Thread: Bangkok coffee shop tries to charge 1000 Baht per hour

Four people on Wednesday decided to discuss business in a coffee shop on Ratchadaphisek Road, Bangkok. After ordering six drinks and spending two hours at the table they were presented with a bill for 2,260 baht.

One of the customers, Atipoj Srisukhon, took a photo of the bill and posted it on his Facebook page, triggering a social media uproar.

Atipoj wrote that the bill was for six drinks costing 260 baht, plus a 2,000 baht "Open Food" charge.

The Bon Cafe staff explained to the four that the coffee shop discouraged customers from using the premises for direct sales and product testing, for business meetings and for working generally.

The Facebook user admitted there was a "small" sign on each table asking that customers cooperate and not conduct business activities there. If they did not cooperate, the coffee shop would charge them 1,000 baht per hour. However, the sign was very small and he and his companions did not see it.

The four refused to pay the additional 2,000 baht. The staff did not argue and subsequently handed them a new bill that excluded the "Open Food" charge.

The "Open Food" post was later removed from Atipoj's Facebook page after Bon Cafe (Thailand) isued a statement saying it was all a misunderstanding.

The coffee shop was only asking for cooperation from its customers, and none of their customers had actually paid the "Open Food" charge.

The company statement said the coffee shop is in a busy area, surrounded by many offices, and it has to provide fast customer service to meet the demand.

Most netizens criticised the coffee shop for overcharging, but others argued that people should not selfishly occupy tables for hours on end in a coffee shop. They could also disturb other customers.

Don't talk business over coffee | Bangkok Post: news

So, they the scam did not suceed and we are all friends again.

Great - I must reach out to those nice Nigerians that try to scam me from time to time

What the fok is a coffee shop in a business district for, if not for gossiping about your superiors out of earshot.
Bon Cafe might want to review their business model and their Brand issues.

Originally Posted by chassamui

What the fok is a coffee shop in a business district for, if not for gossiping about your superiors out of earshot.
Bon Cafe might want to review their business model and their Brand issues.

Nail -> Head

I agree with the coffee shop, if the cheap fucker don't want to hire a meeting room them charge 1,000 baht an hour for a table. Which iis good value, btw.

They shouldn't have backed down.

Come off it Willy. That kind of business has to be all things to all people. Just like a 7-11 provides a cooling blast of aircon to the great unwashed, a coffee house is there for the benefit of all. They can't afford to pick and choose, or alienate their core customers.

a coffee shop sells coffee. (And money)

Originally Posted by kingwilly

And money)

New one on me.

I think I meant to say and makes money. It's purpose is not for some cheapskate businessmen nor English tutors ala smeg.

Originally Posted by chassamui

Come off it Willy. That kind of business has to be all things to all people. Just like a 7-11 provides a cooling blast of aircon to the great unwashed, a coffee house is there for the benefit of all. They can't afford to pick and choose, or alienate their core customers.

All things to all people...Heh...Get real...

Your comparison to 7-11 is moronic...One does not hang around in there at length unless he's a wanker...

Get a coffee shop and see what it's like to have a table full of arseholes occupy it all day for a couple of hundred baht...

Originally Posted by chassamui

Originally Posted by BaitongBoy

Get a coffee shop and see what it's like to have a table full of arseholes occupy it all day for a couple of hundred baht...

Come back when you have run your own customer focused F&B business and doubled the takings in 8 weeks.
Smelling of stale piss and a lack of humour will always hold you back.

As well you know...

My father once told me a story about the terrible situation of beer rationing in Australia immediately after WW2. The situation that inspired Slim Dusty's lament about "A Pub with No Beer". Him and his mates were used to going to a particular pub and they had to stay with one pub because you had to cultivate a relationship with the landlord to be able to get a decent supply of beer for special events such as parties and weddings. Anyway, the license for the pub was sold and a new landlady took over. her first move was to get rid of the billiards table. When her customers complained, she told them straight: "you're not here to enjoy yourselves, you're here to drink beer". They had to suck it up. Beer was more important than billiards.

Originally Posted by kingwilly

I agree with the coffee shop, if the cheap fucker don't want to hire a meeting room them charge 1,000 baht an hour for a table. Which iis good value, btw.

They shouldn't have backed down.

So do I. Thais are notorious for going to Starbucks etc. buying one drink and nursing it for several hours while mincing on free internet. Yes, I know Starbucks coffee is crap, but their cakes are good and it would be a nice place to sit with my kids if one local hadn't planted themselves on a sofa made for 3 with an empty drink on the table.

The coffee shop does not want customers conducting business activities on their premises. I have personally seen job interviews, insurance sales and direct selling interviews carried out in cafes, coffee shops and restaurants in Thailand - but the jobs were not for the location of the interviews. It's terribly bad manners and out of order in my opinion. The "open food" charge might be one way to deter that if it is done more transparently (prominent signs in the coffee shop and perhaps a warning to customers concerned that they will be charged from this time on).

^^Starbucks has free internet?

Any business trying to build a brand, which Bon Cafe is, should be more circumspect about the way it handles customers.

Originally Posted by kingwilly

I agree with the coffee shop, if the cheap fucker don't want to hire a meeting room them charge 1,000 baht an hour for a table. Which iis good value, btw.

They shouldn't have backed down.

Yup I'm with Wills on this one to , a business has to function to maximise through put in the busy times , to help carry itself through the quiet times

Originally Posted by chassamui

Any business trying to build a brand, which Bon Cafe is, should be more circumspect about the way it handles customers.

And what about the other customers inconvenienced by these dicks ?

I think they already have a brand, they are not a start up anymore.

They are a minor brand and still fairly new. They operate at a fairly low level. Can you imagine a major brand name behaving like this. One franchisee has given them a lot of very bad PR in Bangkok. You understand how fickle money driven the thai are.

The Office of the Consumer Protection Board has ruled that coffee house could charge its customers for overstaying its spaces to do other business activities rather than drinking coffee.
The ruling came after the OCPB summoned the owner of the coffee house, Bon Café, to clarify why it overcharged customer drinking coffee in the shop.

Drinking coffee became an issue that was widely shared and debated on the Internet when a customer posted a receipt showing he and friends were charged 2,000 baht for just ordering four cups of coffee at Bon Café.

The receipt showed the charge for coffee was 260 baht, but for “open-food” charge, it was 2,000 baht.

But he didn’t pay the open-food charge but just the coffee, and later posted the receipt on the social network criticizing the coffee house for overcharging customers.

The issue drew the attention of the OCPB which later summoned Bon Café, a coffee shop on Bangkok’s Ratchadaphisek Road for clarification yesterday.

After the explanation, the OCPB said Bon Cafe has the right to charge customers who use their space for business activities.

According to a OCPB official, Bon Café clarified the 2,000 baht open-food charge on top of coffee collected from four customers who ordered six drinks, but spent two hours at the table to discuss business on Wednesday and later were presented with a bill for 2,260 baht.

Bon Café explained that earlier the coffee shop only asked the customers not to occupy the table for hours and disturb other customers otherwise they will be charged 1,000 baht per hour, citing of the small warning signs placed on every table.

It also said even though the customers were charged 2,260 baht, but customer managed to pay the café 260 baht, took a photo of the bill and posted it on Facebook, which later triggered social media uproar.

After hearing reasons from Bon Cafe, the OCPB gave instruction that coffee house has the right to charge for using space for long hours for other functions but they need to place a bigger notice on the table to inform customers.

Coffee house has right to charge overstaying fee - Thai PBS English News

Well done the OCPB.

Good result ,, fk the freeloaders

Lets change business people to backpackers and coffee to a glass of water.

Still think it's reasonable for them to have one drink in several hours while using wi-fi etc...?