My mums friend went down to the square this evening and bought some beads (stall by the Sol hotel and zebra crossing) - by the time she had reached the folk group on the stage on the beach (2 MINS)and showed her husband they had all fallen off the setting and she took them straight back to the stall hoder for a replacement - the guy and his female sidekick refused to replace them and became quite abusive - make your own mind up about whether you want to buy stuff from this rip off merchant! Sort of spoiled their holiday and not what Carvoeiro is about - any body else had bad experience with this guy and his 'companion'?

If it is still there, the shop under Metabixo sells very good quality bead necklaces.

If anyone gets treatment like this the answer here in Portugal is to ask for the 'complaints book' - this is a legal requirement for businesses and simply asking for it will scare the s--t out of them. Hope you picked up the beads as evidence

I doubt that market stall run by casuals would have such a thing as a complaints book.

EMM wrote:I doubt that market stall run by casuals would have such a thing as a complaints book.

That's worth a complaint then

Thanks for replies - complaints book conspicuous by absence - mum spent a morning 'mending' said beads - amazing what you can do with small screwdriver and determination!! Beads are now on new 'fishing line' type thread purchased from good old Chinese shop (really good service and no agression) - clasps/fastening redesigned courtesy of screwdriver - but interesting to read about henna problem - maybe time has come to boycott obvious 'casual' stall holder ware - lesson learnt the hard way!

Yes. the couple in the Chinese shop are very nice Tim..when I first met them they had a tiny shop(as you go up restaurant hill the first turning on the right)...I used to go in there regularly to use the laptops......they actually bought my first book 'Algarve Shorts'
Very nice people.The last time I saw them (over 2 years ago) she'd had another little boy.
Sweet family
I bought a walking stick in their shop on last visit(it was 2 euros)...and its still going strong

Last Christmas, one of the presents we took over was a large print. We had really struggled to find a glass frame to put it in and to our horror, when we unpacked it on Christmas Eve, it was broken. So at 6pm, we went down to the Chinese shop and got one there! They do stock some stuff.

Ellie wrote:they actually bought my first book 'Algarve Shorts'

She's at it again

shanagarry wrote:

Ellie wrote:they actually bought my first book 'Algarve Shorts'

She's at it again

Yes, but at least she didn't go on to tell us what is wrong with it