What to know about consumer protections in Mexico

Humberto and Elsa Valdez are breathing a bit easier after getting a check from Grupo Concordia.

It’s the first payment of the $74,000 that the Tijuana real estate company agreed to give back after it couldn’t deliver the Rosarito Property the couple wanted to buy.

In March, Grupo Concordia’s corporate attorney Jose Roberto Figueroa explained to NBC 7 Responds the pandemic forced Mexico to shut everything down for almost two years.

Humberto says despite the delays, they kept making $1,000 payments every month.

“We had to stretch our bottom line really, really hard,” he said.

In the end, the construction company in charge of the project was unable to continue, according to Grupo Concordia.

Just a couple of weeks ago, the couple received the first of five payments from Grupo Concordia’s office in San Ysidro.

“After we showed her the paper, she went to the back office and then cut a check really fast and that was kind of nice,” Humberto said.

After we spoke to him and his wife, we received calls and emails from other families claiming they were also having trouble getting their money back from the company.

“Just because they live outside of Mexico, they shouldn’t feel like they have no support,” said Oscar Zarate, regional director of the top national consumer agency in Mexico known as PROFECO.

He noted that in about a year-and-a-half, the agency received at least 15 complaints against Grupo Concordia. It helped seven reach a resolution with the company.

“Without a doubt, PROFECO will intervene on behalf of consumers,” Zarate said.

However, the agency can’t do anything unless the consumer calls first to either file a complaint followed by mediation or accuses a company of wrongdoing, which triggers an investigation.

Zarate said it has not received any accusations of wrongdoing against Grupo Concordia, so they haven’t looked into what may be going on. He did say, however, the agency is evaluating the 15 complaints, which may be enough to trigger an investigation despite not having any formal accusations of wrongdoing against the company.

Meantime, Humberto and Elsa said they can finally go back to planning their retirement now that they have the first of five payments in their hands.

If you’re thinking about buying property in Mexico, here we tell you what you should know before you do anything south of the border.

If you’re having some trouble with a transaction, here are PROFECO’s dedicated resources and forms for consumers living outside of Mexico with a purchase gone wrong in that country.

NBC 7 Responds reached out to multiple people from Grupo Concordia to ask about the complaints at PROFECO, but no one got back to us.