11087 Ripped off

[quote=Angie and Robert;104612]There seems to me that through some of the threads here there is a doubt that the people in our adoped country are less than honest, they are skimming off the olive oil, you are charged "English" (or whatever prices) for sevices.
For me this attitude is not my experience, and if you have this negative attitude you could just as easily apply it in the Uk.
You go to any shop and the prices are displayed, we have service contracts with Italian companies, this is clearly seen.You go to the hospital it is the same price for everyone. ( with the right documentation ) wherever you live, then I guess you are going to have your worst (or best) fears confirmed.
A[/quote]
i entirely agree.in italian we say "chi la fa,l'aspetta"
(those who do it or think it expect it)

Sebastiano, I don't think that your quote of this particular Italian expression is appropriate. There are nice, honest people in every country and nationality and then, there are some people, irrespective of their place of origin, who are dishonest and not nice at all. And, most of the time, their victims are just innocent, honest people who would not think of doing wrong to a fellow human being, irrespective of their nationality.
My experience with Italian people has always been a positive one; however, it would be unrealistic to assume that there no dishonest people in Italy as in any other place of the world.
To sum it up in the majority of the cases, it is not a case of bad "karma", it is only that you have been the victim of the wrong kind of people, in Italy or anywhere else in the world.

i may be wrong in assuming the mention of olive oil (rip off) was anything to with the comment I made re the pressure of olive presses.
I was querying the pressure used as there was still oil oozing from the press when we were told it was finished.
I have been ripped off here in Italy as well as in the UK, I also know locals that have been ripped of by their neighbours and we have been warned about who to trust and who not to trust.
Stribs

PS. If we were ripped off then they ripped off one of their own not the English

if you have not been ripped off then you must be doing something wrong in my opinion and have not become fully part of life in Italy... without this sort of experience what on earth would you talk about with your neighbours...

the secret is to know when you have been or not... and to learn to to be again... sometimes it does seem that many of the rip offs when all is said and done are sometimes due to circumstances... and inexperience... have recently been watching the grand design programme here... and they always give budget details and they always go well over budget and astoundingly over projected completion dates... and i am not just talking the self build ones.. but the properly managed architect designed ones... not only that what astounds me are the costs... i had presumed from all the complaints about italian builds,builders and geometras/architects that there was a huge difference... from looking at that programme there seemss to be little difference to my mind in either countries approach to maintaining either schedules or budgets...

i think what is a bit overstated here sometimes is the sort of vast generalisation of complaints against life here... geometras seem to come in for a huge amount of negative comment and i know several here that because they are good at selling and appearing nice have ripped off foreign owners of property and not a word has been said... locals seeing what is being done and how slowly laugh quietly to themselves... and find it almost incomprehensible when they consider in their minds anyway how stupid they are and how these foreigners just seem to have money to throw away... other cases where projects run by honest geometras have hit problems and overrun on cost will often get labelled then as rip offs...and comments will come out then about never trust an italian builder/project manager... always use foreign workers... or even advice that people would rather do things illegally than use Italian workers/professionals...

just one example i guess ... but i see where this post is coming from... and i think its important to highlight individual problems... with individual cases of real rip offs... however the forum does seem to go through phases of negativity... generally not lasting that long... the solution i have very often heard to many of those comments that involve general criticism of things like food, wine, italian dishonesty and general malcontented ness is that Italy did not ask them to come here and would be more than happy to see the back of them... and in the case of food complaints when mentioned to any Italain that has been to the UK it leads to huge amounts of laughter as they consider restaurant food in the UK almost inedible... and cannot believe any race that drinks milky tea or coffee all day long could ever have the temerity to suggest anything wrong with Italian food... all swings and roundabouts...

finally when you do get offered deals that are better than average... they rarely seem to get mentioned.... Italians that offer service beyond anything you would get in another country... in all honesty i would consider that on balance we have received more over and above the call of duty type services since living here than the other way around... when i receive this sort of help then i try to post something about it... as a way of saying thanks... it would be good to see more of these sorts of regional posts... i notice the marche carries many positive elements ... and often it seems to me many of the suggestions made about how the forum is and works ignores the fact that a lot of the things are here ...just unused... although the abruzzo section does reasonably well in highlighting both good and bad....to my mind...

hmm...well not sure that I agree with either extreme.Actually I would say we've been 'ripped off' in Italy about 5 or 6 times .Trouble is that it makes you extremly cynical and a bit unpleasent if you are not careful.

In my opinion the rip offs (excluding those by agents/geos etc) are the result of Italians trying it on and could easily have been avoided by a firm no! It was the lack of experience on our behalf that lead to them and a terrible tendancy to be too polite and British.I dont feel bitter ( except about those bastards who nicked our copper) just slighty foolish !

[quote=Gala Placidia;104614]Sebastiano, I don't think that your quote of this particular Italian expression is appropriate. There are nice, honest people in every country and nationality and then, there are some people, irrespective of their place of origin, who are dishonest and not nice at all. And, most of the time, their victims are just innocent, honest people who would not think of doing wrong to a fellow human being, irrespective of their nationality.
My experience with Italian people has always been a positive one; however, it would be unrealistic to assume that there no dishonest people in Italy as in any other place of the world.
To sum it up in the majority of the cases, it is not a case of bad "karma", it is only that you have been the victim of the wrong kind of people, in Italy or anywhere else in the world.[/quote]
if you read it again you will see i was AGREEING with Angie & R.It was,if anything,referring to people coming here.