Taken for a Ride
Nobody likes getting ripped off and, for whatever reason, it hurts me on a personal level. At the end of the day I feel that the money I have paid was worth the service I received, but I was seriously chaffed by the way I was treated. When I arrived on the beach here in Kupang, I had just about no information about how to proceed through clearance. I had read the few sparse pages in our guidebook, and had one additional number to call for a local agent. I had already paid an agent for our CAIT (AU$260) and 60 day Social Visas (AU$280 for four of us). And when the local agent here approached me on the beach and asked for US$150 I said “too much.” She insisted that this was the standard rate, and no matter how much I negotiated I was in a weak bargaining position and felt forced to concede to her rate. I later found that even the US$100 I was asking for, was more than the going rate. ...