Argentina - Los Cardones in BA: Good show/bad waiter

So I went to Los Cardones to see a peña [after a visit to Salta, I was hooked on peñas]. The show was awesome, however, the waiter tried a to scam me. Here's what happened

I order a bottle of wine off the menu based on the waiter's recommendation. He brings the wine, opens it, and leaves. No presentation "here is your bottle of ___." We drink the wine at the table and the empty bottle is removed. The show ends and the bill comes. The wine now costs twice as much as what it said on the menu. After a bit of questioning, the waiter explains that he brought a bottle of "X" to the table - what? The order was for a bottle of "Y," the bottle the waiter picked out from the list on the menu. But the bottle is gone and there is no proof of what was actually on the table. At this point, I don't know what the waiter brought, but I do know what was ordered. The waiter insists that he brought "X" and the price is the price. The couple at the next table sees what is going on and offers to help with some translation issues [adequate Spanish not nearly fluent]. The couple gets me a copy of the menu and asks the waiter which bottle he brought to the table. HA! [so I think :eek:] The bottle that was allegedly brought to the table, the one listed on the bill, isn't even on the menu. Now I'd like to be able to just order a bottle of AR wine off the top of my head, but that is a skill I just don't have - I wasn't doing any off menu ordering. The waiter still isn't budging. The "manager" (?) comes over and offers the same story. We chat about what is and what isn't on the menu and compare that to what is on the bill. This scam just isn't working this time (?) and the price is changed back to the original amount. All ends well. Luckily.


Is this common, switching bottles and/or prices of wines? I am heading back to BA in ~3 weeks - do I need to be a wine label hawk? This trick was new to me and I was caught off guard. :( [just wasn't something I expected to happen - my guard must have been lowered b/c everyone else was so nice]


Cheers -

So I went to Los Cardones to see a peña [after a visit to Salta, I was hooked on peñas]. The show was awesome, however, the waiter tried a to scam me. Here's what happened

I order a bottle of wine off the menu based on the waiter's recommendation. He brings the wine, opens it, and leaves. No presentation "here is your bottle of ___." We drink the wine at the table and the empty bottle is removed. The show ends and the bill comes. The wine now costs twice as much as what it said on the menu. After a bit of questioning, the waiter explains that he brought a bottle of "X" to the table - what? The order was for a bottle of "Y," the bottle the waiter picked out from the list on the menu. But the bottle is gone and there is no proof of what was actually on the table. At this point, I don't know what the waiter brought, but I do know what was ordered. The waiter insists that he brought "X" and the price is the price. The couple at the next table sees what is going on and offers to help with some translation issues [adequate Spanish not nearly fluent]. The couple gets me a copy of the menu and asks the waiter which bottle he brought to the table. HA! [so I think :eek:] The bottle that was allegedly brought to the table, the one listed on the bill, isn't even on the menu. Now I'd like to be able to just order a bottle of AR wine off the top of my head, but that is a skill I just don't have - I wasn't doing any off menu ordering. The waiter still isn't budging. The "manager" (?) comes over and offers the same story. We chat about what is and what isn't on the menu and compare that to what is on the bill. This scam just isn't working this time (?) and the price is changed back to the original amount. All ends well. Luckily.


Is this common, switching bottles and/or prices of wines? I am heading back to BA in ~3 weeks - do I need to be a wine label hawk? This trick was new to me and I was caught off guard. :( [just wasn't something I expected to happen - my guard must have been lowered b/c everyone else was so nice]


Cheers -

I have been to Argentina an average of 3+ times a year since 2008 and have never heard of such a scam. On the other hand, I've never been to a show.

Never heard of that one either although I suppose anything is possible. Taking the bottle away before giving you the bill is not how it should be done anyway so they kind of dug a hole for themselves by doing that.

Even out here in the sticks it's always a good idea to scrutinise the bill as mistakes can be made so good for you on spotting it.

Never heard of that one. Yet, I would not be surprised it happened. In all dinners I've to in BA, empty bottles remain on the table until the bill is paid. I am not surprised either if everyone from the waiter to the 'manager' is in the scam.

BA is not a place to lower your guard at all. Sadly, I am sure there is a new scam thought out in BA every day....

--J

I hope my info helps others. The folks really were nice in BA and I need to consciously be less comfortable in my surroundings for my trip back in 2 weeks.

Cheers all

BA is not a place to lower your guard at all. Sadly, I am sure there is a new scam thought out in BA every day....

--J

I beg to differ.....it's nowhere near as bad as you make it out to be.

I beg to differ.....it's nowhere near as bad as you make it out to be.

Apparently you haven't spent too much time in the 'hoods or with calaveras. When I was growing up, and now when I'm in BA, the talk of the day among friends and coworkers was and is who knew of the latest vivada criolla o curro and how to spot it. --J

Nowadays, it is not much different.

--J

I can't say I've ever felt uncomfortable in the city although since renting out our apartment we don't spend as much time in the capital as we used to. Now it's mostly a case of going there doing our business and getting out again all in the space of a few hours.
Before moving here I lived most of my life in Glasgow which has always had the reputation of being a hard city yet I never saw that side of it during my normal daily life. Yes bad things happen in both cities but unless you go looking for it or are extremely unlucky then there's no need to keep looking over your shoulder every time you go walking the streets.

Every city has its share of bad apples. Some places have more than others. Buenos Aires is no Zurich or Vienna, but even NYC has the odd Taxi driver that will scam a first time tourist to the city. Its not a good idea to generalize. It is a good idea to have basic street smarts when you are in Buenos Aires, but as pointed out by Hiddy (perhaps others can chime in also), there is no need to be paranoid and assume that everybody will want to scam you. B

Buenos Aires is still in its infancy as a Tourist City, and yes, many folks dealing with tourists need to understand that its in their (and the city's) best interest to have folks not only come here, but also return... the good news is that overall, today's Buenos Aires has more and better services for visitors than it did 15 years ago, and this trend will continue. Services and businesses serving visitors will continue to improve, and part of that is weeding out the bad apples. The internet is a great tool to warn folks about potential issues to watch out for, so I encourage folks to share their experiences here, good and bad... but please let us be careful with gross generalizations.

I will contact a poster above about editing one of his posts.

Thank you,
Gaucho100K

Buenos Aires is still in its infancy as a Tourist City, and yes, many folks dealing with tourists need to understand that its in their (and the city's) best interest to have folks not only come here, but also return... the good news is that overall, today's Buenos Aires has more and better services for visitors than it did 15 years ago, and this trend will continue.

Indeed.

I may be biased but I can honestly say I've never been scammed in Argentina not even for one peso and I probably pass more for a tourist than a resident.
Keep your wits about you, stay away from dodgy dealings and you'll be fine.

Oh....and don't always recognise a genuine mistake as being a scam.

All,

I want to clarify the following -

If I recall correctly, the incident where the ex-president of Uruguay said about Argentinians being all thieves took place during an interview not realizing the news crew was recording. The ex-president later apologized in person to all Argentinians.

I also want to make a distinction between BA (Capital) and the rest of Argentina. My comments only refer to BA. My country (Argentina) is a beautiful place to visit and to live. Its people are very friendly and always go out of their way to help a fellow human being, including in BA. The majority of its population is highly educated and cosmopolitan. Very much aware of global and local issues.

As Gaucho said, I should not be generalizing and sending the wrong impression. I was referring to the 'rotten apples'. I did not mean to scare everyone or create false sense of fear. In my spare time, I volunteer to help organize tours from the US to Argentina, BA being the primary destination for the most part. Part of my due diligence is to coach people on proper street smarts and some lunfardo. All of them come back raving about the great time they had, longing to catch the next plane back.

BA is an emerging tourist destination that welcomes all for a great time. That is guaranteed.

--J

This thread is going nowhere.

Time to close.