Food-shop owners and street food sellers in Hua Hin seaside resort town will sign a memorandum of understanding with the Hua Hin municipal administration which requires them to strictly abide by trading rules and, most importantly, not to overcharge their customers, especially for seafoods.
The measure to rein in the food sellers in the famous resort town popular among vacationers from Bangkok and foreign tourists follows a recent social media post by a Sea Write author Somchai Liewwarin, aka Win Liewwarin, who complained that he was charged several thousand baht for just a few plates of seafoods when he dined with a few friends at a seafood shop in the municipal area about two months ago.
The post has drawn many responses from netizens criticizing overcharging practice by seafoods restaurants and food-shops on the famous walking street. It has also prompted the district chief officer, Thanon Panphipat, to take action to address the problem.
Thanon held a meeting with food-shop owners and street food sellers at the district office on Monday to discuss the alleged overcharging problem and it was agreed at the meeting all the food sellers would be made to sign an MoU promising to not overcharge customers and to follow other trading regulatioins.
Regarding the author’s complaint, the district chief officer said the case was unclear as the author did not provide evidence to prove he was overcharged. The author, meanwhile, said he didn’t want to press any charge against the food seller but merely wanted to warn the other tourists to be careful.
Thanon said the municipal administration have warned food sellers to show price lists and service fees to inform customers.
He said he would meet with the food sellers next Monday for an MoU signing to commit them to strictly adhering to proper trading regulations.
