I Got "Gringo'd...!!!!"

william webster

Platinum
Jan 16, 2009
30,247
4,329
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It doesn't really happen that often.
I don't frequent tourist areas very much, I can emote / speak my way out most problems - albeit just small ones.
But every once in a while I get "Gringo'd"..... it must be my whiteness.

Case #1
SDQ can be hot. I got thirsty and asked for a Grande at a colmado...
I gave the muchacho 100pesos.... he sort of went on with his business after giving me the beer.
I tapped the counter with my bottle and lo and behold, I got 20pesos change.
Now. I'm more used to 60-70peso beers but this was SDQ........... no problema.

Case #2
Cabarete, the root of all scams/evil/gringoing........
Thirsty again, I stop at a colmado/bar/who knows what.
The girl has the requisite cleavage for a Dominicana bartendress and of course, I can't control my eyeballs - they have a mind of their own.
She smiles - I look up the name of a good divorce lawyer - and then she dips down into the cooler.
You could have knocked my eyeballs off with a stick!!!
I give her the same - 100pesos. NO CHANGE!!!
I ask for "mi cambio"....... none coming.....she tells me thats the price.

NEVER, NUNCA, have I been charged 100pesos for grande cerveza outside of a gyp joint.

Needless to say, I did not divorce my wife for her ---- had she given me 50Pesos change.....I can't say.

Life in the fastlane........... well. not so fast really...... just life in RD
 

Shee

New member
Jan 2, 2012
37
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why not give the exact amount? then you won't have to worry about your "cambio".
 

Criss Colon

Platinum
Jan 2, 2002
21,843
191
0
38
yahoomail.com
"Golden Rule In The DR"
ALWAYS Ask The Price"!
NEVER,Pay Before you are served!
Good for "Taxis,Restaurants,"Whore Houses"!
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
 

dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
31,266
363
0
exactly. i always ask first and then complain why so expensive ;)
i once asked at the airport: quanto tu me robas por gatorade? the girls said it was 50 pesos, took a moment and went: robas?
then we both started laughing :)
 

bryan1258

Bronze
Dec 24, 2007
547
60
0
So you got hosed for maybe 40pesos. Suck it up big guy. Could be worse. You could have sunk large into a particular investment house in POP, then you'd be howling................just sayin.
 

imfromda305

New member
Dec 9, 2011
306
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0
your eyeballs costed you 40 rds... invest in some mirror sunglasses...

BelgianK

LOL! I so happen take the motorcycle taxi from La Sirena to my house in El Conde for just 35 pesos. Today I was with my date, only this time dude asked 100 pesos. So I'm like, yo!!! Then he said, because it's for 2 persons so I thought.. 35 x 2 = 70 but nooo! I had to pay 100.

Other than that, I can't tell.. sometimes before buying something I ask for the price and most of the time I still can't understand what they're saying so I just give a big note and most of the time I get back more than I've expected.
 

SantiagoDR

The "REAL" SantiagoDR
Jan 12, 2006
5,808
948
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I have been to Cabarete one time, the first and the last several years ago.

I gave the wife a $100 pesos bill to go in one of the stores along the street to buy a 20 oz bottle of Coca Cola.

I was not happy with the change she came back with, and she's Dominican.
(No, she did not keep any, she had no pockets or purse with her)


D, not in Cabarete
 

edm7583

New member
May 29, 2007
388
32
0
It doesn't really happen that often.
I don't frequent tourist areas very much, I can emote / speak my way out most problems - albeit just small ones.
But every once in a while I get "Gringo'd"..... it must be my whiteness.

Case #1
SDQ can be hot. I got thirsty and asked for a Grande at a colmado...
I gave the muchacho 100pesos.... he sort of went on with his business after giving me the beer.
I tapped the counter with my bottle and lo and behold, I got 20pesos change.
Now. I'm more used to 60-70peso beers but this was SDQ........... no problema.

Case #2
Cabarete, the root of all scams/evil/gringoing........
Thirsty again, I stop at a colmado/bar/who knows what.
The girl has the requisite cleavage for a Dominicana bartendress and of course, I can't control my eyeballs - they have a mind of their own.
She smiles - I look up the name of a good divorce lawyer - and then she dips down into the cooler.
You could have knocked my eyeballs off with a stick!!!
I give her the same - 100pesos. NO CHANGE!!!
I ask for "mi cambio"....... none coming.....she tells me thats the price.

NEVER, NUNCA, have I been charged 100pesos for grande cerveza outside of a gyp joint.

Needless to say, I did not divorce my wife for her ---- had she given me 50Pesos change.....I can't say.

Life in the fastlane........... well. not so fast really...... just life in RD

Cardinal rule- Never hand over money or use a service or buy something until you know exactly what it is going to cost. It doesn't matter if you are in a tourist area or not. Then you can pay your 100 pesos and demand your change afterwards.
 

edm7583

New member
May 29, 2007
388
32
0
So you got hosed for maybe 40pesos. Suck it up big guy. Could be worse. You could have sunk large into a particular investment house in POP, then you'd be howling................just sayin.

Try keeping 5 pesos from a Dominican that is rightfully theirs and see what their reaction will be. They will act like you stole the bread right out of their children's mouths.
 

Givadogahome

Silver
Sep 27, 2011
4,397
2
0
I'm quite impressed as there seems to have been little to no inflation in price over the last 6 years, in my regular on Lincoln in the capital I used to pay 45pequena, 65grande and 85jumbo, only the pequena and jumbo have gone up 5 pesos in 6 or 7 years, thats Presidente . That price holds at my regualar in Jarabacoa also with Bohemia only being 75pesos per jumbo which is impressive.
I think in Sosua and Caberete you can expect to get gringoed occasionally, it's all these people just handing over mil and waiting to see what change they get, makes life easy for them to take advantage, or expect to take advantage. The same at the corner cafe on the top of El Conde, we popped in there a few years ago and I got shafted and so never bothered for a few years, but figured they've seen us walking by often enough over the years and so know not to gringo me, so we thought we'd have a quick drink before cramming in the guagua, but seems he plays funny arse and has inflated the price massively, and the place is ALWAYS busy. I'm amazed even tourists pay those prices, the guy must be very very wealthy, or the rents on that corner is sky high. Whichever, anywhere that charges those prices spoils the taste of my drink, on the beach I suppose I can understand it, but outside a taxi rank on El Conde? hardly relaxing environment, but it is going to happen from time to time, after all we're Gringos! Bavaro 100pesos p/Pequena!!!
And it isn't always appropriate to ask the price for EVERYTHING, I would end up annoying myself if I had to question everyone about everything all the time.
 

Hillbilly

Moderator
Jan 1, 2002
18,948
514
113
On my recent trip up to Punta Rucia we paid 75 for a "grande ceniza" at the intersection of Rt 29 and Rt 30. Just a little corner spot where, since you have to slow down to go on anyway, you might just as well stop for a nice, cold beer. At the beach they were a little more expensive, but not much.
In Navarrete, at the last stop for refreshment, they were 60....No complaints.

And, you know, I guess WW had to pay for the cleavage view...somewhat akin to an ocean view apartment being more expensive than a mountain view (but maybe in this case my imagery is reversed?) Sorry WW, it seemed so funny!


HB
 

william webster

Platinum
Jan 16, 2009
30,247
4,329
113
Here's one my friend suffered...

On the Samana tollroad, returning to the airport, he claims to have been shortchanged at the booth.
A 25 yr RD veteran, he argues in broken Spanish to no avail.

The line builds behind and horns begin to honk -- he takes up the call and blows his horn too, in protest.

Finally, the toll collector relents and waves him over to the side building.

Two police appear and stick those sawed-off shotguns in the windows - each side.

Now, if you have ever had the authorities threaten you like that ( I have), conversing in your native tongue becomes difficult - a foreign one could be impossible.

There was little to no conversation and he drove on -- sin dinero.

Was he 'gringo'd' or just plain robbed???
 

AlterEgo

Administrator
Staff member
Jan 9, 2009
23,097
6,247
113
South Coast
"Golden Rule In The DR"
ALWAYS Ask The Price"!
NEVER,Pay Before you are served!
Good for "Taxis,Restaurants,"Whore Houses"!
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

Great minds think alike :) I've finally gotten my husband ALMOST trained [after 35 years] to ask BEFORE. This week it worked once, failed once.

First time was at the Feria Ganadera where they have pony/horse rides for kids. So we show up, Abuelo, me, daughter and two gringo grandkids. They put #1 grandson on a horse, and my husband asks how much it is, very politely. Before long voices are raised and the guy is yelling because he was offended [haha]. My husband said he wanted to know up front so they didn't say it was 2000 pesos when they brought the kid back. Escalating voices - yelling that my husband was trying to run his business. [long story short, it was 150 pesos for 15 minutes, 300 for a half-hour. Why he couldn't just say that, I don't know]

Second time - we had ordered and received a large shipment of iron to enclose our rear patio. We ended up with too much of one thing, and not enough for another. He called to get what we needed, and then added 3 large metal sheets of 'tola' to put over our front gate [for additional privacy], just to make it worth the trip for the truck. Never asked the price. Went into sticker shock when he saw the bill [he wasn't home when the delivery came, so I just paid the bill]. Guess the guy decided he'd price it to make the trip worth his while.

You snooze, you lose.

At least WW got some eye candy with his rip-off. Neither of the delivery guys fit that bill. :-(
 

southwardbound2

New member
Jun 5, 2008
472
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0
We're on two tier pricing here. I have to pay 1250 pesos for 24 bottles of presidente and sell them to 'our own' for 75 pesos, put when the horse riders come thru here who have shelled out $60.00 USD for a 3 hour horse ride they pay 100 pesos each, and I am expected to kick back 20 pesos of that to the kid why flies the horses for them.
It's Monday morning so it could be my math is faulty OR you are talking grande or jumbo? You are payingRD$52 per bottle. At supermercados I had been paying RD$259 to RD$269 per 6 pack of smalls, which lately has gone up to RD$300. Either way, less than what you are paying (RD$ 43 to RD$50) per bottle. And I live in Gringoville aka Cabarete! What's wrong with this picture?
 

Tamborista

hasta la tambora
Apr 4, 2005
11,747
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It's Monday morning so it could be my math is faulty OR you are talking grande or jumbo? You are payingRD$52 per bottle. At supermercados I had been paying RD$259 to RD$269 per 6 pack which lately has gone up to RD$300. Either way, less than what you are paying (RD$ 43 to RD$50) per bottle. And I live in Gringoville aka Cabarete! What's wrong with this picture?

It sounds like Derfish is being Gringo'd and does not even know it!