PHUKET: A breakaway group of jet-ski operators is splitting with Phuket's Marine 5 Office over registration fees and the bad image caused by disputes over excessive charges for damages.
Surachai Yongdee, President of the Jet-Ski Club of Bang Tao, said: ''There will be no more registration from next year.''
Khun Surachai said that his 40 members usually paid 4500 baht to Marine Office 5 to register but the fee had gone up to 8000 baht after changes to beach arrangements on Phuket last year.
Receipts for the registration fees were never issued, Khun Surachai said.
He added that the Bang Tao jet-ski operators used a different insurance contractor to the Patong jet-ski operators and paid much higher rates.
''Our insurance costs us 6000 to 7000 baht a year,'' he said. ''There is a 5000 baht excess payment and anyone who makes too many claims loses their contract.''
Patong's 186 jet-ski operators pay just a few hundred baht for insurance each year.
Tourists who crash jet-skis off Patong beach are often subjected to extortionate demands for repairs, whether they admit liability or not.
Intimidatory threats are sometimes made and in some cases, tourists have been frightened into paying excessive amounts.
Phuketwan has reported several attempted scams recently but these are believed to be just a few of the incidents that, according to Patong locals, occur almost every day during the high season.
Khun Surachai said that he accepts that tourists should pay 15,000 baht for ''time out of the water.'' This is calculated at 3000 baht a day for five days.
Some jet-skis are back in the water the following day after repairs, but the tourists don't get their money back. Phuketwan has suggested that tourists should only have to pay an accurate, appropriate sum once the jet-ski has been repaired.
Khun Surachai said that he believed that ''lots of competition in Patong'' created some of the problems.
He did not believe fines would be effective in controlling jet-ski operators. ''The fine could be 10,000 baht but a jet-ski operator in Bang Tao can make 40,000 baht on a good day,'' he said.
Khun Surachai said that damages costs demanded from tourists in Patong were excessive because fibreglass vessels could be repaired cheaply with costs seldom exceeding 20,000 baht.
Marine 5 Chief Phuripat Theerakulpisut said yesterday he knew nothing about the lack of receipts for registration fees for jet-skis. ''The office staff are responsible for registration fees,'' he said. ''I oversee policy matters for jet-skis.''
One Bang Tao jet-ski operator who said he had been working on neighboring Surin beach since 1984 was recently told to stop working there.
He has asked Marine Office 5 to produce paperwork to first prove that there was a ban on jet-skis operating at that beach.
Surachai Yongdee, President of the Jet-Ski Club of Bang Tao, said: ''There will be no more registration from next year.''
Khun Surachai said that his 40 members usually paid 4500 baht to Marine Office 5 to register but the fee had gone up to 8000 baht after changes to beach arrangements on Phuket last year.
Receipts for the registration fees were never issued, Khun Surachai said.
He added that the Bang Tao jet-ski operators used a different insurance contractor to the Patong jet-ski operators and paid much higher rates.
''Our insurance costs us 6000 to 7000 baht a year,'' he said. ''There is a 5000 baht excess payment and anyone who makes too many claims loses their contract.''
Patong's 186 jet-ski operators pay just a few hundred baht for insurance each year.
Tourists who crash jet-skis off Patong beach are often subjected to extortionate demands for repairs, whether they admit liability or not.
Intimidatory threats are sometimes made and in some cases, tourists have been frightened into paying excessive amounts.
Phuketwan has reported several attempted scams recently but these are believed to be just a few of the incidents that, according to Patong locals, occur almost every day during the high season.
Khun Surachai said that he accepts that tourists should pay 15,000 baht for ''time out of the water.'' This is calculated at 3000 baht a day for five days.
Some jet-skis are back in the water the following day after repairs, but the tourists don't get their money back. Phuketwan has suggested that tourists should only have to pay an accurate, appropriate sum once the jet-ski has been repaired.
Khun Surachai said that he believed that ''lots of competition in Patong'' created some of the problems.
He did not believe fines would be effective in controlling jet-ski operators. ''The fine could be 10,000 baht but a jet-ski operator in Bang Tao can make 40,000 baht on a good day,'' he said.
Khun Surachai said that damages costs demanded from tourists in Patong were excessive because fibreglass vessels could be repaired cheaply with costs seldom exceeding 20,000 baht.
Marine 5 Chief Phuripat Theerakulpisut said yesterday he knew nothing about the lack of receipts for registration fees for jet-skis. ''The office staff are responsible for registration fees,'' he said. ''I oversee policy matters for jet-skis.''
One Bang Tao jet-ski operator who said he had been working on neighboring Surin beach since 1984 was recently told to stop working there.
He has asked Marine Office 5 to produce paperwork to first prove that there was a ban on jet-skis operating at that beach.
And it been going on. If you give them a little, they want everything back.
And no one will stop this.
As bad as it is now, I've never seen Phuket.
Posted by steve on January 13, 2015 09:15