This is the story of our guests, Annie and her friend, when they came to Funky Fes. It is important to know how these people act to prevent tricks. Charismatic men travelling on the train talk to you and try to change your plans and get you to buy things you do not want. Thank you, Annie, for write us and tell us the details of your experience.
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We were disorientated and half asleep after 15 hours travel, when a well
dressed, charismatic bald man with good English approached us and engaged in
small talk.
>>>>
After finding out we were Australian Abdul took an immediate liking to us and
drew a number of connections between our lives and his. The most significant of
which was his son Hisham, of our age, who had apparently moved to New Zealand 4
years ago, and was now in Fez on holiday. Abdul had us on the phone to Hisham
and the pair of them made us laugh and seemed like a lot fun. Abdul repeatedly
warned us about how Funky Fez would overcharge us, and made sure that we
trusted him over the staff at our hostel, before taking us to a taxi and
organising a ten o clock meeting the next morning.
>>>>
Upon arrival at the hostel, we were overconfident and excited, after finding
what we thought was a local contact and an insiders perspective to this new
strange country.
>>>>
Both Hicham and his dad guided us through the streets, took us to 'the family's
tannery' and out for lunch. While his dad was preoccupied, Hicham began to open
up about a small business venture he was profiting from in New Zealand.
>>>>
Our purchase of overpriced carpets is very similar to others relayed on the
internet. Dozens were rolled out in front of us and we were pressured to make
selections while Hicham was also doing the same. At first all attention was on
Hicham who had chosen himself four carpets and after doing so, helped us do the
same. The merchant made a point of calculating and double checking the supposed
fixed price of each piece, to make us feel at ease. Hicham went upstairs to
finalise his payments. All focus shifted to us and without understanding the
bartering system we were pressured and intimidated into placing a down payment
(2,000 € for one of four carpets) despite not being able to afford it. Abdul
and Hicham continued to take care of us and occupy our time, with a trip to the
middle atlas, dinner, tours and afternoon tea. We eventually decided to
approach the staff at Funky Fez for advise, thankfully they took us seriously
and organised a way for us to return our carpet and retrieve the money. Without
their help we would have struggled to financially support the rest of our trip.
Looking back this story sounds foolish, yet we were caught up in a complicated
and organised scam. Everyone involved was benefiting financially, allowing
these people to invest time and energy into creating the illusion that they
were acting in our best interests.
> If
it weren't for Assiz and the staff at Funky Fez our situation might never have
been resolved.
>
Please take care when journeying on the trains. Trust the hostel staff and
consider group tours organised by Funky Fez or official guides.
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