He said Rogelio Villarreal knew nothing about French jeweler Cartier when an ad appeared on his Instagram feed last December. He clicked on it, scrolling through pages selling jewelry and other luxury items, including handbags, watches and necklaces, each costing thousands of dollars.
Then Mr. Villareal, who lives in Mexico, noticed a pair of earrings: slender 18-karat rose gold cuffs set with diamonds, priced at just 237 Mexican pesos, or about $13.
“I was surprised to see how much the necklaces cost etc. and I said, 'Someday,' until I saw the earrings,” Mr. Villarreal, 27, said. write on social networks. “I swear I broke out in a cold sweat.”
He bought two pairs. The price of the earrings was then adjusted on the Cartier website to 237,000 pesos – more than $13,000 USD.
The sale began a months-long dispute between Mr. Villareal, a surgical resident from the northern state of Tamaulipas, and Cartier, with hundreds of social media users watching — some cheering, others taunted – and even a Mexican senator weighed in on the dispute. But Mr. Villarreal said Friday that he received the earrings at a heavily discounted price and noted that he had someone special in mind to be their recipient.
“I'm very excited,” he said, “especially for my mother. Those earrings are for her.”
The sweet deal did not come without some resistance.
Within a week of the purchase, Mr. Villarreal said, Cartier began a series of attempts to cancel the order, initially saying the earrings were unavailable.
When Mr. Villarreal made no move to cancel the order, he began receiving phone calls from company representatives.
They told him that “the earrings I ordered were not at the right price, that's why they wanted to cancel the order and because it was inconvenient they would give me a gift,” he said.
According to an email to Mr. Villarreal, as “compensation,” the company then offered “a gesture from the house of Cartier” — a complimentary bottle of Cartier Cuvée champagne and a leather Cartier item.
He decided to refuse the gifts and fought back by using the contact form on the company's website for a quote. federal consumer protection law in Mexico It says that a supplier of goods can be taken to court “for failing to respect the terms and conditions” when purchasing a product or service.
Cartier did not respond to several requests for comment.
Mr. Villarreal found it Terms and conditions for sale on Cartier's Mexican website, which states that any disputes can be referred to the Federal Prosecutor's Office for Consumers for “mediation.”
So he did it. He filed a complaint with the Matamoros branch of the federal consumer protection agency.
The agency has a role similar to the Federal Trade Commission in the United States, which has a history of intervening on behalf of consumers when retailers change listed prices after a sale.
In February, the consumer body invited consumers to participate a class action lawsuit against Sony, which canceled the order for the PlayStation 5 console that the company has offered for sale on its website in Mexico at a 30% discount.
Consumer protection laws are so prominent in Mexico that people are using social media to draw attention to false prices on Amazon and other retailer sites in widely viewed and shared posts. , according to El Economistaa newspaper in Mexico City that specializes in financial news.
Mr. Villarreal said that the consumer agency had summoned Cartier for arbitration and that the government had made several attempts to mediate a settlement. Agency officials said they cannot share information about an open case with anyone other than the parties involved.
Jorge López Zozaya, a corporate lawyer in Mexico City, said if the consumer protection agency finds a company at fault, it can impose fines or other penalties, but cannot force the company to comply. according to the price listed by the company. If an agreement cannot be reached, either party can ask a judge to resolve the complaint.
Zozaya said Mexican law does not extend consumer protections if the listed price is clearly erroneous.
“If this case goes to court, perhaps everything will be resolved in favor of Cartier,” Mr. Zozaya said.
But there seems to be a truce on the issue. Ahead of a consumer agency conciliation hearing next week, Mr. Villarreal said on Monday that he had received notice from Cartier that his order would be fulfilled and then announced delivery of the cotton pair. ears on Friday. The deal could not be confirmed with Cartier or the agency.
“The war is over,” he wrote in English in a social media post on Monday.
Mr. Villarreal said on Friday that the earrings had arrived and he shared a photo consists of two small boxes wrapped in paper with a wax seal. “Once upon a time in December,” he wrote in the social media post.
Some users applauded his persistence in getting Cartier to comply with the terms of his purchases, while others, including a Mexican senator, accused him of abusing the system. consumer protection system for private profit.
“Taking advantage of mistakes to cause damage to others is wrong” wrote Lilly Télleza senator from the state of Sonora, added, “even if the law is in your favor.”
Mr. Villarreal said he was happy the ordeal was over and that he would sign a complaint settlement agreement with the consumer protection agency.
Elda Cantu Contribution report from Mexico City.
