My Rant for the evening...

leehall

New member
Oct 24, 2006
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What is it with the short changing in Playero these days? The bill is 567 and I get back 430 from a 1,000 and they just act like it's normal.....

Back home, I would never get short changed so obviously. I know that I am not being victimised as it happens to the person in front of me as well.

One day I tried to argue the point and 'Mi Novia' (Dominican) was with me and she nearly died of embarrasement as she thought it looked 'cheap'.

Are Gringo's too embarassed to make a scene at the counter and Dominican's too proud to argue the point? I know it's only a couple of pesos, but they are doing this to every customer. 500 customers a day...soon adds up over the year. They gain a large amount and why... pride and embarrasement and they seem to play on it. If Playero had a company handbook, I would not be suprised to find it in there.

These days I am not even getting the Halls sweets (however if another counter clerk offers my a menthol halls, I will put it where the sun doesn't shine :pirate:, I can cope with the orange).

And...

I know that labour is cheap in the Dom Rep. I have been trying to calculate how much they save verses employing additional labour to make sure that 1 out of 3 or 4 onions in a bag is bad. I have never had a complete good bag of onions in 6 years now. Same goes with the ginger and don't even get me started on the okra.

I might have to start weekly food trips to Santiago. I remember the quality of the fresh product was 100% better than Playero. Real yellow bananas and green cilantro, just like you would find in Tesco's or Sainsbury's!
 
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DRob

Gold
Aug 15, 2007
8,234
594
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Um,

It's 3 pesos. That's not quite a US dime on a $15.00 food bill. And before you go on about the principle of the thing, please reread my first and last sentences.

If you're in Sosua, I imagine your novia is between 19-25 and better looking than any woman you've been involved with wherever back home is. Further, allow me to assume that, unless it pleases you to do so otherwise, she's doing the cooking...among other things.

Meantime, you're worried about .08 late on a Friday evening.

My advice: relax, enjoy your vacation (or the fact you live in vacationland), and try not to sweat the small stuff.
 
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AK74

On Vacation!
Jun 18, 2007
842
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What is it with the short changing in Playero these days? The bill is 567 and I get back 430 from a 1,000 and they just act like it's normal.....

Back home, I would never get short changed so obviously. I know that I am not being victimised as it happens to the person in front of me as well.

One day I tried to argue the point and 'Mi Novia' (Dominican) was with me and she nearly died of embarrasement as she thought it looked 'cheap'.

Are Gringo's too embarassed to make a scene at the counter and Dominican's too proud to argue the point? I know it's only a couple of pesos, but they are doing this to every customer. 500 customers a day...soon adds up over the year. They gain a large amount and why... pride and embarrasement and they seem to play on it. If Playero had a company handbook, I would not be suprised to find it in there.

These days I am not even getting the Halls sweets (however if another counter clerk offers my a menthol halls, I will put it where the sun doesn't shine :pirate:, I can cope with the orange).

And...

I know that labour is cheap in the Dom Rep. I have been trying to calculate how much they save verses employing additional labour to make sure that 1 out of 3 or 4 onions in a bag is bad. I have never had a complete good bag of onions in 6 years now. Same goes with the ginger and don't even get me started on the okra.

I might have to start weekly food trips to Santiago. I remember the quality of the fresh product was 100% better than Playero. Real yellow bananas and green cilantro, just like you would find in Tesco's or Sainsbury's!

Playero is cheating on customers much more than three pesos. Without further elaborating.

Regarding Santiago - better go to Puerto Plata, farmers market (not far from Mountain View). There you will be able to chose every piece of fruite and vegetable one by one (except chinola). And it will be much cheaper than to buy in Playero. Even considering gas. You`ll love goat cheese and those smoked sisi-pisi.
I go there once a week. And my GF buys ropa in Tienda Jimenez at prices 2-3 times lower than on Pedro Clisante. With her tan she looks now darker than dominicana.

Bread is good in Playero. Never buy nothing "ofertas". Way over expiration date! Never buy cork screws and orange juice maker!

If you need the best Dominican (if not World) honey - contact HillBilly.
 

leehall

New member
Oct 24, 2006
195
6
0
Um,

It's 3 pesos. That's not quite a US dime on a $15.00 food bill. And before you go on about the principle of the thing, please reread my first and last sentences.

If you're in Sosua, I imagine your novia is between 19-25 and better looking than any woman you've been involved with wherever back home is. Further, allow me to assume that, unless it pleases you to do so otherwise, she's doing the cooking...among other things.

Meantime, you're worried about .08 late on a Friday evening.

My advice: relax, enjoy your vacation (or the fact you live in vacationland), and try not to sweat the small stuff.

Drob. I have been living here longer than you think and am not on vacation, or as the English language calls it 'holidays'. Mi Novia is a lawyer and works in Santo Domingo and is from a eduacated and wealthy family. She visits me when she can.....

I am ****ed off about my onions, okra, bananas and being short changed. I live here and Playero is taking the ****.
 

leehall

New member
Oct 24, 2006
195
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Robert.. In my car, Santiago is about a $RDS1,800 round trip and I should go ahead an do it and stop being lazy. I can go to the most civilised polygono, get KFC, save on my shopping bill and have better quality, cinema and if I am lucky....one day AZB will invite me around for a curry,

By, the way..I made a blinding jeerza chicken last night
 

leehall

New member
Oct 24, 2006
195
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0
your novia is between 19-25 and better looking than any woman you've been involved with wherever back home is.

I re-read this sentance and it bugged me.

You want to bet? I weigh up education, mental stabilty and looks. I can send you pics of my last wife if you like. By the way, I am less than 40 and back home...like here I choose to be with people in my own age bracket.
 
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SantiagoDR

The "REAL" SantiagoDR
Jan 12, 2006
5,808
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Try paying with a few pesos short!

Just call me a cheap SOB if you wish.
I get every peso coming to me back every time.

Try paying with 3 pesos short and see their reaction!
Try giving them a mint or two and see their reaction!


If they would have no problem doing that,
---- then I would have no problem accepting the same from them.

The costs here in the last few years has doubled or tripled,
yet my income is the same as before the price increases.

Those few pesos adds up to extra food, etc in the long run.

30 trips to the store equals a free lunch at Supermercado Nacional.
(3 pesos = 8.65 cents)

Don



b5se1j.gif
 

SantiagoDR

The "REAL" SantiagoDR
Jan 12, 2006
5,808
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Correction

......... 30 trips to the store equals or surpasses the price of lunch at Supermercado Nacional.

And that is a good size lunch....

It's 3 pesos. That's not quite a US dime on a $15.00 food bill. And before you go on about the principle of the thing, please reread my first and last sentences.

DRob, Why did the store not round up the change, BECAUSE 2 pesos, about 6 cents, was too much for them to lose !!!!!!!

It ADDS UP over time and customers.
In a month I probably go to the stores about 100 times.
(Supermercados, corner stores, etc)


Don



b5se1j.gif
 

Bob K

Silver
Aug 16, 2004
2,520
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Why is everyone so suprised at this tactic from Playero. They have been doing this and other things for years to rip off the consumer and add to thier profits.
Maybe if and when La Serina opens in Purerto Plata things will be different. Like we will have somewhere else to do major grocery shopping at with out having to drive to Santiago,

Bob K
 

Bob Boyd

Active member
Feb 3, 2004
272
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It’s more than the 3 Pesos.
Compare their prices to any other market and you’ll find they are 15 to 20 percent higher. On top of that, watch the packaging because I find that they almost always pack the veggies with the bad spots facing down and out of sight, and lets also mention the expiration dates that get scratched off of older items.
 

J D Sauser

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Nov 20, 2004
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www.hispanosuizainvest.com
I occasionally shop at Playero when I am passing thru Sosua or long for some culinary goodies I don't seem to see offered at Puerto Plata's super markets... In general yes, the store seems to be more expensive but not on all products... some are cheaper. And then, their meat and deli stand tops most if not all in the region.
I have received mentas for Pesos occasionally, I give'em to the kids... I don't want to lessen my Caribbean life experience over menta-calculations and also remind myself of the quote: "be generous with small stuff and greedy on the bigger issues".
I can't remember if at Playero it had happened to me, but at some other super markets I have been condoned up to 5 Pesos occasionally, for the lack of change. Even other customers (Dominicans) can at times surprise you by chipping in a couple of chelitos just so things go smoother. I am learning to do the same occasionally too as long I am not led to suspect that I am being put into a orchestrated situation to make el gringuito feel he has to.

... J-D.
 

J D Sauser

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Nov 20, 2004
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www.hispanosuizainvest.com
Ladrones a domicillo

There is a new Dominican movie out and we went to see it yesterday evening. I was amused to be surprised by the fact that the first act was a parody of the very subject we are discussing here on this thread. In other words, the issue at hand is certainly not limited to a few markets catering mainly to tourists and gringuitos. Mentas for coins has apparently become a big enough National problem to make it into movies and the locals handle it like they handle most things which they can't seem to control... with humor... the whole theater was bending over laughing.

... J-D.
 

gamana

New member
Apr 24, 2006
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Keep a little bag of coins in your car and use it when you go to Playero. You won't get cheated, get angry, mess around with your blood pressure and ultimately will find better things to do than wasting your time complaining about it (no offense).

Have a tropical day...
 

leehall

New member
Oct 24, 2006
195
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gamana - I hear you loud and clear. It is just not the change issue, but also the fact that when you get home and open the plastic wrapped veggies, you realize that they have charged you for good that have perished. It is out and out THEFT.

I will stop complaining now and go back to my twice fortnighly shop in Santiago or weekly in Puerto Plata. Roll on La Sirena on the Malecon.....
 

Criss Colon

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Jan 2, 2002
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Don?t Get Mad, GET EVEN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You will NEVER get Dominicans from lieing ,cheating,stealing,or just plain ?Ripping You Off?!!!
That is their "Culture", their "Way-Of-Life"!
Soooooooo,GET EVEN!!!
I always "Pocket?,"something extra" when I go shopping!
Batteries are a good choice,so are "blades" for my Gillette razor,(VERY Expensive!!)
At Carrefore if yoy pay cash,they will NEVER have "Menudo". They wanted to "screw" me for 10 pesos laast time,I took a nice 40 peso chocolate bar and told them I would pay the 40 persos when they gave me 10! I walked out eating the chocolate!
WHEN TO BUY propane for cooking,if you ask for 800 pesos,they stop at about 794 pesos. 6 pessos X several 100 customers is a nice "profit" for the guy pumping the "gas"!
I now ask for 810 pesos, when they stop at 805,I give them 800 !
FEELS GREAT!
To those of you who say: "It?s only a few pesos!" I say $%&??! You!
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
 
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Bellamona

New member
Sep 18, 2007
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Never buy cork screws and orange juice maker!

Hey AZ74: just curious..why not? what can they do to a cork screw??!!!

As for the pre-packaged bad produce: La Sirena Multicentro does the same with apples and grapes: solution? I buy the loose ones or better yet, go to the farmers market here on the Malecon. It piXXes me off too when I buy fresh-squeezed juice (Jumbo-Megacentro) that turns out to be made with pineapple and mangos past their prime, but whatever. I only make the mistake once and then move on.

BTW: a little off point here but the last time I was in LA I bought Debbie Meyers Green Bags (you've seen the ads) and believe it or not they really work - my produce lasts forever.
 

BermudaRum

Bronze
Oct 9, 2007
1,206
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As long as Playaro controls the market, nothing will change. Pun intended! Next time look on top of the meat case which they stack sliced cheese. The cheese sits there for 20 minutes and longer when it should be placed in the refrigerated case located just 5 feet away. Great quality control, no one complains, nothing changes!!
 

leehall

New member
Oct 24, 2006
195
6
0
You will NEVER get Dominicans from lieing ,cheating,stealing,or just plain ?Ripping You Off?!!!
That is their "Culture", their "Way-Of-Life"!
Soooooooo,GET EVEN!!!
I always "Pocket?,"something extra" when I go shopping!
Batteries are a good choice,so are "blades" for my Gillette razor,(VERY Expensive!!)
At Carrefore if yoy pay cash,they will NEVER have "Menudo". They wanted to "screw" me for 10 pesos laast time,I took a nice 40 peso chocolate bar and told them I would pay the 40 persos when they gave me 10! I walked out eating the chocolate!
WHEN TO BUY propane for cooking,if you ask for 800 pesos,they stop at about 794 pesos. 6 pessos X several 100 customers is a nice "profit" for the guy pumping the "gas"!
I now ask for 810 pesos, when they stop at 805,I give them 800 !
FEELS GREAT!
To those of you who say: "It?s only a few pesos!" I say $%&??! You!
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC



I love this post. It has had me chuckling and spilling my coffee everywhere.
I'm off to the Texaco (same family as Playero) to fill up with $RDS2,010 worth of gas.
 

GardenCraft

New member
Jun 12, 2007
28
2
0
Yep. Happens every time at bravo and to a lesser extent Bella vista too. I usually just stand there with my hand out until they give me my full change, and that change usually comes from the bag packer, who will then pilfer something from the groceries enroute to the car. I'm used to it now.
The change scenario has improved with issue of new currency I noticed.