Batam Info / Interest / Help Thread

[nono1973]

Originally Posted by Leoric

It's truly good habit of u to confirm the price before hopping up any taxis in btm & i suppose u mean u took the taxi from around the old horizon ferry counter, which is no more. The new horizon counter is on the second floor of the ferry terminal today.

Its often good habit to confirm the price 1st before getting up any taxis in Batam that has no taxi meter...hehehe...otherwise like the sign you posted below, it can claim that taxi fare is like the below 30k rupiah price :

Originally Posted by Leoric

How i wish i have read ur post earlier...

But after reaching your destination, they will ask you for 50k rupiah. This has happened to my friend during CNY and thats the last straw...he showed them the photo above and pay driver 30k rupiah nett and ran into formosa hotel (special thanks to bro Blackpage's advise on stepping out of the taxi 1st before making taxi payment).

Taxi driver was cursing and swearing at my friend,hehehe... (imagine being cursed and sweared at during CNY time,and my friend was quite mad)

Anyone notice the Harbour Bay Ferry terminal OFFICIAL taxi stand signage below? Now, make a guess, what has been ERASED from it? Hehehe.. (or was it scratch off?) And why is the taxi stand sign hidden beside a metal pillar? Whereby people walking pass KFC can barely see it...hehehe...

Today, once again, i have to avoid taking taxi from any of the Harbour Bay terminal taxi stand. If i desperately need a taxi in Harbour Bay, i simply walked a bit to either Zest Hotel or Harbour Boutique hotel and ask them to get me a taxi at 35k rupiah instead. I usually pay the taxi driver 40k rupiah upon reaching my destination.

Then again, most time the respective hotels i stayed in will pick me up for free,hehehe... and they comes with VERY good polite service as well.

End of the trip upon reaching hotel, i tipped the hotel driver 10k to 20k rupiah,hehehe...and he's so thankful to me (or the least he makes me feel that he's thankful enough),hehehe...

So i barely need to use the taxis in Harbour Bay ferry terminal anyway.

Taxi drivers in Ferry Terminals and shopping mall (especially Nagoya Hill Mall ones) are some of the WORST people in Batam. And worst is a strong word.

[Xhuuya]

Originally Posted by Black Page

I hope you made a mistake writing. 2.2 millions for short time?? This is not Shanghai. This is Batam.

and i hope i make a mistake too, but too bad....its not...
they put local chinese with dat pretty high prices , and push em to do LT instead of ST.

@nono : usually half of it for the store and taxi on stores

and i found out new re-opening massage , no LT , ST only with 450k-550k each round call good one , its nearby srikandi and u can google it LOL
will go to this place later

[fde83]

different from old gd1 massage and now is that they package st, choose gals using tab dont need to nego with the gals like the old days. 580k vip room, full serrvice all in, 430k is hj only, no bj (nego with the gal when inside if u want). G1 had the reno during month of May. Expect other massage place around that area to follow this system.

Looks like 500k for st is a norm in batam, market is going higher and most are willingly paying it. Both wins

[HeatguyAlvin]

Originally Posted by Black Page

I confirm before going on taxi for courtesy to the driver, so that he does not get the wrong idea.

However, I know what is the correct price and that is what I pay. Several times I did not bother to speak about price before. I just take the taxi, we go, we arrive, I get out of taxi, I give him 50k.
I never had a single problem, because He knows that is generous enough. In case he complains and wants more, I simply ignore him and leave him alone.
He knows he is wrong.He should feel stupid shouting at me because he wants more money than the correct amount.

I think it is a matter of self confidence.
Thr only times I had problems with taxi in Batam was from Newton to Formosa. Those are gangsters. I did not mind to shout back when they wanted 70k or more. Scammers.

totally agree with this. confirming sometimes also no use. There was this taxi driver, who once confirmed with me before my ride that it was 30k, ended my trip and demanded 50k, said that he never said it was 30k. win liao lor

[BFOMF5]

Originally Posted by HeatguyAlvin

totally agree with this. confirming sometimes also no use. There was this taxi driver, who once confirmed with me before my ride that it was 30k, ended my trip and demanded 50k, said that he never said it was 30k. win liao lor

I think BP has illustrated at few post b4.
Prepared the exact fare in advance
Get off the taxi
Hand the Rp. And dont look back
You WIN.

[nono1973]

I did mention somewhere there is a massage shop as good as Sports Massage around Goodway hotel and this is the one called Aiko Spot Massage,hehehe...near to A2 Food court.

The shopfront....

...and the price list below.The reason for the 2 price list below is becos one of them was taken by me and the other one was from online.

Above photo was taken on June 2019 by me, below is from online when they were having promotion some time ago.

Happy hour is from shop opening until 4pm on Monday to Thursday whereby customer gets something like a 30% off from the listed price. After happy hours, i talked to the cashier w/o any expectation and got a 15% off,hehehe...

And the room with trousers standing by on the bed,hehehe....

Place is clean,hehehe...its pretty new (less than 2 years old, i think), hence its pretty clean in terms of hygiene and i look around that area, its also near A2 food court, so my 1st thought would be, who would go for a massage dinner or lunch but the crowd of Singaporean customers surprised me during non-Happy-hours,hehehe...so for those like me who likes to have peace of mind and quiet time, go only during happy hours. Can save myself some money too.

Its a good experience for myself as what i am getting were some really good quality massage. In future, i might just use this Aiko Spot Massage to bench mark Batam's massage quality,hehehe...oh, and one more thing...quite a handful of girls were very young (looks wise max is 6/10,maybe due to minimum make-up).

Enjoy Batam...

[Dicking]

Originally Posted by nono1973

Anyone notice the Harbour Bay Ferry terminal OFFICIAL taxi stand signage below? Now, make a guess, what has been ERASED from it? Hehehe.. (or was it scratch off?) And why is the taxi stand sign hidden beside a metal pillar? Whereby people walking pass KFC can barely see it...hehehe...

Someone vandalized the taxi sign board below the phone no. by taking out the 30k rp price.

[nitecrawllerr]

Originally Posted by nono1973

Anyone notice the Harbour Bay Ferry terminal OFFICIAL taxi stand signage below? Now, make a guess, what has been ERASED from it? Hehehe.. (or was it scratch off?) And why is the taxi stand sign hidden beside a metal pillar? Whereby people walking pass KFC can barely see it...hehehe...

That means i am at the mercy of the taxi drivers? Can just suka suka ask for 50K and above to Nagoya. Since the price at signboard been erased.

[Xhuuya]

they set the price pretty high on taxi's , dats why pretty annoying from harbour bay ....
been overcharge to 50k too

[nono1973]

This photo below was taken on last year 2018 around October/November at Harbour Bay Ferry terminal official taxi stand. Back then it was still new and just launched the 30k rupiah taxi fare due to a commotion of un-metered taxi driver beating up a GoCar/Grab driver which went viral on the internet (so far i have only heard of one such case in Harbour Bay ferry terminal).

(notice the 30k at the bottom of the phone number?)

Now,make a comparison between the 2 taxi signs taken from the same place at different time/year (2018 and 2019).

https://samsforum.com/showpost.php?p=18...ostcount=14156

Originally Posted by nono1973

Anyone notice the Harbour Bay Ferry terminal OFFICIAL taxi stand signage below? Now, make a guess, what has been ERASED from it? Hehehe.. (or was it scratch off?) And why is the taxi stand sign hidden beside a metal pillar? Whereby people walking pass KFC can barely see it...hehehe...

( Click to show/hide )

Today, once again, i have to avoid taking taxi from any of the Harbour Bay terminal taxi stand. If i desperately need a taxi in Harbour Bay, i simply walked a bit to either Zest Hotel or Harbour Boutique hotel and ask them to get me a taxi at 35k rupiah instead. I usually pay the taxi driver 40k rupiah upon reaching my destination.

Below the taxi sign outside Harbour Bay Mall. Which is the same as the one at the taxi stand outside the new official Harbour Bay Ferry terminal taxi stand, posted here for a clearer justification.

I am sure there was no surveillance camera to catch the culprit (very likely to be a no-good taxi driver,hehehe..) who scratch off the 30k rupiah price,hence the ferry management also got not much of a choice,hehehe...

My solution/s :

1. Help one another, spread the words around, to my friends, relatives etc etc...i have already send in my reviews on this one to Trip Advisor, hehehe...later i shall go see other sites, see if there are other travel sites worthy of my time to spread my word.

2. Use only hotels with free pick up (and hopefully have free drop off when returning back to Singapore).

3. Call the hotel i booked my stay from to pick me up with a fee,hehehe... i buy a sim card in Batam in my every Batam trip anyway. Cost only between 50k to 100k rupiah (depending on needs).

4. Go to Zest Hotel reception (only 30secs walk from Harbour Bay Ferry Terminal's official taxi stand), ask them get me a taxi. Cost would be 35k rupiah according to their open official price listed. Yes, its 5k rupiah more but well...believe me, MOST Sillyporean can afford the extra 5k rupiah,hehehe...

Note : i mind paying the 5k rupiah extra, but i am calculating convenience versus dollar here. Giver to corrupted personnel in my view is more guilty than the receiver.

5. Go to Harbour Boutique Hotel, but well...since the entrance of the old Harbour Bay ferry terminal entrance has been blocked, this solution is going to exercise my 2 legs a lot more,hehehe...usual walk takes about 3 mins, now probably take 7 mins or more.

6. The last option, walk out of Harbour Bay area,opposite Ggi hotel to order Grab/GoCar. Why is this the last option? Well...hehehe...believe me, walking out from the Arrival area (the door after my luggage were scanned) to the outside area of Harbour Bay gantry area gonna cost me about 15mins, braving the sunny weather (worse if it rains). So, this is the last option for me.

Finally, dont forget bro Blackpage's golden advise. Confirm price for any taxis in Batam, and pay the driver ONLY AFTER i physically get off the taxi. In June 2019, i did so in person as advised and it works well for me. I paid 30k rupiah nett. Believe me, almost all who works in the Batam Tourism industry like bellboys, hotel securities and receptionists etc knows Official Price from Harbour Bay Ferry terminal to Nagoya area up to BCS cost 30k rupiah. Prepare exactly 30k rupiah, reach destination, step out, pay and go. i didnt do the wrong thing...right? (so i have no fear of their cursing and swearing,hehehe..)

I advise my friend/s to Save a copy or 2 of the photo/s i posted on the taxi pricing above on their mobile phone for their future dispute (if any),hehehe...

Just my sharing about things that happened recently and hopefully provide some solutions to it.

* next upcoming, (if time and situation allows me) i might do a write up on corrupted immigration officers which is happening at Batam Center ferry terminal during 2019, which i have read.

Enjoy Batam...

PS : Photos were taken from my past Batam trips, i do keep record ,hehehe...so as to compare then and now or vice versa.

[nono1973]

Originally Posted by Xhuuya

@nono : usually half of it for the store and taxi on stores

What i learned was that most of the girls took about or around 1/3 of the total amount.

And what i find out further from various different girls and from different joints, was for girl's pricing which was "low", its usually halved. But when it comes to a "bigger" amount, its usually about 1/3 of the total amount.

Originally Posted by nono1973

Customer/s is often at the top of the Pyramid and the girls were much often right at the bottom of it. Somewhere in the middle of it, took the lion's share. :

There may be some variant on the calculation from different people, and above was solely what i learned base on my own research/findings over the years.

There is definitely a minimum Set price. There is no maximum Set price. So highest can be an infinity amount if there are takers (or suckers),hehehe...but the girls will still get the minimum set price.

I have an apple i wish to sell at S$0.30...i ask Charlie to help sell it off for me. Charlie seeks Tom and Jerry's help to tell the world there's an apple for sale. Regardless of how much Tom and Jerry sells it, they need to make some profit out of it. No matter how much Charlie charge to Tom and Jerry, he also makes a profit.

And no matter how much its being priced by Charlie to Tom and Dick and then to the end-user, i will still get S$0.30 at the end of the day. Which is what i mean by there is no maximum set price but there's definitely a minimum,hehehe...and of course if the apple is being sold by Charlie w/o Tom and Jerry involved, the price to end user can possibly be lowered.

When Tom see bro Xhuuya walks by, he call out to him and quote him S$1 for an apple, when Jerry saw bro Xhuuya talks to Tom, and walk off w/o buying, he remember Xhuuya's face and when he walks back again, Jerry approach him and tells Charlie can get the same apple at S$0.90. Charlie finds that he has gotten a better deal from Tom and decide he will buy from Jerry instead (of buying from Tom). Tom and Jerry called Charlie about the deal, and Charlie says he will sell the apple to the 2 at S$0.50...Tom and Jerry makes S$0.40 from the S$0.90 deal from bro Xhuuya,hehehe...so now i have my S$0.30, Charlie, Tom and Dick all makes about S$0.20 each,hehehe...

And if i can sell the apple off myself,and if someone willing to buy from me directly at S$0.35 (or more), i will sell it off w/o 2nd thoughts, hehehe... if Charlie, Tom and Jerry has no buyers towards the end of the day, and someone pop out offering S$0.25, i will have to sell it too. Or else my apple will have an even lesser or no value after sunset.

The whole illustration above were like the Batam scene i talk about and i am that end-user guy who looks forward to getting that "apple" for S$0.25,hehehe...even tho i dont mind paying S$0.30 or little bit more. Paying S$1 or S$0.90 is just not so much "me".

Sorry a bit long-winded here.

[BFOMF5]

Originally Posted by nono1973

Aiko Spot Massage to bench mark Batam's massage quality,hehehe...oh, and one more thing...quite a handful of girls were very young (looks wise max is 6/10,maybe due to minimum make-up).
Enjoy Batam...

If you eat at A2 or shop at BCS,
that the place for u to call and wait for GoCar pickup.

[yourslovingly]

Bro can pm

[yi7787031]

any hotel recommend? I will chiong batam with few colleague. Anyone recommend a safe and comfort hotel?

[ndnd]

Tonite batam razia nite. Those goyang and jackpot kaki beware.