Khlong scams in Thailand

Bangkok Buddha Day boat ride scam

Christiana Hadj 17 Jun 2019 5 1

A man in Bangkok tried to convince us to go on a boat ride. He said he was a teacher waiting for his doctor wife, and that today was a special religious holiday and boat rides were cheaper etc. If i wasn’t so scam-aware i would have definitely fallen for it, he was so convincing.

We met the scammer in a park close to the Flower Market. The Buddha Day scam was particularly convincing because at that time, there was a schoolchildren parade rehearsal going on in that park, and the scammer said he was their teacher and they were getting for Buddha Day. Yeah, right.

After telling us about Buddha Day and about his doctor wife, he suggested that we go to a particular dock where we can catch a special Buddha Day boat ride and for a special price. He offered to take us there. I said no because I already knew he was a scammer.

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Taking tourists to this offsite pier instead of the actual market

lyssa 7 Jan 2019 4 0

Hello, so I booked a tour including the Damean Saduak market with a taxi company that has good reviews on Tripadvisor. This was my third experience with them and the other two had been fine, no problems. They have listed a floating market tour on their website and they seemed to have good experience. I already had to pay the taxi company for the tour.

So, when we arrived at the market, it turns out we arrived at an off-site location, maybe known as the pier. To me, I thought we had arrived at the market. It had signage and other taxis/people there. I was immediately taken to a table and told the two-hour boat tour including a visit to the temple was 3,000 Baht. I was very taken aback by this, as it was around $90 and I had no idea there was that kind of fee to visit the market. Since I’d been in the car awhile and was paying the taxi company for the tour, I just paid for the boat. I didn’t see any other way to visit the market. I later found out there is an actual entrance to the market, I’m not sure what the fee is, if any, but I’m sure it’s minimal compared to what I paid.

Even though I’d done research on the market beforehand, I’d never heard of this practice of taking tourists to this offsite pier instead of the actual market. Since this was a taxi company with good reviews that I’d used before, of course I would assume they were taking me to the correct location.

Is this is a common scam with the Damean Saduak floating market? I would find this to be mainly the fault of the taxi company, since they took me to the wrong place.

As a side note, the boat then didn’t take me to the temple, as promised when I bought the boat ride. I had to argue with them at the dock and they had the boat take me back out. I don’t know how they think they can charge these huge fees for a tour and promise it includes a temple, then not go to the temple!

Overall, the experience left me feeling scammed and with a very bad taste in my mouth. Please let me know if this is a common scam or if you’ve heard of this before! Thanks!

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Got quoted 1500 and paid 1000 for a 50bhat journey

kmanus 5 Jun 2018 3 0

Haha.. I got scammed twice in 2 days in Bangkok. until I hooked up with Teacher Pam’s English School students who showed me a great day in Bangkok and set me on the way to Auytthuya.. I got scammed by a street goods seller brought a banana leaf umbrella for 1000bht down from 1500 . and I got scammed by a tuk tuk driver who took me around the corner 2 mins and put me on a boat taxi for 30 minutes.. I’m sure that the real price is 50bhat.. but alas I got quoted 1500 and paid 1000. for a 50bhat journey.. lol Take it with good humour and carry on with your trip, think of it as a good deed

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$8000 baht each

adarren 13 Nov 2017 4 0

Yes my wife and i got hit $4000 baht each to enter the floating markets and if we wanted to see and attractions it would be $8000 baht each boy i was angry not to be told that be for a riving

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1500 bahts for a ferry to the temples

hhina 24 Aug 2017 3 0

I just wanted to make you aware of another scam going on.

We were planning to visit the temples by public transport and ferry today when a taxi driver outside our hotel suggested he take us to the ferry for a small fee. We thought ok as we’re running late lets let him drive us there.

Anyway he took us to some place where they charge 1500 bahts for a ferry to the temples! He told us that the next public ferry wasn’t until 3pm so we’d be better off with these guys.

Lucky that I’d read about ferry prices and where to catch them. And as he tried to quickly drive off and leave us stranded we all jumped into the taxi.

Wetold him that we’d like to go back to the hotel for which he cheekily asked for a return fare. He then left us stranded at another train station.

So just be careful. There were many many other people like us that had nearly been taken for a ride. Some realised but I think some believed them and paid up.

btw the public ferry is only 15 bahts and the tourist one about 50bahts.

Everything turned out ok in the end for us … But just recommend do your research and keep a map with you.

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Scam at Hua Lamphong

Annie 15 Feb 2017 4 1

Out of MRT station Hua Lamphong I tried to take a Tuk Tuk to the Grand Palace, one person in the street going to his job gently started to explain us that traffic is terrible at that hour and that we should take a boat and that it will only cost us 150 baht to the Grand palace.

He told us to get a Tuk Tuk and go to pier number 2 Wat Muang Kae. Tuk Tuk driver was two meters away and tolds us the exact fare (30 baht) the man already mentioned us (which was the first alarm, because Tuk Tuk drivers see you as foreign and try to charge 100baht as minimum for short rides).

When we arrived at the pier it wasn’t N2, it was a private pier, and they told us it will cost 1200 baht per person to get to the Grand palace. We try to walk direct to the pier to get a public boat and they got aggressive saying it was a pier with only private tours. We didn’t pay and we left. The real pier N2 was a block away.

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PLEASE BE AWARE: of the Vallet employees at hotels

Yerso 17 Oct 2016 5 1

Went to thailand and stayed at a Hansar hotel (a good brand name hotel). I ask the vallet employees where the best way to get to the floating market. He states he knows a travel agency that can arrange a shuttle to the floating fish market for a cheap price flat (1200 baht)- not sure if this is cheap but the travel time was about 1-1.5 hours from bangkok so seemed reasonable and it will also include a stop at the train market. Once agreed with “Jacky” the next day – the “shuttle” shows up which is pretty much a taxi….. An hour and a bit – into the trip we get to the “main floating market stop” this is the first stop the driver brought us to and we thought it was the only one. The prices to enter the market on a little private boat was over 4000 baht (approximately 150USD) – this includes a trip to see a sugar cane factory (just big pot with sugar cane) and the big and small market). At first i thought it was ridiculously expensive but you will see other tourist family who are being scammed to also pay the crazy fees – so you end up agreeing and thinking its reasonable. YOU ALSO DON’T KNOW THIS IS THE ONLY DOCK SO YOU THINK TRAVELING FOR 1.5 HRS you must pay the fee as you worked so hard to get there already.

BEAWARE: IF YOU DONT HAVE ENOUGH MONEY THEY WILL TELL YOU THERE IS AN ATM IN THE FLOATING MARKET SO THEY WILL TAKE YOU THERE TO GET MORE MONEY IF YOU DONT HAVE ENOUGH. At the end of the day due to MY bad planning – I realized there was a offical dock stop for entering the market at prices of 30-50 Baht at the most – which you can ask the driver to speicically go to…..Please do not fall into this trap as many of the taxi drivers/vallet employees are all into the SAME scam to make you pay the most expensive fees to get to tourist attractions such as the floating market.

….I soon realized that day after the TAXI driver was a security guard of another hotel down the road – WHOM MOST LIKELY WAS PALS WITH THE VALLET EMPLOYEES AT MY HOTEL.

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Super expensive prices

Beonca 22 Aug 2016 3 0

Don’t take the floating market tour they make you pay to shop at super expensive prices

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Exorbitant rate of 1000 baht per person

cnishali 25 Jan 2015 3 0

To add to the grand palace closed scam we encountered this yesterday As we were walking towards the palace. a couple approached us and said its closed and we should instead go to the floating market by boat tour.

A tuk tuk guy appeared from nowhere and agreed to take us there for 10 baht Once on the pier the guy showed us a boat and said an exorbitant rate of 1000 baht per person. We walked away and another tuk tuk guy told us that he can reduce the price to upto 225 per person with his boat friend We got a boat and paid that money

The boat tour takes u to the inner canals of Bangkok and lake floating markets with one or two boats selling souvenirs And after an hour it stopped at the temple of Dawn per. We were under he assumption that they will drop us to the grand palace pier or on the same side that we got in from.

On landing a lady stopped us and demanded a landing fee. We refused and walked off but were hassled into paying. Stranded on the other side and not wanting to haggle for another a boat tour we ended up taking a tuk tuk back to that side we came from. We were in Bangkok for barely 6-8 hours and it was indeed eventful.

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