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Dutyfree International Dutyfree Puerta Vallarta Aiport running Cuban cigar scam Puerta Vallarta Jalisco, Mexico
On June 15, 2013 I was browsing the Dutyfree shop in the Puerta Vallarta Airport. My wife and I were being hounded by the sales people to taste Tequila, try perfumes etc. I was asked by the uniformed sales person if I liked cigars. After replying in the affirmative, he walked me into a beautiful glass humidor stocked floor to ceiling with Cuban cigars. I laughed, and told the sales person I was American, not Canadian and that I could not bring Cuban cigars back home with me.
The sales person told me that the US has releaxed the ban on Cuban products. According to him, I could take up to 25 cigars back home for personal use. In fact, every person over the age of 18 in my group could do the same. I was excited and nearly bought a box for each family member to carry. I did get somewhat suspicious, but then the salesman produced a document which read in plain English. The document claimed supported exactly what the saleman had told me. He had "backed up" his story.
So here I am strolling through customs in San Diego 3 hours later with my $275 box of cigars. The officer asks me what purchases I brought home. I tell him. Well no more cigars for me.
I expected to be ripped off on the streets of PV and by the merchants on the beaches. Small miscalcultions and unfavorable currency conversions are the norm in Mexico. But I never expected one of the world's largest retailers to have a scam operating in a high end shop at a major international airport.
Shame on Dutyfree International.