Phucket - What a disgusting island full of scammers and conmen. AVOID AVOID AVOID

[Skydiver1]

Hi all,
3 days into my trip to Phucket.

1) So far, I have a 600 euro charge on my credit card which I know nothing about. Will have to report this as fraud
when I get home to get the money back, and has wiped out a lot of available credit for my holiday.

2) Went to a petrol station and saw the little prick put in 20 litres of gas. He then cleared the meter and tried to charge
me 1500 baht when the total cost should have been closer to 900 baht. He finally relented after a tourist police officer (who
didn't really give a $hit either) arrived.

3) 500 baht to get from the airport to my hotel. Now I am being quoted prices of 1400 baht to get back, and there are NO
other transport options around here apart from car rental. Apparently this is normal because the taxis run a cartel
and governing forces on the island don't care what they charge or public transport. An Australian tourist was recently assaulted in a dispute over a fare. Lovely for a tourist to have dealings with the aptly named 'taxi mafia'.

4) The diving here is about twice the price as it is in the Gulf.

5) You have two extremes across various tourist resort locations - either completely dead at night or rotten excesses of the
likes of Patong beach where you get harassed every 30 seconds to see a ping pong show.

6) The island is horribly overly-developed, and there has obviously been zero regard for long term planning. Traffic control
is very poor with gridlock occuring at all hours of the day in numerous locations.

I suppose it is an ideal location if you're looking for a bad version of the Canary Islands, or some other tacky package holiday further abound. The land of smiles - where everyone wants to put their hand into your wallet simply because you're just a dumb farang.

 

[Ste Wart]

You should have tried this checking this before you booked the holiday: Google

 

[Skydiver1]

You should have tried this checking this before you booked the holiday: Google

Check google? You'll get a mix of opinions and often times the truth is diluted by vested interests. Then you have completely fake reviews going in on websites such as Trip Advisor submitted by staff members of particular companies, etc. I have no agenda except to warn other travellers in the hope they can avoid the pitfalls I have experienced.

In any case, everything I say is backed up with numerous other travellers sharing similar experiences of scams and conmen. I came here with an open mind, but made very flexible plans so now off to KL on Saturday.

 

[hellhole]

first time in phuket?

 

[Uli Kunkel]

Check google? You'll get a mix of opinions and often times the truth is diluted by vested interests. Then you have completely fake reviews going in on websites such as Trip Advisor submitted by staff members of particular companies, etc. I have no agenda except to warn other travellers in the hope they can avoid the pitfalls I have experienced.

In any case, everything I say is backed up with numerous other travellers sharing similar experiences of scams and conmen. I came here with an open mind, but made very flexible plans so now off to KL on Saturday.

Welcome to Thailand!

No, to be fair though there are definitely places to avoid at all cost if you don't live on the fringes of society, slithering around in the gutter.

Ive never gone to Phuket for precisely the reasons the OP mentioned. Ive known far too many people who have spent time there and had an overwhelmingly negative experience. But thats not to say that you can't find a few nice places around the island. Ive long heard whisperings about them.

Then there are other destinations in the south that are much more relaxed and friendly to the "normal" tourist. Still though, In my personal experience ive found them to be hit and miss. Been ripped off many times. After a while you either get used to it, or it gets under your skin.

As a result, despite there being some good DC's in Thailand, I'd rather dive elsewhere.

 

[cephasiii]

I was there for 3 weeks for my IDC and had a blast! People were very friendly, cost and quality of food was excellent. Never got sick. I can't wait to go back.
Sorry you had such a horrible time.


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[Griffo]

I avoid Phuket (Drunk Euro trash) - I consider it like Bali (Drunk Aussies) or what I imagine places like Cancun (drunk Americans) and Majorca (drunk Pom's) are like. Places which attract a certain type of personality

 

[PeterNBiddle]

I avoid Phuket (Drunk Euro trash) - I consider it like Bali (Drunk Aussies) or what I imagine places like Cancun (drunk Americans) and Majorca (drunk Pom's) are like. Places which attract a certain type of personality

There's a theme here but I can't quite place it...

 

[Wingy]

Try doing some research other than on tripadvisor - Phuket and particularly Patong is probably the second sleaze city after Pattaya. A bit late now but theres a heap of information available on sites like travelblog, thorntree, lonelyplanet which all have people trip reports - not necessarily just dive focused but will give you an outline of what an area is like. Where mass tourism is concentrated so will scammers. Punch Phuket into youtube and see what you get. I fly into Phuket a lot...and straight out of it to other parts of thailand which are far less congested with drunken party people and backpackers. If somewhere has 5000 choices of resort on a small island its pretty simple to guess its a mass tourism destination so with that you get the dregs turning up. Dont write off the whole of Thailand on Patong. Totally agree with Ozgriffo..Phuket and Kuta are the same same no different.

 

[stevenl]

Dont write off the whole of Thailand on Patong.

I would go even further and say: don't write of the whole of Phuket on Patong. And even in Patong ther sleaze is really confined to a very small part, many, many families vacation there. Especially Patong does get quite busy though.