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March 23, 2003 We would like
to bring the following experience to the readers attention:
On Monday, March 3, 2003, a man named Ricardo Virgen,
came to our condo building and talked to the caretaker
to have access to the roof in order to check out a satellite
dish which he sold to us and installed last year. He had
also talked to another person from whom he found out that
we were absent for a week.
He
then dismantled and removed the dish from the building
under the nose of our caretaker, explaining to him that
he would come back the next day and install another
one.
Of course, upon our return, no TV,
our antenna was gone and Ricardo Virgen was nowhere
in sight. His telephone number we had from last year
was inactive.
Further investigation and talking
to various people - including other technicians who
install antennas - revealed that he is known to operate
this way. Neighbors of ours also reported stolen LNB’s
the previous year. In retrospect, we realized that last
year when he installed our unit, that this was not a
new one either.
Another lesson learned - check out the people who do
work in your home.
Dear Editor,
My husband and I visited Puerto Vallarta
in January 2002 and decided we would like to spend several
months in your beautiful city.
While here, we met an American couple
who recommended an apartment and gave us the name of
their rental agent. Needless to say, we contacted this
rental agent upon our return to the States and negotiated
the rental of an apartment located on the Malecon. We
felt fortunate to have rented an apartment for 2 months
in downtown.
Over the course of the winter, I
was in contact with our rental agent via e-mail. She
seemed very sincere and competent and assured us we
would enjoy the apartment that we had rented from January
17 through March 17, 2003.
When we learned that Puerto Vallarta
had a hurricane, we contacted her to see if our rental
unit was still available for rent and had suffered no
damage. She assured us that it had not and that everything
was fine.
Upon arriving in Puerto Vallarta,
we learned that the unit was not available and our rental
agent blamed it on the owner. Unfortunately, we had
already wire transferred our two months rent to her
account. She led us to believe that everything was fine
and that she had our money and would find us another
apartment for our stay, but it would cost us an additional
$1,350 US. She explained to us that we had lost 1/2
month's rent, as the owner wouldn't return it, and we
had to pay a $600/month deposit on our newly found apartment.
Being new to Puerto Vallarta and rental agents, we trusted
her and did as she asked.
Little did we know that she had lied
to us and kept our original $2,200 US and used our $1,350
US to rent our new apartment for only one month. We
didn't find out until February 17, when we had been
at our apartment for a month, that the second month's
rent was due and she had lied again. We had to pay an
additional $950 for our 2nd month’s stay. Our
$2,200 was 'long gone' and we had been duped. As the
saying goes -- "Stupid, trusting Americans."
I just want to warn all visitors
to Puerto Vallarta, who plan on staying for a long term
stay, to thoroughly check out your rental agent. I know
that we were victimized by her and we don't want anyone
else to have to go through this ordeal.
We have thoroughly enjoyed Puerto
Vallarta and your citizens. We've met numerous friends
and plan on returning next year for a 3 month stay.
But ... we will not deal with any rental agents. We
will deal strictly with the apartment complex.
If you would like to know the name
of the rental agent, feel free to contact me via my
e-mail address suejohnson@peoplepc.com
Sue
Dear Editor,
Why has the bus stop at 'Dead Man's
Corner' (I.L. Vallarta & L. Cardenas) been eliminated?
Is it just easier to move a long-established bus stop
than to deal with the problems?
Do the bus companies think less people on that corner
will lower the chance of their drivers killing someone?
Now that the buses don't have to stop there for passengers,
the risk of injury is even greater.
Is forcing mothers with babies and grandmas with groceries
to walk another block preferable to solving the problem?
Reducing the number of buses south of Parque Hidalgo
and installing speed bumps on Calle Vallarta is simple
common sense. No one will have to wait 20 minutes for
a bus - and isn't the small inconvenience of having
to transfer at the Parque better than another death?
Can't the city take control of this situation?
Toss these ungrateful bus companies and their dangerous
drivers out of town. Tourism has been slow this season,
there must be hundreds of men and women (yes, women)
who would love to drive city operated buses.
M.M.
P.S. Is what I just heard true, that
the authorities won't resolve this problem until 2004??!!!
Dear Editor,
To continue a topic from last week's issue on paying
bribes for traffic offences, I would like to share an
experience I had when I was stopped for speeding while
approaching the airport from the north. (I drive a car
with US plates.) I was doing 60 kilometers while in
a zone for 50 kilometers. I admitted that I was speeding,
and said I would pay the fine. There were two Federal
Police officers, and one told me the fine was either
"450 or 500 pesos". He didn't seem to know
which. Also, the two officers could not agree on where
I should go to pay the fine -- downtown Puerto Vallarta
or Las Juntas. They also said I couldn't pay it today,
but would have to come back tomorrow. I'm sure this
was to make my situation even more inconvenient. Three
times he asked if I had anything to ask, and I responded
that I had nothing to ask except why wasn't he writing
me the ticket? This went on for about 15 minutes, actually
becoming humorous to him, as I kept insisting he just
write me the ticket and let me be on my way. Finally,
he handed me back my driver's license, and said he was
only going to give me a warning this time. Actually,
he never wrote out anything.
I learned three things: insist on
a written ticket for the amount being asked for, insist
on going to the police station to pay the fine and don't
be the first person to bring up the subject of a cash
payoff on the spot. I don't know what the correct speeding
ticket should have been, but I doubt it was as much
as 450 pesos. I had put the police in a position where
they couldn't write me a ticket, because I couldn't
present a ticket at the police station with a hugely
incorrect amount without incriminating them, and they
couldn't even tell me which station to go to without
risking my reporting them. I had the time it took to
convince them I wasn't going to offer a lesser amount
on the spot to get out of the ticket. If you have the
time, insist on the ticket, and insist on going to the
station to pay the fine. Paying a bribe on the spot
only perpetuates a bad system.
I have written down police names
before when I thought we were being set up for a bribe.
Even if they don't give you their name, get out and
write down the license plate number, noting location
and time of day. If you are speeding, pay the correct
fine. If you were not doing anything wrong, get all
the information you can and tell them you are going
to report it. This will help correct a bad system.
Also, most of the police here speak
English, so don't let your lack of Spanish stop you
from refusing to pay a cash payoff. Just do it the correct
way -- at the station with a ticket.
K. D.
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