Buenos Aires - not for the faint hearted

[HowardinBA]

hi David,to think we were only talking about this kind of thing when we met last week.Be strong and fight your corner,good luck,Howard

 

[fifs2]

So today I am in my store, organizing all of the Christmas merchandise as this is the busiest week of the year for us retailers.

About 10:00 two inspectors come in and tell me that my store is not within guidelines for businesses allowed in the area and that they would have to shut me down. So I protest and they start taking notes saying "Villa Urquiza" is a historic district and my habilitación application is expired (it's not). They ask me for proof of insurance, to show them the bathroom, fire extinguishers, all of which are present and in order.

They leave and told me they would be back in a few minutes. So they come back about 20 minutes later with the police and tell me that I am being closed down. They make me lower the gate and put a big red sticker over the gate that says "clausurado".

So I go to the office of the gobierno de la ciudad de Buenos Aires that handles habilitaciones and of course I am treated with the same indifference as always. Make 4 copies of this and that take this number and go to the 1st floor on your right give the brown folder to the skinny guy and the red folder to the short guy and so on and so on. They proceed to tell me that I am not allowed to operate my business until I present my case in front of them formally, they proceed to make more and more copies, make me sign and sign and sign and then stamp each page about 4 times.

I am supposed to come back to their office tomorrow in the morning to try and get this worked out, but somehow I have a feeling that this is going to be tough.

Buenos Aires is a great city, fun, exciting, great looking people, but if you do business here, BE CAREFUL, all of the odds will be against you. Between the robberies (have had a gun pointed at me) and the constant inspections which nobody can tell you what they are for, you will become either totally beat down or will pull your hair out.

I still love Argentina, I met the person of my dreams and if I could just stop having all of these crazy things happen to me, it would be a big relief!

David, I send you a really big hug and my hopes for a better tomorrow.

 

[gouchobob]

Sorry this is happening, keep us posted. I admire you for trying to make a business go in this environment. Probably now is not the time to ask but would you do it again? I have personally advised people not to start businesses in Argentina for all the associated problems including extortion's like this one. An extortion attempt was made by the tax authorities against my wife, we didn't pay any bribes either but ended spending quite a bit of money on accountants and spending a lot of time and effort, the situation has never been fully resolved.

 

[Davidglen77]

So this morning I go to the office that handles habilitaciones, of course there response was "we have no information in the system". So at this point I am just going to remove the sticker from the door and open my shop. If they come and arrest me for working so be it. I don't have any other source of income so I am damned if I do or damned if I don't.

 

[nikad]

So this morning I go to the office that handles habilitaciones, of course there response was "we have no information in the system". So at this point I am just going to remove the sticker from the door and open my shop. If they come and arrest me for working so be it. I don't have any other source of income so I am damned if I do or damned if I don't.

Go for it, they are a bunch if useless a***es

 

[niceguypaddy]

Remove the sticker, and ask if you can record your conversations with officials in the future, see how they react? Sounds like they are shaking you down, and they are looking for a coima. I know friends of mine that run a hotel all above board, refusing to bow to the cops etc and they are constantly getting hassled, that's how they force you into paying them. Its dispicible.

 

[steveinbsas]

The office of the remise I used most in CF was closed down for not having adequate bathrooms for customers (or the help). They took it seriously enough to only bypass the red sticker at night. During the day they used an old (rat infested) stairway around the corner, snaking the phone line through the corner bakery (which attracted the rats in the first place). They brought in some cats to deal with the rodents and a month later moved to an entirely new location. I realize David does not have these options...

I hope it goes well today, David, but I fear the worst if you take down the sticker and also refuse to pay (unless you have some really big cats).

 

[Gringoboy]

That sounds heavy duty!
I also run a shop, but in GBA, Olivos. A similar thing happened to me last year, but luckily someone who works in the municipalidad is also a client of mine and she put a stop to it immediately. No $$ changed hands. It's who you know that counts today.
Would you know anyone of influence? An accountant/lawyer? Or even someone in the 'department'?
Keep up the fight!!

Just remembered David.
Did these people write anything in the Libro de Actas? That's important.
When this little shit came in trying to close me down, he didn't even ask for the book (mandatory) and clearly wanted money.
That's basically how my friend was able to resolve it. Hope it helps.

 

[jaredwb]

Just curious...with all the corruption, these illegal closures of businesses, aduanas, bribes, etc. does anyone want to file a class-action suit against the Government??? I have had some serious customs problems in the past (but all documented with fotos, videos, and recordings). It seems that others have done the same thing.

I would think that if enough foreigners were to file suit with all this documented evidence (and I know a LOT of locals that have had problems who I am sure would be happy to join) MAYBE we have the opportunity to change how things are managed (if only a bit).

 

[Davidglen77]

That sounds heavy duty!
I also run a shop, but in GBA, Olivos. A similar thing happened to me last year, but luckily someone who works in the municipalidad is also a client of mine and she put a stop to it immediately. No $$ changed hands. It's who you know that counts today.
Would you know anyone of influence? An accountant/lawyer? Or even someone in the 'department'?
Keep up the fight!!

Just remembered David.
Did these people write anything in the Libro de Actas? That's important.
When this little shit came in trying to close me down, he didn't even ask for the book (mandatory) and clearly wanted money.
That's basically how my friend was able to resolve it. Hope it helps.

They didn´t ask me for the libro de actas and when I asked to make a copy of their identification cards, they refused to give them to me. When they signed the paper they left me, they only signed with illegible signatures, no aclaración, and no rubber stamp (which they love putting on EVERYTHING here).
Total crap. It will be great if they come to arrest me, I can´t wait till I contact the US embassy if they do. Macri and his goons will look even worse then they do now!