Buyer Beware

[PAHORNER]

Just a quick heads-up for ya. I was in Costa Maya this past Friday. Had a great day by the way, however, on our way back to ship we looked around at the shops at the pier. In a liquor store called Tequileria I purchased a bottle on vanilla for $10.00 US. Returned home last night, this morning I was looking at all my treasures and it seems my vanilla is WATER, :eek: there is more vanilla in my toothpaste. The bottle had two seals which were not broken, I did check that before I pruchased it, good thing I only got one, the lady next to me purchased five. I'm not mad and I'm not saying all the vendors/stores are crooks, just a heads-up. On the bottle it does say vanilla bean inside,if I had taken a minute longer and held bottle up to the light I would have seen there was no bean. So take a minute before your purchase or your might get a big ole bottle of water like me. :D

[passaporta]

Thanks for the heads-up.

[popcorngal]

We were there last Friday also, so I know you had to either be on the Miracle with us, or on the Ryndam or Westerdam. Glorious day there wasn't it? Since Tequileria is on the "recommended shop list", I would definitely report your experience to the cruise line. They would want to know about such practices. We had a similar experience with a shop in Belize, but they were switching labels on shirts!:eek:

[poetic license]

When I saw that vanilla for $10 a bottle, I passed .... you can get the same stuff in the marketplace in San Antonio, TX for $6.95.

 

I feel awful for you, popcorngal. What a rip!

[Bob7]

Hey PA, thx for the word, it's good to keep up on the scams. Cruisers here bought a diamond ring in Mexico, got it home, and the local jeweler found that cracks in it were filled with clear resin, and was worthless. Now we hear the official Mexican stamp on silver, the .92 or .97 or whatever it is, is meaningless, it's been found on junk. But if you treat all jewelry purchases as just cheap costume jewelry, and pay accordingly, you get something cute and it doesn't matter what it's made of.

-Bob

[LUCY55]

Mexican vanilla can contain coumarin. Work in a flavor lab as an analytical chemist. In the US "coumarin" is considered carcinogenic. It is naturally found in some plants including vanilla. The vanilla in the US cannot have coumarin. In Mexico it can. Sometimes you will see it advertised as "coumarin free". Actually, carcinogenic may mean they fed rats huge amounts and found problems.:rolleyes:

[PAHORNER]

Lucy55, Thanks for the info, the label does read "does not contain coumarin", problem is does not contain vanilla either (LOL). You have to laugh. I'm so glad I only purchased one, I keep thinking about the lady I chatted with in the store who got five. I know she in PO'ed.

Patty