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This is an honest report of what happened yesterday. I have a police report and also receipt for the money I had to pay for my so-called damages if anyone requires me to back up my story.
After spending 3 hours on the bus from a place called Chai Pra Kan (or something like that) my family and I arrived at the Anodard hotel a little after midday. We were going to spend our last night in Chiang Mai before our flight back to Singapore the next morning.
Paid 995 baht for the room which allegedly slept 4 persons (in fact it contained 2 beds a little bigger than regular single beds.)
So then, up to the room. The bloke who brought up our bags switched on the airconditioning and went off to get us a jug of water for some reason.
I noticed that the bedroom sliding window was open by about 3 inches so I attempted to close it by sliding it shut. Big mistake.....the window wheels at the base must have been off the rollers or something.
I watched in horror as this big old window went crashing to the ground from our 3rd floor room. The fall was broken a little by the ledge that jutted out below our window, but it continued to crash downwards and landed between a pick-up truck and another vehicle.
Damn.....after being at the hotel for 10 minutes disaster had struck.
Like a fool I assumed that the hotel would take responsibility. How wrong I was.
The manager immediately asked me down to look at the damage. At this point I was thinking 'what does the damage have to do with me? - its your bloody window that fell out'
Things didnt seem to be looking too good for me, so I called a CM resident I know to rack his brains on what I should do. He called a nearby restaurant and the landlord and some of his staff came over from time to time after that to check how things were progressing and to assist with translation - for that many thanks guys!
Both vehicles were scratched slightly. The owner of the grey car was very nice and didnt ask for any money, just said it was nothing serious.
The pickup was a different story - it belonged to the hotel. The manager began insisting that I pay for the window and the damage to his pick-up truck. I refused and instead went across to a nearby restaurant for some lunch. By this time it must have been just before 1pm and we had had nothing to eat all day.
After ordering our lunch I noticed a policeman had arrived on his motorcycle so I left my family and went across the road back to the hotel.
The manager advised me that as I wasnt willing to pay for the damage, he had called the police as a 'third party'. The policeman smiled a lot but didnt speak any English so he called the tourist police, while we surveyed the damage below and also the scene above in the room.
It wouldnt take Columbo to realise that there was something wrong with the window that I had sent crashing below. There was another similar sliding window on the other side of the window, and it was clear I would never have been able to push that window off even if i tired - as it was securely in place.
The tourist police (2 of them - a guy and a girl) showed up and we continued the charade - this time in English. The tourist policeman seemed to understand exactly my point, but finally it came down to the same thing. I was very unlucky but would still have to pay for a replacement window (3900 baht) and for the damage to the hotel pick-up (2000 baht).
Finally I agreed to pay the amount as long as I got a police report and a receipt from the hotel to hopefully back up my claim under my travel insurance.
So then it was off to the ATM (I had only a little cash left as it was our last day in Thailand) and then the police station. The hotel manager made the police report with the motorcycle cop in attendance and I paid the 5,900 baht.
You can draw your own conclusions as to why the police sided with the hotel, but I have only heard bad conclusions from those who i have spoken to in Chiang Mai.
Avoid this hotel at all costs.
I have to say we loved our stay a few days earlier at the Novotel, but this Anodard is the pits. Imagine if a child had pushed the window and fallen out, or if someone had been below when the window landed. It doesnt bear thinking about does it
