I thought I knew every trick in the book, but our guide in St. Pierre (Canada) taught me a new way to be swindled out of $$!

We’ve all been subjected to guides who take us to rug stores and tell us this store is the only place with “quality” rugs.

Or the guide who says, I will guide you for free. Then you are dragged from one store to the next so the guide can earn a commission on the things you buy. In the middle east it’s rugs; in Venice it’s glass, in India it’s textiles, rugs and silver jewelry.

The cruise industry is notorious for this scam. They advise you to shop only at their pre-selected list of “honest” vendors. Of course, those vendors pay a fee for this listing and they also pay a commission to the guide, tour company or cruise line. You are assured these vendors are the most honest, have the best variety or the best quality of items.

It’s the oldest trick in the travel book. But on our recent trip to add a country point in St. Pierre, an island owned by France off the coast of Newfoundland, we met a pretty clever guide.

Here’s what he did. When we got in the van to head out on the tour that was sold to us as an hour and a half for $30 euros each, he said, “hey if you want to extend the tour, we can do that for more money.” I said, “well we have a lunch reservation and we have to be back for it.”

And off we went. The tour of St. Pierre was interesting, but could easily have been done in 1.5 hours. But we wound up seeing his house, the local cemetery, standing on a hillside talking – all his way of extending our time. Then when we finally got back an hour late, we were told we owed him more money. Rather than make a scene, we paid.

Clever scam. How to avoid such a deal? Be firm from the outset that you want only what you agreed to pay and don’t want to extend the tour. If you happen to want to extend while you are touring, fine, but to be intimidated into doing it just doesn’t feel right!