Paying THB160,000 (about US$4,900) during a drunken night-out is the last thing any bar hopper would want to wake up to find out.
That includes a certain unidentified Korean man who filed a police report against Forever karaoke bar in Chiang Mai yesterday. In the report he claims the karaoke joint ripped him off by charging him that hefty amount, Thairath reported.
But it looks like the Korean man was lucky in that he’s already managed to get back a good chunk of his money. After filing the report yesterday, this afternoon he settled with the bar’s operator, who agreed to return THB60,000 (US$1,825).
In fact, that was the second amount returned to the man. Police said that, prior to their negotiation today, the tourist had already gone back to the bar by himself and was able to get THB60,000 of his bill back. However, he still decided to go to the police after that because he still felt like he had been taken advantage of.
Police are investigating and say they will charge the bar’s owner with fraud if they prove that the tourist had indeed been bilked out of his money.
Meanwhile, in response to the case, Dumrong Onggad, the president of the Chiang Mai Tourism Business Association, urged local businesses to “operate according to a set standards and fair prices” in order to protect the longevity of Thailand’s tourism sector, reported Matichon.
“Raising prices may work at first but it will damage the tourist industry in the long-term” he said.
And with the number of Chinese tourists at a 16-month low, Thailand may not be able to afford losing any more visitors.
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