PHUKET: Jewellery stores and souvenir sellers were ordered yesterday to stop ripping off Phuket tourists or face further action.
The call came from Vice Governor Jamleran Tipayapongtada after he learned that scams and extortionate prices were damaging Phuket's reputation as a tourism destination.
Many people who were persuaded to buy items of jewellery while visiting Phuket later found they had paid too much for the items, a meeting heard at Provincial Hall in Phuket City.
Costs were inflated by commissions paid to taxi and tuk-tuk drivers for bringing people to the stores. Even so, many of the items sold involved customers paying ''Grade A prices for Grade B jewellery.''
The rip-offs were mostly committed at smaller stores rather than larger ones, the vice governor was told.
He questioned the people representing some of Phuket's jewellery shops and asked them how the industry could expect to survive and thrive if its reputation continued to deteriorate.
Gem shop rip-offs rated only behind the high fares of tuk-tuks and taxis in complaints recorded from tourists.
The Director of the Phuket Office of Commerce, Prakong Rakwong, said that most of the pearls sold as Phuket souvenirs actually came from China, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai or Chanaburi.
''One problem is that we do not have the technical means to check the quality when investigating complaints,'' he said.
Most tourists did not realise they had been swindled until they returned home and had the items they had purchased on Phuket valued by dealers.
If the complaints continued, more severe action would have to be taken against the stores, Vice Governor Jamleran said.
The call came from Vice Governor Jamleran Tipayapongtada after he learned that scams and extortionate prices were damaging Phuket's reputation as a tourism destination.
Many people who were persuaded to buy items of jewellery while visiting Phuket later found they had paid too much for the items, a meeting heard at Provincial Hall in Phuket City.
Costs were inflated by commissions paid to taxi and tuk-tuk drivers for bringing people to the stores. Even so, many of the items sold involved customers paying ''Grade A prices for Grade B jewellery.''
The rip-offs were mostly committed at smaller stores rather than larger ones, the vice governor was told.
He questioned the people representing some of Phuket's jewellery shops and asked them how the industry could expect to survive and thrive if its reputation continued to deteriorate.
Gem shop rip-offs rated only behind the high fares of tuk-tuks and taxis in complaints recorded from tourists.
The Director of the Phuket Office of Commerce, Prakong Rakwong, said that most of the pearls sold as Phuket souvenirs actually came from China, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai or Chanaburi.
''One problem is that we do not have the technical means to check the quality when investigating complaints,'' he said.
Most tourists did not realise they had been swindled until they returned home and had the items they had purchased on Phuket valued by dealers.
If the complaints continued, more severe action would have to be taken against the stores, Vice Governor Jamleran said.
yes biggest jewelry store on bypass road pays 30 percent commsion
Posted by michael on September 12, 2012 08:21