You’ll recall that I (charitably, I now think) attributed a botched attempt to buy a mattress on Mercado Libre to retrograde Mercury. I’ll get back to that.*
When we arrived in Uruguay in September 2009, we had bought an unfinished house. By the time we were ready for furnishings, there happened to be a sales-tax-free (at some places) weekend. We took advantage of it to avoid an involuntary 23% donation to the government. Turns out the stove we bought was 50 cm wide, but the opening in the countertop 60 cm. Since we had kitchen cabinets built a little taller than standard, the stove was also a bit short. I may lack the resources (and motivation) to restore an antique car, but I have no problem cranking up the table saw and making a little riser and side shelf for the stove.
However, after over eight years, with paint wearing off the front, and the mechanical connection that pulls out oven shelves when you open the door completely shot, I decided it was time for one that both fit the space, and looked good.** And I found one on Mercado Libre:
So I ordered it, said I’d like to pick it up myself in Montevideo (after the mattress fiasco, I don’t want the wrong product delivered to my door).
The seller sent me instructions how to pay. And asked for my phone number to coordinate delivery.
So I went to the bank, withdrew cash, took it to Abitab and paid.
And they called. I asked if I could pick it up the next day. Since they apparently had to deliver to a third-party warehouse, the woman said she’d call me tomorrow with more info.
She didn’t (BTW this is a common theme in Uruguay), so I sent a reminder email that evening. The next morning, I get a message from them: lamentablemente (also a common theme here) we don’t have this stove, but for USD 30 more we can sell you one similar. Or refund your money.
Incompetence and passive acceptance of mediocrity comprise the warp and weft of many, if not most, economic transactions in Uruguay, at least at the retail level. I’ve had years to get used to this. Even so, I was irate. Rather than tell them to give me my money back and insist that I would never buy something else from pond scum like them, I filed a complaint. Said they were doing false advertising, and should not be allowed on Mercado Libre. Maybe someone at Mercado Libre will read it some day, but in the end the message went straight to the vendor.
Before getting to their response, let’s review:
- Vendor offered an item for sale
- I ordered it (“bid on it” in their terminology for some reason)
- They sent payment instructions and accepted payment
- They contacted me to coordinate delivery
- Two days later, tell me they don’t have the product but offer to upsell me something else
And so, what is their response?
– It’s a shame the customer has to have this attitude. After all, he never asked us if we actually had the item in stock.
With that, the issue was closed; I couldn’t reply. So I went back to their listing page, and posted that I’m sorry to have caused a problem. I’m not from the Third World, and in other places companies don’t advertise and accept payment for products they don’t have.
Too harsh? You tell me.
More likely – if you live here – you’ll have similar horror stories. Feel free to vent– beyond having a heroic sense of humor, or devolving to subservient acceptance of abuse and mediocrity, what else do you have besides wanting to break things?
* I now tend to think the vendor never had the mattress he advertised, but hoped we’d be the “acceptance of mediocrity” part of the warp and weft and accept whatever he sent us.
** regarding the stove we now have: between our house, casita, and the house in the country, we have three kitchens to furnish and only two stoves, so the replaced stove will fill a personal need.
I feel your pain. I set up a mercadolibre account a couple years ago, with a password that I use for lots of sites, so there’s no way to forget it, plus Google Chrome “remembers” it and auto-populates the field when I visit the site.
A couple days ago, all of a sudden my password was no longer valid. So, to play their game, I clicked “I Forgot My Password”. It said that my email address did not have an account. So, still playing their game, I assumed that they had somehow deleted my account.
I clicked “Create New Account”, and it said that my email address already had an account.
&()**&%^^@$#$^&%*()*(*$&^%W$%R&*T*&(_)&)(*&&$%W$&^^
Consider yourself blessed it you’re freed of that cesspool 😉 I’ve noted before the lack of technical competence evident in Uruguayan websites.
¿Disponible? That needs to be the first thing you ask a ML seller. I can definitely relate to your frustration but that is how the game is played here. Makes no sense whatsoever to have items listed for sale which you may or may not have in stock but that is how it works. In my short time here, I have learned to not to try to make sense of how things are done because most of the time it doesn’t. Not that easy to do at first but I’ve gotten better at it as more opportunities have presented themselves.
If it wasn’t for the lack of quality goods and services, this place would be heaven on earth!
Thanks for the explanation. My only other experience with them was selling one item, and that worked out very well.
I do note that searching the same stove brought up Barraca Europa’s site, which then linked to ML, where it indicated the sale was “pausada.” So there is at least one vendor on Mercado Libre with integrity (though I have been told that when it comes to service, Barraca Europa – at least in one instance – severely lacked that).
Anyway, I can vaguely grasp the idea of maintaining a “catalog” of items that may or may not be available at the moment. It’s a small market, after all. What I absolutely CANNOT grasp is how a company can take an order, payment, make delivery arrangements, and only then get around to seeing if they actually have the product to sell. Just incredibly stoopid. As is paying for four fletes to twice deliver a product not ordered. But I guess in dealing with the “normal” Uruguayan acceptance of mediocrity, that vendor still can’t grasp why we wouldn’t accept a mattress we didn’t order. After all, we wanted a mattress and they sent one – twice. What’s the problem?
I bet if someone took the time they could gather the numerous stories and anecdotes just from this blog and turn them into at least one season’s worth of material for an hilarious situation comedy. (At least for the expats that is. I have to wonder how funny the locals think the UY marketplace tomfoolery is though)
It can be frustrating for someone on the receiving end that is for sure.