Sitting opposite me in my own home was a good looking, well travelled, intelligent, multi-lingual middle aged woman who was telling me to my face that she ‘admired’ sales and marketing people that were able to ‘sell’ something based on blatantly untrue statements otherwise known as LIES and misleading information.

“If people are that stupid and they don’t want to do basic research,” she said, “then they deserve what they get! As usual, it’s Americans trying to rip-off other Americans.”




This heated discussion was held during a steaming hot, succulent lamb and spinach curry dinner that I had prepared for the six of us and it’s rare that you’ll find me speechless but I was… Just about…




Since the entire conversation was spoken in Spanish, just to make sure I understood her 100% correctly, I confirmed on three occasions that she did in fact say what I had thought she said.




My retort was that apart from the fact that:

• We live in a different country…
• With a different language…
• With different customs and…
• A very different system of law…

Selling something based on proven lies just ain’t right!




The following day, one of the other dinner guests, a well regarded Costa Rican attorney emailed me saying:




“Are we extraterrestrials? Are we the only two people left in the world thinking that honesty should still be a part of business?”

He was just about speechless too! We may not be the “only two” but, the sad fact of the matter is it has become crystal clear to me that the number of genuinely “honest” people in the world seems to be much smaller than I had once imagined.




There are many people out there who’s only goal in life is to ‘make money’, they don’t give a damn how they do it or what lies spew forth from their mouths to get it… Unfortunately, politicians on both sides of the pond aren’t exactly setting great examples with their ‘truthfulness’.




That dinner party was in March 2005 and I was sad to see that in September 2007 this woman, who clearly shows great admiration for people who will lie and say anything to make a sale, had her own apartment project that she was selling in Santa Ana.




We will absolutely NEVER be recommending this Santa Ana condo project and if you are in the market to buy a condo in the Escazu and Santa Ana area, we would strongly encourage you to meet with our Recommended Costa Rica Realtor who will make sure that you steer clear of this woman, her lies and her project which we can virtually guarantee can not be built for the low prices she is quoting…

But hey! She will probably say whatever she wants now to close the sale and when you are forced to pay a lot more for the final product, she won’t care.

Three years later – at the end of December 2010 – their customers are clamouring to get their money back because not one spade full of earth has been moved because of serious problems with the local municipality.




No doubt they’re using the “global economic crisis” as the excuse for buggering off with all the deposit money…




And the woman?




She’s now working for a developer in a very upscale project in Escazu which I will be happy to name should we meet ‘face to face’ but I’m certainly not going to put it into writing here….

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Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.