Well if you live by Cabarete, you can get change now for 10% of the amount you want to change.

lol i swear its a business now. for example you want to change 1000 pesos, they charge 1100 to change it.

may be the persons in charge of making changes available are business men thenself so it suit them not to have change available for the customers.

In Venezuela when leaving the country at the airport the departure tax (tasa de salida) was 19500 bolivars and they NEVER had 500 bs. in change. Granted it was only $0.25 but when you multiply it by 8 or 9 international flights of 200 people each per day per year equals about $165,000 USD. Not shabby for a lousey 25 cents. Since that time all of the airlines not include that departure tax in the price of your ticket.

what aggravated the hell outa me is the "odd centavos" which the businesses charge as part of the purchase price of comodities, knowing full well that they will "round-up" to the next peso to the customer. This practice affects their overall "margin of profit" on the 'plus side" andthecustomer still hasn't caught on to the scam being perpetuated against them.
I always make a point of asking for the "change" and raise "hell" if I don't get it. Admittedly, I raise a lot of "hell" and get nowhere, but the point is made IN PUBLIC andis embarrasing to the merchant (I HOPE).

TB

yes, TB, those centavos are always rounded upwards, in favor of the store, but never downwards in favor of the customer. and, if the supermarket owes you 5 pesos, they hand you a bunch of Menta Halls as your change. i would love to see how they respond if you try to buy 50 pesos worth of something with a bagful of the same mints they gave to you to begin with!

This is the only country I have been in were Chicklets and Halls are considered leagl tender...at least when getting change back.

Just as a joke one day I tried to pay for a bag of chips with Spearmint and Cherry.....she was not amused!!!

hey Mike, you mean it happens in that high falutin part of the country, too? i thought it only happened in the hinterland. i thought they would try to keep those little foibles away from the tourists and "investors ".

kiss me baby, i just chewed my change.

touche, Blanco.

Hey guys don't be suprised, they do it in Colombia and Venezuela as well

The practice is STILL A RIP OFF to the PUBLIC.

TB

what isn't a rippoff in Dom Rep?

senor .. you no like Domicana? .. is good country .. is best country .. why you come here if you no like?..

When possible just use a debit or cc , these transactions are recorded and the owner can't evade taxes. Then you run into the stores who illegally try to tack on 5% this is totally illegal report them to the CC company. They will either have to comply or lose their merchant account.

Or carry lose some lose change in your pocket

They try to tack on that extra 5% because that is the charge the CC companies charge them for accepting the card to begin with. CAn't really blame them for trying to maximize their bottom line, now can we?
Even when it's illegal to do so.

TB

Jander, 23 Aug 2008 8:13 PM
When possible just use a debit or cc , these transactions are recorded and the owner can't evade taxes.



Yea, then you have to worry about some merchant selling your CC data to criminal elements.

Use cash. I would suggest not using a CC anywhere in Dom Rep unless its a well know reputable merchant ( and even still I reserve my doubts) . Especially a debit card tied to a personal checking account.

What makes you think you can trust Dominicans?