Phuket Consumer Takes on Central Over Tourist Rip-Offs
Phuket Consumer Takes on Central Over Tourist Rip-Offs. Watch This Space
PHUKET: Sangdurm Thaiserikul is taking on the might of Central Festival over a bad watch she bought from a stallholder at the large Phuket emporium.
The Damrungtam Complaints Office at Provincial Hall in Phuket City revealed the case of the bad copy watch when reporting 60 of its cases earlier this week to Phuket Administration officials.
Khun Sangdum bought herself a Casio from a stall holder at Central for 800 baht while on a holiday to Phuket.
But the watch stopped working within a couple of days, so she travelled all the way back to Phuket from Pattalung province to report the matter to the Damrungtam Office.
''For me, 800 baht is not a large amount,'' she said. ''But when I think of tourists being ripped off by buying these watches, it makes me sad for Phuket and for Thailand.''
The stallholder operated from within Central but Khun Sangdum thought it better to make her point by complaining because Central allowed the poor-quality watch to be sold there.
Damrungtam officials said a letter had been sent to Central about the matter but there had been no response, so the issue would be passed on to the Consumer Affairs Office in Bangkok.
The private protest by Khun Sangdurm comes amid reports that diplomats representing several European countries are to meet Tourism and Sports Minister Chumpol Silpa-archa to address the growing problem of cheats and swindlers targeting Phuket tourists.
The topic is also likely to be on the agenda when Phuket's honorary consuls meet with Phuket's Governor Tri Augkaradacha and Phuket administrators and police on Monday in a regular meeting postponed from this week.
Damrungtam officials said at this week's meeting that they had managed to mediate 45 of the 60 issues while another 13 were in the process of being mediated.
Two, both involving time share holidays on Phuket, had proved impossible to mediate, the meeting was told.
