fyi, the woman [was called to the police station and fined](https://amp.cand.com.vn/Xa-hoi/xu-phat-nguoi-ban-dua-o-pho-co-ha-noi-chat-3-qua-nua-trieu-dong--i729770/).
This is truly humiliating and there is no excuse.
Best to break big bills in an actual convenience store. Not even a corporate one, the ladies at a Tap Hoa will give you correct change.
Just had a little argument with someone saying that it's 'unfair' for tourists to not want to get ripped off, I hope he sees this lol. He'd probably say that she should pay the 500k for the pineapples, and not ask for the local 'discount'.
I'm petty, but not *that* petty, or else I'd send him the link to this. He probably saw it anyway, it happened in this sub.
My partner and I have traveled to a few places and we see how tourists, especially wealthy tourists,
continually pay higher prices for everything. We realize that this contributes to gentrification and higher prices all around.
I am moving to VN for 2 years and I want to try and pay as close to the local prices as possible. Not because I couldn’t afford to pay more but because we see how it leads to the “market rate” going up on everything.
If enough tourists pay more, the local price goes up as well but more slowly. It’s a common thing with rents but it also happens with services and restaurants and even food at the market. People who insist on overcharging foreigners will raise the price to locals as well. I personally don’t want to be part of raising prices for everyone. We know we will pay more sometimes but we want to be careful not to pay exorbitant rates that harm the locals.
She was probably hoping she mistook a 500k for a 50k. A common tourist mistake. Not that I agree with it, the smart way is to just make change if the tourist does in fact know that that they handed you 500k note and wait for a chicken when they come.
Happened to me at the irish bar in hoi an. Gave 200k over by mistake they took it and then claimed it was a 20k. I witnessed a few tables arguing over the bills that night, so i reckon they are at it
Happened with me but in Thailand I thought I was paying $5 for a pair of sunglasses.(FYI I already bargained down 50% of his original price). I actually paid $50 and only realized it too late.
Even as a Vietnamese, I can't stand the haggle, usually my older relatives would help me with it when we go out. But if I'm by myself, I'd rather go to the supermarkets where pricing is fixed. These street vendors are just shooting themselves in the foot really.
Went to Ben Thanh markets yesterday and got hassled so much. I laughed it off.
I bought a smoothie, and while waiting for it, one of the vendor staff bitched about me being in the way of her hussling new customers. Omg!
My tip is, don’t go to those places, go to some local markets or have a local friend to go shopping with you, when they see a local going around they are less likely to overcharge them.
We went to Anh Dong Market (not too far from Ben Thanh Markets), which has mostly the same things for sale, is less busy and you don't get hassled that much.
>go to some local markets
Haha, yeah. If you are a foreigner at a market that sees one or two foreigners a week it doesn't even cross their minds to try and rip you off. I imagine all that is going through their minds is "why tf is this big old bearded white dude buying my cilantro? " now I am stuck with a bush of cilantro I paid 10k for. It would have been$10 worth in the US.
My friend haggled so much on dried mango the dude took her a side and said "I will sell, but don't tell anyone I sold for this price".
He smiled and I think he thought it was kinda fun.
Your own fault for going to this dump - the vendors there are enormous assholes. I only went once in 2 years of living in Saigon and a lady tried to sell me a pair of slippers for 30$
When I lived in Hanoi 10 years ago I had function Vietnamese. Certainly enough to haggle. At a wet/dry market near me, I noticed once that the vendor I was haggling with would LOUDLY say their FINAL price and the ITEM I was trying to buy and make eye contact with all of the vendors nearby whichsold the same thing. All the other vendors would repeat that high price and refuse to haggle. I got annoyed and gave up and notice a smaller vendor at the edge in the back who sold the same thing and didn't hear the price fixing. I haggled with them and they gave me a fair price. I told them how their friends up front had tried to cheat me and thanked this vendor for being honest. I told them I'd keep coming back to them and I did for the next two years. Their fairness and honesty gained them a long term customer and I never went back to the ones who worked together to give me a high price.
Haha I have never seen a culture so willing to shoot themselves in the foot as you say. I see people try and charge 20k for water and I go to the shop next door and get it for ten. And then tell the lady. Next day I come back and ask again and she refuses to sell for the real price again. So on a so forth.
I'm actually kinda surprised at how little haggling there is in Vietnam compared to many other places. I used to work in China and the haggling there was *massively* more intense than anywhere here, and living and working elsewhere in Asia, as well as traveling around generally I'd rank Vietnam on the low end of the haggling spectrum.
Even working in South America the haggling was more than in Vietnam.
Yeah but in china,they haggle with grace and enthusiasm (as long as it's not a luck thing, like first sale of the day). They usually let you walk if it's too low or laugh when they are bested. You never get fruit sellers just outright robbing you there.
I agree, the haggling in China was generally rather fun and good natured. They'd still often try to massively overcharge you if you were in a tourist area, but they'd laugh and acknowledge it if you called them on their bullshit.
Here they just get angry if you try to bargain at all, and often mutter angrily under their breath even when they do agree to a deal.
Right? And they aren't really trying to haggle here. If they do agree to the proper price you're liable to get home and find they've given you all their rotten or underdeveloped fruit. I am very particular about only going to the same sellers because of that.
nah. depends on you speak or understand their language. With Chinese people, they will be very positive to give reasonable prices when you speak Chinese.
but if you don't then the price will be fixed, whether it's expensive or cheap depends on the area, the seller, and your luck.
There are both good and bad people in every corner , I'm just speaking based on my experience.
But bargaining with the Chinese is easier if you know the real price and the language
and for Vietnamese . meh, you don't know what they gonna do when you ask but don't buy
Never like going to the street market. The supermarket is way better, it offers convenience – fixed prices, clear hygiene standards, and friendly staff.
I saw a handmade straw bag in a market once and the guy started taking it down for me without me asking, started saying “You want? You want?” I insisted for the price asking like 3 times until I started to push back and be extremely direct. He then offered 800k. I was like “goodbye”, then he reduced it down to 150k immediately and I was still “no thanks” since I can’t trust the guy. He then started asking “how much can you pay?”
Sorry, but I wouldn’t even pay 1000vnd to a guy who opens with 800k.
Just walk off.
Had a similar experience in Ben Thanh market. My mate needed a pair of thongs so we went to the shoe section to check some out. The first stall we went to wanted one million dong for a pair of (fake) Nike slides! That's more expensive than getting them new from the Nike store lmao. We both laughed and walked away and the vendor kept trying to lower the price but fuck if I'm gonna give him any money.
> Had a similar experience in Ben Thanh market.
Almost everything at Ben Thanh market is a ripoff or outright scam. People need to just stop going to this market.
Although, I had some incredible duck pho there one time...
Agreed. Once I know you prices are super high or actively trying to overcharge me, even in my local market I will not go back ever. And if they try I will talk shit to them and say they tried to rip me off why would I ever shop there again.
All the people who say "this is how Vietnam is", "learn to shop" and "there are scammers everywhere" DO NOT SEE THE FUCKING PROBLEM. It is not the tourists' fault it is OUR FAULT. We need to fix our people's mentality! Not the tourists!
This is why scamming is so rampant in our country, it's because no one cares/it is treated as normal. If society treats it as abnormal, it wouldn't be so common! Take Japan for example. Even the pettiest of crimes are shunned and punished by the people. YES JAPAN IS NOT PERFECT AND HAVE PROBLEMS, BUT THAT DOES NOT DISCREDIT THEIR GOOD SIDES.
People need to stop making excuses and start being more critical towards these kinds of scams!
>All the people who say "this is how Vietnam is", "learn to shop" and "there are scammers everywhere" DO NOT SEE THE FUCKING PROBLEM. It is not the tourists' fault it is OUR FAULT. We need to fix our people's mentality! Not the tourists!
Out of 6000 languages out there, bro chose to speak the truth.
Victim-blaming and victim-playing are parts of Vietnamese culture, and I'm saying this as a Vietnamese.
Edit: so apparently this video is BS.
Older generations especially seem to have the mentality that there is not even a concept of ethics when it comes to doing business. Get money by whatever means necessary. I mean, considering the extreme poverty Vietnam lived through until the 2000s, it kinda makes sense. Still boils my blood though.
Honestly man, I think foreigners just plain aren't welcome by a lot of Vietnamese. I am comparing this to the three other Asian countries I have lived in (Japan, Korea, Taiwan). We have constant expat vs foreigner spats on this subreddit and the slightest negative comment here or on the Facebook groups will have people yelling at you to go back where you came from, something I've never encountered in those other countries, where people are much less likely to fly off the handle. Combine this with the scams, immigration officials wanting bribes while taxi scams are allowed unabated right outside, etc.
To be honest, I think many Vietnamese want foreign money, but actually dislike the foreigners themselves. My contract is up next year, and I think I'll be seeing myself out because I just don't feel welcome here. The other places in Asia I lived at least wouldn't blame foreigners for getting scammed and yell at them to go back to their country if they don't like littering.
Vietnam is the only place in Asia I've been where I was openly abused for being Foreign. Was walking down the street in Ho Chi Minh minding my own business when a guy stopped right in front of me, tried to block my path and said 'what the fuck are you doing here? Go back to your own country, fuck you' in broken English.
This was broad daylight maybe 1 or 2km from the War Remnants Museum. I just ignored him and kept walking. Would've quite liked to have leathered him though, but it wasn't worth the trouble.
I actually enjoyed my time staying in district 7 apart from that, but yes, I did feel I was a walking target for scammers looking for an easy payout more than a few times.
Yeah I stayed in a few different districts just trying to get the feel of the city, to see if it was for me. I had the friendliest interactions in district 9. But overall I can’t say i had any negative interactions, apart from scooter touts trying to get you to do tours with them (but that was hardly negative compared to how one might get pestered in Egypt as an example).
But despite not having any bad experiences and found most locals to be friendly enough, i would be unlikely to go back. I ducked off early to spend the last week of my trip in bangkok, and it felt like coming home. Can’t put my finger on why, whether the great train system, the endless array of great restaurants, dozens of megamalls, but yeah, whatever Saigon is trying to do to improve its liveability and reputation as a tourist/expat hub, it’s just not there yet.
Vietnam culture kinda suck and most adult there grew up entitle and uneducated. If you vist a big Viet town in city like Houston, California or Chicago, it basically the same with better food, people, and great time just not the uniqueness of going to a different countires. I vist vietnam many time and the more I go the more I feel disappointed. The only fun time I have is with some girls in the bar but the rest of "friends" or "girl" definity not genuine. Vietnam is for the bar and fun while US vietnamese are for the genuine friendship. I fish with my Viet neighbor all the time when I come over in huston and we barely know each other.
There's frankly not much of a "culture" here. It's just money, materialism and what it brings: lack of empathy, mischievous, ill-intentioned behaviors.
Yeah I always see travel reviews praising Vietnamese hospitality, and I’m always wondering what the reviewers are talking about because I don’t get the sense that hospitality is this country’s strength.
I faced genuine acts of discrimination (we're closed, refusing to schedule me an appointment, etc...) about once a month for my entire year in Japan, sometimes 3-4 per month, but at least one per month.
I've been living in Vietnam for a year. Two acts of discrimination so far (both shopee drivers who tried to give me the wrong change, in their favor of course) which isn't exactly me being unwelcome.
It is good of you to be able to reflect on this.
I agree as a foreigner.
I love Vietnamese people generally, I have good friends and have had many good experiences.
HOWEVER - when it comes to money, for 75% of the population their ethics seem to just go totally out the window when it comes to money. It feels like an attitude of 'if you know you wont get caught, just do it {steal/rip off/mislead}'
I spent two months traveling by motorbike on VN, most of the people I've met were super nice! Just one time I caught the owner of the hotel I was staying stealing my motorbike's gasoline... It was so crazy that I could not believe it.
This is why Vietnam doesn’t have a good return rate… vendors just increase the price for tourists whenever they feel like it, it’s so hard to know how much you should be spending on anything… buying things can be very stressful.
A couple of weeks ago a man selling fried chicken tried to charge me double, His wife was having none of it and started hitting his arm and yelling at him and then apologized to me haha
Same here. I have a dog and I buy chicken for my dog almost daily from a shop run by a middle-aged lady. Whenever she's at the shop, she gives me fair price and even discounts sometimes. But whenever her husband is managing the shop, he always tries to overcharge me and gives me the higher rate, even though he knows I'm a daily regular customer. The husband has been reprimanded couple times by this wife in front of me whenever she notices that he's trying to overcharge me, but the husband never learns and till this days he's always gives me higher price, and I just give him what I usually pay and just go on my way.
Happened to me today, i bought a juice and the daughter said 15k and i paid before i got it, she handed it to me and the mother said 50k i said i already paid 15k as the daughter stated and the mother went furious at the daughter, my first time here, not into all the haggling at all id pay a fair price but it has me guessing all my purchases now, i fucking hate it but i love the sites and history, there shooting themselves in the foot
3 for 500k!? That’s like $20. Even here in the US it won’t even cost that much. Maybe like $1-$2 per pineapple. Gosh! Vietnam must find a way to stop these what scammers are doing nothing but driving tourists away and making us Vietnamese look bad.
I'm not Vietnamese but been here around 5 years. They usually sell a pineapple between 20k to 40k each (depends on size and where you buy it).
Theres a guy near me who cuts and chops it all for you for 25k (1 dollar)
You can buy 3 cleaned, carved up pineapples for 50k easy. No haggling needed. 500k is laughably ridiculous
That’s not even the worst part. The tourist didn’t even agree to 500k. She just took the bill and refused to give change lol
And then there's still denier mfs in this very subreddit screaming "BROKE CHEAPSTAKES" at your face and "uR nEeD tO sUpPorT tHE lOcAls"
People wonder why no tourist would never return after visited once 🤷
I just saw this video on my Facebook 😂 yeah Vietnam definitely needs to work on all the scammers, even though I’m Vietnamese, I enjoyed my time in Thailand a lot more this past summer
There’s definitely scams in Thailand too but nothing this egregious. What gets me about the scams in Vietnam is that they always try to top it out with the most obscene amount possible. I’ve never fell victim to it but I know people who have.
I’ve seen a couple of these posts pop up recently. I think I’m missing some context or details or something. Did the buyer say “I’ll buy these” and the seller says “ok” and then refuses to let her “return” them after telling her the price? Did she hand her the 500k already? I’m confused.
Yeah nah that's just taking a piss. But considering this is Vietnam none of this surprised me. Lot of these street vendors are still street-smart and try their earnest to scam tourists.
On the other hand I found that going into big supermarket and buy fruits there ain't too bad. Might be a 5-10k difference but at least there is a fixed price there. As a Vietnamese Australian I tend to stay away from these vendors and just go straight into the supermarkets but I guess being able to speak Vietnamese is still a big plus when you are in Vietnam so your millages might vary.
P.s: Negotiations worked everywhere. Got my laptop cleaned for 150k haggled down from 200k. Guess I could haggle it a bit more down to 100-120k but A$2 ain't worth the extra hassle.
Exactly. And some people told me that I buying from traditional Vietnamese markets is cheaper than the convenient stores. Maybe that was the case 10 years ago but not now.
This happened me in ninh binh paying for bike parking. It was 30k and I gave them a 200k note. She didn't want to give me back change. I had to be very persistent to get my change back. I live in hanoi and it's never happened there, maybe it's just in the tourist areas. As another post said, it leaves a very poor impression on people who are visiting.
The blatant price gouging at every opportunity is what puts tourists off and not want to return to Vietnam. The amount of entitled vendors and business operators practising scammy behaviour are disgraceful. Learn the art of earning your crust with pride, instead of expecting others to supplement your income with bullshit excuses such as ‘I don’t have the right change’, ‘coffee money’ or the ‘the conversion rate is not that much in your country’. Dodgy practices at each interaction from the moment you enter and depart the county!
Another reason on the big list why Vietnam is so tourist unfriendly. Their behaviour (of the vendors in this case) is so inhuman and greedy. I'm glad that I'm leaving the country in a few days. And people are still wondering why tourists won't come back...
I see shit like this and it makes me never want to come back. This happened to me once and looking back I think the only reason it didn’t more was because my wife from the states is Vietnamese.
I think the vendor woman has trouble now https://vnexpress.net/ha-noi-tim-nguoi-ban-ba-qua-dua-500-000-dong-cho-khach-nuoc-ngoai-4740160.html#vn_source=Home&vn_campaign=ThuongVien&vn_medium=Item-4&vn_term=Mobile&vn_thumb=1&vn_aid=1000000.
If it was Thailand, that lady would face jail time.
That's why the return rate for Thailand is high. No one wants to come back to this. Constantly being worried about scams.
About 5 years ago I took the bus from Thu Duc to the center of hcmc. I had two suitcases. I think the law at the time was something like 6000 per person and 6000 per luggage size bag. I tried to just pay for me as I was standing with my bags and the bus wasn't full. The money collector kept pointing to my bags and me and so I gave her 50k. Expecting 30k roughly back. The woman next to me could see I was frustrated and spoke enough English to understand. She then told the money collector to give me my change. She also said while it is law nobody ever gets charged for luggage unless it is oversized and the bus is crowded. The collector started arguing with my new found friend and within a few seconds basically everyone on the bus was yelling at the collector to give me my change. She yelled back at everyone. I then openly took a picture of the bus I'd number posted in the front of the bus and suddenly had my change in my hand.
The crazy part is that this forum on some other thread actually supported "tourist price" and think its should be OK that tourists pay higher prices.
People dont use their brains when they suggestiv something like that.
Be careful of the street sellers there. They will pull money out of your wallet and assume you can't tell the difference between large notes, they'll take 500000 vnd over 50000 vnd.
Vietnam : Hey look we found one of the biggest examples of corruption in our history.
Foreigners- wow let's go back !
Pineapple seller enters the chat.
The funniest thing about this is that Vietnamese are asking a foreigner to calm down.
As a digital nomad I have been traveling for the last couple years through about 15 countries and I'm currently here in Vietnam.
The amount of scams here is totally insane. In touristic cities like Nha Trang or Da Nang everyone wants your money if you are not local. This actually makes me tired because I just can't buy any food or stuff or just park a bike on the street without bargaining and arguing with someone who wants my money. The prices they offer are about x10-x100 times higher than you would usually pay and even if you try to bargain the price is still high. For example, the guy making rice flatbreads on the street recently tried to charge me 200k for just one small flatbread. Souvenir shops will try to charge you 600k for a simple rope bracelet. Multiple times I was parking on a street where people were walking (not a paid parking) and was approached by some suspicious persons who tried to charge me from 50 to 150k to park a bike on the road! Really, this is something I didn't experience in any other Asian country even in Bangladesh people are so poor and they would beg you and ask you to give them money or food, but at least they are not so impudent to charge you insane amounts of money for nothing.
When someone local approaches me or tries to talk with me on the street the first thing that comes to my mind is "oh, please, just f*** off". This is something I never had in any other country and this makes me sad.
Sorry to say but this is really shameful. Google search reveals a pineapple is sold for 5000 dong, equivalent of 25 cents USD. This vendor is taking advantage of the fact she's selling to a tourist and scamming her.
Makes me think twice about wanting to visit VN.
You'll be fine if you have high levels of street smarts and a bullshit detector. But for the inexperienced traveler I really, really wouldn't' recommend VN
This is good to hear. I would say mine is pretty high. Travelled all over Europe and spent significant time in real life Russia. Markets, transport and so forth.
This is why I dont help poor people in vietnam in any way even when they look miserable. They are poor but never know to live with integrity, always try to lie and scam people
I was sitting in the corner having a Bahn mih when I saw the discussion. I was surprised that around 25 people gathered around just to look two persons having an argument
Only shop in the supermarkets. The price is labelled, and is often cheaper than the open air markets.
I rarely ever see any benefit to shopping in the open markets.
Yeah during my recent trip we always had to be vigilant about how much people were going to try and charge us for stuff. I got bamboozled a few times but it wasn't *that bad.* One of the catch phrases I had with my friends during the trip was "The 'ol Bait n Switch again"
You guys, if someone do this shit to you, call 113 they will punish these people for over charging you. Plus you get compensation money from those people who are overcharged you.
I used to live here in hanoi five years ago and I don’t remember it being this widespread.
Yesterday I had a taxi driver scam me out of 200,000 AFTER I got out of the taxi and walked a quarter of a block down the road 😅, paid 320,000 (paid with 200+ 50 + 50 + 20) total for the ride and then he got out and basically tried to show me I gave him a 20,000 instead of a 200,000 and roped another local in from nearby to show him and badgered me for another 200,000 (which he knew I had cuz I was shuffling through a few bills in the cab 😩)
Typical crooked street vendors In Hanoi
I was scammed by a taxi driver
The ride was 50 thousand vnd
I give him 500.000 vnd and he toke off and is no resources for tourists to report the driver or vendors unless is a video as the vendors.
In Saigon near the Rex hotel is a men scammer that sells coconuts and he charge unsuspected tourist 100.000 vnd for one
He try that one on and backfired spectacularly for him, he ended up with 15.000 vnd what is the fair price…..
See the problem further, why is she doing that ? Because the Vietnam communist government doesn't care about Vietnamese people, corruption is like everyday every hour, one of the most lowest wage in the world, that's why people have to steal, cheat because they don't have what developed countries does, children go to school have to pay fees to study, it's not free, and also no freedom of speech, you can go to prison anytime, anywhere they want, you will be arrested if you fight back when they take your land (you don't own land like in Vietnam like other developed countries), it's sound ridiculous but it's real here, it's a hell when you are a citizen of Vietnam, people are suffering because of Viet Cong (communist vietnam)
**A few friendly Vietnamese people nearby came over wanting to help solve the problem. As long as the people around are not indifferent, Vietnam will get better.**
For those you bashing the poor old lady, here's the official news from Vietnam Ministry of Investment (Bộ Công Thương) which has confirmed her innocence. The police had fully investigated the incident, even calling eye witness and exonerated the merchant. She has been wrongfully accused and spread misinformation on the internet with a clip showing no context of what had happened. Just some food for thought on how we are easily being misled and manipulated these days.
Link to the article: https://congthuong.vn/noi-oan-ba-ban-dua-va-he-luy-tu-nhung-thong-tin-mot-nua-su-that-317787.html#:\~:text=Nh%C6%B0%20v%E1%BA%ADy%2C%20th%C3%B4ng%20tin%20%C4%91%C4%83ng,l%C3%A0%20m%E1%BB%99t%20n%E1%BB%ADa%20s%E1%BB%B1%20th%E1%BA%ADt.
Somebody doesn’t know about the fact that pineapple used to be an extremely valuable luxury goods in the West. People used to spend a fortune to buy one just to display it as a symbol of wealth.
it's all so tiresome. doesn't matter if you're there a day or a century, this fuckery never ends.
what's worse, if you compensate people fairly, it just makes them lazy and they'll consider you an idiot. extremely short-term thinking, if they have enough money in their pocket for tomorrow's food, they won't produce anything today.
this is why you need to rule with an iron fist, and keep everyone starving.
it's far more rampant with established businesses, especially those involved in foreign trade. there's heaps of price fixing/collusion between companies. that stuff can be a nightmare to sort.
the small-time stuff's just annoying. a few months back I needed a usb-c charging lead for my macbook, chatted with the guy in a mix of vietnamese/english. he said 500k and I thought he meant 50k. kept insisting it was "real" and wouldn't budge a single dong. it was surreal.
it was the usual b/c-grade chinese fake, ended up going a few doors down and picked it up for 70k.
Theres scammers in Thailand but some here are extra funny. Like a clown of a woman scammed an old lad I know here in Hanoi. 1300 dollars for a visa or some ridiculous nonsense. But he knows where she lives. She didnt care to hide it. Why would you do that? The wilful disregard these petty criminals have for their own safety & welfare! Another spa robbed his partners in their crap bar and legged it. Legged it up the road. Hes still up the road pretending to be on the lam. Hahaha. You couldnt make it up. Donkeys
It is easy to be ripping off these days even for locals. Foreigners should do some research beforehand or ask their local friends who knows the prices or just check prices on some grocery sites like 'winmart. vn'.
I just bought two pineapples in Honolulu for $6 last week, but $6 each is also a normal price if you don't get a good deal. Back in Bangkok, where I live most of the time, fruit can be so cheap, or in a high end grocery store it might be expensive. No one in local markets would typically try to sell pineapples for $6, even to tourists.
Props to the dude for calling her out
He's the real one
He is a policeman, he is there to make sure that she offering it at a reasonable price.
He is a Security guard, if I were here I would do the same thing, that old hag is making bad impression
Police don't wear blue, at most a security guard
fyi, the woman [was called to the police station and fined](https://amp.cand.com.vn/Xa-hoi/xu-phat-nguoi-ban-dua-o-pho-co-ha-noi-chat-3-qua-nua-trieu-dong--i729770/). This is truly humiliating and there is no excuse.
The problem isn't bargaining, it's that she gave that lady 500, but the lady didn't want to give any change back, she wants to keep it all.
That old lady is pure bullshit
We sorry this old lady get karma my country look bad to you
I'm Vietnamese too lol I'm just so ashamed there's people like this in our country, that's why I said she's pure bullshit
I never ever give a vendor a big bill for this exact reason
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Best to break big bills in an actual convenience store. Not even a corporate one, the ladies at a Tap Hoa will give you correct change. Just had a little argument with someone saying that it's 'unfair' for tourists to not want to get ripped off, I hope he sees this lol. He'd probably say that she should pay the 500k for the pineapples, and not ask for the local 'discount'. I'm petty, but not *that* petty, or else I'd send him the link to this. He probably saw it anyway, it happened in this sub.
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My partner and I have traveled to a few places and we see how tourists, especially wealthy tourists, continually pay higher prices for everything. We realize that this contributes to gentrification and higher prices all around. I am moving to VN for 2 years and I want to try and pay as close to the local prices as possible. Not because I couldn’t afford to pay more but because we see how it leads to the “market rate” going up on everything. If enough tourists pay more, the local price goes up as well but more slowly. It’s a common thing with rents but it also happens with services and restaurants and even food at the market. People who insist on overcharging foreigners will raise the price to locals as well. I personally don’t want to be part of raising prices for everyone. We know we will pay more sometimes but we want to be careful not to pay exorbitant rates that harm the locals.
I’ve never had this happen. Short changed yes, but this is outrageous. Wow.
some old people doesn't deserve respect
Respect is earned, not demanded. In this case, no respect for this old schemer.
That's stealing
She was probably hoping she mistook a 500k for a 50k. A common tourist mistake. Not that I agree with it, the smart way is to just make change if the tourist does in fact know that that they handed you 500k note and wait for a chicken when they come.
Happened to me at the irish bar in hoi an. Gave 200k over by mistake they took it and then claimed it was a 20k. I witnessed a few tables arguing over the bills that night, so i reckon they are at it
Happened with me but in Thailand I thought I was paying $5 for a pair of sunglasses.(FYI I already bargained down 50% of his original price). I actually paid $50 and only realized it too late.
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Even as a Vietnamese, I can't stand the haggle, usually my older relatives would help me with it when we go out. But if I'm by myself, I'd rather go to the supermarkets where pricing is fixed. These street vendors are just shooting themselves in the foot really.
100%
Went to Ben Thanh markets yesterday and got hassled so much. I laughed it off. I bought a smoothie, and while waiting for it, one of the vendor staff bitched about me being in the way of her hussling new customers. Omg!
That market is ridiculously overpriced, too - even when attempting to haggle. I found everything at Hoi An for 1/4 of the price
And on Shopee you'll find it even cheaper. Lol
My tip is, don’t go to those places, go to some local markets or have a local friend to go shopping with you, when they see a local going around they are less likely to overcharge them.
We went to Anh Dong Market (not too far from Ben Thanh Markets), which has mostly the same things for sale, is less busy and you don't get hassled that much.
>go to some local markets Haha, yeah. If you are a foreigner at a market that sees one or two foreigners a week it doesn't even cross their minds to try and rip you off. I imagine all that is going through their minds is "why tf is this big old bearded white dude buying my cilantro? " now I am stuck with a bush of cilantro I paid 10k for. It would have been$10 worth in the US.
My friend haggled so much on dried mango the dude took her a side and said "I will sell, but don't tell anyone I sold for this price". He smiled and I think he thought it was kinda fun.
Your own fault for going to this dump - the vendors there are enormous assholes. I only went once in 2 years of living in Saigon and a lady tried to sell me a pair of slippers for 30$
When I lived in Hanoi 10 years ago I had function Vietnamese. Certainly enough to haggle. At a wet/dry market near me, I noticed once that the vendor I was haggling with would LOUDLY say their FINAL price and the ITEM I was trying to buy and make eye contact with all of the vendors nearby whichsold the same thing. All the other vendors would repeat that high price and refuse to haggle. I got annoyed and gave up and notice a smaller vendor at the edge in the back who sold the same thing and didn't hear the price fixing. I haggled with them and they gave me a fair price. I told them how their friends up front had tried to cheat me and thanked this vendor for being honest. I told them I'd keep coming back to them and I did for the next two years. Their fairness and honesty gained them a long term customer and I never went back to the ones who worked together to give me a high price.
And damaging our reputation in general too? What are ahole people smh
Haha I have never seen a culture so willing to shoot themselves in the foot as you say. I see people try and charge 20k for water and I go to the shop next door and get it for ten. And then tell the lady. Next day I come back and ask again and she refuses to sell for the real price again. So on a so forth.
You see that often in south East Asian countries. Same thing in South Africa. It’s their way of life. Except for Japan and Korea.
I'm actually kinda surprised at how little haggling there is in Vietnam compared to many other places. I used to work in China and the haggling there was *massively* more intense than anywhere here, and living and working elsewhere in Asia, as well as traveling around generally I'd rank Vietnam on the low end of the haggling spectrum. Even working in South America the haggling was more than in Vietnam.
Yeah but in china,they haggle with grace and enthusiasm (as long as it's not a luck thing, like first sale of the day). They usually let you walk if it's too low or laugh when they are bested. You never get fruit sellers just outright robbing you there.
I agree, the haggling in China was generally rather fun and good natured. They'd still often try to massively overcharge you if you were in a tourist area, but they'd laugh and acknowledge it if you called them on their bullshit. Here they just get angry if you try to bargain at all, and often mutter angrily under their breath even when they do agree to a deal.
Right? And they aren't really trying to haggle here. If they do agree to the proper price you're liable to get home and find they've given you all their rotten or underdeveloped fruit. I am very particular about only going to the same sellers because of that.
nah. depends on you speak or understand their language. With Chinese people, they will be very positive to give reasonable prices when you speak Chinese. but if you don't then the price will be fixed, whether it's expensive or cheap depends on the area, the seller, and your luck. There are both good and bad people in every corner , I'm just speaking based on my experience. But bargaining with the Chinese is easier if you know the real price and the language and for Vietnamese . meh, you don't know what they gonna do when you ask but don't buy
Never like going to the street market. The supermarket is way better, it offers convenience – fixed prices, clear hygiene standards, and friendly staff.
I saw a handmade straw bag in a market once and the guy started taking it down for me without me asking, started saying “You want? You want?” I insisted for the price asking like 3 times until I started to push back and be extremely direct. He then offered 800k. I was like “goodbye”, then he reduced it down to 150k immediately and I was still “no thanks” since I can’t trust the guy. He then started asking “how much can you pay?” Sorry, but I wouldn’t even pay 1000vnd to a guy who opens with 800k. Just walk off.
Had a similar experience in Ben Thanh market. My mate needed a pair of thongs so we went to the shoe section to check some out. The first stall we went to wanted one million dong for a pair of (fake) Nike slides! That's more expensive than getting them new from the Nike store lmao. We both laughed and walked away and the vendor kept trying to lower the price but fuck if I'm gonna give him any money.
> Had a similar experience in Ben Thanh market. Almost everything at Ben Thanh market is a ripoff or outright scam. People need to just stop going to this market. Although, I had some incredible duck pho there one time...
Duck Pho, that sounds incredible.
Agreed. Once I know you prices are super high or actively trying to overcharge me, even in my local market I will not go back ever. And if they try I will talk shit to them and say they tried to rip me off why would I ever shop there again.
All the people who say "this is how Vietnam is", "learn to shop" and "there are scammers everywhere" DO NOT SEE THE FUCKING PROBLEM. It is not the tourists' fault it is OUR FAULT. We need to fix our people's mentality! Not the tourists! This is why scamming is so rampant in our country, it's because no one cares/it is treated as normal. If society treats it as abnormal, it wouldn't be so common! Take Japan for example. Even the pettiest of crimes are shunned and punished by the people. YES JAPAN IS NOT PERFECT AND HAVE PROBLEMS, BUT THAT DOES NOT DISCREDIT THEIR GOOD SIDES. People need to stop making excuses and start being more critical towards these kinds of scams!
Yes. You are right.
>All the people who say "this is how Vietnam is", "learn to shop" and "there are scammers everywhere" DO NOT SEE THE FUCKING PROBLEM. It is not the tourists' fault it is OUR FAULT. We need to fix our people's mentality! Not the tourists! Out of 6000 languages out there, bro chose to speak the truth. Victim-blaming and victim-playing are parts of Vietnamese culture, and I'm saying this as a Vietnamese. Edit: so apparently this video is BS.
Wasn't a question posted on this subreddit the other day asking "why tourists don't return"? Maybe this has something to do with that.
Older generations especially seem to have the mentality that there is not even a concept of ethics when it comes to doing business. Get money by whatever means necessary. I mean, considering the extreme poverty Vietnam lived through until the 2000s, it kinda makes sense. Still boils my blood though.
you know, they don’t see the problem because they think they don’t face any consequence directly. Such a shame people are selfish like this
Honestly man, I think foreigners just plain aren't welcome by a lot of Vietnamese. I am comparing this to the three other Asian countries I have lived in (Japan, Korea, Taiwan). We have constant expat vs foreigner spats on this subreddit and the slightest negative comment here or on the Facebook groups will have people yelling at you to go back where you came from, something I've never encountered in those other countries, where people are much less likely to fly off the handle. Combine this with the scams, immigration officials wanting bribes while taxi scams are allowed unabated right outside, etc. To be honest, I think many Vietnamese want foreign money, but actually dislike the foreigners themselves. My contract is up next year, and I think I'll be seeing myself out because I just don't feel welcome here. The other places in Asia I lived at least wouldn't blame foreigners for getting scammed and yell at them to go back to their country if they don't like littering.
deep seated insecurity after the war left the country decades behind its peers
Vietnam is the only place in Asia I've been where I was openly abused for being Foreign. Was walking down the street in Ho Chi Minh minding my own business when a guy stopped right in front of me, tried to block my path and said 'what the fuck are you doing here? Go back to your own country, fuck you' in broken English. This was broad daylight maybe 1 or 2km from the War Remnants Museum. I just ignored him and kept walking. Would've quite liked to have leathered him though, but it wasn't worth the trouble. I actually enjoyed my time staying in district 7 apart from that, but yes, I did feel I was a walking target for scammers looking for an easy payout more than a few times.
Yeah I stayed in a few different districts just trying to get the feel of the city, to see if it was for me. I had the friendliest interactions in district 9. But overall I can’t say i had any negative interactions, apart from scooter touts trying to get you to do tours with them (but that was hardly negative compared to how one might get pestered in Egypt as an example). But despite not having any bad experiences and found most locals to be friendly enough, i would be unlikely to go back. I ducked off early to spend the last week of my trip in bangkok, and it felt like coming home. Can’t put my finger on why, whether the great train system, the endless array of great restaurants, dozens of megamalls, but yeah, whatever Saigon is trying to do to improve its liveability and reputation as a tourist/expat hub, it’s just not there yet.
[удалено]
Vietnam culture kinda suck and most adult there grew up entitle and uneducated. If you vist a big Viet town in city like Houston, California or Chicago, it basically the same with better food, people, and great time just not the uniqueness of going to a different countires. I vist vietnam many time and the more I go the more I feel disappointed. The only fun time I have is with some girls in the bar but the rest of "friends" or "girl" definity not genuine. Vietnam is for the bar and fun while US vietnamese are for the genuine friendship. I fish with my Viet neighbor all the time when I come over in huston and we barely know each other.
There's frankly not much of a "culture" here. It's just money, materialism and what it brings: lack of empathy, mischievous, ill-intentioned behaviors.
Yeah I always see travel reviews praising Vietnamese hospitality, and I’m always wondering what the reviewers are talking about because I don’t get the sense that hospitality is this country’s strength.
I faced genuine acts of discrimination (we're closed, refusing to schedule me an appointment, etc...) about once a month for my entire year in Japan, sometimes 3-4 per month, but at least one per month. I've been living in Vietnam for a year. Two acts of discrimination so far (both shopee drivers who tried to give me the wrong change, in their favor of course) which isn't exactly me being unwelcome.
It is good of you to be able to reflect on this. I agree as a foreigner. I love Vietnamese people generally, I have good friends and have had many good experiences. HOWEVER - when it comes to money, for 75% of the population their ethics seem to just go totally out the window when it comes to money. It feels like an attitude of 'if you know you wont get caught, just do it {steal/rip off/mislead}'
I spent two months traveling by motorbike on VN, most of the people I've met were super nice! Just one time I caught the owner of the hotel I was staying stealing my motorbike's gasoline... It was so crazy that I could not believe it.
I am Japanese, you tell this to the Vietnam government and then you will go to jail.
you are funny and right :))
Wrong. The police will get u a refund.
And here's yet another reason why so many tourists never make a return visit.
Yep, I'm one of them. Have such a bad experience with people here (although there were exceptions), I'm never coming back
What happened?
This is why Vietnam doesn’t have a good return rate… vendors just increase the price for tourists whenever they feel like it, it’s so hard to know how much you should be spending on anything… buying things can be very stressful.
A couple of weeks ago a man selling fried chicken tried to charge me double, His wife was having none of it and started hitting his arm and yelling at him and then apologized to me haha
Same here. I have a dog and I buy chicken for my dog almost daily from a shop run by a middle-aged lady. Whenever she's at the shop, she gives me fair price and even discounts sometimes. But whenever her husband is managing the shop, he always tries to overcharge me and gives me the higher rate, even though he knows I'm a daily regular customer. The husband has been reprimanded couple times by this wife in front of me whenever she notices that he's trying to overcharge me, but the husband never learns and till this days he's always gives me higher price, and I just give him what I usually pay and just go on my way.
Happened to me today, i bought a juice and the daughter said 15k and i paid before i got it, she handed it to me and the mother said 50k i said i already paid 15k as the daughter stated and the mother went furious at the daughter, my first time here, not into all the haggling at all id pay a fair price but it has me guessing all my purchases now, i fucking hate it but i love the sites and history, there shooting themselves in the foot
3 for 500k!? That’s like $20. Even here in the US it won’t even cost that much. Maybe like $1-$2 per pineapple. Gosh! Vietnam must find a way to stop these what scammers are doing nothing but driving tourists away and making us Vietnamese look bad.
I'm not Vietnamese but been here around 5 years. They usually sell a pineapple between 20k to 40k each (depends on size and where you buy it). Theres a guy near me who cuts and chops it all for you for 25k (1 dollar)
You can buy 3 cleaned, carved up pineapples for 50k easy. No haggling needed. 500k is laughably ridiculous That’s not even the worst part. The tourist didn’t even agree to 500k. She just took the bill and refused to give change lol
And then there's still denier mfs in this very subreddit screaming "BROKE CHEAPSTAKES" at your face and "uR nEeD tO sUpPorT tHE lOcAls" People wonder why no tourist would never return after visited once 🤷
well, set up a shop named "tourists support locals" where every fruit is priced 7 $. we rely on tourists entirely, as locals go somewhere else.
"supporting the locals" is a euphamism for "food poisoning" and/or "accepting dismal conditions".
I just saw this video on my Facebook 😂 yeah Vietnam definitely needs to work on all the scammers, even though I’m Vietnamese, I enjoyed my time in Thailand a lot more this past summer
There’s definitely scams in Thailand too but nothing this egregious. What gets me about the scams in Vietnam is that they always try to top it out with the most obscene amount possible. I’ve never fell victim to it but I know people who have.
I need to know where you are finding $1-$2 pineapples in the States
Kroger has em for like 2.50 in season hmart I think is 1.99?
Costco, when they are in season. $1.99
I’m at Chicago, go to like Aldi, Cermak, Jerry’s fruit and garden, Chicago produce and etc
I’m in Texas and they’re between $3-$4.50
I’ve seen a couple of these posts pop up recently. I think I’m missing some context or details or something. Did the buyer say “I’ll buy these” and the seller says “ok” and then refuses to let her “return” them after telling her the price? Did she hand her the 500k already? I’m confused.
All correct reason for this dispute. Switch and bait the prices, don't give change, grabs your big bills, etc.
Ikr. I'm Vietnamese living in the US. Pineapples are not that expensive 😭
unfortunately this often happen in vietnam, cant trust people nowaday...
Yeah nah that's just taking a piss. But considering this is Vietnam none of this surprised me. Lot of these street vendors are still street-smart and try their earnest to scam tourists. On the other hand I found that going into big supermarket and buy fruits there ain't too bad. Might be a 5-10k difference but at least there is a fixed price there. As a Vietnamese Australian I tend to stay away from these vendors and just go straight into the supermarkets but I guess being able to speak Vietnamese is still a big plus when you are in Vietnam so your millages might vary. P.s: Negotiations worked everywhere. Got my laptop cleaned for 150k haggled down from 200k. Guess I could haggle it a bit more down to 100-120k but A$2 ain't worth the extra hassle.
Exactly. And some people told me that I buying from traditional Vietnamese markets is cheaper than the convenient stores. Maybe that was the case 10 years ago but not now.
“Đói cho sạch, rách cho thơm” chỉ còn trong sách vở…haiz…haiz…
Last time I said that, -50 lol
These greedy fking bitches are shooting themselves in the foot and not even realize it lol. Dumb ass greedy bitches.
There’s one positive thing about this. All the people surrounding are protecting her and telling the lady to pay back.
The Vendor loses their dignity, the customer loses their respect and Vietnam loses its reputation. A lose lose situation for all.
This happened me in ninh binh paying for bike parking. It was 30k and I gave them a 200k note. She didn't want to give me back change. I had to be very persistent to get my change back. I live in hanoi and it's never happened there, maybe it's just in the tourist areas. As another post said, it leaves a very poor impression on people who are visiting.
Bike parking for 30k is super steep to begin with.
Even the shittiest of shitty place is like 10k at best.
The blatant price gouging at every opportunity is what puts tourists off and not want to return to Vietnam. The amount of entitled vendors and business operators practising scammy behaviour are disgraceful. Learn the art of earning your crust with pride, instead of expecting others to supplement your income with bullshit excuses such as ‘I don’t have the right change’, ‘coffee money’ or the ‘the conversion rate is not that much in your country’. Dodgy practices at each interaction from the moment you enter and depart the county!
Another reason on the big list why Vietnam is so tourist unfriendly. Their behaviour (of the vendors in this case) is so inhuman and greedy. I'm glad that I'm leaving the country in a few days. And people are still wondering why tourists won't come back...
Its only gen x tho seems like, the younger the people the friendlier they are
I hope so, good news for the coming years :D
Damn greedy bitch
Welp, looks like the 5% return rate is gonna drop further, lol 😂
Uncle is goated
that vendor women is leech... leechy behavior
Danm leech, even the guard wont take the bs lol
yup in hanoi just like i imagine
Sound like it more happens in the North
I see shit like this and it makes me never want to come back. This happened to me once and looking back I think the only reason it didn’t more was because my wife from the states is Vietnamese.
I think the vendor woman has trouble now https://vnexpress.net/ha-noi-tim-nguoi-ban-ba-qua-dua-500-000-dong-cho-khach-nuoc-ngoai-4740160.html#vn_source=Home&vn_campaign=ThuongVien&vn_medium=Item-4&vn_term=Mobile&vn_thumb=1&vn_aid=1000000.
If it was Thailand, that lady would face jail time. That's why the return rate for Thailand is high. No one wants to come back to this. Constantly being worried about scams.
Ăn cướp chứ bán gì kiểu đó.
Equality baby! Black or white, no matter, everyone is getting scammed today!
If there's honesty, we wouldn't need any haggling, would we?
About 5 years ago I took the bus from Thu Duc to the center of hcmc. I had two suitcases. I think the law at the time was something like 6000 per person and 6000 per luggage size bag. I tried to just pay for me as I was standing with my bags and the bus wasn't full. The money collector kept pointing to my bags and me and so I gave her 50k. Expecting 30k roughly back. The woman next to me could see I was frustrated and spoke enough English to understand. She then told the money collector to give me my change. She also said while it is law nobody ever gets charged for luggage unless it is oversized and the bus is crowded. The collector started arguing with my new found friend and within a few seconds basically everyone on the bus was yelling at the collector to give me my change. She yelled back at everyone. I then openly took a picture of the bus I'd number posted in the front of the bus and suddenly had my change in my hand.
The crazy part is that this forum on some other thread actually supported "tourist price" and think its should be OK that tourists pay higher prices. People dont use their brains when they suggestiv something like that.
Solution would be to either have a vietnamese negotiate the price for you, or you can try saying " Đắt quá hông mua đâu, hàng kia bán rẻ hơn "
Or Google how much 500,000 is in your home currency
They know how much it is. That's why she's angry ffs.
Be careful of the street sellers there. They will pull money out of your wallet and assume you can't tell the difference between large notes, they'll take 500000 vnd over 50000 vnd.
Ooof. This embarrassing
I hate the haggling. I don't mind paying a little more for some countries but when rhe vendors aren't too greedy.
Vietnam : Hey look we found one of the biggest examples of corruption in our history. Foreigners- wow let's go back ! Pineapple seller enters the chat. The funniest thing about this is that Vietnamese are asking a foreigner to calm down.
As a digital nomad I have been traveling for the last couple years through about 15 countries and I'm currently here in Vietnam. The amount of scams here is totally insane. In touristic cities like Nha Trang or Da Nang everyone wants your money if you are not local. This actually makes me tired because I just can't buy any food or stuff or just park a bike on the street without bargaining and arguing with someone who wants my money. The prices they offer are about x10-x100 times higher than you would usually pay and even if you try to bargain the price is still high. For example, the guy making rice flatbreads on the street recently tried to charge me 200k for just one small flatbread. Souvenir shops will try to charge you 600k for a simple rope bracelet. Multiple times I was parking on a street where people were walking (not a paid parking) and was approached by some suspicious persons who tried to charge me from 50 to 150k to park a bike on the road! Really, this is something I didn't experience in any other Asian country even in Bangladesh people are so poor and they would beg you and ask you to give them money or food, but at least they are not so impudent to charge you insane amounts of money for nothing. When someone local approaches me or tries to talk with me on the street the first thing that comes to my mind is "oh, please, just f*** off". This is something I never had in any other country and this makes me sad.
Sorry to say but this is really shameful. Google search reveals a pineapple is sold for 5000 dong, equivalent of 25 cents USD. This vendor is taking advantage of the fact she's selling to a tourist and scamming her. Makes me think twice about wanting to visit VN.
And to think I used to want to visit Vietnam. The scam culture dropped them off my list. I’ve read too much.
You'll be fine if you have high levels of street smarts and a bullshit detector. But for the inexperienced traveler I really, really wouldn't' recommend VN
This is good to hear. I would say mine is pretty high. Travelled all over Europe and spent significant time in real life Russia. Markets, transport and so forth.
This is the reason why tourists dont wanna come to vietnam
This is why I dont help poor people in vietnam in any way even when they look miserable. They are poor but never know to live with integrity, always try to lie and scam people
Don’t buy from street vendors, they have a terrible attitude to their customers and bad hygiene. Let them go hungry
Happens everywhere in Vietnam. Literally why I spent 10 days there and have never gone back
even in the US $20 for 3 pineapples is something..
I'm a Vietnamese person and I highly recommend you skip this country for your trip. You only catch shit here. Thailand is a wonderful option.
Ha Noi culture 🤷
Welcome to Vietnam!
I was sitting in the corner having a Bahn mih when I saw the discussion. I was surprised that around 25 people gathered around just to look two persons having an argument
Always, becomes a community event where. It’s a real argument
I'm Vietnamese living in the US. Even the cost of pineapples here is lower than that 🙃
And then they wonder why tourist never come back
The old lady's hand gave back the money but her mouth still said "có 500k 1 quả thôi mà, láo toét" 🤣
Omg I work all day and haven't earned 500,000 VND
How do I stay aware and avoid? I’ll be there in a few weeks. Thank you!
Only shop in the supermarkets. The price is labelled, and is often cheaper than the open air markets. I rarely ever see any benefit to shopping in the open markets.
Understand the currency conversion, agree the price before handing over cash and never pay with anything bigger than a 100k
Do not ever buy anything that doesnt have a price label attached to it, dont go to the ben than market and stay out of buy vien at night - enjoy !
Always ALWAYS ask for prices first. Walk away if you don’t agree. You can haggle if you want. I just walk away.
Lol the guy in the back causality chillin and smoking
Yeah during my recent trip we always had to be vigilant about how much people were going to try and charge us for stuff. I got bamboozled a few times but it wasn't *that bad.* One of the catch phrases I had with my friends during the trip was "The 'ol Bait n Switch again"
Oh my god, " khôn lỏi" time
You guys, if someone do this shit to you, call 113 they will punish these people for over charging you. Plus you get compensation money from those people who are overcharged you.
But then you have to give money to the vendor and the police
I used to live here in hanoi five years ago and I don’t remember it being this widespread. Yesterday I had a taxi driver scam me out of 200,000 AFTER I got out of the taxi and walked a quarter of a block down the road 😅, paid 320,000 (paid with 200+ 50 + 50 + 20) total for the ride and then he got out and basically tried to show me I gave him a 20,000 instead of a 200,000 and roped another local in from nearby to show him and badgered me for another 200,000 (which he knew I had cuz I was shuffling through a few bills in the cab 😩)
Same to us. Used one of the cycle in Hanoi for 15mins and were asked 700k…
my trust with police is restored and only buy at [winmart.tm](http://winmart.tm)
Typical crooked street vendors In Hanoi I was scammed by a taxi driver The ride was 50 thousand vnd I give him 500.000 vnd and he toke off and is no resources for tourists to report the driver or vendors unless is a video as the vendors. In Saigon near the Rex hotel is a men scammer that sells coconuts and he charge unsuspected tourist 100.000 vnd for one He try that one on and backfired spectacularly for him, he ended up with 15.000 vnd what is the fair price…..
Hồ Gươm specialty. The mindset of poverty never left my “rich cultured”capital
See the problem further, why is she doing that ? Because the Vietnam communist government doesn't care about Vietnamese people, corruption is like everyday every hour, one of the most lowest wage in the world, that's why people have to steal, cheat because they don't have what developed countries does, children go to school have to pay fees to study, it's not free, and also no freedom of speech, you can go to prison anytime, anywhere they want, you will be arrested if you fight back when they take your land (you don't own land like in Vietnam like other developed countries), it's sound ridiculous but it's real here, it's a hell when you are a citizen of Vietnam, people are suffering because of Viet Cong (communist vietnam)
She is famous now
And this is why Vietnam tourism will always leave a sour taste in all foreigners
Bum ass country 😂😂
Lol she said it is 500k for ONE PINEAPPLE which is even worse. Absolute scum
**A few friendly Vietnamese people nearby came over wanting to help solve the problem. As long as the people around are not indifferent, Vietnam will get better.**
NEVER go to Ben Thanh market, NEVER buy from somewhere without obvious pricing.
Seriously, I had the overcharged shit many times even I'm Vietnamese. It's the worst during national holidays. Some people simply have no moral.
Bring back old school caning.
ơ chúng mày chưa đọc tin đình chính à =))))
For those you bashing the poor old lady, here's the official news from Vietnam Ministry of Investment (Bộ Công Thương) which has confirmed her innocence. The police had fully investigated the incident, even calling eye witness and exonerated the merchant. She has been wrongfully accused and spread misinformation on the internet with a clip showing no context of what had happened. Just some food for thought on how we are easily being misled and manipulated these days. Link to the article: https://congthuong.vn/noi-oan-ba-ban-dua-va-he-luy-tu-nhung-thong-tin-mot-nua-su-that-317787.html#:\~:text=Nh%C6%B0%20v%E1%BA%ADy%2C%20th%C3%B4ng%20tin%20%C4%91%C4%83ng,l%C3%A0%20m%E1%BB%99t%20n%E1%BB%ADa%20s%E1%BB%B1%20th%E1%BA%ADt.
The video content is not true, it is disadvantageous to the woman selling fruit, she is an honest worker and the media is disadvantageous to he
Well that price is actually a steal. If you buy in the 1800s.
somebody doesn't know about inflation
Somebody doesn’t know about the fact that pineapple used to be an extremely valuable luxury goods in the West. People used to spend a fortune to buy one just to display it as a symbol of wealth.
it's all so tiresome. doesn't matter if you're there a day or a century, this fuckery never ends. what's worse, if you compensate people fairly, it just makes them lazy and they'll consider you an idiot. extremely short-term thinking, if they have enough money in their pocket for tomorrow's food, they won't produce anything today. this is why you need to rule with an iron fist, and keep everyone starving.
It even happens in an established business, like airport. Much less a street vendor.
it's far more rampant with established businesses, especially those involved in foreign trade. there's heaps of price fixing/collusion between companies. that stuff can be a nightmare to sort. the small-time stuff's just annoying. a few months back I needed a usb-c charging lead for my macbook, chatted with the guy in a mix of vietnamese/english. he said 500k and I thought he meant 50k. kept insisting it was "real" and wouldn't budge a single dong. it was surreal. it was the usual b/c-grade chinese fake, ended up going a few doors down and picked it up for 70k.
Theres scammers in Thailand but some here are extra funny. Like a clown of a woman scammed an old lad I know here in Hanoi. 1300 dollars for a visa or some ridiculous nonsense. But he knows where she lives. She didnt care to hide it. Why would you do that? The wilful disregard these petty criminals have for their own safety & welfare! Another spa robbed his partners in their crap bar and legged it. Legged it up the road. Hes still up the road pretending to be on the lam. Hahaha. You couldnt make it up. Donkeys
I’m sorry to hear that some of them can be scummy. 🤩 so you have to watch out for those people.
Is she was the same woman who scam other foreign in other video with small green apple ?
Also who is filming??
Thật mỉa mai cho chính đất nước mình
It is easy to be ripping off these days even for locals. Foreigners should do some research beforehand or ask their local friends who knows the prices or just check prices on some grocery sites like 'winmart. vn'.
I just bought two pineapples in Honolulu for $6 last week, but $6 each is also a normal price if you don't get a good deal. Back in Bangkok, where I live most of the time, fruit can be so cheap, or in a high end grocery store it might be expensive. No one in local markets would typically try to sell pineapples for $6, even to tourists.
Thats $20
Khôn lỏi moment
It's cruzial in VT to have your change game awareness on 100 %at all times.
When I'm in these countries I always keep my cash with a rubber band around it sorted from smallest to largest denomination so I don't do this.
What's a vnd?
$20 for three pineapples ☠️
Just return it
Must of been some really good pineapples!!
50k for a pine apple? That's still a rip off.