Car Wash @ Central Underground - BEWARE

[wazza]

I reported some time ago about the car wash company that operates under Central as an independant operation etc and how they stole small loose coins during the cleaning of my vehicle.

Normally i use the franchise company at Tesco Lotus on the ring road and get excellent results and no issues with security.

A few days ago, i had to park @ Central and running out of time before i returned to work, deceided to use this mob again.

I deliberately left 7 baht in the drop down coin holder i have in my car , just as a test again.

Came back 2 hours later and worst fears confirmed, the 7 baht has been stolen.

Went immediately to the manager and reported it, the male staff all denied it .

BEWARE the staff of this company clearly have a policy of removing small loose change / coins from your car during the cleaning process.

[Aardvark]

I've always used Big C, and no problems !

[Texpat]

Seven baht? Geez. How will you recover?

Did you check to see your spare tire is still there?
Or your air filter? Or a few liters of fuel?

[NOLA]

Texpat...Your response proves you to be XXX

[jimboLV]

Simmer down NOLA, the post evoked the same reaction in me as it did with Texpat. A whole seven baht! Reminds me of the time at a carwash in the US. I had just opened a fresh pack if cigs and smoked one on the way to the carwash, and left the pack laying on the console. Upon driving away I reached for the pack and discovered to my horror that there were now three cigs missing. Someone had stolen two cigarettes from the pack! My girlfriend and I had a laugh riot all the way to California speculating on whether I should report the theft to the local police, the FBI, State Attorney general, the AFT unit of the US Justice Department, and my insurance company. Maybe call for a full blown CSI team to sift through the cigarette butts in the employees breakroom to extract DNA samples to identify the miscreant and have him or her jailed in chains.

What the OP should have done was to report the theft to the senior corporate carwash management. They would have enjoyed having a good laugh over it, just like I am sure most readers of this forum did.

Lighten up.

[jackspratt]

Wazza thanks for the heads up about not using that facility.

Hopefully most will understand that your post was not about 7 baht, but rather the potential to have something stolen (laptop, camera........ who knows?) if you patronise that place.

[wazza]

Its not the 7 baht FFS.

I posted to advise people of a systematic scaming of the companies activities.

I deliberately left 7 baht there to test their honesty out again, and this has confirmed their thieving

The theft was reported to the Manager on site who summons over the cleaning staff for that time. total denial by them.

Next time, it could be someones Ipod, Phone , or something of higher value.

If it has helped one forum reader, then i havent wasted my time.

[Texpat]

Texpat...Your response proves you to be XXX

That's not very respectful of forum membership, Sherlock.
Perhaps some time spent reflecting in Banned Camp is in order.

Seven baht!

[wazza]

Texpat

read the original post slowly, and allow the synapses to coordinate your interpretation.

It says i reported it earlier also, and so i tested it again and it confirms my previous findings , If i had had 10 Baht, probably would have upped the stakes ! and becomer a high roller and have delusions of drinking a warm Leo , outside in 40 degree heat.

I just spent 30 seconds working out that the lost 7 Baht represents, my salary for approx 20 seconds, per 24 hour day.

[nkstan]

Thanks for the report wazza.Always like to know about situations where one needs to be extra alert.7 baht ,nice test,to be sure.Your lucky to know about places like this because ,you might park your car somewhere,even home,and find it has disappeared because your keys were duplicated and your address was on papers in the car.like insurance etc.

I thought Nola comment was out of line,but some people just seem to be that way!

[Texpat]

I get it wazza. Completely.
And I agree that theft by a car wash company in Udon is a problem of which people should be aware. Thanks.
I just find the bait to be ... shall we say ... inconsequential.
If you planted a half piece of chewing gum and it came up missing, they could rightfully suggest it was garbage and were merely doing what you had asked of them -- clean your car. If it had value to you, you could rightfully claim theft.

Cheers.

[nkstan]

I get it wazza. Completely.
And I agree that theft by a car wash company in Udon is a problem of which people should be aware. Thanks.
I just find the bait to be ... shall we say ... inconsequential.
If you planted a half piece of chewing gum and it came up missing, they could rightfully suggest it was garbage and were merely doing what you had asked of them -- clean your car. If it had value to you, you could rightfully claim theft.

Cheers.

Your not suggesting that a claim of theft,for any amount,would bring satisfaction,are you???Any amount,obviously displayed,shows the character of those servicing the car,as they know they are stealing!

[wazza]

Texpat

Ur focusing on the value of 7 Baht, Im focussing on the theft from a vehicle, whilst left with them for professional servicing.

Maybe next time, U will use them and place 20 baht under the front drivers mat. after all thats not consequential, Its a 1/3 of a Leo, in an air con bar !

Try to look for the forest and not the trees here.

[rickfarang]

That operation is very convenient, but I have to report that they have not given good value for the price in the past. Yeah, 7 baht is small change, but that's the point; if they were honest, not even one baht would be missing. I am not sure I can blame them considering the great disparity between somebody who can afford an automobile and somebody who can barely keep up payments on his motorbike, but honesty is honesty. Anything else is not.

[kakariki]

Hi All
Well it's getting harder to buy anything with 7 baht nowadays, so maybe they thought it was rubbish and threw it out. The other side is if you pull 5-10 baht in change from every car you wash everyday, everyday of the week, every week of the year, it's becomes a nice little bonus.
Another thing that knowing that these people are lifting things is, that one day you might leave your car there for a clean, and you didn't know that one of your kids left a mobile, MP4 player or something else of value in the back seat, and it's gone!
It would be nice to return and have say we found this under the seat, we kept it safe for you till you returned.
BB

[wokkawombat]

I play it safe and have my car washed by the prisoners at Udon jail..

[pienmash]

NOT really related to stealing cash but to car wash scams - whilst living in Pattaya i recall a certain car wash business were caught ( or their employees rather) with a key cutting service as an added sideline turned out anyone leaving their cars to be cleaned along with the keys would have their car stolen or robbed within a few days of visiting this place with no sign of forced entry to the car , they had a membership / bonus card scheme running so they new the address where the car would be parked - SNEAKY BUGGARS!!

[jimboLV]

I play it safe and have my car washed by the prisoners at Udon jail..

Wokka you should try the little "seven baht temptation" trick the next time you're at the prison. Be interesting to see how that works out. :-"

[trubrit]

I play it safe and have my car washed by the prisoners at Udon jail..

Wokka you should try the little "seven baht temptation" trick the next time you're at the prison. Be interesting to see how that works out. :-"

Well I frequently have my car washed there and have never lost anything. On a couple of occasions when I have left anything valuable , phone, camera etc inside, the boss man has put them in a locker and gives me the key when I collect the vehicle. They do say there is more out than in .

[randerson79]

It's an old scam at the car washes. They suck up the coins with the vacuum. That way they if the boss searchs them it's not on them. Or they can say they didn't see it and they accidently suck it up. I don't think an Ipod will fit up the hose.