Lots to complain about these days....traffic, atm fees, bad cops, and folks trying to rip off falangs. Since hardly anyone reports the news too good to report, here goes:
Today I caught the front bumper on our 1-year old Toyota VIGO on a stump and pulled the bumper out on one corner. Two of the posts holding the bumper were snapped, but otherwise the bumper was in good shape. I took it to the big repair shop about 3/4km past Neesoon's new store, same side of the highway as you're heading toward Loei. Drove in......lots of people working and no one came over for a few minutes, so I figured they'd be too busy for a small job. Finally a girl asked if I had insurance...I told her, yes, but the problem was too small for me to report. "No problem...have a seat and wait a few minutes." A guy reset the bumber and repaired the broken pins in a few minutes. When I asked the price, the girl said whatever I wanted to pay. I gave the guy 200 baht and he seemed overjoyed.
The girl introduced me to her boss.....spoke pretty good English through horribly missing teeth. I complemented him on his garage....then asked about someday repairing some scratch marks (from a shrub) on the side the truck. He asked if I had insurance. I said I didn't want to make a claim for a small job. "No problem....have a seat"......(sound familiar?). A guy came over with a buffing machine and some scratch remover and had the paint looking like new in a few minutes. Again, the price was up to me....I paid 200 baht.
While waiting, I asked...."Of all of the insurance companies that you deal with, which company, in your opinion, takes the best care of their customers." "Viriyah" was their the bosses answer.
When I made my way into town, I refilled my 5 year old HP printer ink cartridge for the umpteenth time at B-Net on SriChomChun Rd.........refilled in 5 min for 50 baht.
Lastly, I did a double ATM at the Kasikorn Bank on Phosri Rd......no ATM fee.
I'd have waiting a day or two for the truck to be fixed in the US and easily paid $100 for the bumper and another $50 or so for the paint. Refill a cartridge in the US?....in 5 minutes?......for 50 baht? me thinks not.
Yep, there's lots to complain about in Udon these days!

Just you wait, parrot. The grumpy, whinging old expat bugg3rs will come out with plenty of complaints before you can blink

I had to laugh when you said "how much" and they said "up2u". Where have I heard that before. Pay no heed to the nay sayers, you're happy and that what counts. For me here in Thailand even when getting screwed it's a good deal;o)

I've been screwed plenty of times here in Thailand and generally speaking, enjoyed it every time.

Speaking of relative costs of things; my wifes 89 year old father fell and broke the femur bone in his left leg. We took him to the Sawang Dang Din hospital which is the closest to his village. For one month he stayed there with the leg immobilized.

We got him a private room with a ceiling fan, air conditioner, refrigerator, attached private bathroom, television and sitting areas for visitors. Honestly, it was almost like a hotel room! We took him home and the wife paid the bill for one month's stay, a total of 16,500 baht! Thats less than $16.00 per day!
That cost also included three meals per day. $16.00 wouldn't pay for a single meal in a US hospital!

Yep, there certainly are times when I have to smile to myself and be grateful that I am living in Udon Thani. I've had several small "up to you" projects done around the house and everyone went away happy when they were finished. Once in a while, a small labor job can actually be embarrasing when they are willing to accept such a small amount of money for it.

Shado wrote:We took him home and the wife paid the bill for one month's stay, a total of 16,500 baht! Thats less than $16.00 per day!
That cost also included three meals per day. $16.00 wouldn't pay for a single meal in a US hospital!

Did you enquire what the Farang price is?

Marmite the Dog wrote: "Did you enquire what the Farang price is?"

Had no reason to inquire about a Farang price. No Farang went to the hospital and my wife, who was very worried about her father, made all of the arrangements and handled all of the paperwork with the hospital. I was relegated to the position of observer and chauffeur.

The hospital may charge more for a Farang patient, I just don't know.

I don't look at everyday pricing here as incredibly low. To me it seems rather normal.

Conversely, the charges and pricing of many things in the west is simply out of control. Excessive taxes and layers of bureaucracy make simple things like owning a house, or major medical bills, a massive chore.

I realize that pricing is a relative notion and that low is merely the opposite of high, but often I pay too much for things merely because they're cheaper than I accustomed to back home.

My epiphany came in late 2005 when Del Amo Motor Sports in Redondo Beach, Calif., wanted nearly $800US to tune up my Yamaha V-Max (motorcycle). I was in Thailand less than six months later.

Shado wrote:, a small labor job can actually be embarrasing when they are willing to accept such a small amount of money for it.

I know what you mean shado - for instance - when I get the motorbike tyres pumped up the guy asks for 2 baht !

Double pricing again Old timer...i get charged 1 baht.....but i did show my Thai drivers license.

parrot wrote:."Of all of the insurance companies that you deal with, which company, in your opinion, takes the best care of their customers." "Viriyah" was their the bosses answer.

I certainly don't agree with this as in my experience Viriyah are the biggest rip off merchants in the Thai insurance business.

6 months ago my wife came off her M/C so rushed her in to the main Udon hospital, the big public one.
They gave her a scan because she was bleeding from the ear, stitched up her injuries and kept her overnight. When we went to pay the hospital, we showed the Insurance from Viriyah, as they told us they normally claim direct from the insurance company but with the exception of Viriyah as a the accounts dept told us "Viriyah never pay out" so we make claim ourselves.
A waste of Time that was.
Viriyah told us the bill was too expensive and my wife should not have had a scan as there was nothing wrong.
How would you know if you didn't have the scan which of course was recommended by the Doctor? we collected all the paperwork, police reports etc and then Viriyah said they wanted a doctors report,
We just gave up at that stage just was not worth the running around to claim 7,000 baht. But I would never deal with theses crooks again, they made it obvious they weren't going to pay, so since that time I have found another insurance provider.
Viriyah saved themselves 7,000 baht and lost 27,000 baht in revenue PA being insurance for two M/Cs and one car per year.
How stupid as that?

Although the comments are about an insurance claim, you must of course understand that Thai's themselves are very good at ripping off everyone else no matter who they are insurance coys being fair game, i expect ( although (I do not condone their attitude) that they have been conned before and just make sure.
As for complaining Thailnad is good and many many instances of good treatment can be had for a fair price cheaper than we ever imagined,
That is why I stay here, but the original postee was not wrong we doth complaineth too much, but why???

All true enough Paul, but in this case it was the government hospital telling us, " we deal directly with all insurance companies with the exception of Viriyah."
Thats gotta tell you something about their ethics.

The claim was for reimbursement of a Government hospital bill only. I wouldn't have thought there was much to challenge in that.

In this case I would be complaining no matter which country I was in.

Maybe the answer to the hospital insurance problem is to go to the various hospitals and ask the question. Likewise, with the body shops. Likewise with the members who have personal experience. I value input from these sources much more than I value the reports of getting insurance cheaper from one company than another.

On a side note, and not to favor this body repair shop over others, but I was impressed with: the cleanliness of the facility; the quality of equipment the workers were using; the willingness to help out someone with a small job on the spot; and finally, the detailed reports that the shop prepared for the insurance companies: closeup photos of the damaged areas (before) and repaired areas (after), all done on computer. Gosh, I didn't see a single green ledger book in the place.