An Uruguayan friend of ours said there are 3 prices in Uruguay.
- Regular Price
- Gringo Price
- Dumb Gringo Price
She also said; "It's perfectly natural to start out with the dumb Gringo price… Because there are a lot of dumb Gringos here who will pay."
It was said in jest, but at the same time there's a lot of truth to that statement.
A lot of people here try to take advantage of unsuspecting Gringos… Yes, I say a lot because of the amount of people compared to the population.
- Real Estate Agents – There are some good real estate agents here… But there are some that aren't. Get referrals.
- "Relocation Specialists" – There are some scum bags down here who will charge you outlandish fees, then take your money and documents and run… Friends of ours just had their birth certificates and all of their important documents taken, along with a chunk of cash they paid for a "relocation specialist" to help them.
- Restaurants – Try to use the Spanish menus where you eat. We've run across a couple of places that gave us English menus where the prices were higher than in the Spanish ones.
- Waiters – When you point out that you didn't order that extra UYU $250 peso dish, they will take it right off… This has happened to us a couple of times.
- Taxi Drivers – Taxi drivers here seem to love to take us for rides or attempt to anyway. This kind of sucks because you are at their mercy if you don't know where you are going. The best way I've found to avoid this is to sit in the front seat next to the driver and hand him written detailed directions of where to go.
- Store Clerks – Either a lot of people here have a hard time counting change or they know exactly what they are doing. What I mean by that is, I've had numerous cashiers short me 5-10 pesos… I typically catch it and I get my money back. It's not that 5-10 pesos is a lot of money, it's the principal behind it.
- Feria Vendors – If a vendor at the open air market can hustle you, they will. Always ask the price when it's not marked. You can usually talk the vendor down in price too.
You can go on the boards at Sociedad Southron and read about people getting taken advantage of.
While, some of these instances are avoidable… There are some things that just aren't.
What kind of Gringo Discounts have you received?
Shirley says
Cashiers short you? I had one cashier run half a block, in the winter, to chase me down after I absent-mindedly neglected to wait for the $500 note that was part of my change.
BrianJUY says
Hi Shirley… That’s cool cashier…
Just this past Monday I was over at Fed Ex by Montevideo Shopping, I walked by a little store and grabbed a beer. The price was $44, I didn’t have a bottle to return so I should have been charged $54… The girl tried to charge me $60 pesos… Then reluctantly gave me 6 pesos after I pointed it out to her…
When we first moved in, one of the girls at the store across the street from us tried to short me by $10 every time I would go in there… The owner caught her doing it to me and yelled at her, I never saw her again after that… Everyone who works at the little store across the way from us now are awesome…
But yeah, it’s happened to me at a few stores by younger clerks… It’s annoying more than anything…
Irish Elaine says
Try getting a taxi in Buenos Aires, they’re much worse! I have to say I trust the taxi drivers here. I find when they go a few blocks out of the way its usually because they know something – that street floods easily in the rain or there’s lots of busy junctions on that street or lots of traffic etc. Sometimes I forget that the street I expect him to go up is one way….I realised that mistake even more when I rented a car recently, everything is one way!
As for the “singling out foreigners” thing I have to say I really haven’t found that. In fact most Uruguayans seem to be exceptionally curious about me. They always want to know where I’m from, why I’m here etc.
Now the real estate agents (inmobiliarias) are absolute weapons to deal with, but I think their unfriendliness and all round unhelpfulness is common whether you’re foreign or local. Like you said, best to go with someone who has been recommended, but that’s the case in many places right?
Oh and speaking of discounts, if you’re buying anything relatively expensive or paying in hotels its usually worth asking if there is a discount for paying in cash (en efectivo) rather than in credit card. I’d say more than 50% of the time there is. This is true all across Argentina too. I got up to 40% off my hotel in Iguazu AND El Calafate by paying in cash! Now there’s a discount worth mentioning!
BrianJ | Online Business Blogger says
Elaine,
You’re a cute little Irish girl, of course people are going to be curious about you… Everybody love the Irish… 😉
The taxi drivers in BsAs… LOL, we had one who wouldn’t stop when we got to where we were going, he drove for an extra 2 blocks with me yelling at him to stop (in Spanish of course).
The taxi drivers I’ve had the most problems with are the ones at the cab stand across the street from us (probably because we live a couple of doors down from a nice hotel and they’re used to tourist.) And picking them up in the “touristy” spots in Centro & Ciudad Vieja…
I have to go to Fed Ex about once a week, it’s over by Montevideo Shopping… I know the route like the back of my hand, it’s a 60-65 peso cab ride from my place… I had a taxi driver swing out towards Tres Cruces (which is the total wrong way)… I had him stop the cab and got another one…
That’s great info about paying for cash at the hotels… When we first got here we got a little discount, but nothing like 40% off… That’s rad… Thanks a lot…