A story from Nakhon Ratchasima about a furious woman smashing up her new car because it has been nothing but a problem since she bought it speaks volumes about defamation laws and consumer protection in Thailand, suggests ASEAN NOW.
Neither the lady nor Daily News dared mention the make of car.
Even when customer service has been poor, mentioning the name of the company can land the customer or the media who report it into heaps of trouble.
This has been seen when guests complain about hotels.
Several times in the Daily News article the media said “a certain manufacturer” and put the same term into the mouth of the furious owner.
Runhathai, 42, (surname withheld), a businesswoman was pictured climbing on her black car in the parking lot of the Korat town hall.
She took a crow bar to the front windshield and smashed it up in a sarcastic gesture designed to shame the unnamed company.
She bought the car in February for 1,474,000 baht and since then has only done 938 kms.
She said there had been problems with a tire pressure gauge, connections to an android phone, rear sensor malfunctions, persistent engine vibrations and reverse gear problems.
She’d been into the service center and they said they had looked at it and said everything was normal after repairs. She begged to differ.
She wanted a new one. They refused.
She even offered to pay between 300,000 to 400,000 baht to trade it in and get a new one. Again the company refused.
She went to the office of the Consumer Protection Board but her case went quiet.
“I can’t stand it any more,” she told the media.
“So I decided to smash it up so that the company will really know how I feel. It was a new car but it has meant nothing but repairs.
“I will let them repair it then I’m going to sell it and get what I can for it. Then I’m going to buy a new one”.
She gave no indication if she’d be buying one of the same make or another make but her final comment was more grumbling about poor customer service.
The media called her “handsome” – this was because she had the appearance of a “tomboy”.