Shoppers won’t be the only eagle-eyed people out and about this long holiday weekend as retailers offer a bevy of discounts in Buen Fin – Mexico’s equivalent to Black Friday.
Officials from the Consumer Protecetion Agency (Profeco) will be setting up booths in Guadalajara’s Gran Plaza and Plaza Galerias to attend to complaints from the public.
Profeco warns buyers that not all outlets that announce huge discounts –sometimes as much as 60 percent – have honorable intentions.
The agency says it will hear complaints from shoppers who can prove that a discount on offer is fraudulent, and that the price of the item or service has not been lowered from its regular cost by the percentage advertised.
Profeco will also dispatch 30 inspectors to check prices at outlets in Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta and Lagos de Moreno.
The financial services watchdog, the Comisión Nacional para la Protección y Defensa de los Usuarios de Servicios Financieros (Condusef), has also warned shoppers to be wary of card cloning during the Buen Fin weekend.
More cases of credit or debit card cloning are reported during this period that at any other period of the year, according to Ana Estela Duran Rico, Condusef’s delegate in Jalisco. Last year, around 1,200 cases were reported during the four-day shopping splurge.
Always keep your card in sight and view the charging procedure, Duran advises. Do not allow says staff to take your card away to make the charge.
Around 32,000 business throughout Mexico have signed up to Buen Fin and pledged to offer discounts to customers.
The offers will not only be at stores. Online purchases may also be discounted. Several airlines have promised to slash some of their flight prices.
Buen Fin takes place from Friday, November 13 to Monday, November 16 (the holiday marking the Mexican Revolution).