Taxi Mafia

[DandyDon]

Sounds like it was their own fault for paying in Yen.

It seems they paid with credit card, so there may well be recourse. The charge was for $520, changed after the transaction to $720, and a second charge for $616 was attempted by the crook.

The link above was to a brief, reference story with a link to the copyrighted story included since they could not publish all of it for free - only a "fair use" digest. See Japanese couple fleeced for $720 pedicab fare - NYPOST.com

 

[ggunn]

In a related story...

I lived and worked in Peru for a while in a former life when I worked in the oil patch. The unit of currency there at the time was the Sol and the official exchange rate was 40 Soles to the US$.

We spent a lot of our time in the jungle towns across the Andes from Lima. Once a brand new guy to the country flew into Lima from the States, changed planes in Lima and after converting a bunch of dollars to Soles, flew out to Iquitos. He did not speak a word of Spanish and had no idea about the local currency or the exchange rate. He landed in the Iquitos airport and took a cab to his company's office, which was a 160 Sol (US$4) fare. Lima was at the time (1976) fairly cosmopolitan with lots of English speakers, but Iquitos (which sits at he confluence of the Miranon and Yucale rivers [spelled wrong, I am sure] where they first start calling it the Amazon), not so much.

When the cab got to his office he looked questioningly at the cabbie, who told him what the fare was in Spanish, which the guy did not understand. He looked at the wad of bills he had, peeled off the largest bill he had (a 1000 Sol note) and handed it to the cabbie. The cabbie told him (in plain Spanish) that he didn't have change, which was as far as I know, the truth. The guy didn't understand a word of it and thought the driver was asking for more, so he peeled off another 1000 Sol note and handed it to the driver, who told him, LOUDER and SLOWER (people are the same everywhere) that he didn't have change. The guy responded by peeling off yet another 1000 Sol note and handing it to the cabbie, who finally just said, "gracias" and drove off. When the guy found that he had paid US$75 for a US$4 cab ride, he was, of course, upset. The rest of us thought it was hilarious.

Aside: The guy in the above story was an old school stereotypical Texan (and I live in Texas, so I can say that) who harbored a lot of racial prejudice against Hispanics. That made the story all the more funny.

 

[John Larsen]

Now that Taxi Driver in my book would deserve the $71.00 dollor tip for being Honest.

In a related story...

I lived and worked in Peru for a while in a former life when I worked in the oil patch. The unit of currency there at the time was the Sol and the official exchange rate was 40 Soles to the US$.

We spent a lot of our time in the jungle towns across the Andes from Lima. Once a brand new guy to the country flew into Lima from the States, changed planes in Lima and after converting a bunch of dollars to Soles, flew out to Iquitos. He did not speak a word of Spanish and had no idea about the local currency or the exchange rate. He landed in the Iquitos airport and took a cab to his company's office, which was a 160 Sol (US$4) fare. Lima was at the time (1976) fairly cosmopolitan with lots of English speakers, but Iquitos (which sits at he confluence of the Miranon and Yucale rivers [spelled wrong, I am sure] where they first start calling it the Amazon), not so much.

When the cab got to his office he looked questioningly at the cabbie, who told him what the fare was in Spanish, which the guy did not understand. He looked at the wad of bills he had, peeled off the largest bill he had (a 1000 Sol note) and handed it to the cabbie. The cabbie told him (in plain Spanish) that he didn't have change, which was as far as I know, the truth. The guy didn't understand a word of it and thought the driver was asking for more, so he peeled off another 1000 Sol note and handed it to the driver, who told him, LOUDER and SLOWER (people are the same everywhere) that he didn't have change. The guy responded by peeling off yet another 1000 Sol note and handing it to the cabbie, who finally just said, "gracias" and drove off. When the guy found that he had paid US$75 for a US$4 cab ride, he was, of course, upset. The rest of us thought it was hilarious.

 

[Mossman]

Aside: The guy in the above story was an old school stereotypical Texan (and I live in Texas, so I can say that) who harbored a lot of racial prejudice against Hispanics. That made the story all the more funny.

Yes indeed!

 

[chillyinCanada]

It is not the "job" of locals in other countries to learn English. It behooves the traveler to learn, a few phrases at a minimum and educate ourselves on the monies, mores and more.

 

[cvchief]

It is not the "job" of locals in other countries to learn English. It behooves the traveler to learn, a few phrases at a minimum and educate ourselves on the monies, mores and more.

Try as a local to get a job in Coz without speaking English and see how you make out....

 

[deeper thoughts]

EXCLUSIVE: Smartphone app lets pedicabs pick your pocket - NYPOST.com

 

[ggunn]

It is not the "job" of locals in other countries to learn English. It behooves the traveler to learn, a few phrases at a minimum and educate ourselves on the monies, mores and more.

Well, I feel two ways about that. I agree with you in general, but if a local wants a job in a heavily tourist area, dealing with Anglo tourists on a daily basis, he'd better have at least some English. It's unreasonable to expect that a tourist traveling to, for example, a tourist destination in Mexico for the first and/or only time and only staying for a few days (or hours) to know much Spanish.

 

[MMM]

Try as a local to get a job in Coz without speaking English and see how you make out....

Chief, there are thousands of locals in Coz, with jobs, who do not speak a word of English. They are the ones working with other locals, going happily about their way of life. If you have ever gone into, say, a hardware store, in town, and tried to get a particular part, you had either better have the broken one with you, or a drawing. Because if you don't speak Spanish, I guarantee that you will be walking out either empty handed or with the wrong part.

 

[cvchief]

Chief, there are thousands of locals in Coz, with jobs, who do not speak a word of English. They are the ones working with other locals, going happily about their way of life. If you have ever gone into, say, a hardware store, in town, and tried to get a particular part, you had either better have the broken one with you, or a drawing. Because if you don't speak Spanish, I guarantee that you will be walking out either empty handed or with the wrong part.

My friends on the island tell me speaking English is the key to making money. I went to the CBIS school to allow the conversational English class practice their English with us. They told me they were learning English to make money.

I *get* everyone wants to be oh, so, superior, because we don't expect them to speak English or accept dollars. And heck, I want to better my Spanish and I always use pesos. However, that doesn't change the fact that Coz was built on and survives on dollars and tourists who speak English. Coz tries to encourage national tourism with flights from DF hoping for affluent Mexicans.

All that being said, I stand by knowing English is invaluable in being successful in Cozumel. Whether we like it or not. I am not talking about surviving, but instead thriving. Not a 100% rule, but still a big one.

And trust me, I understand, just what you are saying. It is REALLY hard to try to design a wooden boot drying rack with the excellent carpenters on 30 EVEN with someone fluent in Spanish.

---------- Post added July 20th, 2013 at 04:59 PM ----------

As I mentioned in the other thread, we sometimes disconnect reality from our fantasy about how we would like it to be.

Most of us want to go there and *feel* like we are trying to do things the *local* way with pesos and trying to use Spanish.

A nice touch of reality is that fact that the hotel send out bills in Spanish to the dive op and quote the fees in dollars. Why? Because that IS the reality.