Consumer rights

SUTEL issued a warning to all mobile carriers and granted them six months to outline a plan to improve their customer service.

Costa Rica’s Telecommunications Superintendency (SUTEL) hired a PR firm to help it sell a proposed change in mobile Internet rates in Costa Rica, from speed to amount of data downloaded.

Most of surveyed businesses —81 percent— complied with consumer protection laws requirements, representing an improvement over the previous year when MEIC's study found a compliance of 72 percent.

The Economy Ministry found increases of up to 231 percent in the price of canned calamari, 150 percent in tuna, and 132 percent in palm hearts.

The Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court, or Sala IV, on Monday evening ordered the Telecommunications Superintendency (SUTEL) to conduct a new study on current mobile market conditions that is up-to-date and includes all of the country’s three carriers.

The Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court, or Sala IV, scheduled a hearing on Thursday at 9 a.m. for advocates and opponents of a proposed change in mobile Internet rates, originally scheduled to take effect last month.

Not happy with your bank? Angry customers soon will be able to file complaints with a new Financial Services Ombudsman’s Office, which begins operating in November.

Mother's Day, celebrated on Friday in Costa Rica, is one of the country's most popular – and lucrative – holidays, with some businesses offering month-long special pricing on items and services. But a study released Monday by the Economy Ministry found that more than a quarter of businesses inspected in the San José area failed to follow the rules on promotional sales.

The Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court, or Sala IV, on Friday ordered the suspension of a July 1 hearing at the Telecommunications Superintendency (SUTEL) during which the agency intended to propose that mobile Internet rates be billed according to the amount of transferred data, at ₡0.0075 per-kilobyte downloaded, instead of billing for connection speed.

President Luis Guillermo Solís has asked Guy de Teramond, a former minister of science and technology and one of the pioneers of the Internet in Costa Rica, and Alonso Castro, director of the University of Costa Rica’s Informatics Center, to help him draft an official recommendation regarding a proposed new model for pricing mobile Internet usage.

The Telecommunications Superintendency (SUTEL) on July 1 will hold a public hearing to propose a change in the way carriers charge for mobile Internet services. But angry customers are getting ready to fight back.

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the per-kilogram price of rice in Costa Rica is the seventh highest in the world. The ranking was published in a Rice Market Monitor report released this week.

A comparative study of prices conducted by Costa Rica's Economy Ministry (MEIC) in 48 supermarkets across the country found huge differences in prices of goods that are part of the basic food basket.

The Costa Rican Consumers Association filed complaints against 40 businesses for allegedly using dollar prices without visibly displaying the official exchange rate and for failing to use rates set by the Central Bank.