Six Puerto Marqués Restaurants Sanctioned

(Acapulco, JG 29 December) The Consumer Protection Division of the Federal Attorney General’s office (PROFECO) has fined six restaurants in Puerto Marqués for price gouging during the high tourist season. Under the consumer protection law, the establishments can be shut down or fined anywhere from $150 to $500,000 pesos. The main complaint was that the restaurants charged prices in excess of those posted in the establishments or appearing on the menus. Iván Reyes Barroso, the local representative of the federal agency, said that complaints were received against 12 restaurants, and that, upon investigation, 6 would be sanctioned. They were charging tourists twice or three times the posted prices. Others charged customers in accordance with the size of the automobile they were driving. “The remaining six were warned, and if they do not change their practices, they will be closed down,” he said.

In all of Acapulco, PROFECO has received forty comments from tourists so far in the high season. Half of them were favorable, according to the local agency head. The majority of the complaints were made against eating establishments. Three were registered against hotels for overcharging visitors.