Video Camera Will Make Your Life Easier

[cebuexpat]

Thought I would pass on this little bit of knowledge, and a tip I have learned while living here in The Philippines. While living and playing, working, or just hanging out here in PI. You will find they will be situations come up in all aspects of your life here. Now in most instant's you probably will be OK, or wont have much of a problem. But in many, you WILL.... So here is a tip that might help someone..Anytime you are doing any kind of important deals, decision making, contract signing, exchange of money, meeting someone over a serious situation, or going or being somewhere they is potential for a problem to arise. Always take a video recorder. Or at least a audio one. Here in the Philippines you will find that most of the law and courts is just a game. Even if 20 people saw it, even if 20 people heard it... It really wont help you much. If your house is broken into, they is no finger printing here, they are no forensic type of law here. So the video camera is the best. ITs a hands down, no bull, no way to lie out of anything. The courts and lawyers have no choice but to accept it.... Its a real good tool to use here. Plus you will find when video is being used, everyone will be on their best behavior and you will not hear any lies or try's to scam or bribe or corrupt you...Just as in Other countries, you need to let it be known they are on video... Or its a technical problem.... Video Camera's are not illegal here, and are not banned from many places. So don't let them tell you they are.... Some places they might be, I am not sure.... But always get it on tape if you can.I will give you a couple of examples how it has helped me in the past.... I know how things work here with what is said, how its said, and how people will change. I take my cell phone ,,and always when i built my business ,,,when I would have a meeting with contractors, or will suppliers, or government officials that I knew were going to try to get me. I just hit the record button on my cell phone and lay it on the table. Even if you tell them or not, it can help you. I would always start my meeting by saying, Well here I am again at The ??????? (place where you are at), talking to Mr. ????? . They would look at me very strange, like I am crazy, but sometimes they would not have a clue, or not pay any attention..... Some are also smart and knew exactly what I was doing... If you want to keep them honest, tell them what you are doing. ( I always use the excuse I do so I can remember things ) If you are trying to catch them, and want to catch them in something. Then don't tell. When I start having trouble with a customer, or someone outside, the first thing I will do is get the video camera... You will see how their attitude will change very quickly when they see the camera.... Like night and day.....One time a supplier come to sell me fire extinguishers. ( I know i can not spell worth a dam ) I knew something was fishy was up, because I kept asking him for the paperwork, and he would keep telling me next time. Its ok, the receipt is all you need... But he would never have a receipt and would say he would bring it back. No big deal....( This is a normal practice here in The PI, so I did not want to call him a lier, or not believe him.) Anyways, he give me a great deal ( PLEASE REMEMBER THEY ARE NO GREAT DEALS IN PI.) on some Fire Est. from the company he worked for. ( So called overstock items.) So when he come to get the money and make the deal, I told my manager to get the camera and stand in the corner and film it. So we set down, he said ok I have your 15 Fire Est. here. P 1000 each. Brand New. I ask him, are these from your company, do you have the paperwork, do you have a receipt, the price is P 1000 each, you have cleared this with your supervisor, you are here representing ??????? company ???? Of course he answered all yes, and give me a purchase order ticket that was hardly filled out, and only had the amount and my business name and some signatures on it... I ask for his employment ID, he give... He give me a hand written receipt and signed in in front of me.. , I ask are these all paid in full now. It everything finished. He replied YES. I asked all the important questions and that was it. Showed the documents on the video and it was over.....Two weeks later someone from the company come here, said did you get Fire Est. from ???? and I said yes I did. Well we need to pick up the payment. I said no I already paid for them...... They said no you have not sir. So I told the story. Showed them the paperworks I received. I said you need to talk to your salesman. They said he had already quit. They said well sir you will still have to pay. I said oh no I wont. I did tell him I felt bad and understood. I told him I would be willing to pay another P 1000 each, ( See not even my fault and still trying to be nice guy ) since I could have gotten them from another supplier for that amount. He refused and said I owed the entire amount of P 4500 each. I said NO, sorry I wont do that..... He then started telling me how I could be deported, and how I was only a foreigner in this country, how come me being rich I would give a problem with the payment, you know you cant own a business here, trying to take advantage of the Pinoy Company ( Even after I offered to pay a extra P 1000 for each ) blah, blah, blah. Same old sh&t you hear each time, Anyways, it kept going and they sent me a demand letter and all the things. I just did not say anything, I just let them go. Especially since the man who was here had a real bad attitude and said some things I did not like and Pissed me.. So when we had the meeting with the attorney, I took the tape and showed it... Everyone got real quite, the attorney left the room with the man, come back in few minutes and said, " at this moment we need to check into some more things, and investigate to see where the problem is, we will get in touch with you soon as to how we will proceed. You could still be responsible for the payment sir." I said ok, let see. The attorney asked, why did you not present this to the Fire Est manager at the time of your meeting. My response was " well sir, he had a bad attitude, and was running his mouth, and I did not appreciate it. So I thought I would let his ass pay for a attorney and waist his time, just like they do to me, so they will know how it feels". That was over 18 months ago, I have not heard or seen from anyone or anything until this week. Called the attorney back, he said "sir they have not contacted me anymore. And oh by the way, If you need a attorney to help you in your business with legal matter I would be happy to assist you. You can put me on retainer for ????? a month, and then if they do come back, then I wont be able to represent them any longer, since we have filed no case yet""... LOL Even in the face of everything they wont give up trying anything..... You have to give them credit... The reason I wrote this is because they called me yesterday, The Fire Est. company and said :: " sir , we realize you was at no fault, and would like to request a copy of the tape so we can pursue the salesman and our insurance company." I said sure no problem. First you will give me a letter releasing me from all responsibility and that you will not use this tape in any way against me, plus the manger in which was here and talked with me will give me a personal or written apology for how he decided to talk to me". They said yes sir, we will send someone for the tape and bring your documents you requested. Moral of this story, if i had not had the tape, I would have been the wrong, bad foreigner who was trying to take advantage of the poor Filipino Company, and would have got the shaft probably in every way possible...... .... Video can help in many situations... This is not only good for PI. I am sure other country's this would be a good ideal also. I just posted this especially for PI and expats and ones coming to live here. It's something you would really want to do here.

[tropicalwaste]

The important factor is you expected to get ripped off, robbed or harrassed or all of the above. A lot of people I know fall into things purely because they "trust or believe" in the law etc. etc. The only person here protecting your assets is yourself and using the video camera is a sure way of being able to secure the information in its true form. Another important factor is that most of the people who try things on really couldn't care about you.. your the stupid foreigner in their eyes who is an easy target. Which is why they really hate having the situation turned. I generally work differently as I sit in the shadows but have already made people aware who are doing whatever is needed exactly how to deal with people. E.g. land is the recent event here where we seem to get everyone making up random prices when all I need is a location and I send someone to ask in passing who the owner is and that "i heard they are selling?" as if the concern is the well being of the family.. but in essence we are looking to buy.. but the BUY word always adds money.. hahaAnyway good information on the video. I normally keep a camera with me all the time but to be honest the camcorder is probably easier to carry as it fits in a pocket easily. But remember whatever your doing here (this is to anyone) a good bit of advice is assume everyone is trying to rip you off that way you double check everything.

[Singers]

Anyway good information on the video. I normally keep a camera with me all the time but to be honest the camcorder is probably easier to carry as it fits in a pocket easily. But remember whatever your doing here (this is to anyone) a good bit of advice is assume everyone is trying to rip you off that way you double check everything.

The iPod Nano Video function is excellent and good sound recording. More unobtrusive than a normal camera and usually perceived (in PI?) as a MP3 player only.Use a "jogging" sports armband and when you arrive at the meet remove it and earbuds. Switch on Video, lock the function with the "Hold switch" and replace in armband with "lens out" and it will be thought you just turned the music off. PHP 8,790 or buy onLine with free delivery APPLE PI... UK Tom Edited April 26, 2010 by Singers

[Call me bubba]

Has anyone else had any other experiences like this?

in which you or a business partner(or family member) had to resort to record the transaction

to protect yourself or interests?

[i am bob]

Would you believe I have had to use that in Canada? I won't state the nationality of the people involved but we had a bunch who had immigrated to Canada and thought that they could do what ever they wanted. All they had to do was make enough noise. On 3 different occasions I ended up using the security tapes and voice recordings I made for several people (who later all turned out to be part of one fraud ring) in court. I was managing a computer and electronics store at the time.

[Mike S]

YUP ..... we had some teenagers living next to us once who as soon as their ate left would crank up the music ..... and when the ate was confronted with it they denied it (what did we expect) ..... so we took an old tape reorder I had and placed it in the window where the kids could see it ...... worked like a charm ...... one of the kids asked my asawa what it ws and she told them it was to record the loud music they claimed they weren't making ...... amazingly the loud music stopped ....... and the recorder didn't even work ....... :hystery: :hystery:

Edited May 15, 2012 by Mike S

[Adventurer]

I was thinking about this the other day, it sure is needed here in the Philippines where police and legal aids will not always be there to help.

II have a nice Nokia N8 (purchased for a couple of hundred $ new on ebay) which has the most powerful camera/video out of smartphones, takes great videos and it's very small. I could just put it on the table and no one would have any idea it's recording although I guess you should tell them in case that could be important later.

[SubicSteve]

there are also very small HD video cams with suction cups that you can place on your windshield and record your driving in case of an accident.

[Jake]

there are also very small HD video cams with suction cups that you can place on your windshield and record your driving in case of an accident.

Hey SubicSteve,

I've been eyeing these two high tech toys for awhile:

http://www.amazon.co...2109571&sr=1-27

http://www.amazon.co...02098668&sr=1-1

[FlyAway]

There are numerous recording gadgets out there. They mount cameras in Pens, Watches, key chains and sun glasses. I have one of the cheap sun glass cameras. Video is not to bad and it does record good audio. I walked around town with it recording things.

Attached is an 18MB video file from the camera. With the 8GB micro SD it cost me less than $40USD. This video was taken this last January. I have not figured out how to change the date on it. Instructions for it are very poor.

PICT0009.AVI