I wish we were asked for only 100 rps for a bed in Europe, it wouldn't make it such an expensive holiday. Greece, Spain, etc. are now places where we definately lay on our towels etc. on the beach. £5 for a sunbed and umbrella is what I REALLY call being ripped off. Over a two week holiday it adds up to a lot of money and I lay there thinking of all the things I could do with £70 in Goa.

Sorry Glynis just the last sentence which i edited not looking who had made the post.

I think the point being made re 100 rps for a sunbed is that we are talking about India, where a days wage is 100 - 150 rps, not the Med. In comparison 100 rps is a bit steep. After all the beds not exactly state of art is it, and by the end of season the mattress ia a bit fruity I,ve no objection to a sunbed charge if you are not using the shack for food and drink, but most of us spend the day at the shack, and eat and drink all day, and I for one think that 100 rps each bed, on top of your tab is a bit steep. Alan

So do i Alan they are hardly "slumberland" are they.
The 100 rupee charge i was talking about was for my friend who arrived yesterday...he's here for 3 months,comes every year and eats and drinks in the same shack most days.
Today he was chaged 100 rupees for a musty sunbed and theres not even a shack!

Confused about the sunbed charge.
Is this 100 rps for the sun bed even though the shack is not up and running, or is it a charge as well as spending money in the shack?
If the shack is not open then I see nothing wrong in charging for the sunbed (after all, you are using it) but if the shack IS open and you are spending money in there then I don't agree with a charge.

Did witness a fairly unpleasant scene last year where two Russian women were very angry at being asked for payment for using sunbeds even though they had not used the shack at all, even for water.
They were nearly as angry a the shack owner!

Don't know where the boys got the drinks from but my friend bought 3 soft drinks and 1 beer and was also charged 100 rupees on top of his drinks bill.
Bearing in mind he has been a good longish term customer for years.

did you friend get a parasol thrown in for his 100 rupees?

No just a musty sunbed.

thats dissapointing he could of been fried alive

I'm surprised a relatively long-stayer (3 months) who's is a regular customer of a particular beach shack was charged even though there was no shack.

Did he just pay up or was there some dialogue between him and the shack owner/shack boys about the custom that the shack gets over the length of his stay - and the implications of the shack losing that money?

I remember a thread from last year about exactly the same thing where someone pointed out to the owner of a shack that they'd used for many years how much he was likely to lose over the period of time they were there - the charge was waived.
I guess it depends whether shack owners think they can fill their sunbeds with 'tweekers' who may just pay for sunbeds without question.

H ad a similar experience about three years ago. We had used Johnys shack outside the Goan Heritage since it started, in those days you could walk 30 min along the beach to Candolim without there being another shack. Johny in those days treated you as an honoured friend, and we it turn took him out football shirts etc. As the years past Johny became more and more prosperous , now he has an apartment block, three shops , jet skis, motor boats, parasailing boats etc etc. Anyway when we arrived in early Nov. the shack was just a skeleton, his boys put out a few sunbeds and had some drinks in a cooler. when I went to pay the tab I was charged 200 rps for the sunbeds. I questioned Johny next day and was told he'd painted the wooden beds, and paint cost money, I said as we were likely his longest serving customer I was'nt happy about this, I was simply met with a shrug of the shoulder, and told basically to move on, which we did. Now it takes Johny busy to even wish you a good morning when we meet. So much for friendship, Goa style. Alan.

Johnny has turned into a very arogant,disliked man. Another greedy goan not to be trusted,..i think it was last year the police smashed his shack to bits,with a bit of luck they'll do the same to him again this year! He takes the majority of the massage money from Lashmi and pays the boys peanuts....

**Edit to remove potentially libellous comments - Admin**

Your experience just bears out what I said here, Gramps:

I think some people may have gotten too friendly with local people when on holiday and further down the line feel that their perceived 'friendship' is not actually what it seemed and they realise that they are being taken advantage of.
I remember a number of years ago, an English lady (repeat vistitor) at our beach shack had brought a mobile over for one of the guys, but he was not happy because it wasn't the latest model.
His attitude to her act of generosity certainly gave her a wake-up call to the so-called friendship she thought they'd had.

These are business people, so the majority are going to put making money before friendship (note that I said 'the majority', not 'all'), and my view is that anyone who thinks otherwise is probably naive.

Personally, no matter how awful anyone was, I wouldn't wish them bad luck in their business.

Your comments about Johny and his treatment of Lashmi are spot on Spaldi,he's shown his true colours since he built his empire. I think our experience mirrors many peoples, once they are established, they are able to show their true feelings, not all of them of course, but a significant number see you only as someone to be exploited. If you only visit for two weeks a year, it sometimes does'nt become apparent, but once you've spent a fair ammount of time in Goa, one tends to notice this attitude. Alan

Does anyone know if the Dommat shack (Calangute) is up and running, or will be by the 22/11/09

Regards
The Preacher.

Gramps/Alan: You are exactly right what you are saying if you are in Goa for just a couple of weeks as opposed to being there long term or months at a time you do see things differently.
Probably because you've got more time to take notice of whats happening around you....tweekers being told the same sob story every fortnight.
This is why there is different opinions of things on this forum.
Me personally i still hope the same happens to Jhonnys shack this year.

Bayview shack does not take the girls money, just gets them to help with the
sunbeds and a few jobs before they start their massages. excellent relationship with his staff.

We went down to Utorda and Majorda today.The beaches look superb without the shacks cluttering up the place.If they could find a way to put up some structures just off the beach,and allow sunbeds on the beach then i think it might help to get tourism back on track.

John

I like Utorda beach as well John, it would be fine for me if there was just Zeebop's, as it dosn't spoil the beach.
xx lassi