Blue Dragon export centre (its a scam)

Gem scam story: Blue Dragon - February 17, 2007

2Bangkok.com actually received another story from another tourist who
was in the Blue Dragon at the time as the person below was...

A reader reports: I have just returned from my 2nd trip to Bangkok in
the past few months. I had returned with my partner to visit the
parts we had not fitted in on our first stay. On the 6th February
2007 we had made our way by skytrain and boat to the Grand Palace.
Approaching what I thought to be one of the entrances a young man in
uniform stopped us and informed us that the Grand Palace was not yet
open and would open at midday. It was about 10.00am and he said we
would have time to visit a couple of other tourist sites and return
later. Taking into account he was in uniform one would be lead to
believe what he was saying. His English was spoken very well and he
told us that he was a teacher and was on holiday so he worked at the
Grand Palace part time. So we showed him our map and he told us to
visit the Lucky Buddha, the Reclining Buddha and the Thai Export
Factory as they had a once a year weekly sale ending that day. He
waved over a tuk-tuk and showed the driver where we would like to go
and negotiated 30 baht for the round trip. Now having a little
experience in Thailand I knew that the drivers would get a voucher of
some sort from the export centre so therefore knew the price for the
tuk-tuk was cheap and understandable.

The tuk-tuk whom couldn't speak great English took us to the reclining
Buddha first then onto the Happy Buddha. At the Happy Buddha as we
went back to the tuk-tuk the driver asked if we minded if he went to
the toilet. Where he had parked his tuk-tuk there was a young man
sitting in a rather modern 4 wheel drive. He had a young girl sitting
in a stroller outside the drivers door. We started talking small
chat, and he eventually asked us where we were going next. Telling
him we were going to the Export Centre he told us that he had just
been there that morning to buy something for himself and his wife. He
said that it was the last day of a sale that they have for a week
every year. The sale was for the Thai people and the general public,
they were not normally open to the public, only the trade. He went on
to say how he and his friends would buy during this sale and then take
the goods overseas and sell for great profits to jewellery stores. He
also said that you were only allowed to buy one piece per person so it
was seen that it was being purchased for personal use and not for
profit.

On arrival to the Blue Dragon Export Centre we were welcomed and shown
around. With it coming up to Valentines day I thought it would be a
great opportunity to buy my partner something nice and at a great
price. I asked the sales assistant 'Prayuth' questions that verified
what I had heard on the street. Are you normally open to the public?
"no" was the answer. When does the sale end? "Today is the last
day". How many items am I allowed to purchase? "Only one each." We
were shown to the VIP section upstairs, eventually we picked out a
nice sapphire bracelet for 139600baht. I tried to negotiate on the
price but there was no negotiating as it was wholesale. Now with it
being the last day of the sale, and unsure of what funds were
available on the cards that I had on me at the time I asked if I could
hold it with a deposit.

I made a deposit of 19600baht, we arranged that the bracelet would be
delivered to my hotel on the 11 February 2007 being the morning we
were departing and I could transfer funds to my account if necessary
to pay the remaining balance. On the 8 February 2007 I decided to do
some research on the internet just to find out how much sapphires were
really worth as we had been around a few other shops on the 7th
February 2007 to see if we had got a good deal. It was hard to really
know as there was such a variance in the price of them and the shades
of blue. On the internet I found a site that sold loose stones and it
all seemed to add up for the mere fact that we had a piece of
jewellery that was a finished item. I decided to look a little
further into it and decided to do a google search on the Blue Dragon
Export Centre. With it being an export company I thought they may
have a web-page. Well this is when everything changed, the first
thing I saw from the search was 'Scam at Blue Dragon". I opened up
and read almost word for word what had happened to us, there my blood
boiled.

I made my way by taxi back to the Blue Dragon on the 9th February with
a print out of what I had found. On returning I asked to speak to the
manager, no-one was wanting to take up that role. The sales assistant
that sold us the bracelet was there and made as he was the manager. I
asked to speak to him privately and was taken to the upstairs office.
I shoed 'Prayuth' the printout and asked for a return of the deposit.
How much would I like he asked. The whole lot was my reply. Sorry we
cannot, as you have signed we charge 10% of any deposit taken because
we have to pay vat and taxes as he had told me at point of sale. I
said yes that was when I believed you had a legitimate business not a
scam running here. I said if I wasn't to get my full refund I would
go to the tourist police (from reading the internet previously my
thoughts were they were just as corrupt but I wanted to call his
bluff) of which he stood up and said way you go. I exited the store,
took a couple of steps and walked back in, I was going to take 90% of
my refund while I could and sort the rest out later. We argued for a
good 15 minutes me calling him every name under the sun and asking how
he lay straight in bed and said we were fed lie after lie and his sale
was everyday. His answer was its psychology "No it's a %&^* lie" I
said. He was doing it to support his children's education in
Australia of which I then told him "I hope they are deported, shot or
whatever and I wished he would rot in hell as well". Now this guy
could take a lot of verbal abuse but was I boiling. On my exit I
warned everyone in the shop at the time that it was all a scam, I was
going to clear the shop as I did. If I had the time and energy I
would have sat at the front of the shop and told everyone to go but I
now believe it would have cost me my life and with a country as
corrupt as it is its not even worth the trip back again.

I am going to try and pursue a claim via my bank with the fact that I
have not received any goods, that I was lied to, to make a
transaction. I will keep you posted as to how that goes.

More on the Gem Scam & maps to the scam stores

On Feb 17, 1:27 am, wrote:
Gem scam story: Blue Dragon - February 17, 2007

2Bangkok.com actually received another story from another tourist who
was in the Blue Dragon at the time as the person below was...

A reader reports: I have just returned from my 2nd trip to Bangkok in
the past few months. I had returned with my partner to visit the
parts we had not fitted in on our first stay. On the 6th February
2007 we had made our way by skytrain and boat to the Grand Palace.
Approaching what I thought to be one of the entrances a young man in
uniform stopped us and informed us that the Grand Palace was not yet
open and would open at midday. It was about 10.00am and he said we
would have time to visit a couple of other tourist sites and return
later. Taking into account he was in uniform one would be lead to
believe what he was saying. His English was spoken very well and he
told us that he was a teacher and was on holiday so he worked at the
Grand Palace part time. So we showed him our map and he told us to
visit the Lucky Buddha, the Reclining Buddha and the Thai Export
Factory as they had a once a year weekly sale ending that day. He
waved over a tuk-tuk and showed the driver where we would like to go
and negotiated 30 baht for the round trip. Now having a little
experience in Thailand I knew that the drivers would get a voucher of
some sort from the export centre so therefore knew the price for the
tuk-tuk was cheap and understandable.

The tuk-tuk whom couldn't speak great English took us to the reclining
Buddha first then onto the Happy Buddha. At the Happy Buddha as we
went back to the tuk-tuk the driver asked if we minded if he went to
the toilet. Where he had parked his tuk-tuk there was a young man
sitting in a rather modern 4 wheel drive. He had a young girl sitting
in a stroller outside the drivers door. We started talking small
chat, and he eventually asked us where we were going next. Telling
him we were going to the Export Centre he told us that he had just
been there that morning to buy something for himself and his wife. He
said that it was the last day of a sale that they have for a week
every year. The sale was for the Thai people and the general public,
they were not normally open to the public, only the trade. He went on
to say how he and his friends would buy during this sale and then take
the goods overseas and sell for great profits to jewellery stores. He
also said that you were only allowed to buy one piece per person so it
was seen that it was being purchased for personal use and not for
profit.

On arrival to the Blue Dragon Export Centre we were welcomed and shown
around. With it coming up to Valentines day I thought it would be a
great opportunity to buy my partner something nice and at a great
price. I asked the sales assistant 'Prayuth' questions that verified
what I had heard on the street. Are you normally open to the public?
"no" was the answer. When does the sale end? "Today is the last
day". How many items am I allowed to purchase? "Only one each." We
were shown to the VIP section upstairs, eventually we picked out a
nice sapphire bracelet for 139600baht. I tried to negotiate on the
price but there was no negotiating as it was wholesale. Now with it
being the last day of the sale, and unsure of what funds were
available on the cards that I had on me at the time I asked if I could
hold it with a deposit.

I made a deposit of 19600baht, we arranged that the bracelet would be
delivered to my hotel on the 11 February 2007 being the morning we
were departing and I could transfer funds to my account if necessary
to pay the remaining balance. On the 8 February 2007 I decided to do
some research on the internet just to find out how much sapphires were
really worth as we had been around a few other shops on the 7th
February 2007 to see if we had got a good deal. It was hard to really
know as there was such a variance in the price of them and the shades
of blue. On the internet I found a site that sold loose stones and it
all seemed to add up for the mere fact that we had a piece of
jewellery that was a finished item. I decided to look a little
further into it and decided to do a google search on the Blue Dragon
Export Centre. With it being an export company I thought they may
have a web-page. Well this is when everything changed, the first
thing I saw from the search was 'Scam at Blue Dragon". I opened up
and read almost word for word what had happened to us, there my blood
boiled.

I made my way by taxi back to the Blue Dragon on the 9th February with
a print out of what I had found. On returning I asked to speak to the
manager, no-one was wanting to take up that role. The sales assistant
that sold us the bracelet was there and made as he was the manager. I
asked to speak to him privately and was taken to the upstairs office.
I shoed 'Prayuth' the printout and asked for a return of the deposit.
How much would I like he asked. The whole lot was my reply. Sorry we
cannot, as you have signed we charge 10% of any deposit taken because
we have to pay vat and taxes as he had told me at point of sale. I
said yes that was when I believed you had a legitimate business not a
scam running here. I said if I wasn't to get my full refund I would
go to the tourist police (from reading the internet previously my
thoughts were they were just as corrupt but I wanted to call his
bluff) of which he stood up and said way you go. I exited the store,
took a couple of steps and walked back in, I was going to take 90% of
my refund while I could and sort the rest out later. We argued for a
good 15 minutes me calling him every name under the sun and asking how
he lay straight in bed and said we were fed lie after lie and his sale
was everyday. His answer was its psychology "No it's a %&^* lie" I
said. He was doing it to support his children's education in
Australia of which I then told him "I hope they are deported, shot or
whatever and I wished he would rot in hell as well". Now this guy
could take a lot of verbal abuse but was I boiling. On my exit I
warned everyone in the shop at the time that it was all a scam, I was
going to clear the shop as I did. If I had the time and energy I
would have sat at the front of the shop and told everyone to go but I
now believe it would have cost me my life and with a country as
corrupt as it is its not even worth the trip back again.

I am going to try and pursue a claim via my bank with the fact that I
have not received any goods, that I was lied to, to make a
transaction. I will keep you posted as to how that goes.

More on the Gem Scam & maps to the scam stores

It never ceases to amaze me how fast this so called educated people
part with their money! Big sale once a week and all that crap, and
they believe that - because somebody told 'em! If a deal sounds to be
too good to be true: it usually is!
Anyway goes to show that a fool and money don't suit!

Chaby

wrote:
they were not normally open to the public, only the trade. He went on
to say how he and his friends would buy during this sale and then take
the goods overseas and sell for great profits to jewellery stores. He
also said that you were only allowed to buy one piece per person so it
was seen that it was being purchased for personal use and not for
profit.

There's a problem with this person's story here. How many friends has
he got, if each person could buy only one piece?

"Chabon 19" wrote in message
ups.com...
On Feb 17, 1:27 am, wrote:
Gem scam story: Blue Dragon - February 17, 2007


It never ceases to amaze me how fast this so called educated people
part with their money! Big sale once a week and all that crap, and
they believe that - because somebody told 'em! If a deal sounds to be
too good to be true: it usually is!
Anyway goes to show that a fool and money don't suit!

Chaby


I absolutely agree - to be honest I find it hard to be angry with the people
who run the scams for this reason. I don't like the damage they do to
Thailand's reputation - but let's face it, greedy people can get ripped off
anywhere on earth. South East Asia and parts of Africa have just developed
the art of parting the fool and his dollars to a higher level.

On Feb 16, 10:27 am, wrote:
Gem scam story: Blue Dragon - February 17, 2007

2Bangkok.com actually received another story from another tourist who
was in the Blue Dragon at the time as the person below was...

.....

These gem scams have been going on in Thailand for a long time.

The reason they work is that the customs and economics in the victim's
home country are different, so Thai scammers have the appearance of
legitimacy.

You have to live in Thailand, or any country, for that matter, to
understand the scams that are played in that particular country.

sarp

wrote in message
oups.com...
On Feb 16, 10:27 am, wrote:
Gem scam story: Blue Dragon - February 17, 2007

2Bangkok.com actually received another story from another tourist who
was in the Blue Dragon at the time as the person below was...

....

These gem scams have been going on in Thailand for a long time.

Yup - we got caught up in a vitrually identical scam 10 years ago. Glad we did - had
a good cheap tour of some of the outlying temples, the driver spoke good English and
was an excellent guide. Obviously he took us to the jewellery store, but there was no
way we were going to buy anything so spent about 5 minutes there (it was only at this
point I realised it was a scam). The driver was well ****ed off, but he still took us
to the Grand Palace as he had promised to after the tour. Not a bad couple of hours
for about 20Bt.

--
Andy

Ever hear "You cannot cheat an honest person"?

Charles wrote:
Ever hear "You cannot cheat an honest person"?


Honest person can be honestly cheated.

On Feb 18, 10:58 pm, lobert wrote:
Charles wrote:
Ever hear "You cannot cheat an honest person"?

Honest person can be honestly cheated.


yes... but they will find out earlier than others.

--
G
http://www.vtrip.info - travel guide for the destination you wish.

"Charles" wrote in message
...
Ever hear "You cannot cheat an honest person"?

Yes but it's rubbish.

There's a TV programme in the UK called The Real Hustle where they do exactly that,
scams where no dishonestly, or even stupidity, is required to be a victim.

--
Andy