turkey -pros and cons

taxiphil

kimevans wrote: »

Currency conversation.
The Turks will offer you a better exchange for currency conversation than the UK. You ask how much it is, they give you the price in Euros or Sterling. THEY ARE NOT SCAMMING YOU, YOUR CREDIT CARD ARE.
If you had paid the price they asked for in cash, then thats what you would have paid, duh!
But your credit card DOES NOT GIVE YOU A FAIR EXCHANGE RATE, & probably puts a charge on too.
If you wanted to pay by credit card & KNOW how much it would be, then you would have needed to ask them the price in Lira (if you had bothered to ask I'm sure they would have told you) & then phone your credit card company & ask THEM their exchange rate. You can't blame the duty free shop for the credit card company rip off.

You are right about buying off the Turks in general, but I stand by my earlier comments about the airport duty free shop.

Answer me this: if they have nothing to hide, why on earth are they pricing their goods in Euros? Their currency is the Lira. Most tourists to Turkey are British, and we don't have the Euro as our currency.

It's all very well to say "If you had paid the price they asked for in cash, then thats what you would have paid, duh!" - but would most British tourists to Turkey really take a large wad of Euros on holiday with them, and keep them until they fly home?

I'm well aware that the bank is partly responsible for giving a poor rate of exchange on card purchases, but there's NO WAY the bank is responsible for the goods being 11% more expensive than I was told they were going to be in the shop!

I do blame the shop for the rip off, because they marked up their prices in Euros and converted them to Lira at a terrible rate which they made a huge profit from, whilst trying to disguise and cover up this rate by lying to me about what the final conversion would equate to in £.

Like I said, you would have to be a mathematical genius to do those calculations on the spot, with the limited and misleading information they were providing you with.

MarkyMarkD

Most tourists in Turkey are NOT British. What an insular view!

Most tourists in Turkey are from countries where the Euro is the currency, and that's why many places in Turkey quote prices in Euro - because high inflation in Turkey means that prices in Lira would be changed all the time.

I'm not defending anywhere which quotes misleading Sterling prices - but is your point that the price at the till was less in Sterling than you were actually charged, or that the price in Sterling on your credit card bill was more than the Euro price converted into Sterling at a reasonable exchange rate? The till price is irrelevant TBH - you were already going to buy the stuff based on the Euro shelf price.

taxiphil

They charged me in Lira. They charge everyone in Lira.

But prices on the shelves are only given in Euros. The shelves do not say what it will cost in Lira.

There is no way you can pay in Euros unless you have Euro banknotes on you.

They make a big profit from their own Euro-Lira conversion rate, which isn't displayed anywhere.

However, I thought they were charging me in £, because they said "that will be £82.XX", and pointed at the till screen which said "£82.XX", and I entered my PIN.

It was only after I got my statement, and dug out the receipt, when I saw I'd been charged in Lira, and when I calculated the Euro-Lira exchange rate they'd used it was appalling.

I have since found the £82.XX displayed on the screen is what they call a "projected" price, worked out with a phoney calculation process, which in plain English means it's not the actual price you will pay.

The "projected" price had been achieved by converting the Euro price directly into £ at the daily bank rate, which of course is not how they are actually charging you!

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

The till price is irrelevant TBH - you were already going to buy the stuff based on the Euro shelf price.

Not irrelevant at all, because when I saw an item for 20 Euros, I did a rough mental calculation that the item would cost me about £14, and this influenced my decision to purchase it. Later on I found it had actually cost me about £16.

osumom311

Hi everybody,

I recently spent two weeks in Turkey (Istanbul and it's surrounding areas), and I have to say that it sounds like many of you are talking about a different country than the one I just visited. I found the Turks to be the most welcoming, warm and honest people I've ever come across. When you enter a shop, whether you spend $1, $100 or $1,000, you are offered tea or coffee. If you are lost and ask a Turk for directions, they don't just give you directions, they actually walk you to where you're trying to go...even if they themselves are working or even if they are going in the opposite direction...and they neither expect nor will they accept anything for their kindness. If you ask for an item in a shop and they don't have it, they'll send somebody out to see if they can find it for you! Where else do you find kindess and service like that? The hotel that I stayed in (The Armada) and many others that I took peeks at were all immaculately clean, although I know there are some dumps as there are everywhere in this world. The food in Turkey was fantastic...so fresh and bursting with flavor that I salivate just thinking about it. It's true that carpet sellers and vendors will try to entice you into their shops, but the bantering back and forth makes for some interesting conversation and is always done in a jovial, friendly manner. If you don't feel like conversing with them, just move on. There's no hostility at all. A couple weeks ago the Trip Advisor forum started a thread called "Random Acts of Kindness" as it relates to experiences people have had while in Turkey. Here's a link to that thread, and if you want to get a true idea as to what the Turks are really like I suggest you give it a read.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g293974-i368-k1434815-Random_Acts_of_Kindness-Istanbul.html

There are so many misconceptions on this forum about Turkey and its people. I hope that those of you who haven't been to Turkey will ignore these negative comments and give it a try...I know you won't be disappointed.

fayraz

When I went to Turkey last year I really enjoyed it we were asked to come into restaurants as we walked by but that is all the hassle we got. This year we went to Egypt and we were hassled all the time followed down the road and were scared to go into a shop because we could not be bothered getting hassled.

But like most places we got used to it after a few days, the best thing to do is just ignore them when they are shouting you and be careful every shop tries to rip you off.

Nobjocki

SOUF_OF_THE_RIVER wrote: »

Replace the word "Turk" with, "Brittish", "French", "Greek", "Indian", "Nigerian", "Jamaican" etc... alot of what you write sounds really racist at times. Your writting about a whole nation as if they're all identical.

There are rude, arrogrant, untrustworthy, doltish people in every country across the world, doesn't mean we have the right to tar everyone with the same brush.



Sounds like somebody has a complex :rotfl:
What are the constant referrences to Greece about...I never noticed this post was about visiting Greece.

Anyway, Turkish cuisine is rated as being in the top three in the world so it must be pretty good. And they have their fair share of philosophers, spectacular architecture plus they gave us "smallpox innoculation" which saved millions of lives.

Also I find your comparisons hypocritical, your making Greece and Greek people seem like a heavenly paradise while applying exactly the opposite to the Turks.

I've also been to Greece, its a lovely country aswell and so are the people.

However, you bash the Turks for trying it on with alot of woman, how about the Greek men? its not like there any better now is it, I mean statistically speaking their worse.

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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00193/TOP_10_MOST_POPULAR_193599a.jpg


And you were saying...

Now if somebody was to come along bashing the Greeks saying the same stuff about them it wouldn't be very nice would it, neither would it be true, there are good and bad people in every country, in every city, in every town and village. Learn to accept people as "equal humans".

Far from it my friend - I have been to all those countries you mentioned and whilst I formed a general opinion of their people some good,some bad it was never racist.
I think you're waving the PC race card a little too freely.
Of course Turkish people are capable of random acts of kindness;of course they're not all doltish heathens.
But over the course of a two week holiday in which I travelled extensive around the country I found Turkish MEN to be overwhelmingly rude,crude and arrogant towards women.
Being ripped-off was to be expected and almost considered a matter of honour amongst the Turks.
They're untrustworthy and - the Cyprus question apart - it's one of the reasons why their entry to the EU is being delayed.

SOUF_OF_THE_RIVER

You personally may have had a bad experience, however, according to the official statistics the country your heralding as paradise on Earth actually turns out to be worse on the points your attacking Turkey on which is hypocritical.

Nobjocki
Being ripped-off was to be expected and almost considered a matter of honour amongst the Turks.

Again, more generalisations, as far as I know there is not a nation on the planet who considers "ripping" off a matter of honour.

Nobjocki
They're untrustworthy and - the Cyprus question apart - it's one of the reasons why their entry to the EU is being delayed.

And again, the referrences to Greece and Cyprus.

I'm not going on holiday as a "pollitician", neither am I going to save the world or sort out the problems of the world.

Why are you mixing pollitics with leisure? this post has nothing to do with other countries pollitics.

To be honest, its none of my business, personally I wouldn't like a Turk comming over and thinking he could give us a lecture about how the "Falklands" are Argentinian land, that we should hand over "Gibraltar" to Spain and started whining about the Brittish Empire.

Who cares if they enter the EU or not, that's their internal pollitics, anyway I'd advise them not to even bother, we stayed out and kept our pound and are in a far better state now then Germany or France.

Nobjocki

SOUF_OF_THE_RIVER wrote: »

You personally may have had a bad experience, however, according to the official statistics the country your heralding as paradise on Earth actually turns out to be worse on the points your attacking Turkey on which is hypocritical.



Again, more generalisations, as far as I know there is not a nation on the planet who considers "ripping" off a matter of honour.



And again, the referrences to Greece and Cyprus.

I'm not going on holiday as a "pollitician", neither am I going to save the world or sort out the problems of the world.

Why are you mixing pollitics with leisure? this post has nothing to do with other countries pollitics.

To be honest, its none of my business, personally I wouldn't like a Turk comming over and thinking he could give us a lecture about how the "Falklands" are Argentinian land, that we should hand over "Gibraltar" to Spain and started whining about the Brittish Empire.

Who cares if they enter the EU or not, that's their internal pollitics, anyway I'd advise them not to even bother, we stayed out and kept our pound and are in a far better state now then Germany or France.

Well,my friend,you may be an expert on Turkey but history is obviously not your strong point.
The UK joined the EU ( the European Union ) in 1973.

The reason why I am mixing " pollitics " (sic ) with leisure is that actually I think it's quite important - I'd like to know,for example,whether my tourist pound spent on a beer lying on the beach is actually going to support a corrupt government with a poor human rights record.

According to the independent Human Rights Watch :

Turkey has a long record of restricting peaceful expression and prosecuting those who peacefully express critical views of state policies on controversial issues such as secularism and religion, ethnicity, or the role of the army, or who question state-sanctioned interpretations of history.

There continues to be widespread impunity in Turkey for serious human rights violations committed by members of the Turkish security forces and other state officials.

However I think people should go to Turkey and make their own minds up - as I did.
I was merely trying to give an honest answer to the original post about the pros and cons of Turkey.

milkydrink

Nobjocki wrote: »

They're untrustworthy and - the Cyprus question apart - it's one of the reasons why their entry to the EU is being delayed.

How about Northern Ireland?

Or the Empire in general?

People in glass houses...............:rolleyes:

milkydrink

taxiphil wrote: »

You are right about buying off the Turks in general, but I stand by my earlier comments about the airport duty free shop.

Answer me this: if they have nothing to hide, why on earth are they pricing their goods in Euros? Because many tourists are not very good a currency conversion, as most of their tourists hail from Euro countries they do it to make it easier for them.
Their currency is the Lira. Yes
Most tourists to Turkey are British, and we don't have the Euro as our currency. No they are not.

It's all very well to say "If you had paid the price they asked for in cash, then thats what you would have paid, duh!" - but would most British tourists to Turkey really take a large wad of Euros on holiday with them, and keep them until they fly home? What £80 for my duty free?, yes. I wouldn't call £80 a wad.

I'm well aware that the bank is partly responsible for giving a poor rate of exchange on card purchases, but there's NO WAY the bank is responsible for the goods being 11% more expensive than I was told they were going to be in the shop! For the last time, YOUR BANK SET THE EXCHANGE RATE. All you had to do, was ask the price in Lira (its not a secret, they would have told you). Then you could have worked out HOW MUCH YOUR BANK WERE GOING TO CHARGE YOU. The duty free shop, got the lira on the till. The bank got the extra. Better still use cash rather than cards abroad. That way you won't get any surprises on your return.

I do blame the shop for the rip off, because they marked up their prices in Euros and converted them to Lira at a terrible rate which they made a huge profit from, whilst trying to disguise and cover up this rate by lying to me about what the final conversion would equate to in £. THE BANK SET THE EXCHANGE RATE.

Like I said, you would have to be a mathematical genius to do those calculations on the spot, with the limited and misleading information they were providing you with.

Actually I don't find currency conversion hard at all. I think they dropped the millions to help make it easier for the tourists.
But if you are mathematically challenged, I suggest you buy a currency convertor machine, they are about £5.