In Reply to: Very disappointed in driver posted by skynik on Monday, 10. September 2007 at 07:11 Bali Time:
My wife and i have started to import paintings into oz to resell here. We know some people (we class as friends) in bali who promised to help us out even though we had some good contacts ourselves. We have purchased around 20 different paintings of a shop before. The prices they quoted us were very good (compared to what we were used to paying for our personal ones) so we thought how can they be cheaper? Well our friends took us to other places and we have found even better pieces for a cheaper price with no haggling at all. Then (as we did not know these people as friends) Ketut and Wayan (our friends) would not let us pay them until all of the paintings were delivered to their house. So we left Ketut quiet a few thousand Aussie dollars to pay for these. When the paintings arrived and all had been counted ketut paid for them only to find there was an extra $50 oz. We had left them $150 as they had saved us approx $1000. They wanted to know if they should put it in the container with the paintings. We said keep it for doing such a great job for us. Now they have rang to say when you come back for more pictures then we have already found a better place to buy them. So my attitude towards them having money to pay for things for you is if you make it worth their while (like we would expect if people did that to us here in oz) then they will bend over backwards to help you. Ketut and Wayan have shops themselves so they know what it is to have things pinched etc. They are honest people and all nationalities have their fair share of conmen etc. even the Aussies have our share. Dont judge all Balinese by this 1.