Well,
I must say that first of all, it pains me to write this thread but all of us here have an obligation to other expats to disclose when we've been ripped off or otherwise used.
I am very upset and although my respect and admiration for Hillbilly remains intact, I believe his son should be shown for the thief that he is.
I used HB's son for various projects around my house, lost a lot of money and gained a lot of nothing. I trusted him, because I trust his father and he took that trust and my naivete (spelling?) and used it for his personal gain.
He took me to buy my Inversor and ceiling fans. He told me not to come into the stores because if they saw me they would double or triple the price. The Inversor is not working now and I have since found out that it was bought used. Betania says that she thought it didn't look new when he bought it into the house and she asked him and he said "No, este es nuevecito con su caja y todo". I barely knew what an inversor looked like and had no reason to distrust him. I called him last night to tell him that the Inversor was not working and he said he'd be here this AM. Of course, he did not come. When we called this afternoon his answer was that he has been calling me all day on my cell phone which is a lie because I have my cell phone with me at all times. We are still waiting for him as I write this and of course, I already know that he will not show because he never does.
The ceiling fans that his worker put it began to rattle after about a week and we were told that they sometimes do that, another lie. I had to repay a Dominican to put them in correctly and they have not rattled since, that was in October.
All of the work that I needed done could have been completed in 1 day, at the most 1 and a half. But his worker and he stopped by randomly for 2 weeks for an hour to 2 hours doing work and each time I had to pay something.
I was charged 1200rd to fix a hole in the Cisterna that I subsequently had 3 Dominicans look at and they each told me separately that to fix it should've cost 200rd-300rd (2 of them said 300rd, and 1 said 200rd). One day he bought a Haitian to my house to finish the hole in the Cisterna and had me pay the Haitian 500rd for fixing it even though he had already charged me 1200rd.
His worker fixed a doorknob for my bedroom TWICE. Meaning that he put a brand new doorknob that I bought at Ochoa on for me, it fell off, he came back and put it back on again, it fell off...the 3rd time, I called Betania's brother who came and put it on for me and it hasn't fallen off since.
They charged me and CLAIMED that they "fixed" my water heater when the only reason it didn't work was because I had 110 voltage from Edenorte instead of 220 voltage. They knew this and charged me even though they did NOTHING to the water heater. When I called him on this he says "Oh yeah, well I've gone to Edenorte to have them change your house to 220. They will be there in the next week" knowing damn well that you can't just go to Edenorte and have them change something on a house that is not yours.
He charged me for electrical work that was not needed nor done, trying to scare me by saying that if he didn't do it my appliances would all fry and I would have to buy them again. The work was not needed nor did he do anything because the renter before me had all ceiling fans, air conditioners, and more expensive appliances than what I have and nothing ever fried because everything was already grounded.
I have asked him for an Invoice over 10 times for the work that he did to my house so that I can give it to the Landlord to try to recoup some of the money and have STILL yet to receive the Invoice, this has been since October asking. I even stooped so low as to send HB an email to ask him to have his son give me an Invoice. Today is January 18th.....still no Invoice, waiting since October. After telling the .Landlord about the work and what he charged me she asked me for the Invoice which we are still waiting for. She says to me a couple of weeks ago "He is never going to give you an Invoice because he knows that you are going to give it to me and I'm gonna call him on it because he cheated and used you."
Seems to be the truth
I try to be cautious and not trust Dominicans but now I see, and I'm letting you all know, that we have to be cautious with even people that we think are looking out for us or are recommended. HB is in no way responsible for the actions of his son but because it was his son I did not question some things that normally I would have. For 2 weeks everything was fine but as you see, in the end it isn't.
With materials and what he charged me I spent over 15,000rd, not counting what I had to pay to have the majority of the work redone or paying for work that wasn't really done, and this is money that I have to now suck up.
I may brag on what I make but I am single and I support 3 kids here in Santiago, I pay ALL of my college daughter's bills in North Carolina (school expenses, phone, rent, lights, gas, water, car insurance, etc), I pay my OWN Midwifery school tuition, buy 2 International flights per month to go to work, and I don't have money to throw away.
I just thought you guys ought to know and even HB ought to know because I am very upset and disappointed with what his son has done to me.
Now I will try to sell this NON functioning USED Inversor so that I can buy a NEW one, and this time I will go INTO the store and make sure myself that it is new.
Thanks,
SHALENA
I must say that first of all, it pains me to write this thread but all of us here have an obligation to other expats to disclose when we've been ripped off or otherwise used.
I am very upset and although my respect and admiration for Hillbilly remains intact, I believe his son should be shown for the thief that he is.
I used HB's son for various projects around my house, lost a lot of money and gained a lot of nothing. I trusted him, because I trust his father and he took that trust and my naivete (spelling?) and used it for his personal gain.
He took me to buy my Inversor and ceiling fans. He told me not to come into the stores because if they saw me they would double or triple the price. The Inversor is not working now and I have since found out that it was bought used. Betania says that she thought it didn't look new when he bought it into the house and she asked him and he said "No, este es nuevecito con su caja y todo". I barely knew what an inversor looked like and had no reason to distrust him. I called him last night to tell him that the Inversor was not working and he said he'd be here this AM. Of course, he did not come. When we called this afternoon his answer was that he has been calling me all day on my cell phone which is a lie because I have my cell phone with me at all times. We are still waiting for him as I write this and of course, I already know that he will not show because he never does.
The ceiling fans that his worker put it began to rattle after about a week and we were told that they sometimes do that, another lie. I had to repay a Dominican to put them in correctly and they have not rattled since, that was in October.
All of the work that I needed done could have been completed in 1 day, at the most 1 and a half. But his worker and he stopped by randomly for 2 weeks for an hour to 2 hours doing work and each time I had to pay something.
I was charged 1200rd to fix a hole in the Cisterna that I subsequently had 3 Dominicans look at and they each told me separately that to fix it should've cost 200rd-300rd (2 of them said 300rd, and 1 said 200rd). One day he bought a Haitian to my house to finish the hole in the Cisterna and had me pay the Haitian 500rd for fixing it even though he had already charged me 1200rd.
His worker fixed a doorknob for my bedroom TWICE. Meaning that he put a brand new doorknob that I bought at Ochoa on for me, it fell off, he came back and put it back on again, it fell off...the 3rd time, I called Betania's brother who came and put it on for me and it hasn't fallen off since.
They charged me and CLAIMED that they "fixed" my water heater when the only reason it didn't work was because I had 110 voltage from Edenorte instead of 220 voltage. They knew this and charged me even though they did NOTHING to the water heater. When I called him on this he says "Oh yeah, well I've gone to Edenorte to have them change your house to 220. They will be there in the next week" knowing damn well that you can't just go to Edenorte and have them change something on a house that is not yours.
He charged me for electrical work that was not needed nor done, trying to scare me by saying that if he didn't do it my appliances would all fry and I would have to buy them again. The work was not needed nor did he do anything because the renter before me had all ceiling fans, air conditioners, and more expensive appliances than what I have and nothing ever fried because everything was already grounded.
I have asked him for an Invoice over 10 times for the work that he did to my house so that I can give it to the Landlord to try to recoup some of the money and have STILL yet to receive the Invoice, this has been since October asking. I even stooped so low as to send HB an email to ask him to have his son give me an Invoice. Today is January 18th.....still no Invoice, waiting since October. After telling the .Landlord about the work and what he charged me she asked me for the Invoice which we are still waiting for. She says to me a couple of weeks ago "He is never going to give you an Invoice because he knows that you are going to give it to me and I'm gonna call him on it because he cheated and used you."
Seems to be the truth
I try to be cautious and not trust Dominicans but now I see, and I'm letting you all know, that we have to be cautious with even people that we think are looking out for us or are recommended. HB is in no way responsible for the actions of his son but because it was his son I did not question some things that normally I would have. For 2 weeks everything was fine but as you see, in the end it isn't.
With materials and what he charged me I spent over 15,000rd, not counting what I had to pay to have the majority of the work redone or paying for work that wasn't really done, and this is money that I have to now suck up.
I may brag on what I make but I am single and I support 3 kids here in Santiago, I pay ALL of my college daughter's bills in North Carolina (school expenses, phone, rent, lights, gas, water, car insurance, etc), I pay my OWN Midwifery school tuition, buy 2 International flights per month to go to work, and I don't have money to throw away.
I just thought you guys ought to know and even HB ought to know because I am very upset and disappointed with what his son has done to me.
Now I will try to sell this NON functioning USED Inversor so that I can buy a NEW one, and this time I will go INTO the store and make sure myself that it is new.
Thanks,
SHALENA
Last edited: