Exploited and Overcharged in a Foreign Country -- Ambushed for Cash With No Clear Bill or…read moreBreakdown. I hired this chef months in advance to cook for my luxury wellness retreat in Mexico. What I got was an unprofessional, disorganized, and manipulative experience that disrupted the retreat. She dodged providing a clear quote for months. I sent the final menu and grocery list a month before the retreat and offered to pay her in full two weeks out--still no total. I asked again on Days 1 and 2 of the retreat. Nothing. She told me to budget $500 USD for groceries based on a detailed list. Many of those items were never purchased, yet she brought at least 10 bottles of wine after I asked for 4. We didn't use them all, but I assume I paid for them. The breaking point came after I let her know the tortillas she left out were moldy and gently told her I knew she hadn't been at the villa when she claimed to have checked them. She quickly messaged me: "Can you come into the kitchen?" What followed was an aggressive, sudden demand for cash--tens of thousands of pesos--on the spot. She yelled at me, refused the Wise payment method we'd agreed to, and said she didn't trust me not to cancel it. She quoted one amount, which I agreed to, then raised it by $600 USD without explanation. She sent a screenshot of a Notes app in Spanish and handed me a pile of receipts I couldn't read--no itemization, no breakdown, and no way to verify what I was being charged for. Based on our original pricing, she overcharged me by at least $1,000. I was cornered in a foreign country, scrambling to pay her. Two guests had to come to the ATM with me because of withdrawal limits. I had to call the house staff to witness and record the exchange as proof of payment. It was stressful, and completely derailed the retreat. I missed my evening yoga session trying to handle it, and had to cancel the next morning's session as well while onboarding a new chef. The food was mediocre, never served hot, and often not enough. One morning we ran out of eggs, and she told my guest there were no extras. Yet when she quit and packed up, she took multiple trays of eggs with her. She routinely left raw meat on the stove all day, fruit out to attract flies, and food dishes on the table overnight. She never wiped the dining table or cleaned the kitchen. I had to clean before breakfast each morning. She also blocked my guests from entering the kitchen--the only place they could get water--and I strongly suspect she was using my groceries and kitchen for other clients. She once said she was "coming to bake," though there was no baking on our menu. Her social media showed her hosting another event the day after she quit--convenient timing. She also brought in a bartender without my consent on night one and served full alcoholic drinks, even though we'd agreed it would be a mocktail-focused retreat. Finally, she prepared "quesadillas" with mushroom filling--despite one guest's allergy--and insisted I leave them out unrefrigerated. Guests staying behind discovered they were covered in fuzzy white mold. She claimed it was heirloom corn. It wasn't. She also lied about being at the villa when she wasn't. When I calmly told her I knew, that's when the cash ambush happened. Two yoga sessions were lost, but more importantly, she created fear, confusion, and emotional stress for me and my guests. She was dishonest, aggressive, and unprofessional.
