Here are some notes and letters from a few of our customers.....
Jacqueline Monacell and YourCostaRicaContact are the people
to call before, during, and after your move or long trip to Costa Rica.
As expatriates, people generally hail from service economies, where
customer care and attention to the client's needs and experience are
critical. Working with Jacqui and her company, my family and
company have had an incredible experience.
It's been like having our own concierge, and her ability to
anticipate our needs across a wide range of issues - from health care, to legal
advice, to transportation, to getting our communications set up - have made her
services an invaluable part of our transition. She is energetic,
professional, creative, and very flexible, and it is a real pleasure to work
with her.
I also believe that trust is paramount when you are new to a
place and trying to figure things out, and there are numerous times where Jacqui
handled challenges on our behalf in a way that earned our highest level of
confidence and trust. She always had our best interests at
heart. For example, instead of selling us a box set of services,
they took a very professional and personable approach to helping us discover
what our needs were and then helped determine how best to meet
those needs, regardless of whether they were helping us directly or referring us
to another professional.
Jacqui?s ability and willingness to put us in front of the
right people and services to get our life and work started here have been
superb, and it would be hard to tally the number of road blocks and frustrations
we didn't have because of YourCostaRicaContact.
I would highly recommend them to anyone who wants
professional hands-on help with their transition. Please feel free
to contact me with any questions.
Kepler
Knott
keplerknott@hotmail.com
April 2010
My husband and I recently moved to Costa Rica and used Jacqui's company's
services. It was a pleasure working with her. She was professional,
accommodating, thorough and reasonable.
We were able to trust her with all of the details and she listened to our
requests. She found exactly what we were looking for - and it took some
looking before she was able to find what we were requesting. She made sure that
we were protected by making sure that we were presented the best deal and with
top notch inspections, insurance, registrations - she even found a vehicle with
a six month warranty, which is something unheard of on a used vehicle - we are
told.
Jacqui went above and beyond as far as we are concerned. She kept in close
contact with us. She met our wants as well as our needs. She ensured that we
got the best deal for our money and when the first vehicle didn't reach her
standards, she made sure that we understood that it wasn't in our best interest
to lower our standards. She was right. The 'right' vehicle was just around the
corner. It passed all of the inspections and was a better deal in the end.
Since then, we wanted to have some upgrades made to our vehicle. We were
able to bring it to 'CarDoc', which is the Automotive shop owned by Jacqui and
her husband. Every time we brought it in, they immediately accommodate us, give
us a fair price and do excellent work. It gives us peace of mind to know that
while we are living in a country where we are the 'foreigners' and don't speak
the language, we have a place that we can go and not worry about being taken
advantage of.
It is a privilege to recommend Jacqui and her company to you without any
reservations. Please feel free to contact us with any questions.
Sincerely,
My
wife and I are moving to Costa Rica in August, 2010. As we were planning our trips down to Costa
Rica to bring our belongings for the house, we decided to buy a car instead of
incurring car rental expenses for each trip.
Andy Browne suggested that we make contact with Your Costa Rican
Connection and we are very happy we did.
We
contacted Jacqui and told her what we were looking for and how much we could
afford and within a week she found one that fit the bill. Jacqui had it thoroughly inspected and when
it passed all the tests with flying colors she managed to negotiate the price
down for us. She made sure that the car
was all paid up with inspection and Marchamo and that it was in great
condition.
On our
last trip down in February, we arranged to meet Jacqui, signed our paperwork and
were out the door very satisfied with our new (used) car. The car definitely exceeded all of our
expectations. Since we were leaving the
country in two weeks Jacqui even arranged for storage of the car while we are
gone. Each step of the way was very
complete with tons of communication and lots of pictures which helped our
decision making very easy.
We
plan to use Jacqui to help us acquire cell phones and will use her for other
services we identify to help us make our transition easier. We cannot say enough good things about her
service, availability, and patience. We
would recommend ?Your Costa Rican Connection? to anyone who must accomplish a
move to Costa Rica from another country.
You will not be sorry.
Tom
and Jana Stotler
Puerto
Viejo de Talamanca
February 2010
Moving to Costa Rica is stressful enough. Add to that the complications of purchasing an automobile where the seller is not likely to speak English, where the likelihood that the odometer may not reflect the actual mileage of the car and where gringos are not in a strong position to negotiate a good deal ? this becomes a recipe for disaster.
Such was my situation as I prepared for my move to Costa Rica.
A friend of mine turned me on to a company called Your Costa Rican Contact. For a flat fee they found a car that met or exceeded my expectations, negotiated a price that was well below the sellers asking price and made sure that it was in excellent condition. All of this was done while I tended to the details of my Costa Rican move from my soon to be ex-home in Charlotte North Carolina.
On the very day we landed in country, Jacqui Monacell, owner of Your Costa Rican Contact, picked us up at the airport in our new (used) car. After gathering our luggage, we met with her attorney to sign the necessary transfer papers. In a few short minutes, we were on our way to our new home in San Ramon, driving a car that was mechanically sound, paid for in full and who?s insurance and Marchamo were paid and up to date.
Jacqui offers a wonderful service to folks like us and Fran and I have nothing but kudos for her services. It certainly has made our initial weeks in our new home much less stressful.
Thanks Jacqui.
Andy and Fran Browne
April 2009
Dear Jacqui,
The experience was great, you were patient and ensured that you stood behind your mission which is to make sure that your clients purchase is in tip top shape for the value. I would highly recommend you to anyone that is not versed in Costa Rica business and/or regulations to use your service. Best of luck to you!
Sean
April 2009
Hi Jacqui,
Muchas gracias for selling us such a wonderful vehicle! It got mi esposo back from the big city safely, and in record time. We were out in the driveway at two a.m. with a flashlight and the considerate wash of the full moon inspecting our important new family member. We have named her Dulce Azul. Rick jabbered sleepily about how great you, your husband, your staff and your lawyer were in assisting him through our milestone acquisition. He was also pretty impressed with your shop set-up?good for you guys!
I drove Dulce over a stretch of our most feared road ?from Garza toward Nosara --today. She was too much of a lady to laugh haughtily at the bottomless holes, gorges, slashes and rubble (as well as the nasty trolls under the bridges) but instead motored over them, effortlessly and with great poise. She did turn a few heads, I must admit. She handled situations firmly and with confidence. To our pleasure, Dulce made it obvious she had front wheel drive as we ascended sharp hills or rough spots. Yes, Dulce and I bonded well on our outing today, and agreed to ?Hit the highway kick tailgate!? tomorrow.
Thanks for your patience and knowledge in finding a great car for us, Jacqui! I bought perishables and ice cream today. Life is good.
Thanks again, Jacqui, and thanks to Konrad, too!
All the best,
Gwen and Rick
Playa Garza, Guanacaste
February 2009
This is how our wonderful experience started with Jacqui and Conrad.
We found a little paradise in Ocotal, Guanacaste, many things to do and see! Three months under the tropical sun is a dream come true, unfortunately, without a car, it is not ideal. Renting a car can sometimes slowdown an outing, so we decided to purchase a vehicle. Listening to the car purchase experience of other tourists, we decided to do a search on the Internet and "Your Costa Rica Contact" seemed like an interesting option.
While we were in Montreal and Jacqueline Monacell in Costa Rica, she did everything to find the car responding to our expectations. What a great experience we had! It gave us peace of mind, we had an expert team to rely on, and even good tips for our drive back to Ocotal! Now we feel more like friends than customers!
Your Costa Rica Contact, Car Doc and their lawyer all did a great job to help us find our freedom and discovered marvelous places.
We absolutely have no hesitation to recommend them to anyone!
Diane & Guy Normandin
Lachine (Québec)
Dear Jacqui,
I just wanted to write you a little note of appreciation for the things you helped me with. Moving to Costa Rica like I did back in November is no small task, and your services were invaluable.
Where to begin? You have helped me with so many things, it's hard to remember them all. I needed to buy a car, a difficult task given that I was still in California. But you found a perfect vehicle for my purposes and arranged for the purchase, insurance, registration, mechanics inspection, new wheels, and even having the windows tinted! (a must for Guanacaste). Anyone would hesitate at sending a 20k check in the mail to a relative stranger in another country, but as we talked about on the phone, sometimes you just have to trust people to get certain things done. The car was delivered to my door the day after my plane landed. Then there was the cell phone. Read the local paper in Costa Rica and you might get the idea that getting a cell phone can be tough. Not with you. Couple days after the request and I was up and running. I also needed an architect to build my home at the beach. I was going to interview several and decide later but after meeting with Carlos Romero, I was convinced he was the man for the job. And that was even before I saw his other work. I was so impressed with his professionalism and personality, I also decided to have him remodel a condo I bought in San Jose. Oh yes, that's the other thing, the real estate agent, you recommended her too. Everything went smoothly with that as well. Not to mention the several times I called just to ask advice, whether it was a travel agent or just directions. I felt like I had a private secretary, it was amazing. Being abroad can sometimes be intimidating. Even though I have some Spanish language skills and consider myself intelligent and savvy, there were times when it really was a relief to know I had someone I could call if I got in a bind (like the time I was pulled over for expired registration and the police officer was going to take my license plates but you talked him out of it over the phone as I sat on the side of the highway!).
Anyone coming here would benefit from your services and advice, and your network of professionals are as impressive and competent as you are. I literally cannot say enough nor thank you enough.
Thank you,
Adrian Madlener, Esq.
San Franciscio, CA
Hi Jacqui,
I just wanted to drop you a note and thank you for everything you have done for me and Louise. You made it so easy for us to buy and service our car. I must honestly say I have never dealt with a more organized trustworthy company. Every turn in the road you have been there for us and you have gone way beyond what I had ever expected. It is extremely hard to deal across an international border to make arrangements and to understand the laws, you made it all so easy. We will definitely use your service again and we will recommend you to all we know.
Thank you for the excellent job and being there for us.
Tim and Louise Day July 2008
"When our daughter moved back to Costa Rica permanently, we agreed to help her out a little with an automobile. We tried to research cars from the U.S. via the Internet and called and talked with quite a few owners, but it was so difficult. Our daughter had no real experience with car shopping and is no mechanic, and then there are the issues of funds transfer, title and inspection, etc.
Jacqui is the answer. Despite our numerous changes of mind and inability to decide on things, she stayed with us. She was always available by phone and email, knows all the procedures, and has all the right contacts -- especially Konrad at Car Doc! We had a very tight budget, and she was always realistic with us.
We are grateful to have found Jacqui and heartily endorse her service, recommending her to anyone who is facing the difficult task of finding and buying a car in Costa Rica. "
Ralph & Eileen
Dear Jacqui,
As you know Rob and I are seasoned residents of Costa Rica. Along with a few
household belongings, we shipped our very large gas guzzling 1987 Toyota Landcruiser
to Costa Rica in December 2003. As gasoline prices rose, by August of 2008, we
found ourselves feeling trapped at home, in the campo near Esparza, and not able to
enjoy the wonders of Costa Rica. Even our big yellow Lab, Dude, felt cabin feverish!
Living so far away from the business and happenings of San Jose and the Central
Valley, we just could not do a car search without help. We contacted you and
contracted your services to find us a car with very, very specific criteria: a very
small price range, the need for a station wagon with a large enough cargo area for
our 100 lb. Lab, gas economy, and inexpensive parts that are readily available, with
a preference for Toyota.
Was this accomplished? Yes. With professionalism, regular emails and telephone
communication, friendliness, promptness and speed, we are now driving our 1991
Toyota Corolla All Trac Station Wagon. You met all our criteria. Dude fits in the
back, we are sightseeing and grateful to enjoy our Costa Rica.
Thank you from Deb Rob and Dude
Esparza Costa Rica SEPT 2008
Our experience with Jacqui and CarDoc has always been efficient and quick, as anybody having a car knows, keeping it adjusted and well maintained is a guarantee that it will be safer and nicer on the road. Thanks to CarDoc and to their excellent performance driving has become a much safer and more pleasant experience. CarDoc services for us have translated into saving money by diagnosing problems before they arrive...Jonathan Solis Rios. (September 2008)
My family and I moved to Costa Rica at the end of July 2007. We needed a good car but didn't?t want to go through the hassle of finding one, negotiating with the owner, and all things related with buying cars. We were new in the country and busy dealing with all other practical things that has to be done when moving a family from one country (Spain in our case) to another. So, we did a search on the net and found Jacqueline?s website and decided to have her helping us. We wanted a pick-up truck and she very quickly found us one for the right price and helped us with a technical inspection of the car and through the deal. All went smooth and we saved ourselves a lot of hours that we could set off for other things. In my opinion Jacqueline has the experience and knowledge to help anyone dealing with cars and I can warmly recommend her services.
Chris Eckerd? Santa Ana
After trying to find a vehicle in Costa Rica myself for a number of weeks I was at my wits end. I finally came across an ad on Craigslist for help finding a vehicle. So I called the number and talked to Jacqui. She explained how they inspected vehicles and only looked at vehicles that matched my price range as well as my preferences. This was great because unlike many people I am extremely picky over my vehicles. She offered advice and was very patient with me (I declined many vehicles). Jacqui and Konrad were able to source a very good vehicle for me and were helpful in all of the steps in buying and transferring ownership and insurance of the car. I was very happy to have Jacqui do all the work as she does a very good job.
Matt Southcott--Santa Ana
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