Life /
Poles - the Nation of Liars? [478]
I came here by searching "are all Poles thieves and liars"
Why did I ask this terrible question? When I arrived in Poland, I had very kind thoughts toward the Polish people. As a British American, I considered some things to be good in Poland, and had no preconceptions about Poles.
However, within the first few months I began experiencing dishonesty at every level of Polish society, from the poorest to the governments. The first time, I brushed it off, the second time I began to get suspicious, but by the third, fourth, fifth, etc time, I realized this is just a way of life for Poles.
I googled and found a joke saying "has your car been stolen? Go to Poland, it will surely be there". Funny thing about cars, never ever trust a car in whatever condition, whether it's $500 or $15,000, it doesn't matter. Many of these cars are rebuilt salvages from the US, sold at the price of an immaculate car with no problems. Make sure to search the VIN online, but if you are unlucky you won't catch it. Just assume every car sold at any price has been totalled, that's a good starting point.
No, cars was not my only experience. From medical practitioners, to state-run governmental organizations, to banks, nearly everyone is a scammer, a liar, and a thief.
The most honest service I received was a tailor. They didn't do what I wanted (was tailored in regular fit instead of slim fit, and they didn't understand), but they refused to take my money, even though I considered the amount rather low priced, so I couldn't complain. They said no I won't take your money, and were quite kind about it. They offered to fix it multiple times. They continued refusing to take my money. They were not trying to scam me. I didn't let them fix because I didn't think they could do what I wanted. But nonetheless they were very honest.
But guess what, they were Belarussian, not Polish.
As for Poles, they would threaten to call the police and threaten fraud if you leave an honest review that isn't positive after you learn they were trying to scam you - and these are high-end medical organizations with the highest-end equipment charging rates that would make an American's eyes bleed. Yet still a scammer, and the reason for 5 stars is because they simply threaten everyone who leaves a negative review and lie to google to get it removed. Never trust Polish reviews.
Is that all? No. Rentals, even banks will lie to your face. Almost everything I ordered through Allegro was either broken or had a hidden flaw. Don't buy through OLX, even OLX will let you be scammed. OLX gives you 24 hours and even if it is listed as perfect condition and you document everything and file the claim, they will deny it. They know Poles are scammers, and if they don't allow the scams they won't make money in Poland.
My best online experience was Amazon. They will return fraudulent items. Allegro too but Allegro has a rather short return period.
Universities will rob you blind any chance they get to. If you have money coming from abroad they will keep part of it. This is for the top universities in Poland. I don't know how much worse the little ones are.
Overall, my experience in Poland is that they are almost all thieves and liars. Not all of them, there are a few good ones. But if you err on the side that there is an almost guaranteed certainty you will be defrauded, it will serve you well in Poland.
