Things do not always happen as expected, and this was certainly the case upon my arrival to Costa Rica. My business partner who is Costa Rican was suppose to help me settle in my new country which he did just fine. After a few weeks of settling in, I figured it was time to set up some meetings.
We set up our first meeting with a Costa Rican transportation provider that was a good friend of my Costa Rican partner, Marco. Marco told me how his friend had been in the business for years and would be a great asset for our company. Well, he and his wife ended up making all sorts of proposals right out of the first meeting, offering to help us with whatever we would need. He gave us important phone numbers and contacts.
They seemed very kind and sincere and we accepted their help with all sorts of projects. They assisted us in getting prices from various hotel providers and activity providers in Costa Rica. These hotel rates, we would find out later were inflated to leave some room for their commissions that they were to collect from these providers. They even introduced us to our first lawyer and we ended up registering everything through him, which we later regretted. This will be explained in the next post.
In the end, our first meeting would set us back a year without us having any idea. We would eventually have to cut our ties with Marco’s friend and have to get a new contract signed with our current lawyer and have our books completely redone. This was a huge headache and I wish I would have taken my time to look around at other options.
The problem is arriving to a Country where you do not speak the language leaves you susceptible to being used and manipulated. These errors would not have transpired in Canada. Costa Rican law is one that can sometimes be bent, and many Costa Ricans look for ways to make a dollar any way they can. Anyone who wants to start a business in Costa Rica should be very careful prior to doing so.
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