Angel

Our trip out to the Colliseum was ruined after we were ripped by a "liscensed tour guide". I do not understand why the Colliseum would allow agents who charge more to take away business from them. We knew entrance/tour would be 11 euro but instead we were whisked away from line by a young English speaking girl who told us we didn't need to wait in line for a tour. After much pursuasion that we had pay 15 euro for a tour because we were "mistaken" about the 11 euro, we paid only to finally figure out she was making a commission off of us. We got our money back only after creating a huge scene and hissy fit. She said she got a bad impresssion of Canadians afterwards, but she didn't leave as bad of a taste we had of the Romans in our mouths.

lisa

Got ripped off you say? You went there without doing your homework and because of it, you received what you deserved.<BR>You should have looked into reputable tour guides way ahead of time. There are so many wonderful guides in Italy (especially for the Colisseum) it's unbelievable that you chose to just "take the first person who came by".<BR>What did you expect? This is why people do their research before going. It is one thing to do your research and then have an "unfortunate incident", It's quite another to go "asking" for trouble. Next time, do your homework

Ken

I hate when liscensed tour guides ripe people off.

Jim

Angel:<BR>Sorry you had such a bad experience with the unofficial guides at the Coloseum. We visited in June and went on one of these tours. I don't understand your experience as the girl who solicited us was very clear about the cost and that they were unaffiliated with the Coloseum. We thought the guide was outstanding and very funny and informative. We bypassed a longer queue with this tour and the information provided by the guide made the extra cost, at least for us, very worthwhile. We had read before in the Rick Steves book about these so-called "student-led tours" and were not surprised to be solicited.<BR>To each his own I guess.

Ratbasstad

Isn't there a penalty for "ripe" in Italy????<BR><BR>Actually, I thought a "ripe-off" was a competition between Italian farmers, seeing who's tomato plant produced the first fruit.

BigAl

Lisa, your suggestion that Angel do her homework before going is absurd. Just how much homework must one do in planning a trip?<BR><BR>Big Al

Red

I am amazed that you would ruin a trip over a measely 4 Euro. I'd pay that much not to stand in line.

Devil

Gee, Angel, I'm glad I was not on that line with you. Hope you were happy about agreeing to pay EU15 and then arguing about it. Why didn't you just go back in line--oh, yea, you were FORCED to go by that EVIL GIRL. And to think, she spoke English! <BR><BR>You sound like a nightmare of a traveling companion and I hope I never meet up with the likes of you ANYWHERE.

xxx

Angel, am I reading this correctly? You were "ripped off" because you paid 4 extra euro? If that is correct, I hardly call that being ripped off. You also could have eliminated the long line so you could begin to enjoy your visit and save a little time.

wendy

Just heard that museums in Florence need to reserve in advance to avoid long line. Never know that in Rome the line is also long. Can anyone advice me what are those major sites need to book in advance? I'm going to rome next week.

Tom

I took the same type tour as Jim, and was also very surprised. It did sound a little suspicious at first, but we took a chance and were glad we did. As I recall, the Colosseum entrance fee was 8 Euro, and the Tour cost 15 Euro, so for 7 Euro extra we skipped the huge line and got a great tour to boot. Angel, sorry about the experience you had, but you probably should've gone with the flow a bit more.

Uncle Sam

All of that angst for roughly $4 or 7 of those loony things!<BR><BR>Wow!<BR><BR>US

Yo, Mann

Gad, how many Roman's can the average person put in her mouth at one time? I've always heard that Italians tend to be short, but wow...

Al Godon

I though a ripe off was when Italian farmers started throwing huge, overripe, colossal sized tomatoes at tourists.<BR>That way their partners on the street sell retaliatory tomatoes so the tourists can throw back. Turns into a red tinged fracas.<BR><BR>I got the impression that anything you did in Italy was the potential for a rip off. I was standing on the train platform in Verona one Sunday when a man pushing a drink cart came along.<BR>He gave me a price, then he looked at my shoes. Saying the word "Americano" he raised the price 25%. I argued but he just shrugged and walked on.<BR>In restaurants in Venice, I noticed that some of them posted the menu in both English and German. The order of the entrees on the German menu was rearranged with respect to the English menu, which invariably was 20% more expensive for the same items. (I can read a little German, and could identify the identical items.) I annoyed them no end by asking for the German menu.<BR>The day the owner refused to give me the German menu was the day I walked out.<BR>In a coffee bar, I got one price to pay after consuming a cup of high octane coffee. I knew the price was too high, so I waited and asked a second guy behind the counter. He gave me the right price. I asked again why the first guy had said x, when the price was y. The response was: "He no speak good."<BR>Fun and games at the old ball park.<BR>At least it is not as bad a rip off as what you pay for hot dogs at a major league ball park. Anybody who goes to major league baseball games and drinks cokes and eats hot dogs should never, ever complain about being cheated, robbed, ripped off, riped off, bamboozled, or taken advantage of in Europe.<BR>We get stuck for plenty right here at home!!<BR><BR>

ewis

hey we deal with "the canadians" all winter here in Florida, and they are all like Angel.....worst tippers of all.

proudly canadian

Honey, it won't be the last time. Too bad you decided that this "ruined" your trip. I always think that the worst travel experiences make the best stories afterwards. If you want to enjoy your travel, you need to lighten up a bit.

Brenda

First Angel feels like she was "ripped off" and then many of you continue to destroy her with your nastiness. This is like the girl who was "raped" and then told that she asked for it.

come

Brenda: Let's not start comparing 4 euros to rape.

MK

I think you may find Canadian tippers vary more according to the language they speak than a nationality thing.<BR><BR>I've seen it happen. And I've seen the reaction to it.<BR><BR>

Another Angel

I don't want to pay even 1 euro more than I have to pay. It is not about the four euros, it is about the ABUSE than has been heaped on this individual by the posters on this forum.