Got a job offer to relocate to Buenos Aires - Worth it with 3 children? What budget would I need?

[Jenn]

I was scammed in so many ways. Here's a few: Someone paid me in USD 700 cash and it turned out to be counterfeit bills. They are hard to detect, you need to practice. I bought a "refurbished" stainless fridge, and it broke down after a couple of weeks. I had a tech come to repair it, and he said it had been messed with to LOOK like it would work, something with the fluids...but that it could not be repaired in any way. I ordered a couch and bought it on a credit card. When it came, it was the wrong color. The representative who brought it kept insisting it was the right color. It took me quite a while to figure out how to explain to him that the color was wrong. I had maybe 5 Facebook market scams when I tried to buy some furniture used (new stuff of quality is prohibitely expensive). I hired guys with a truck, because no one transports used stuff (usually) - you have to go get it. So, for example, I bought a used patio furniture set, but when my guys arrived to pick it up, there was substantial damage to 2 of the pieces in the set. Not only did the pictures NOT show the damage, but also the seller told me there was no damage at all (sin detalles). Since the guys with the truck drove an hour to get this furniture, she had me in a tight spot, which of course what she wanted to happen. So she started offering discounts if I would still take the furniture. I refused on principle, but of course I had to pay the guys and the truck rental. I COULD TELL YOU 20 STORIES LIKE THESE. Lying is institutionalized here. Even in legal processes! I have a very pricy lawyer for a lawsuit I am in process with, and on the initial complaint he instructed me what to write, and there were several lies! He said this is the way it is done in Argentina. I rented a country home over the holidays, many family members were coming from several countries. Turns out I was charged DOUBLE what similar places were charging. This landlord lied to me in writing and also verbally. He ruined the entire family experience I wanted and I had spent more than USD 20,000, about half of that to him. I have bought things on MercadoLibre that were advertised as returnable, but the seller later refused to let me return them. Almost every transaction here is different than other places. Each one is frought with suspicious or hidden, untruthful information. So, to do things right and protect yourself, it takes much more time to transact. That's why I said what I did about raising 3 little ones. I did that too, and we lived in Italy for a while with no concerns - nothing at all like Argentina. Your time raising and being with your kids without stress and anxiety will be much less in Argentina. Unless you only transact with the expat community, which for me would be virtually impossible. And if possible, probably will cost you double, eating into the "lower costs" you expected. I could write a book.....

My friends in BA said the same thing about scams and mindset of Porteños. That is crazy about the counterfeit bills but I guess you should have been more careful yes? My friends said that with all the scams in BA you have to kind of become a jerk and be suspicious of any transaction. They said that everyone is out to scam you.

By the first few months in they said they couldn't trust most people. And it wasn't just on high dollar things but they said it was almost every encounter from buying fruits at the corner market and they would get quoted higher prices than locals to getting stuff fixed in their apartment to buying stuff.

Some of this stuff @ChaChaK sounds like you should have been more careful. Like renting a place and agreeing to pay for it. You should have done more checking to see what a fair price is. If you agreed to pay for it that sounds like it is on you.

My friends said the same as you that lying is normal there That is CRAZY that a lawyer told you to lie and file a complaint lying. In most countries they would get disbarred!

What is your lawsuit about? I heard the legal system doesn't work so be careful. Thank you for posting your experience. It is helpful to get information like this. What I can't figure out is why in the world would people choose to live here if stuff like this happens all the time? It doesn't sound like a desirable place to live if this goes on all the time.

 

[Wally]

My friends in BA said the same thing about scams and mindset of Porteños. That is crazy about the counterfeit bills but I guess you should have been more careful yes? My friends said that with all the scams in BA you have to kind of become a jerk and be suspicious of any transaction. They said that everyone is out to scam you.

By the first few months in they said they couldn't trust most people. And it wasn't just on high dollar things but they said it was almost every encounter from buying fruits at the corner market and they would get quoted higher prices than locals to getting stuff fixed in their apartment to buying stuff.

Some of this stuff @ChaChaK sounds like you should have been more careful. Like renting a place and agreeing to pay for it. You should have done more checking to see what a fair price is. If you agreed to pay for it that sounds like it is on you.

My friends said the same as you that lying is normal there That is CRAZY that a lawyer told you to lie and file a complaint lying. In most countries they would get disbarred!

What is your lawsuit about? I heard the legal system doesn't work so be careful. Thank you for posting your experience. It is helpful to get information like this. What I can't figure out is why in the world would people choose to live here if stuff like this happens all the time? It doesn't sound like a desirable place to live if this goes on all the time.

It isn't bad once you know people here. I was lucky as my wife is from Argentina and all her family lives here. You learn to only use people that someone recommended that you know.

Judicial system here is very very slow and plagued with corruption. The fact your attorney already is starting out with lies tells you what you are up against.

 

[Charles111]

I was scammed in so many ways. Here's a few: Someone paid me in USD 700 cash and it turned out to be counterfeit bills. They are hard to detect, you need to practice. I bought a "refurbished" stainless fridge, and it broke down after a couple of weeks. I had a tech come to repair it, and he said it had been messed with to LOOK like it would work, something with the fluids...but that it could not be repaired in any way. I ordered a couch and bought it on a credit card. When it came, it was the wrong color. The representative who brought it kept insisting it was the right color. It took me quite a while to figure out how to explain to him that the color was wrong. I had maybe 5 Facebook market scams when I tried to buy some furniture used (new stuff of quality is prohibitely expensive). I hired guys with a truck, because no one transports used stuff (usually) - you have to go get it. So, for example, I bought a used patio furniture set, but when my guys arrived to pick it up, there was substantial damage to 2 of the pieces in the set. Not only did the pictures NOT show the damage, but also the seller told me there was no damage at all (sin detalles). Since the guys with the truck drove an hour to get this furniture, she had me in a tight spot, which of course what she wanted to happen. So she started offering discounts if I would still take the furniture. I refused on principle, but of course I had to pay the guys and the truck rental. I COULD TELL YOU 20 STORIES LIKE THESE. Lying is institutionalized here. Even in legal processes! I have a very pricy lawyer for a lawsuit I am in process with, and on the initial complaint he instructed me what to write, and there were several lies! He said this is the way it is done in Argentina. I rented a country home over the holidays, many family members were coming from several countries. Turns out I was charged DOUBLE what similar places were charging. This landlord lied to me in writing and also verbally. He ruined the entire family experience I wanted and I had spent more than USD 20,000, about half of that to him. I have bought things on MercadoLibre that were advertised as returnable, but the seller later refused to let me return them. Almost every transaction here is different than other places. Each one is frought with suspicious or hidden, untruthful information. So, to do things right and protect yourself, it takes much more time to transact. That's why I said what I did about raising 3 little ones. I did that too, and we lived in Italy for a while with no concerns - nothing at all like Argentina. Your time raising and being with your kids without stress and anxiety will be much less in Argentina. Unless you only transact with the expat community, which for me would be virtually impossible. And if possible, probably will cost you double, eating into the "lower costs" you expected. I could write a book.....

This is horrible.. especially the counterfeit bills. For us we have bought a verification pen to check the validity of US bills. We also examine the bills as best we could and compare with one that we know is legitimate. You are right there are some dishonest people here which is quite unique compared to other countries. We have just started selling out furniture as we are moving out of Argentina and have found foreigners to be the best people to deal with. Good luck.

 

[Charles111]

I just got a job offer to relocate to Argentina. We enjoy traveling and we have relocated several times with my work. Once to Mexico City and another time to São Paulo. I have 3 children. All of them under 6 years old.

Both my husband and I have done a lot of research but we are finding conflicting reports on if it would be a good move for or not. I have work colleagues that previously lived in Buenos Aires just a short time ago in mid-2023 and commented how cheap it was and while I understand prices might have gone up in the meantime, could they have already gone up so drastically in a short amount of time?

What would a decent budget be to live a great quality of life with 5 people in the household including 3 younger kids? What would a comfortable life cost in net take home income each month? We would want to enjoy traveling a bit and have a reasonable budget for entertainment. I heard the locals are friendly with children.

Not sure if you or anyone here are looking for any furniture or TV, speakers... but we are moving and I have just made a post on items we have forsake. It is in the classified section of this forum. Cheers

 

[Bingo]

This is horrible.. especially the counterfeit bills. For us we have bought a verification pen to check the validity of US bills. We also examine the bills as best we could and compare with one that we know is legitimate. You are right there are some dishonest people here which is quite unique compared to other countries. We have just started selling out furniture as we are moving out of Argentina and have found foreigners to be the best people to deal with. Good luck.

Can I ask why you are moving out? How long have you lived in BA? Was it the higher prices that drove you to move? I haven't been here long but I keep meeting foreigners that are leaving and moving. Where are you moving to?

 

[Betsy Ross]

Can I ask why you are moving out? How long have you lived in BA? Was it the higher prices that drove you to move? I haven't been here long but I keep meeting foreigners that are leaving and moving. Where are you moving to?

He just posted that it was for a work opportunity. It seems several expats are leaving. I know a few too. Going on to greener pastures.

C

Thread 'Home furniture for sale.'

Wednesday at 11:36 AM

Hello. We just found this forum and are posting on items we have for sale. We are moving out from Argentina on a new work opportunity abroad.

I'll list the items forsale but it is essential everything we have in the house. We are located near Nordelta Central Commercial. Items are for pick up. If anyone is looking to furnish their place, this will be a great opportunity to pick up some items. They are only about 6-7 months old and unfortunately 🙁 we have to let it go.

1 - Single bed and mattress with mattress protector, blanket and angled pillow. We paid a little more than...

• Charles111
• for sale furniture household items nordelta
• Replies: 1
• Forum: Classifieds

 

[Charles111]

Going on to greener pastures.

C

Thread 'Home furniture for sale.'

Wednesday at 11:36 AM

Hello. We just found this forum and are posting on items we have for sale. We are moving out from Argentina on a new work opportunity abroad.

I'll list the items forsale but it is essential everything we have in the house. We are located near Nordelta Central Commercial. Items are for pick up. If anyone is looking to furnish their place, this will be a great opportunity to pick up some items. They are only about 6-7 months old and unfortunately 🙁 we have to let it go.

1 - Single bed and mattress with mattress protector, blanket and angled pillow. We paid a little more than...

• Charles111
• for sale furniture household items nordelta
• Replies: 1
• Forum: Classifieds

This is exactly it.

 

[James Bond]

This is exactly it.

Seems like a lot of expats are moving out of BA lately. I hear of more and more leaving.

 

[Spend Thrift]

Seems like a lot of expats are moving out of BA lately. I hear of more and more leaving.

I am moving to Rio this year. Or maybe I will try Spain now that I can speak enough Spanish to be dangerous. I hear very good things about Spain. Many Argentines have left Argentina for Spain. I may check it out. I hear it is cheaper than BA now.

 

[Piranha]

That's interesting Mike. Most of my life I've heard about Argentinians being lazy but of course how would I know. My friend in BA was dating a local and at one point she told him "I'm a lazy person from a lazy country". We had a lot of laughs about that.

It is bad here. Very bad and like your friend's girlfriend they won't hide it. I think they will be the first to admit it! I had a friend that needed a job. He was a computer engineer and could work for a foreign company. He would have made a lot of money but he said they would expect him to work long hard hours so he refused. He said he would rather make less and work less.

Strange because as a society they complain a lot about money. But if you give them a chance to work hard and make money they would rather make less and hang out with their bros.

 

[Larry]

Seems like a lot of expats are moving out of BA lately. I hear of more and more leaving.

We don't want to but forced into it with prices sky high!

It is bad here. Very bad and like your friend's girlfriend they won't hide it. I think they will be the first to admit it! I had a friend that needed a job. He was a computer engineer and could work for a foreign company. He would have made a lot of money but he said they would expect him to work long hard hours so he refused. He said he would rather make less and work less.

Strange because as a society they complain a lot about money. But if you give them a chance to work hard and make money they would rather make less and hang out with their bros.

People here prefer not to have money and not have to work much. Not better or worse. I think Americans work too much. Europeans have a lot of vacation. Also have a good work life balance. I wish they would have a little more drive here. I have friends that are always complaining about money. I suggested to one they could do deliveries via Rappi on the weekends and they said they can't work on their free time. 🤣 Not much desire to work here.

 

[earlyretirement]

Lying is institutionalized here. Even in legal processes! I have a very pricy lawyer for a lawsuit I am in process with, and on the initial complaint he instructed me what to write, and there were several lies!

I'd be curious to hear what your lawsuit is regarding but honestly the judicial system here does not work. Corruption and red tape are plagued here. I only had one experience with the judicial system and it was terrible. I have been fortunate that I only had 2 incidents where I had issues with employees. And that is a rarity. At one time I had over 100+ employees in my office working for me. So 2 bad apples is not bad.

But one of them I caught stealing my client list and working with another American to try to steal clients. I immediately fired her. I refused to pay her the required severance. She admitted what she did. My lawyer just advised I pay her the required 1.5 months salary for every year she had been there. I refused on principle and wanted it to serve as a reminder to all the other employees that I wouldn't tolerate dishonesty.

It took over 2 years to go through the legal system. She sued me for not paying her but I wanted to go in front of a judge to shame the employee for stealing. Even if I had to pay her I wanted to go in front of a judge. This was when I had only been in Argentina a few years. I was a bit naive back then to the amount of corruption there is in Argentina.

Every 6 months or so my lawyer would just give me advice to settle it as it would be cheaper. I didn't care. I paid the legal bills to go in front of a judge. We were scheduled for a court date and I was happy. Well, about 2 weeks before the court date, my accountant told me our accounts at our bank were frozen. I asked why? She called the bank and my lawyer and it seems we lost a court case. The date we had scheduled apparently someone paid the judge/court system to reschedule it. We got no notice. My lawyer researched and found that they had forged signatures of court hearing reschedule date. My office was open 365 days a year as we were managing hundreds of properties so I was paying employees a salary to work just the weekends and all holidays. We had cameras all around our office. There was no one that came to sign the legal notice of the reschedule. It was just forged by the courts.

So my lawyer jokingly said, well I will give you the same advice I gave you 2 years ago. You can keep fighting and paying legal bills or you can settle. He said that it's common for lawyers to bribe court officials or judges to do shady things like that. It was a good lesson to me how corrupt the system is in Argentina.

So the advice I will give you @ChaChaK is that the judicial system doesn't work that great. I hope your outcome is different.

I had a similar experience with an employee in Uruguay where I also had a company. I did the same thing there. I found it out in court and I won there. The judicial system is very good there.

 

[travelpro]

Wow thank you everyone for sharing your stories. This is shocking to hear. I heard things were a bit different there but it is shocking after living in Latin America before. We didn't think Mexico was bad at all. By and far most were honest. This sounds scary. We will have to re-evaluate if moving there is a good idea. Thanks.

 

[BA Bound]

You will get totally ripped off and scammed. Continuously. I have worked and lived in more than 10 countries and Argentina has been the worst by far - it is a disaster! I am trilingual and even with no language barrier, I was ripped off (thousands of dollars) my first year in BA. I cannot imagine the pressure of also raising 3 small children in this environment. I suppose if you live in an expat community and only work with expats, you could get by. But chances are that would entail a much higher cost of living than locals.

What other countries have you lived in? What was the second runner up for scams? What are things you like about Argentina?

I was scammed in so many ways. Here's a few: Someone paid me in USD 700 cash and it turned out to be counterfeit bills. They are hard to detect, you need to practice. I bought a "refurbished" stainless fridge, and it broke down after a couple of weeks. I had a tech come to repair it, and he said it had been messed with to LOOK like it would work, something with the fluids...but that it could not be repaired in any way. I ordered a couch and bought it on a credit card. When it came, it was the wrong color. The representative who brought it kept insisting it was the right color. It took me quite a while to figure out how to explain to him that the color was wrong. I had maybe 5 Facebook market scams when I tried to buy some furniture used (new stuff of quality is prohibitely expensive). I hired guys with a truck, because no one transports used stuff (usually) - you have to go get it. So, for example, I bought a used patio furniture set, but when my guys arrived to pick it up, there was substantial damage to 2 of the pieces in the set. Not only did the pictures NOT show the damage, but also the seller told me there was no damage at all (sin detalles). Since the guys with the truck drove an hour to get this furniture, she had me in a tight spot, which of course what she wanted to happen. So she started offering discounts if I would still take the furniture. I refused on principle, but of course I had to pay the guys and the truck rental. I COULD TELL YOU 20 STORIES LIKE THESE. Lying is institutionalized here. Even in legal processes! I have a very pricy lawyer for a lawsuit I am in process with, and on the initial complaint he instructed me what to write, and there were several lies! He said this is the way it is done in Argentina. I rented a country home over the holidays, many family members were coming from several countries. Turns out I was charged DOUBLE what similar places were charging. This landlord lied to me in writing and also verbally. He ruined the entire family experience I wanted and I had spent more than USD 20,000, about half of that to him. I have bought things on MercadoLibre that were advertised as returnable, but the seller later refused to let me return them. Almost every transaction here is different than other places. Each one is frought with suspicious or hidden, untruthful information. So, to do things right and protect yourself, it takes much more time to transact. That's why I said what I did about raising 3 little ones. I did that too, and we lived in Italy for a while with no concerns - nothing at all like Argentina. Your time raising and being with your kids without stress and anxiety will be much less in Argentina. Unless you only transact with the expat community, which for me would be virtually impossible. And if possible, probably will cost you double, eating into the "lower costs" you expected. I could write a book.....

Come on but you have to take some blame on this. Like how can you blame someone when you agreed to pay the rent? How is that a scam if you agreed with the price. No one put a gun to your head. Before you agreed to pay the rent you should have checked what fair prices were or compared other properties to it.

On Mercado Libre if it says you can return it you can. I don't understand how they are cheating you there? I returned plenty of things without problems. Unless I am missing something I am going to call BS on that one.

The rest I agree there are more scams here vs. other places I have traveled but counting on only dealing with expat community is laughable.

 

[Betsy Ross]

On Mercado Libre if it says you can return it you can. I don't understand how they are cheating you there? I returned plenty of things without problems. Unless I am missing something I am going to call BS on that one.

I have never had any problems with returns on Mercado Libre. You can just state what the problem is and Mercado Libre will help you resolve it. If the product says it's returnable and there is a problem you can return it.

 

[earlyretirement]

I have never had any problems with returns on Mercado Libre. You can just state what the problem is and Mercado Libre will help you resolve it. If the product says it's returnable and there is a problem you can return it.

I order stuff on Mercado Libre all the time. I just got done furnishing 5 apartments and we buy a lot of stuff on Mercado Libre because most stores are listed there now. I have returned stuff big and small without issues. Usually there is a process where you have to tell ML that you are going to return it and they will ask why and what the issue was. You put in the reason and then they will approve it.

A few times I had some vendors say my reason wasn't valid. For example, my interior designer bought some sofa cushions and the color was totally off from what they showed online. So I just sent in the photo to Mercado Libre and they credited back the money. They don't give you a refund to your card. What they did for me is deposit cash into my Mercado Pago account.

But I have purchased big items like QLED TV's that were expensive that didn't work and Mercado Libre allowed me to return it. The great thing is the returns process is very good. They ask a reason, and then give you an authorization QR code and you can return it anywhere. They have locations on every few blocks in BA. They delay the refund a bit to receive it and verify that it doesn't work. But within 3 days I had the credit to my Mercado Pago account.

I have never had problems with Mercado Libre returns.

 

[Uncle Wong]

What other countries have you lived in? What was the second runner up for scams? What are things you like about Argentina?


Come on but you have to take some blame on this. Like how can you blame someone when you agreed to pay the rent? How is that a scam if you agreed with the price. No one put a gun to your head. Before you agreed to pay the rent you should have checked what fair prices were or compared other properties to it.

On Mercado Libre if it says you can return it you can. I don't understand how they are cheating you there? I returned plenty of things without problems. Unless I am missing something I am going to call BS on that one.

The rest I agree there are more scams here vs. other places I have traveled but counting on only dealing with expat community is laughable.

Sounds like mistakes were made on both sides.