Why does customer service here suck?

[HeyBA]

It seems to me that the Portenos play mean, but they seem soft deep down compared to New Yorkers and Parisians, the other two big city dwellers I know well.

The only customer service problems I've had are when 1) I'm in a hurry. If I display signs of haste, I find that the reaction is to actually slow down the service. 2) I'm doing something practical, especially to save money, but don't know exactly how to do it, i.e., taking back invases at a new store or the early days of riding the collectivo.

I've found things usually work out if I stay nice and smiley. However, I'm relatively new and haven't had to deal with many practical matters yet.

 

[va2ba]

The severe lack of customer service here extends beyond restaurants. When my wife was pregnant, we got our health insurance plan through Sanatorio Guemes and had problem after problem with them. They moved appointments up a week without telling us and then acted like it was our fault for missing it. They scheduled us at the wrong time with the wrong doctors.

Finally one day, the third day in a row we went there to try to see our doctor (after they moved the appointment back a week) we got there right at the appointment time. The girl behind the counter was being such a little B!tch to my now 8 and a half month pregnant wife that I walked up and started screaming in English which shut the girl up well. The excuse was that the doctor had already left which we found out the next day wasn't true.

We then filled a complaint and promptly got her fired. And I would do the same again to anyone who talks to a pregnant woman that way...

I will point out though, that the people who actually handle our insurance were very friendly and always helped us when we had problems (which were many more than I can list here) so good customer service does exist here, just few and far in between.

 

[sergio]

Porteños have an attitude problem. They think of themselves as above it all. They all want to be high class without work. Service positions are looked down on. There is a lot of social resentment. Peronism has fueled this. Not all people are rude, though, just too many.

 

[Davidglen77]

Here's an example of typical Buenos Aires customer service. So I have a bank account at Banco Patagonia, savings and checking (which stupidly have the same exact account number). I never use the checking account so of course I don't keep any money in it. I only use the savings account since I have a separate checking account for my business and never use personal checks. So for their monthly maintenance fee which is an outrageous $74 pesos per month PLUS 21% IVA, they debit my checking account which has $0 funds. Since instead of debiting my savings account which has at least $3000 pesos they debit my checking account which has $0 funds, and of course, this sends me into an overdraft fee, plus interest & penalties, and all plus 21% IVA and debit tax of (0,06%). I go to the branch and ask them why this is being done and of course get told they are going to look into it and get back to me. Days pass no contact of course and I go back and ask what is going on and they tell me that I have to keep money in the checking account. I tell them that the savings and checking account have the SAME account number and of course they look at me like I am an idiot. I demand that 1) they refund me all charges, 2) they they DO NOT debit my checking account for this fee and only debit my savings account. So what happens, the next month the same old thing, debit for $74 pesos +IVA plus taxes and penalties for overdraft once again.

So I request the "libro de quejas" which of course the manager gets pissed about (since it gets reviewed by management OUTSIDE of the bank branch) and an attitude because I want to file a formal complaint. He says nobody complains about this and they just pay it. And I tell him that I am not used to getting ROBBED and will not allow this to continue. So I write a detalied explanation about what is going on and a few days later I get a call from the central customer service unit, and after going around and around with a pleasant but DUMB person on the phone, I am told they will refund all of the charges and from now on debit my savings account only for the monthly maintenance fee. I also demand that they credit me 6 months worth of monthly maintenance fees for my trouble and am later offered 3 months credit. I also demand that they send me in writing that they will NO LONGER debit my checking account for any fees, which they did send me 2 MONTHS after this whole problem. Now of course when I go into the bank branch, nobody even looks at me, says hello or anything, and my shop is right on the same block and these bank employees don't come in anymore to buy anything (which I couldn't care less about, but demonstrates their level of maturity) The people in the branch I am talking about are the actual manager and account executives, they are the snotty jerks that act like this. The bank tellers were always and continue to be pleasant. Lesson learned, RAISE YOUR VOICE AND COMPLAIN AND THEY HAVE TO CORRECT THEIR STUPID BEHAVIOR.
And by the way, I don't keep money in a checking account, because there is a tax called "impuesto al debito/credito" which amounts to 1,6% for any funds deposited or withdrawn from a checking account.

 

[pauper]

Most of these problems can be put down to cultural misunderstandings - there exists an intricate and elaborate world of formalities, a veritable symphony of greetings, civilities and doffing of hats so to speak that foreigners frequently bulldoze over leading to confusion and less than desirable outcomes all round. The porteño is a delicate bird, and thus he looks upon his fellow man, keep this in mind at all times and soon your world will be sweetness and light as you develop an ear for his mellifluous song and learn to sing in harmony with him.

I thoroughly recommend El Tano Pasman's 'Speak Rioplatense Spanish Like a Local' - the first video in this free and highly respected series will no doubt be a great resource to the expat when negotiating the world of customer service in Buenos Aires.

 

[dani28]

Most of these problems can be put down to cultural misunderstandings - there exists an intricate and elaborate world of formalities, a veritable symphony of greetings, civilities and doffing of hats so to speak that foreigners frequently bulldoze over leading to confusion and less than desirable outcomes all round. The porteño is a delicate bird, and thus he looks upon his fellow man, keep this in mind at all times and soon your world will be sweetness and light as you develop an ear for his mellifluous song and learn to sing in harmony with him.

I thoroughly recommend El Tano Pasman's 'Speak Rioplatense Spanish Like a Local' - the first video in this free and highly respected series will no doubt be a great resource to the expat when negotiating the world of customer service in Buenos Aires.

I'm sorry but I disagree that these issues are created by cultural misunderstandings. Rudeness is rudeness in any language. In my case for example, I am from Spain and Spanish is my native language. The Spanish ¨culture¨ is very similar in many ways to that of the Argentine. And suggesting that I change my Spanish and way of speaking to ¨Rioplatense¨ in order to be treated better, is like telling a British person who goes to America to change their accent to that of an American in order to get treated better. I have already changed some of my Spain Spanish words due to some rather startling differences between the 2. In Spain, coger is used casually and means ¨to take¨ ¨Vas a coger un taxi?¨ ...... ¨Cogeme una camisa del armario.¨ etc and pija means a girl who is posh and preppy, for example, actually accent-wise I probably couldnt change it even if I wanted to, and certainly wouldnt do it just to get treated better by the locals. You would think they'd actually want to give foreigners more welcoming, hospitable experiences so that we´d come back and spend more money in the city.

 

[Davidglen77]

I also disagree that any of these abuses are "cultural differences". In Buenos Aires, there are certain things that are charming, almost always when you are on the end of a customer / employee dynamic be prepared to be treated like CRAP.

 

[cabrera]

You do not like us leave us . We are proud of our culture and do not need some expats to tell us how to behave. You north americans are so false with cheesy smiles all for tips or other benefits.

 

[va2ba]

Most of these problems can be put down to cultural misunderstandings - there exists an intricate and elaborate world of formalities, a veritable symphony of greetings, civilities and doffing of hats so to speak that foreigners frequently bulldoze over leading to confusion and less than desirable outcomes all round. The porteño is a delicate bird, and thus he looks upon his fellow man, keep this in mind at all times and soon your world will be sweetness and light as you develop an ear for his mellifluous song and learn to sing in harmony with him.

I thoroughly recommend El Tano Pasman's 'Speak Rioplatense Spanish Like a Local' - the first video in this free and highly respected series will no doubt be a great resource to the expat when negotiating the world of customer service in Buenos Aires.

If it is a cultural difference, then why are they the same way (and maybe worse) with other porteños?

Its just a mentality that people here have. A lot of people would sell your soul to the devil for an extra 5 pesos. Not everyone of course, but a lot of people.

 

[va2ba]

You do not like us leave us . We are proud of our culture and do not need some expats to tell us how to behave. You north americans are so false with cheesy smiles all for tips or other benefits.

I'm curious as to why you think we are all north americans.