daisyman1951

Hi all. I have spent a lot of time in Turkey, Greece & several different middle eastern countries & being overcharged as a foreigner was a fact of life; examples include different menus for foreigners, different drink prices and higher prices in the markets for fruit & veg. In Saudi we used to send our Yemeni guy (building supervisor cum car washer) to the market and he could buy at nearly half price to us. In some Spanish forums there are plenty of references to these sorts of practices.

So does this happen in Pt? Thanks

liveaboard

Not often, but it has happened; when we first arrived, we were ridiculously overcharged for veg at our local municipal market.
Quite a shame, because the next one is a long way off. It would have been nice to be able to buy locally.

daisyman1951

So anyone know where I can get a Yemeni who speaks Pt - & English?

Nettienut

I can honestly say we have never felt that we have been overcharged or ripped off in our local market here. Restaurants are a different matter, however! We have, in the past, been ripped off by many restaurants in London and in Canada, usually the "high-end" pretentious ones; In Portugal we were most definitely ripped off in two restaurants: one in Tavira and one in Evora. So we just try to be more streetwise these days. Middle-aged wisdom and less spending money perhaps?

daisyman1951

Thanks. Come on - name & shame!

Nettienut

Oh, I couldn't possibly ..... oh go on then; I can't remember which one in Tavira, but I'm sure it will come back to me at some point! The one in Evora was Taberna Tipica Quarta-Feira. It was highly recommended by the owners of the hotel we were staying at and they booked a table for us. We were put in a dark dingy corner away from the main action, and basically didn't get the attention that the 'locals' were being afforded. Food wasn't that brilliant either!
Will come back to you on the other one, it's Friday night and past wine o'clock now, so the brain is a bit sluggish

daisyman1951

Mine too, cheers

Nettienut

steve01

Hi,
nothing on the scale you're talking about.
No two menu system / no 2 price system in the basic shops.
Once locals accept you there's little possibility of being ripped off in your local area because the Portuguese are basically honest and very social and word would quickly get around - aka name and shame
I find the only rip-offs here are in the constuction trade / luxury goods, swimming pool type stuff where a couple of times the prices asked have been ridiculous.
In Turkey when i got ripped off for some foodstuffs i simply emptied the lot out didn't pay and walked away - very satisfying.

Touristic areas in Tavira are the only places i've ever felt ripped off here - but even then i don't think they double charged, just charged rip-off prices for all

nigel.b

I think it works more like this, though no absolute proof.

All bars etc have to post an official price list. Normally it's posted in a high dark corner on the other side of the bar where it's all but unreadable by the customer.

Nevertheless fear of the Livro de Reclamacoes means bar owners will not charge higher than their official price. But what they can do is set the official price high (for casual visitors) while charging locals less. So, a two tier system but no-one is overcharged.

The bar on the right at Quatro Aguas Tavira charges me E1.30 for a Sagres media. I just don't believe the locals/fishermen are paying that. This system seems to operate where tourists/locals overlap. There's bar in Bishop's Square where I've been charged E1.50 for a beer on my only visit. It's heaving with locals into the small hours - is everyone paying that price? Doubt it.

Just to be clear: the vast majority of establishments don't do this, but in prime tourist areas where owners need to attract all-year regulars and casual tourists...

daisyman1951

Sounds like a realistic explanation. Got me thinking though and @ 1.30 they are actually charging 1.00 plus 23% IVA (check it with calculator it's not 1.23) so after wages, rent, council tax, electricity etc plus of course the cost price it doesn't leave a lot. Perhaps this is why I'm reading about bar closures? Thanks for your reply.

Domino

bar re-opened in Granada, owner speaks English having spent the last 15yrs running a bar in Mallorca. After a haircut my barber took me in to introduce me as he is hoping to improve his English

In discussion bar owner told me he is paying €83 + IVA for a 50litre barrel of beer = €100.43, so it is costing him 60c for each 300ml glass he serves at €1.30, and out of that 70c "profit" he has to come up with the tapas that goes with it.

He finds life harder in Granada than Mallorca as he says he has to pay up to double for the beer and sell at less than the €2 min he would charge back in Mallorca. And there isn't the volume of sales either.

hth

EMR

We have not seen any evidence of " overcharging " tourists, there are " tourist bars that local do not use because of the prices and there are bars used by locals where tourists pay the same price.
On saturday we paid 1euro each for white coffee in Silves which is hardly of the beaten track.
IN Carvoeiro you can pay up to a Euro more between bars depending on their location. It is not overcharging, the cutomer has a choice .

daisyman1951

Is €1 considered expensive or in-expensive for a white coffee?

Domino

here in Granada region of Spain €1 is below the average €1.20, although all coffee permutations are usually the same price, i.e. decaff, decaff sobre, and the milk variations.
I can take you to more expensive places if you want

but then I only pay for €3.50 for a 3 course menu del dia, used by a number of locals and students, drinks extra unless you want a jug of water.
but again I can take you to more expensive places if you are paying

I learnt many years ago that eating what and where the locals eat has proven to be a pocket winner.
The same with sharing taxi's as they do in the Far East - just make sure you are not the last one out