Consumer Protection Agency for consumer purchases

[pmacay]

Bear in mind that you're gonna need some sort of identifying information if you want to file a claim through Defensa del Consumidor. ie: the seller's name or CUIT. They might also require a Factura to actually process the claim, I know that the equivalent entity at the National level does, but CABA seems to be more lax.

As far as I can tell, Tysan2 does not exist as a corporate entity, but the domain is registered to this dude. Good luck!

View attachment 8061

Thanks Edu! I have the bank receipts for when I made the bank transfer, and that lists their CUIT/CUIL ID so I'm hoping that will be sufficient.

 

[Edu R]

I'm still not clear whether you made the purchase through ML and then arranged a bank payment, or if the whole process took place outside of ML.

If the first, I would definitely either threaten to, or actually start the claim process in ML. These guys live and die by their metrics, and not sending you a Factura is still a violation of ML's ToS.

 

[lost]

This one if things I hate most about Argentina. Those scammers. Having lived in other Latin American countries before, I have to say nowhere has it been that bad. By far. Those guys are probably knowingly selling damaged products and have fun ripping people off. Ripping off a foreigner is probably twice the fun for them.


Mercado Libre:

Always check the reputation of the seller (has to be all green) and number of sales before you buy.

Always make the purchase through Mercado Libre. Bank transfer bypassing Mercado Libre is a bad idea. You lose all the protection.

Now, you can report the seller to Mercado Libre for requesting the bank transfer. Will probably not help you getting your money back but possibly help others not get scammed.


No invoice:

Not issuing an invoice is a serious issue and you can report them to AFIP. You can also report them for not allowing you to pay with your debit card (e.g. via Mercado Pago). They are required by law to accept debit cards.

Here some info on receipt and failure to accept cards and how to report it:

Consumidores | Visitas a los comercios | AFIP

Derechos ante la compra de un producto o servicio.

www.afip.gob.ar

.

Getting in trouble with the AFIP is actually quite serious. So, you could also use this to play some hardball with the scammers. Tell them to fix everything immediately or you will report them to AFIP. Might help.

I'm still not clear whether you made the purchase through ML and then arranged a bank payment, or if the whole process took place outside of ML.

Purchase through ML is always with payment through Mercado Pago (except for some special sales like cars where there is only a deposit to reserve the car). So, I am pretty sure the answer is "no".

 

[Quilombo]

I recently had to utilize the Defense of the Consumer service from the City and while it's not yet resolved, it did get Samsung to finally take my warranty claim seriously.

I purchased a TV on MercadoLibre, and after 30 days the TV started displaying inverted colors. I did some Googling, and apparently the T-CON board is shot (or in the process of deteriorating). There was no physical damage to the box it came in, or on the TV, and it's a shame as I love Samsung's products over all (and Argentina is a sweet spot for Samsung deals, they just ship the parts from Vietnam/China/Korea to Rio Grande, TDF and assemble them there and claim "Industria TDF" so you basically get the same product you would from the US but for a fraction of the cost).

Unfortunately like everything Argentina, customer service doesn't exist, and every time I called, messaged, emailed Samsung they gave me the run around saying "Well, if a factory reset fixes the issue, the issue is resolved and there is no claim". They refused to acknowledge a new TV shouldn't have to be randomly factory reset every couple weeks to make it work, pero bueno. I made the claim online for the Defense of the Consumer and a woman at Samsung corporate started emailing me and we're organizing a date for a tech to come to my apt. It shouldn't have had to come to this, but if it gets my TV fixed, that's what I'm interested in, and my interaction with the city was one of the better government interactions I've had here too, prompt and professional.

 

[lost]

Unfortunately like everything Argentina, customer service doesn't exist, ...

So true!

 

[steveinbsas]

Purchase through ML is always with payment through Mercado Pago

As far as I know there are three ways to pay for purchases on ML, and none of them are by bank transfer:

1. Online with a credit card or debit card.

2. Online using mercado credit (if the member has any) and is willing to pay outrageous interest rates for a minimum of three months.

3. Within a few days at rapipago or pagofacil where it is possible to pay in cash.

If I understand correctly, the sale, if paying at pagofacil or rapipago, is not "finalized" until the payment is actually made and the item might be sold to another buyer before then.

This never happened to me, but I am reasonably certain that the bar code on the "ticket" for the payment at rapipago or pagofacil would not work in that case and the payment would not be accepted.

Does anyone know of any other places to pay cash for a ML purchase (without trying to beat the system)?

 

[Edu R]

As far as I know there are three ways to pay for purchases on ML, and none of them are by bank transfer:

1. Online with a credit card or debit card.

2. Online using mercado credit (if the member has any) and is willing to pay outrageous interest rates for a minimum of three months.

3. Within a few days at rapipago or pagofacil where it is possible to pay in cash.

If I understand correctly, the sale, if paying at pagofacil or rapipago, is not "finalized" until the payment is actually made and the item might be sold to another buyer before then.

This never happened to me, but I am reasonably certain that the bar code on the "ticket" for the payment at rapipago or pagofacil would not work in that case and the payment would not be accepted.

Does anyone know of any other places to pay cash for a ML purchase (without trying to beat the system)?

It's been a while since I've used ML but it used to be that you could select an option to arrange payment directly with the seller, but you would lose buyer protection.

 

[steveinbsas]

It's been a while since I've used ML but it used to be that you could select an option to arrange payment directly with the seller, but you would lose buyer protection.

It is no longer posible to "arrange payment" with the seller, only the pick up an item in person if it is not shipped by the buyer. Some items (solar batteries and solar panels for example) do not qualify for mercado envios,yet the seller may offer "free shipping" which will/should include insurance for the value of the item, but I think that any claim for damage would have to be made with the shipping company, not Mercado Libre

Some sellers do not want to or cannot use mercado envios, but are still willing to make the shipment with the shipping costs paid by the buyer at the destination (COD) OR (occasionally) if the buyer pay the shipping costs in advance by bank transfer (which appears to be OK with ML as long as they get their cut of the sale). In this case the buyer can also pay for insurance in additon to the basic shipping costs. The buyer will still have the right to make a reclamo and return the item, but it might require mediation by Mercado Libre. This happened to me several times and ML decided in my favor every time (after the sellers disputed my claim).

 

[lost]

1. Online with a credit card or debit card.

2. Online using mercado credit (if the member has any) and is willing to pay outrageous interest rates for a minimum of three months.

3. Within a few days at rapipago or pagofacil where it is possible to pay in cash.

That sounds about right. You could also add the Mercado Pago Balance as a 4th option. You can keep money in your Mercado Pago account (they pay decent interest compared to bank savings accounts) and pay with that.

Also, it might be worth to mention that all options including the cash option (3.) actually go through Mercado Pago.

 

[pmacay]

I'm still not clear whether you made the purchase through ML and then arranged a bank payment, or if the whole process took place outside of ML.

If the first, I would definitely either threaten to, or actually start the claim process in ML. These guys live and die by their metrics, and not sending you a Factura is still a violation of ML's ToS.

Originally I saw a posting on MercadoLibre for the electric oven. However, when I tried to purchase it, it failed, so I contacted them through their company's website. That is when they said I couldn't buy it through MercadoLibre, I had to pay them directly. At the time I wasn't thinking about the security and safety of buying it through MercadoLibre, I was buying two new items, what could go wrong? So my order is still in MercadoLibre, but it was cancelled by me. I'm wondering if I can still contact MercadoLibre with this story and see if they can do anything about it as Tysan2 still has lots of advertisements there.