Australian tourist, 45, charged $40,000 for an $1100 meal at a restaurant in Vietnam

[harrybarracuda]

Frankly I'm amazed you can even find a restaurant that would charge AUD1000 for a fucking meal! I bet his Tripadvisor review was a fucking belter.

Australian tourist, 45, charged $40,000 for an $1100 meal at a restaurant in Vietnam after staff 'repeatedly swiped two of his credit cards'

A Vietnamese restaurant manager has been arrested after overcharging an Australian tourist almost $40,000 for a meal in Ho Chi Minh City.

Tran Tuan Minh, 22, was charged with appropriating property after charging $39,544 for a meal worth around $1146 to the tourist's credit card at his Nightfall Restaurant in the downtown District 1, local site VnExpress reported.

Ho Chi Minh City police allege Minh used 'computer networks, telecommunication networks, Internet or digital devices to appropriate property'.

John David Caracciolo, 45, was having dinner with friends at the restaurant in August 2016.

He was told to provide another credit card to pay for the meal after the first card he used had a technical glitch.

Both cards were swiped multiple times by the restaurant staff.

Mr Caracciolo found out he was charged a total of $39,544 for the meal after returning to Australia a few days later.

He asked a friend in Vietnam to file a legal complaint.

Upon being reimbursed, he dropped his complaint, but police continued investigations, saying 'the act was serious and has adversely affected the country's image.'

Police found that Minh instructed staff to repeatedly swipe the cards and deliberately overcharge them.

He allegedly withdrew the money from a bank later.

The restaurant, owned by Minh's sister, closed down in October after the incident.

Australian tourist charged $40,000 for a meal in Vietnam | Daily Mail Online

[Thai3]

Vietnamese food is really horrible as well, even Thais turn their noses up at it when I have been with crowds of them. They have a go cos they think it's hi so for some reason, but don't like it. Vegetarian Vietnamese is the worst I have ever had, bland muck worse then the stuff you get in China.

[Wilsonandson]

There's one thing I do like in Vietnam and that's the coffee. Best coffee in the world. If only you could buy it in Thailand. No joy, I'm afraid! Nescafe is so shit!

[Cold Pizza]

Frankly I'm amazed you can even find a restaurant that would charge AUD1000 for a fucking meal! I bet his Tripadvisor review was a fucking belter.

Australian tourist, 45, charged $40,000 for an $1100 meal at a restaurant in Vietnam after staff 'repeatedly swiped two of his credit cards'

A Vietnamese restaurant manager has been arrested after overcharging an Australian tourist almost $40,000 for a meal in Ho Chi Minh City.

Tran Tuan Minh, 22, was charged with appropriating property after charging $39,544 for a meal worth around $1146 to the tourist's credit card at his Nightfall Restaurant in the downtown District 1, local site VnExpress reported.

Ho Chi Minh City police allege Minh used 'computer networks, telecommunication networks, Internet or digital devices to appropriate property'.

John David Caracciolo, 45, was having dinner with friends at the restaurant in August 2016.

He was told to provide another credit card to pay for the meal after the first card he used had a technical glitch.

Both cards were swiped multiple times by the restaurant staff.

Mr Caracciolo found out he was charged a total of $39,544 for the meal after returning to Australia a few days later.

He asked a friend in Vietnam to file a legal complaint.

Upon being reimbursed, he dropped his complaint, but police continued investigations, saying 'the act was serious and has adversely affected the country's image.'

Police found that Minh instructed staff to repeatedly swipe the cards and deliberately overcharge them.

He allegedly withdrew the money from a bank later.

The restaurant, owned by Minh's sister, closed down in October after the incident.

Australian tourist charged $40,000 for a meal in Vietnam | Daily Mail Online

Pay cash.

[harrybarracuda]

Fuck me, I do believe crap pizza learned something.

[Maanaam]

There's one thing I do like in Vietnam and that's the coffee.

Their baguette is top notch too.

If only you could buy it in Thailand.

Doi Tung. Delicious.

Having for years read about scams in Thailand but never being the victim of one and never reading about Viet Namese scams and rip-offs, when I landed in HCM City, I had my guard down and was ripped off from even before I got through immigration and the scams and rip-offs continued for the week I was there.

Upon being reimbursed, he dropped his complaint, but police continued investigations

Thai police would have dropped it. Why make work for yourself if the complainant has dropped it? Good on the VN police for that.

[cyrille]

There's one thing I do like in Vietnam and that's the coffee. Best coffee in the world. If only you could buy it in Thailand. No joy, I'm afraid! Nescafe is so shit!

There are plenty of fairly good quality coffee beans grown in the north of Thailand. There's a 90% chance that the beans in your Nescafe are from Vietnam...they produce mountains of low quality beans.

[harrybarracuda]

There's one thing I do like in Vietnam and that's the coffee.

Their baguette is top notch too.

If only you could buy it in Thailand.

Doi Tung. Delicious.

Having for years read about scams in Thailand but never being the victim of one and never reading about Viet Namese scams and rip-offs, when I landed in HCM City, I had my guard down and was ripped off from even before I got through immigration and the scams and rip-offs continued for the week I was there.

Upon being reimbursed, he dropped his complaint, but police continued investigations

Thai police would have dropped it. Why make work for yourself if the complainant has dropped it? Good on the VN police for that.

I dropped my guard once.

The hotel left a note advising people to use only two taxi companies, which I did, but when I went to the war museum, there were neither of them outside.

So I got in one and he started up the road. The meter was spinning like a fucking slot machine so I stopped him, got out and walked up to the main road to wait for a proper one.

Apparently meter rigging is an extremely common practice and the authorities turn a blind eye to it.

Then of course I discovered Grab worked and that problem was solved.

[Maanaam]

There's one thing I do like in Vietnam and that's the coffee.

Their baguette is top notch too.

If only you could buy it in Thailand.

Doi Tung. Delicious.

Having for years read about scams in Thailand but never being the victim of one and never reading about Viet Namese scams and rip-offs, when I landed in HCM City, I had my guard down and was ripped off from even before I got through immigration and the scams and rip-offs continued for the week I was there.

Upon being reimbursed, he dropped his complaint, but police continued investigations

Thai police would have dropped it. Why make work for yourself if the complainant has dropped it? Good on the VN police for that.

I dropped my guard once.

The hotel left a note advising people to use only two taxi companies, which I did, but when I went to the war museum, there were neither of them outside.

So I got in one and he started up the road. The meter was spinning like a fucking slot machine so I stopped him, got out and walked up to the main road to wait for a proper one.

Apparently meter rigging is an extremely common practice and the authorities turn a blind eye to it.

Then of course I discovered Grab worked and that problem was solved.

I feel very foolish about my taxi rip-off.
Walked out of the air terminal and there were heaps of drivers touting. I hadn't done my homework, and at the same time my head was reeling at having just become a millionaire in dong.
I asked the first driver how much to District 1. He said "350". Wow, I thought, I've got millions in my pocket and the fare is just 350...I'm not going to haggle.
(First mistake, and you can see where, hehe).
Leaving the airport, he had to pay for carparking and asked me for cash. I only had 500 000 notes and gave him one. He paid the cashier, and very openly took the change holding his hand in sight, reached back and gave me all the change, 180 000 if I recall.
What I realised later was he had palmed the 500 000 note and handed the cashier a 200 000 note, but very carefully and openly given me "all the change". That was his first 300 000 pocketed.
We got to District one and he stopped and asked me for the 350. I gave him my smallest note from the carpark change...hehe... No, 350 THOUSAND. The penny dropped, of course, so I didn't argue, feeling foolish. Handed him 500 000, he gave me change, then turned to my wife and asked Madam for her 350 (thousand). I stopped at that and refused. We started to argue, but Mrs Naam got out and started taking photos of his van, whereupon he quickly said no problem, she can ride for free, unloaded us and took off.
I later found out the normal fare with one of those two companies you mentioned (Vichisun? Green and yellow cabs) was circa 130 000.
Got caught by the shoe shine guys. Got caught by the coconut sellers who can cut the top off 3 coconuts in the blink of an eye when you asked for only one. Got caught by a street seller selling cigarette lighters. Beat him down from 500 000 for a pack of 5 stainless steel lighters that light like a match to 200 000. Shortly after another guy selling the same thing asked 150 000, and I beat him down to 100 and he was still happy, so I was ripped the first time, well and truly.
Then the first restaurant we went into. They put cold wet towels on the table. I thought they were part of the service. No. Charged for.
One guy, a motosy taxi guy stationed outside our hotel was good. He would get me ice when shops were closed, take my mrs across the road, warn us about this vendor or that, all sorts of little services and whenever I tried to tip him, he refused. He was just friendly. He got all my loose change when we left.
I didn't like HCM City at all.

Oh, and of course there are a few taxi companies that copy the livery of the good ones and even have similar phone numbers.

[harrybarracuda]

You can't blame them for trying it on.

You just need to be aware of it, or not care about it.

If I pay x thousand for a coconut it's for me to decide if it's worth it, not to worry that some TEFLer spent half an hour haggling and saved himself 20 cents.

[Cujo]

There's one thing I do like in Vietnam and that's the coffee. Best coffee in the world. !

You've GOT to be kidding. VN coffee sucks.
It's all robusta then they often mix it with some kind of chocolate flavouring.

[Seekingasylum]

Anyone who pays by credit card in a pissy little gook/slope/chickenhead restaurant anywhere in Asia is a fucking idiot.
I advise all visitors to Thailand to only use their credit cards for big ticket purchases in a recognised department store, a chain hotel or for airline tickets and where they can see the swiping and a receipt is issued contemporaneously.
Even in what might appear to be a decent better class restaurant one runs the danger of card cloning if one or two of the staff have gone bent.

[redhaze]

Vietnamese food is really horrible as well,

This is mostly true IME as well, although there is good food to be found its nothing like Thailand where you trip over it. Too many shitty meals to be had in Vietnam.

There's one thing I do like in Vietnam and that's the coffee.

Agreed, although the condensed milk they always put in tastes like shit.

It's all robusta then they often mix it with some kind of chocolate flavouring.

This wasn't my experience.

Having for years read about scams in Thailand but never being the victim of one and never reading about Viet Namese scams and rip-offs, when I landed in HCM City, I had my guard down and was ripped off from even before I got through immigration and the scams and rip-offs continued for the week I was there.

You can't blame them for trying it on.

You just need to be aware of it, or not care about it.

Yeah but you don't have to go back. Whereas the scams in Thailand are mostly a sideshow amusement only for the stupidest to fall ass first into, Vietnam is just one person after another trying it on. During my time in Vietnam, everyone was trying to put on the squeeze. It was just rentlentless. Buy a bottle of water, someone is trying to rip you off. Buy a baguette, someone is trying to rip you off. Buy a bus ticket, buy anything and better be ready to guard your dong (heh).

Shit grows old, quick.

[harrybarracuda]

Vietnamese food is really horrible as well,

This is mostly true IME as well, although there is good food to be found its nothing like Thailand where you trip over it. Too many shitty meals to be had in Vietnam.

There's one thing I do like in Vietnam and that's the coffee.

Agreed, although the condensed milk they always put in tastes like shit.

It's all robusta then they often mix it with some kind of chocolate flavouring.

This wasn't my experience.

Having for years read about scams in Thailand but never being the victim of one and never reading about Viet Namese scams and rip-offs, when I landed in HCM City, I had my guard down and was ripped off from even before I got through immigration and the scams and rip-offs continued for the week I was there.

You can't blame them for trying it on.

You just need to be aware of it, or not care about it.

Yeah but you don't have to go back. That's pretty much where I'm at with it. Vietnam is just one person after another trying it on, the scams in Thailand are mostly a sideshow amusement only for the stupidest. In Vietnam, everyone will try and rip you off. Buy a bottle of water, someone is trying to rip you off. Buy a baguette, someone is trying to rip you off. It grows old, quick.

Never had that experience buying a baguette, they normally have the prices marked.

Checking your change is something I do everywhere.

[harrybarracuda]

Anyone who pays by credit card in a pissy little gook/slope/chickenhead restaurant anywhere in Asia is a fucking idiot.
I advise all visitors to Thailand to only use their credit cards for big ticket purchases in a recognised department store, a chain hotel or for airline tickets and where they can see the swiping and a receipt is issued contemporaneously.
Even in what might appear to be a decent better class restaurant one runs the danger of card cloning if one or two of the staff have gone bent.

Someone posted on here a while back about how they checked into their hotel in Pattaya, put the cards and shit in the room safe, went on the piss and a few hours later got a call from their bank about their card being used for suspicious online purchases.

Turned out one of the staff had opened it and scanned the card.

[redhaze]

Never had that experience buying a baguette, they normally have the prices marked.

I didn't really have much problem getting correct change, it was more like the cab story above just tons of intentional "misunderstandings". A consistent lament of mine throughout the trip was that prices were often not marked. I believe there was some intentionality behind that, aka whitey surcharge.

In fairness, the baguette thing was just one time. It just pissed me off because I knew how much an egg sandwich costed so the first time I don't ask upfront the lady tries to charge me an absurd 10x upcharge. Like just getting stupid with it. Sandwiches already made, I was hungover and in no mood so just handed the money over per usual. It wasn't enough to argue about still, just enough to be a consistent drag to be so blatantly treated like a walking wallet all the time the entire trip. Hanoi was the only place that felt different than this, in fairness that place seemed decent.