Al Raha Gardens Ripoff
 

Well it seems that having moved into a 'used' 4 bed villa 2.5 years ago and accepting the condition and issues has now come back to bite with the inspection today indicating I supposedly now owe Aldar 3300 AED cash before they will signoff. That quote was for 2500 for paint and the rest for a couple of glass soap holders. The quote was made up on the spot by the sub-contractor and shoved in front of me for signing. I told him it was a ripoff and it only needed some touchups and he just smiled saying - 'no paint whole villa'. Given I'm out of the UAE in 2 days and its a lease between the company and Aldar anyway, I signed with the additonal notes of normal wear and tear, no painting up front etc which they were reading over my shoulder intently. They ket the keys and then rang me back an hour later and said there was no deposit to take it from so I needed to pay the total amount cash or paint it myself. I told them the painting in particular was a real ripoff as it only needed touch up here and there and that it was impossible for me to do/organise that quickly. They the said ok, 3000 and i said i would put in a formal complaint as it was just a money making exercise. They said I could renegotiate with the sub-contractor I had met and I laughed cynically. This isn't a game its a serious ripoff so give me some other contractor options. There aren't any he said so I told them that I wasn't prepared to pay. The Aldar rep threatended not to gove me my clearance and I said i dodn't really care anymore and put the phone down. Another hour later another intermediary rang me and said 2500 for the lot and after some argy bargy about being ripedd off I said 2000 and no more. He agreed immediately without any further consideration. I just wanted OUT of there and it just shows that its purely an additional money making exercise for Aldar and their supposed sub-contractors.

Lesson - Its a great compound for kids and the schools BUT when its time to leave be careful. If you are moving in, then insist on fresh paint and complain about every little fault there is - no matter how small be on their case and demand timely service. If you don't you will end up paying for it. :frown::frown:

Re: Al Raha Gardens Ripoff
 

Hello ... you are new and leaving already. Just a question. Are you German?

An English couple have a child. After the birth, medical tests reveal that the child is normal, apart from the fact that it is German. This, however, should not be a problem. There is nothing to worry about. As the child grows older, it dresses in lederhosen and has a pudding bowl haircut, but all its basic functions develop normally. It can walk, eat, sleep, read and so on, but for some reason the German child never speaks. The concerned parents take it to the doctor, who reassures them that as the German child is perfectly developed in all other areas, there is nothing to worry about and that he is sure the speech faculty will eventually blossom.

Years pass.

The German child enters its teens, and still it is not speaking, though in all other respects it is fully functional. The German child's mother is especially distressed by this, but attempts to conceal her sadness. One day she makes the German child, who is now 17 years old and still silent, a bowl of tomato soup, and takes it through to him in the parlour where he is listening to a wind-up gramophone record player.

Soon, the German child appears in the kitchen and suddenly declares, "Mother. This soup is a little tepid." The German child's mother is astonished. "All these years," she exclaims, "we assumed you could not speak. And yet all along it appears you could. Why? Why did you never say anything before?" "Because, mother," answers the German child, "up until now, everything has been satisfactory.

Re: Al Raha Gardens Ripoff
 

WTF is the German nonsense all about. Do you have racial issues, Millhouse?

Re: Al Raha Gardens Ripoff
 

er,. No. We have never heard from this poster and he shows up to complain about something. He's leaving the UAE so it's probably his last post. reminds me of a very famous german joke (and one my german friends like) which I pasted from http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006...any.features11

Now, would you like me to run to up to Al Wasal to get your head surgically removed from your arse or do you think you can manage it alone?

Re: Al Raha Gardens Ripoff
 

Do you sit by your PC trawling for posts that you can incorrectly interpret as racism..

What is up with you..

I'm having a chinky tonight for tea, the racist **** I am.

Re: Al Raha Gardens Ripoff
 

Im German and i think the joke is funny.

May Millhouse asked because its typical german to complain. Take it from the negative point we are the world number one in complaining. On the positive site we are not eassy to satisfy, thats may why germans have a very good reputation about perfection, quality organizing.

Every coin have two sides!!

Re: Al Raha Gardens Ripoff
 

Do german chicks still have hairy armpits?

I'm racing in Roth in July and can't wait, we will be touring the area for a week after..schnitzeltastic. My old man is a bit sceptical, like many of my dad's generation he still just can't take to Germans for pretty obvious reasons, but once he slips into his laiderhausen's (sp) I'm sure he will come around!!

Re: Al Raha Gardens Ripoff
 

Their armpits are as hairy as Brit's teeth are grotty. :)

Re: Al Raha Gardens Ripoff
 

Yeuk, then very...

Re: Al Raha Gardens Ripoff
 

Avert your gaze!

Re: Al Raha Gardens Ripoff
 

Where DID this Clarksonism come from, about hairy german women?

Can I have been that lucky that many times not to come up against it?

Re: Al Raha Gardens Ripoff
 

I was going to ask, was it not more eastern european chicks that had the hairy pitts?

Re: Al Raha Gardens Ripoff
 

Always thought it was something more associated with the French.

Re: Al Raha Gardens Ripoff
 

Really, then we were only a Dover-Calais ferry away from our ladies having the pittage..

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Bloody hell! How old are you then? Don't you remember such sayings as "Fog on Channel; Continent cut off."?

Re: Al Raha Gardens Ripoff
 

Since when are Germans a different race??? This constant abuse of term 'racism' thrown at anything we mildly dislike is really annoying. Germans and the English are the same race. FFS.

Re: Al Raha Gardens Ripoff
 

Quite. We all speak a Germanic language.

Re: Al Raha Gardens Ripoff
 

Next we'll be told that the whole world came from the same place. So really, I'm black.

Re: Al Raha Gardens Ripoff
 

24 hours now, Millhouse. Look likes he needs some help...

Re: Al Raha Gardens Ripoff
 

Clearly ,you haven't had the same range of international sex partners as I have. Try it.

Re: Al Raha Gardens Ripoff
 

Yeah, but you didn't have to take your turn in the barrel...

Re: Al Raha Gardens Ripoff
 

Seriously, if all you've experienced is hairy women, then you've been going to the wrong types pf bars.

A little bit of attention to one;s appearance, and being natural and confident can get you laid in just about any country.

I can't be the only one who's never encountered hairy women anywhere... surely!

Re: Al Raha Gardens Ripoff
 

That is clearly nonsense, but there is no doubt that Germans and English are the same race.

Re: Al Raha Gardens Ripoff
 

But if you can trace me back to a German, you can trace me back to wherever you like really.

Re: Al Raha Gardens Ripoff
 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germans

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_peoples

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_peoples#Genetics

Right, I want to see some dust flying here.

Re: Al Raha Gardens Ripoff
 

yep, Germans and English are of the same race:

This German thing here looks like the English bloke I once had tea with:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Osterby_Man.jpg

Re: Al Raha Gardens Ripoff
 

Not much in the 10 second skim-read there to suggest that I'm definitely a German.

Where is Norm when you need him?

Re: Al Raha Gardens Ripoff
 

You're mixing race and ethnicity. You may be of different ethnicity but you are definitely the same race. So are the Irish. But even when it comes to ethnicity I suggest you look up where Saxony is and then look up who Anglo-Saxons are/were. Even the language..... I still have a set of CDs which teach German by drawing endless parallels in words and structures.

Re: Al Raha Gardens Ripoff
 

This Wikipedia entry may be of assistance in the matter.

Re: Al Raha Gardens Ripoff
 

Brit's do probably qualify for the mongrel of western Europe in any case.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1288231.stm

The Beeb agrees with me. In which case, the modern-day British are not a single race but a hotchpotch of ethnic groups that have settled within these shores down the centuries

They include vikings, Huguenots, Romans, and more recently Indians, Pakistanis, etc..

But, yes..always ticking of the 'white british', 'white irish' or 'white other' option on forms for her majesty is merely to denote ethnicity..though I still find that debatable. A 'british' person as far as I understand is only a brit due to passport/nationality?

Re: Al Raha Gardens Ripoff
 

Read further and you'll see that the Jutes/ Saxons etc came after Romans and before the rest of the big tribes in North / Western Europe like the Vikings.

We are not a race derived purely from Germany.

Re: Al Raha Gardens Ripoff
 

The first settlers to Britain came from what is now the Basque region of France and Spain, after the end of the last ice age.

So we have a bit of Spic in us too... :blink:

Re: Al Raha Gardens Ripoff
 

Going back to the original post, we moved out of ARG last month and had the same runaround. Mrs DB had previously tracked down the Head of Leasing for Aldar and set him on the muppets in the management office so they were shitting themselves when she threatened to do it again if they didn't back down.

We've moved to Al Reem Island and SO dont miss Al Raha. It's getting quite tatty and the cracks are starting to show.....literally. The usual cheap shoddy workmanship from Aldar, and we hear Bandar/Zeina/Muneira across the road is no different. Plus our a/c bill for last August alone was 1,800 Dhs!

DB

Re: Al Raha Gardens Ripoff
 

oh no, dont get back OT whatever you do, nobody cares about Al Raha gardens or Ab Dabs (as you put it)..

womans hairy bits and germans are where its at...

Re: Al Raha Gardens Ripoff
 

You do realize that you may have French (oh lala), German (jawohl!), and Viking (growl, wear hats with horns), in you....:eek:

on the other hand...that may very well be what maketh the Englishman...

Re: Al Raha Gardens Ripoff
 

I'm scottish so the viking is in there somewhere..

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It's why we are so tolerant.

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In Arbroath, most of the 'men' there have had a French, German and Viking iin them this year!

Re: Al Raha Gardens Ripoff
 

But you already have an African wife, so that shouldn't matter to you. :p

Re: Al Raha Gardens Ripoff
 

We all have African genes....mine say 419 on the label ;)