“The problems are different and come from the massive nature of practices such as online shopping. In that sense, the most frequent complaint is non-compliance with delivery times or that the product is not what was requested,” Osvaldo Riopedre, from the Association for the Defense of Consumers and Users of Argentina (Adecua).
According to Riopedre, there is a great lack of consumer education: “They do not know, for example, that if I buy something online I have 10 days after receiving it to return it.”
The lawyer listed other problems related to virtual transactions: “Sometimes there is no stock and there is no real channel of exchange with the seller, who does not respond or takes time to do so. Sometimes even Mercado Libre does not respond and has responsibility because it is the intermediary “.
For the specialist, it is not enough to return the money to the buyer, because the return is delayed and the amount paid loses value.
“At the Hot Sale I bought a stove and when they brought it one of the burners it did not work. It cost me horrors to have it replaced. They wanted me to wait for the service but I was not paying attention because of the insulation, so I ran the risk that I would lose it. guarantee, “María Loiácono, a consumer affected by a purchase made in the midst of the pandemic, told Télam.
“In recent months I bought everything online. Some fanny packs that I bought in March arrived last week and in all this time the seller did not reply a single message. I paid for a lamp and they had no stock and the next day it was more expensive, and some products did not arrive at my house but at a branch of the Argentine Mail, which is not even the closest to my house, “said Mercedes Robles, another consumer from the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Balvanera.
Among the complaints registered in Adecua due to user inquiries, the breach of the guarantee or problems with the transfer of the product to service due to restrictions in circulation are also repeated.
In the entity they say that at the beginning of the pandemic the concern was in the payment of fees for gyms, schools and graduate trips, services that were not provided or were provided under other conditions.
“In the contracts a pandemic was not foreseen and there are also no provisions of the State, which is left to the good will of the parties,” they point out in Adecua, and they recommend negotiating individually or resorting to some of the State Defense agencies. consumer.
For his part, Héctor Polino, founder of the NGO Consumidores Libres, agrees on the problems related to online purchases: “There are delays and they do not meet deadlines, or the conditions of sale are changed because they offer fixed fees and are billed with interests”.
However, Polino stressed that these issues concern the youngest, who are the ones who have the tools to initiate claims online, but that there is another universe of issues that afflict older adults, who are the most vulnerable since sometimes they do not know make virtual complaints.
“The biggest sometimes buy at exorbitant prices because in this context they cannot walk to look for offers, with the risk of catching coronavirus. They pay for prepaid medicine and do not know how to manage video consultations or online prescriptions, with which they end up buying their medicines in pharmacies without a discount, “explained the former Socialist deputy.
Telam
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