People can complain all they want about cost of living and increases but no way they can afford to move back to the USA. Maybe some other non-desirable city around the world but nothing that can match the quality of life here.
Sounds great! Will fill out the survey. Never can have too much info.
How do you source the people in it? Generally now mostly finding from word of mouth from friends that already use them. I guess if it was like a true Yelp like set up. So many flaky providers in BA that are not consistent or offer good service one time then terrible the next. Also the fear is with providers that are only providing services to expats I have found their prices tend to be higher than people that cater to locals. That is a big issue over the years I have seen.
Exactly. I tend to try to find vendors or professionals that don't tend to work with a lot of expats. Case in point I made the mistake of giving my handyman's contact info to a few Americans that moved to BA. Then when I went to use him again his prices doubled more than what general inflation would cause it to go up. He was upcharging so many gringos that he didn't want to charge fair prices. You see that a lot with people that start working with expats and gringos.
Great question.
That is true, but I argue that a directory like this would end up being a net positive in the long term.
That is what I currently do now. Just look around on Reddit or FB groups (the only thing I use FB for).
I think in normal countries these directories can work. Here in BA things don't work like normal countries for the most part. I don't think anyone would want to go to public hospital. I heard the same thing they are scary! Think it can be handy. I have the same experience as Vince and Betsy. I never give out my contacts for things to expats because inevitably the same thing happens. The people jack up the rates and then become less dependable.
Funny my girlfriend says the same thing. I have noticed the same thing with introducing people to expats. It has always backfired on me. Case in point I had a good dependable maid that was really struggling. I wanted to help her out and ran into someone that was renting a place. I shared her contact info and then that person shared her whatsapp with a lot of people and now she raised her prices 2X and it is difficult for me to get her to clean and I'm the one that gave her contact info out.
Think it can be good for higher end one time things like realtors, lawyers, doctors but I agree with the others that generally service type stuff the prices just skyrocket and then have to seek other places. Even places like co-working the prices can skyrocket where it doesn't make sense for locals and the businesses cater only to expats or tourists which does not make sense for people wanting to pay local prices. See this everywhere there are tourists and expats going. From beauty salons to getting my nails done. Obviously you see it in restaurants and cafes. Think that very quickly people will be looking for new places because prices will be expensive.
This ^^. I would probably use information but would not want to give it. Once I find someone good I try not to give out their info. I know it is selfish but every time I have it has backfired with prices skyrocketing.
🤣🤣🤣 That has happened to me too! One thing that is different here vs other countries is usually there is more gratitude if someone helps you but here I have gotten burned several times helping someone only to have them not remember it. Same thing happened with a lady that was cleaning and cooking. I shared it with a few people to help her and it backfired.
I'm sure people would like FREE. 🤣 I would check it out but I would worry about the other thing people mentioned. I am not sure I would go to places targeted to expats. I went to get a haircut in Soho and it was like triple the cost of other places. Not sure if that was tourists. I didn't see tons of tourists in it when I went to get a haircut. It was all locals speaking Spanish but the area maybe made it inflated. I stayed in Soho part of my trip and then Recoleta and I much preferred Recoleta and the cost of everything went down once I got out of Soho.
Did you say free? Love me some free stuff.
Wow! Hope your gf is ok. Is she ok? Curious why you went to a public hospital first? Are prices that much lower for public vs. private? Did you leave because of the long wait time? How much did you have to pay at the private hospital? And what did they do?
sales were ok, but nothing to write home about honestly. This is why I was thinking of the directory model, I found this one in the Czech republic that seems to be working well: https://www.expats.cz/directory so I thought about creating that for Argentina.
She's ok now, thanks for asking! We went to the public one first because it was Christmas Eve (24th) and not a lot of stuff was open - and apparently, this hospital was 24/7 and regarded as one of the best ones in the city. However we waited for one hour and there were almost no staff on duty - it was quite surreal to see. We then went to a private hospital we found (can't remember the name, in Villa Crespo I think) and paid around $50 for a consult with a specialist. Luckily, she just needed some meds and now she's doing great 🙂
Glad she is ok. That is always stressful. I assume she had no insurance? Still seems like a decent price although relatives tell me all the prices of things are going up without insurance. I have kids so have to go with coverage while in BA.We are in the USA now and prices are much higher here.
thanks! yeah no insurance. The price is ok, it seems to be the average for an initial consult now.
Glad your novia is ok. What travel insurance company do you use @Argentina Expat Is it recommended?
Got it. Thanks. Yes there are various companies that sell travel insurance. Was just wondering but I was looking for my sister that is American.
I hope you're girlfriend is ok. I've only been to a public hospital once. When I got married in Buenos Aires they required a bloodtest and you had to go to a public hospital. I'm not sure if they still require that but the public hospital was terrible. There were people lined up all over. We had OSDE and always went to the private hospitals and they are really great. I would avoid public hospitals if you can.
Something that people might want to consider is this Amex Platinum US Dollar Currency card. The bank is in the UK but I have had this card for 25 years. It's great! The insurance is incredible on it. The card is only $550 USD per year but the travel benefits are out of this world good. I just have the card for the insurance benefits. I can't tell you how many tens of thousands in benefits I've gotten with it over the past 25 years.
