{"id":1345,"date":"2015-02-16T21:06:44","date_gmt":"2015-02-16T14:06:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alphapro.com\/funhouse\/?p=1345"},"modified":"2025-01-19T14:02:24","modified_gmt":"2025-01-19T07:02:24","slug":"pattaya-condo-repair-ripoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/alphapro.com\/funhouse\/2015\/02\/16\/pattaya-condo-repair-ripoffs\/","title":{"rendered":"What a $400 oil change tells you about Pattaya condo repair ripoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pattaya condo repair ripoffs are harder to detect than embezzlement but very noticeable if you someone’s asking you \u00a0for a $400 oil change. \u00a0But before I explain exactly how our condo employees tried to pull this one on me, remember just one thing. \u00a0It’s in their DNA.<\/p>\n

Also–I am the chairman running my condo community so I should know a few things the rest of you don’t<\/h3>\n

Now let me give you a little background. \u00a0We had an office girl, bookkeeper, who our past chairman and committee trusted too much. \u00a0The chairman was a good man. \u00a0And he was a very smart man. \u00a0But he never tried to understand the Quickbooks accounting system<\/a> I introduced years ago. \u00a0The bookkeeper did. \u00a0I trained her. \u00a0The problem tried to keep track of what she was doing.<\/p>\n

The embezzler would receive maintenance fees and utility bill payments from our residents in cash. \u00a0Then she gave those residents Excel spreadsheets showing that they had paid all their bills. \u00a0She then pocketed their money. \u00a0And the Quickbooks accounting system displayed large sums of money as “undeposited funds”.<\/p>\n

When I took over as chairman I got a fellow American to be on the new committee as my right hand. \u00a0Ralph was even better on Quickbooks than I was. \u00a0So the secretary bookkeeper suddenly disappeared when Ralph started asking her why she failed to deposit the undeposited funds.<\/p>\n

We had the thieving bookkeeper by the gonads and she knew it<\/h3>\n

Then we reported the missing bookkeeper to a Thai lawyer. \u00a0This lawyer has a lot of power and all kinds of connections. \u00a0The lawyer located the missing bookkeeper and called her to account.<\/p>\n

We then had a meeting in the lawyer’s office about how we should handle the embezzler. \u00a0$20000 had gone missing. \u00a0Our past chairman, two other committee members and I met with the lawyer. One of the men asked the lawyer: \u00a0“What percent of the condos in Pattaya are ripped off by their employees who are managers or bookkeepers?<\/p>\n

The lawyer replied–99 % of all Pattaya condos are being ripped off by such employees<\/h3>\n

While the thieving bookkeeper was embezzling our money, we had a completely inept manager who was either conniving with the bookkeeper or looking the other way. \u00a0So when the shit hit the fan in our condo office, she suddenly quit and disappeared.<\/p>\n

We got a new manager. \u00a0An honest young woman. \u00a0Then we started requiring all condo residents to pay our condo bank account directly. \u00a0We made it very clear that our new committee would cut the hands off of any condo resident who tried to pay cash to our office girls. \u00a0We also hired a new bookkeeper. \u00a0Who was just as scrupulously honest as our new manager.<\/p>\n

And to make a long story short, we have stopped the accounting embezzlement in its tracks. \u00a0While we are forcing the embezzler to make monthly payments to pay back what she has stolen.<\/p>\n

It’s now time to move onto\u00a0Pattaya condo repair ripoffs<\/h3>\n

Embezzlement is to be expected more than it is to be unexpected. But I’ve already dealt with that in — How most Pattaya condominiums cheat their owners<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately Pattaya condo repair ripoffs are even harder to detect than embezzlement. \u00a0 But they are very noticeable if you being asked for a $400 oil change. \u00a0Here’s a tall tale\u00a0\u00a0that’s based on a true story that I’ve changed to protect the guilty. \u00a0 Unfortunately for all of you Pattaya condo owners out there this tale is all too true. \u00a0Welcome to Pattaya condo repair ripoffs. \u00a0 Just keep in mind as you read it—–ripping people off is in their DNA.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It all started when our condo engineer technician warned us: \u00a0“Big problem with water pump and fire control system.”<\/h3>\n

The entire sorry episode started when a condo committee member warned other committee members our insurance wouldn’t cover us for fire damages. \u00a0He warned: \u00a0“If our insurance finds our fire control system is deficient I am afraid it won’t cover us”.<\/p>\n

The committee member \u00a0assumed that a fire control sensor and alarm would go into action as soon as it detected a fire. \u00a0He also assumed that an apparatus in our pump room would then automatically start a Cummins diesel engine. \u00a0 And that this Cummoms diesel engine would start a water pump that would pressurize the fire hoses in throughout our building.<\/p>\n

Our manager decided it was time to call in the experts when we couldn’t figure how the fire control system worked. \u00a0She found a company that specialized in such cases. \u00a0And two technicians visited our condo from Bangkok.<\/p>\n

Then the company the technicians worked for presented a 174,000 ($5500) baht bid to our manager. \u00a0When I looked at that bid, I smelled a rat. \u00a0The entire 174000 baht bid included 1 item for a 13000 baht oil change. \u00a0Which is $400 in American money.<\/p>\n

The problem was the technicians underestimated their opposition<\/h3>\n

Me<\/p>\n

I lived and worked on a farm for 23 years. \u00a0I owned 3 tractors. \u00a0This was my largest tractor.<\/p>\n

\"This<\/a>
It took 22 quarts of oil to change the oil of my John Deere tractor. It had 180 horsepower so it’s engine was a lot bigger than the Cummins diesel engine running our condo water pump<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I cannot count how many times I had to change the oil for those three tractors. \u00a0And their engines were very similar to the Cummins engine at our condo. \u00a0Except they were much larger. \u00a0So the procedure for changing the oil was the same. \u00a0For the 3 tractors or the Cummins diesel running the condo water pump.<\/p>\n

But the 174000 baht bid was for a complete overhaul of the entire system, which included replacing several water valves, a pressure gauge, several ball bearings and their seals.<\/p>\n

Hey—I had done a lot of that before. \u00a0On my farm equipment.<\/p>\n

But now our condo engineer enters the picture. \u00a0He thinks our entire water control system should run on automatic. \u00a0Trouble with that is, if we keep running the pump to pressurize all the fire hoses, if there’s a leak in one of the hoses, we are going to have really big problems. \u00a0So getting all this fire control equipment to run full automatic makes no sense whatsoever.<\/p>\n

I decide that this entire 174000 baht bid is just one more example from an endless list of Pattaya condo repair ripoffs<\/h3>\n

Meanwhile one of the two Bangkok technicians contacts our condo manager. \u00a0He tells her:<\/p>\n

Don’t tell anyone. \u00a0But I can do this whole job for only 100,000 baht. \u00a0Just don’t tell my company.<\/p>\n

But the Bangkok tech’s made a big mistake.<\/p>\n

Our new manager is honest. \u00a0She tells me everything.<\/p>\n

Then our technician contacts me. \u00a0He diagrams the repair job for me. \u00a0And then he tells me:<\/p>\n

“I can get this entire repair job done for 100,000 baht. \u00a0Will you accept my bid?<\/p>\n

“Bingo. \u00a0I’ve got those Bangkok techs by the scrotum and I’ve also got our engineer technician by his balls.”<\/p>\n

“Yeah. \u00a0100,000 baht if the conniving Bangkok tech does the job. \u00a0But it costs the same 100,000 baht if our technician gets the same work done. \u00a0I know what time it is.”<\/p>\n

And so does our manager.<\/p>\n

So here’s how we handled that 174000 baht repair<\/h3>\n

We never did a damn thing. \u00a0We were paying our own tech 25000 baht to take care of our interests. \u00a0He wasn’t. \u00a0So a few months later we fired his sorry ass.<\/p>\n

We ran fire drills.<\/p>\n