The 10, who live in an apartment block on Chao Fah East Rd in Wichit, said that they were scared of a “powerful” man who had apparently been hired to threaten them.
The governor was not at home – he is on a trip to Xiamen in China – but the tenants met instead with Vice-Governor SommaiPreechasilpa.
One tenant explained that they had discovered last Tuesday (January 8) that although the tenants had paid the management for their electricity, a B200,000 power bill for the building had not been paid, and they did not have electricity in their homes. They went to Provincial Hall immediately to make a complaint.
When they went back to the Condotel one of them found that the side window of his car had been smashed and acid poured on the seat.
Last night the tenants showed V/Gov Sommai a warning letter signed by the apartments manager (and dated, oddly, today).
The letter was in both English and Thai, but the English was incomprehensible. The Thai version states, in effect, “Any damage to condominiums or furniture or fittings must be paid for [by the tenant]. Failure to do so will result in power and water being cut off.” Similarly, any infringement of condotel regulations in general would be punished in the same way.
V/G Sommai accepted their plea and said she would help them to take their case to the Damrongtham Centre, Phuket’s ombudsman.
Attempts to reach the manager of the apartments for comment came to nothing. There was no response to an email from The Phuket News. Of two phone numbers listed for the apartment building, one is out of service and the other is allocated to a different subscriber.