I know this thread is now past its sell by date but I would just like to thank the persons who replied and explain a few things.
I have just arrived back in The UK and no I did not get my stolen chain back. The police had recovered several chains but not mine which is valued at ?600. My annual travel insurance covers me for ?250 per item which is better than nothing but my problem was the police would not issue me with a report for the insurance until they had finished trying to recover the chain and this took 4 days.With regard to the taxi business, I usually use the cheap cars but the day after the robbery the uniformed policeman from the Police Station where I had reported the robbery turned up at my condo in a taxi asking me to go with him and identify the robber. This was when I was told it would cost 7000pesos to get my chain from Puerto Plata. After 4 of these visits,each time I was asked to pay the taxi, I finally negotiated that I would pay the cost of police fuel to recover my chain. Unfortunately the end result was I paid them 2800pesos for fuel, the chain was not recovered and they even had my wrong date of birth on their report. I come to the conclusion that the police have an arrangment with the taxi driver. I was told the robbers were ( "IT" Mafiosa ) new to the area.
Despite this problem. I still enjoyed the remainder of my visit. I guess I was just too relaxed for my own good. I must have visited the same supermarket hundreds of times over the past 3 years and it happened so fast I was taken totally by surprise. However this incident could have happened to anyone anywhere and has in no way discouraged my love of the DR.
Regards
Keith
