All the locals in PDC are scam artists

[Clarkster]

Day 1: roommate goes to bar with $100 comes back with 70 pesos, thinking he had spent $30 us
Day 2: I accidentally pay 900 pesos for 2 straw hats salesman tells me it's(900 ) about $8 US. Ti went back to this merchant and he claims the price was 80 US dollars, roughly, and that the 900 pesos was correct. This for one nice straw fedora, which may sell for $40 in USA, and one floppy ladies hat i wouldnt pay more than $5 for.

Also I walked the 3 blocks from hacienda real to Walmart to save money, took a taxi back, the guy kept driving in circles pretending not to know where hotel was, after 30 mins I finally figured out where to have him stop. I ask him how much and he says 50 pesos and foolishly I agree. I get him to help bring items into room and ended up giving him $3 tip before I realize what a fool I was and he took me for. Just pretending the whole time not to recognize my hotel or any English...

Everywhere we go we are hounded by guys who don't understand no trying to sell to us. It gets tiring

And it's 3 pm before our room is cleaned and this is after 2 phone calls and 3 requests since early morning for a clean, always with "yes, ok" as a response . And then I find all they did was replace towels and make the beds, when the sheets needed to be changed, you could clearly see coffee had been spilled on one bed.

And why doesn't this hotel have any ice.? Ice is standard at hotels over USA but in the humidity of PDC no ice to be found. A coffee maker, no coffee, nothing to stir coffee we bought with.


The beach is lovely!!!!

[sunwhore]

You should do your research before you leave home.

[gingele]

I love how a person's own poor basic math skills translate into ALL locals in the entire PDC area being scam artists.

Almost as much as I love how your failure to send a simple email or take a quick peek at your hotel's website regarding hotel and room amenities before you arrived translates into ALL locals in the PDC area being scam artists.

Not sure you are going to get much sympathy here.

[LB4Playa]

Sounds like you had some bad luck, but I wouldn't say all the locals are scam artists.

[lindalou61]

Not sure you are going to get much sympathy here.[/quote]


NOPE

[TCed]

Do you know the exchange rate for dollars to pesos ? It is around 12.9 peso to 1 USD.
Do the math with every purchase !

[rob mackay]

Originally Posted by lindalou61

Not sure you are going to get much sympathy here.

NOPE[/quote]
i agree

the money is easy here,,,,you should have a basic understanding of it,,failure to do .....and some will take adavantage of that,,,certainly not all,,,
if your not sure what street your hotel is located on,,,,i strongly recommend you not leave it for your entire stay here,,,,its quite apparent you are not a traveler

anyway have fun

[Clarkster]

Originally Posted by TCed

Do you know the exchange rate for dollars to pesos ? It is around 12.9 peso to 1 USD.
Do the math with every purchase !

I try but I have a disability. And everyone tells me different. And for those saying research, I used this website for research after I got here, prior to that, living social, where I purchased the trip, said only bring dollars for tips and pay with debit card but lots of shops etc no debit cards. The thing is, I am very generous, but I would like the option of paying more with tips etc not by getting scammed...

[HappyBubble]

If you have a smartphone you should get an app that converts pesos to dollars for you.

[Clarkster]

Originally Posted by gingele

I love how a person's own poor basic math skills translate into ALL locals in the entire PDC area being scam artists.

Almost as much as I love how your failure to send a simple email or take a quick peek at your hotel's website regarding hotel and room amenities before you arrived translates into ALL locals in the PDC area being scam artists.

Not sure you are going to get much sympathy here.

Go make sense of hacienda reals website. It is a mess. And I sent and read plenty of emails they all pretend to know no English

[liloleme]

Originally Posted by Clarkster

I try but I have a disability. And everyone tells me different. And for those saying research, I used this website for research after I got here, prior to that, living social, where I purchased the trip, said only bring dollars for tips and pay with debit card but lots of shops etc no debit cards. The thing is, I am very generous, but I would like the option of paying more with tips etc not by getting scammed...

Sorry about your experiences.

Regarding conversion of pesos to USD, for some 'on the spot' converting, just take off a zero and you'll get close. For instance, if someone tells you 900 pesos, take off a zero and and you'll be at 90 dollars. 90 pesos is 9 dollars, and so on. It's not an exact science but it does help if you get confused.

[gingele]

Originally Posted by Clarkster

I try but I have a disability

.

That is no excuse. If you live with a disability that impairs your ability to convert dollars to pesos in your head (10 pesos equals 1 dollar is a good rule of thumb, even if not accurate to the penny), then you should have anticipated that traveling to a foreign country with a different currency may very well be an issue for you. You should have therefore prepared accordingly, such as being sure you had a cheap calculator on hand and practicing making calculations on conversions before you left.

Originally Posted by Clarkster

And everyone tells me different. And for those saying research, I used this website for research after I got here, prior to that, living social, where I purchased the trip, said only bring dollars for tips and pay with debit card but lots of shops etc no debit cards. The thing is, I am very generous, but I would like the option of paying more with tips etc not by getting scammed...

You didn't get scammed. You were simply a very ill-prepared traveler.

[katmumn]

Whenever I travel, I type the addresses on any hotels I'm staying at on a small sheet (or now enter them into my smartphone) and carry it with me. Even if I'm taking a cab, I bring a map so I know if the cab driver is going the wrong way, or the long route.


I am sorry that you had some not-so-good experiences. Part of the reason I enjoy getting away from the tourist zones is to get to know the locals as I've met some wonderful people in Mexico,

[Luv2Dance]

Originally Posted by Clarkster

Go make sense of hacienda reals website. It is a mess. And I sent and read plenty of emails they all pretend to know no English

If the website is a mess, not up to your standards, why book with them in the first place?

[gingele]

Originally Posted by Luv2Dance

If the website is a mess, not up to your standards, why book with them in the first place?

Their website is fine. I found this page in about 5 seconds that lets you know what is included in the room:http://www.reseliva.com/hotel/HaciendaRealdelCaribe/index.php?p=description

The fact that the OP is pissed that there was no free coffee provided does not mean that "All locals in the PDC area are scam artists", it means that he made a very erroneous assumption that because there was a coffee maker in the room, there would therefore be free coffee.

I wonder what he would have thought if there was a mini fridge in the room?