The thing with my husband is his first reaction is not usually his final one. When we were scammed yesterday his reaction was that it was a $180 lesson and one we will never forget, he also saw how much it affected me both physically and emotionally and he therefore stayed strong, focused and kept me upbeat in order to ensure I didn't go into meltdown. As usual in short he was my rock.
But also I knew that after he had slept on it his emotional pallet would change come morning, and so as I predicted it did. He woke with a look in his eye and a determination in his voice. He said come on lets go down and see the hotel staff about what happened. I was willing to just put it past me as I really didn't think there was anything that could be done, not John, not much intimidates my husband and when he has gone through his emotions on a subject and arrived at a conclusion he very rarely goes off track.
So we spoke to the duty manager who informed us our only option was to have the police called to the hotel. I still held out no hope as they do not give you emotion when they talk, Chinese just talk, they leave out describing words and emotions and it can make it hard for you to pick which way they are going with their words. So the police were called.
Two older police man in a police van arrived at our hotel and spoke to us through the hotel duty manager. After a brief conversation they asked us to accompany them to the police station and then the tea room. I knew where the tea room was and was confident in finding it when returning with the police.
So we were put in the back of the police van, a fantastic experience ... NOT, and headed to the police station, ironically which was directly opposite where the tea room scam is run. Police stations in China are not like Australia, things happen quickly, we are asked to sit down in some chairs in the main reception area, then ushered into a room with two policemen, 1 of the hotel staff and sit while again the story is explained. We are then walked straight over to the tea room. We locate the tea room, go inside and the girl who performed our tea ceremony was having lunch with what I believe is probably another one of the scam artists who head out to find their victims.
After a short conversation between the police and the two suspects we are all marched back to the police station. We are put straight into a room with a large board like table, negotiations begin and we are offered $600 RMB just over half our money back, we are told that because some services were given and some tea was consumed that we were liable for some of the fee.
At this point I am just glad we got anything back at all. We accept this and then ask the police to check the money they handed over as counterfeit money is rife in Shanghai, the man suspect basically laughs at us like as if he would do that, yes I guess counterfeit is below what a scam artist will lower themselves too.
As we leave I ensure I give them both the dirtiest look I can muster and a little wink to the girl in the hopes she enjoys her time in the jail.
We are informed they will be kept in jail for 24 to 48 hours and records will be kept on them both, however I believe records probably already exist.
The whole exercise from coming down from our hotel room to coming back to the hotel takes no more than 30 minutes, I will give the police one thing they are efficient.
However as the scam goes on under their nose, to which I believe they know of the scam and probably get kick backs from the people who do not follow it up makes me again want out of this city. I feel that everyone is out for their share of what they can scam out of you, it really does leave you feeling like shit.
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