is that they cheat everybody. 7-eleven used to claim that their prics were not higher than in normal supermarkets. I don’t know if they do that anymore, but often they sell products in smaller packaging sizes than those that are available elsewhere. Like a pack with 4 paracetamol tablets costing nearly the same as a pack of 10 costs at the pharmacy or Ritter Sport chocolate that looks exactly like the “real thing”, but is 60g instead of 100g and costs nearly as much as the larger size.
Add to that the limited selection of food, most of it of the unhealthy kind, particularly at Seven where you can’t even get vegetables or unprocessed meat, and I’m afraid these kind of stores are strong negative contributors to changes in what and how people eat in Thailand.