Trip from Hell

O.K., here it is ....I have been traveling to the DR since 1993, and I must say that each visit was a memorable experience..HOWEVER, I had never traveled during Xmas, nor will I ever!!! (Let it be known that the only reason I traveled this past Xmas was to accompany my Dominican boyfriend who desired to see his family.) First of all, my brand new luggage got handled so roughly it was all battered and dusty when I picked it up from the belt. Second, my boyfriend rented an SUV from a local rental agency (of which I greatly opposed of) that charged the ridiculous amount of $3, 700 RD per day. On our way to La Romana, a motoconche flied out of a side road head on to the SUV. And of course the motoconche had no money to pay for the dented bumper!!! That night the SUV's battery goes dead, and we had to borrow a family member's vehicle to reach our hotel. When we called the owner of the rental car agency to tell him about the accident (he did sell us insurance coverage) we were informed that the deductible was $200,000 RD, oh, and that the battery was indeed a faulty battery!!! Well, to sum it all up we rented a SUV of which we had to buy a new battery, buy power steering oil, and fill the radiator with coolant. But wait, that's not all, any business that we frequented, whether it be a local restuarant, shop, or cervezeria, vendors where overcharging us once they saw our "viajeros" appearance. I must state that the prices did not match the service. Most of the service was lousy, rude, and unprofessional. But I am not discouraged of going to visit DR again, since this was the only bad experience out of 6. Next visit, however, I will stay on a resort, and not leave it unless with a tour guide.

BEWARE OF THIS CAR RENTAL AGENCY IN DR!!

To all potential visitors to the DR, DO NOT RENT from BUSINESS RENT A CAR. This agency is located in Autopista Las Americas KM, 25 La Caleta in front of the exit from the airport. The owner's name is Jaime, and he is an unscrupulous businessman. Please do not become his next victim!!

Once again, this was my sixth visit to the D.R. in the last 10 years and it was the first time that I had encountered such bad experiences. The latter product of an exploited economy and an ill-fated government. And since neither my boyfriend or I live there, we were not knowledgeable about the market prices for SUV rentals. We rented an SUV for two reasons: 1) there weren't anymore vehicles left, and 2) because the roads where we were staying were in very rugged and bad conditions. And to all you mal pensados out there: Yes, all purchases were made in my presence. No, we did not pay the entire bill for the rental, as a matter of fact, there is still a pending balance with the agency of which will be litigated in court. And the money was paid by hard working HONEST living. My boyfriend owns a 27 vehicle taxi cab business, and I am a public school teacher. So go do the Math. (P.S. Not all wealthy Dominicans are into illicit activities, let's not be so malpensados!)

Excuse me, but if you read the previous replies, noone stated, but it was most definitely implied. Oh, and we did try a taxi and their rates were just as ridiculous, and their services very inconvenient. Let me clarify that we were staying out on the eastern part of the country--the La Romana-Bayahibe area. Needless to say that the rental agency was in the capital. But every experience is a learning one, and next time we will know better. I thought that the reasons we share trip experiences on this site is to educate each other on traveling to the DR, not to be judged and crucified...

THANK YOU...apology accepted. As doubtful it may seem, there are still innocent consumers out there...