Sunday, September 23, 2018

Rip Off!!!

Last night, I was checking the cost of car rental in Alicante Airport with Budget Rental and found something very interesting in less I am wrong in my calculation of rate of exchange. For the economy car, Fiat 500, the rental price varies according to the country you come from. For example; for 1 day with a U.K. license it is, in dollars, $92, from Spain-$91, from Poland-$98 but from the U.S..................$29. Why do European countries have to pay almost 3 times more for renting the same car? That is my question? I never thought about it until I went directly to their website and had to put in the country I live in. Then I wondered if it was different if I entered the U.S. and was very surprised at the difference.  Is it because it is an American company and they have no problem overcharging in Europe?

Then I checked Europcar and they overcharge the U.S. customers. For ex; Same car, 1 day-Poland and Spain clients $108, England $110 but U.S. clients..$132. So, I guess it just not Europeans getting ripped off.

I had a nice conversation earlier with a nice lady just returned from a business trip to Shanghai, China. She didn't have mush time for sight-seeing but said it was a very busy, huge city with crowded sidewalks full of people. Sidewalks on the left side of a road are only for people going in one direction and on the left side for people going the other direction. It's almost impossible to go against the walking traffic. Also, vehicles do not pay much attention to red or green lights at intersections so you have to be careful. She said the food was very different but very good.

Wczoraj wieczorem sprawdza艂em koszt wynajmu samochodu na lotnisku w Alicante, w wypo偶yczalni Budget Rental, i znalaz艂em co艣 bardzo interesuj膮cego, o ile si臋 nie myl臋 w obliczania kursu. Cena wynajmu auta Fiat 500 waha si臋, w zale偶no艣ci od kraju, z kt贸rego pochodzisz. Na przyk艂ad: na 1 dzie艅 z brytyjskim prawem jazdy wynosi w dolarach $ 92, z hiszpa艅skim -91, z polskim- $ 98, ale z USA ................. $. 29. Dlaczego osoby pochodz膮ce z kraj贸w europejskich musz膮 p艂aci膰 prawie 3 razy wi臋cej za wynajem takiego samego samochodu? Nigdy nie my艣la艂em o tym, dop贸ki nie wszed艂em na ich stron臋 internetow膮 i mia艂em okre艣li膰 w jakim kraju 偶yj臋. Potem zastanawia艂em si臋, czy cena by艂aby inna gdybym wpisa艂, 偶e mieszkam w USA i by艂em bardzo zaskoczony r贸偶nic膮. Czy wynika to z tego, 偶e jest to firma ameryka艅ska, wi臋c nie maj膮 problemu z tym, 偶e zawy偶aj膮 rachunki w Europie?

Nast臋pnie sprawdzi艂em Europcar, oni z kolei zawy偶aj膮 rachunki klient贸w ameryka艅skich. Za ten sam samoch贸d klienci z Polski i Hiszpanii p艂ac膮 108 $, Anglicy 110 $, ale Amerykanie .. $ 132. Tak wi臋c nie tylko Europejczycy s膮 oszukiwani.

Mia艂em dzi艣 rano mi艂膮 rozmow臋 z sympatyczn膮 pani膮, kt贸ra w艂a艣nie wr贸ci艂a z podr贸偶y s艂u偶bowej do Szanghaju w Chinach. Nie mia艂a du偶o czasu na zwiedzanie, ale powiedzia艂a, 偶e to by艂 bardzo ruchliwe, ogromne miasto o zat艂oczonych chodnikach, pe艂nych ludzi. Chodniki po lewej stronie drogi s膮 tylko dla ludzi id膮cych w jednym kierunku, a po lewej stronie dla os贸b jad膮cych w przeciwnym kierunku. To prawie niemo偶liwe, aby i艣膰 "pod pr膮d". Ponadto kieruj膮cy pojazdami nie zwracaj膮 uwagi na czerwone lub zielone 艣wiat艂a na skrzy偶owaniach, wi臋c trzeba by膰 ostro偶nym. Powiedzia艂a, 偶e jedzenie by艂o inne ni偶 "nasze", ale bardzo dobre.