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Customs hassles at EZE bringing in newish iPhone (I had 2)

Bharat

Well-known member
Is anyone else having any problems at EZE? I went to Miami for Christmas and to load up on some shopping. I can't stand the prices in BA for clothes so I went to many stores like Marshalls and TJ Max. I also bought a new iPhone 17 Pro. I also had my iPhone 16 Pro max that I bought last year. I have not had any problems before at EZE but the customs guy tried to make me pay for having another phone. I explained to him that I purchased it to replace my 16.

My Spanish is not too good. He was asking me to pay $200 to him. He opened up the rest of my suitcases and I just had no clothes but I removed all the tags on them. He kept trying to bring me over to the side and tell me I needed to pay him $200 dollars. I told him that I was not going to pay and I didn't have $200 anyway. He asked me how much I had but I only had some pesos.

He kept searching through my clothes and asked if they were new and how much I spent in them because I had one large suitcase full of new clothes and shoes but the tags were off. I told him they were my clothes. He asked to see my backpack that had my laptop and an iPad too. He kept trying to make a big deal about all of it and tried to say I was going to sell them. I told him they were my personal belongings for work and I turned them on to show him they were not new and had my things on them.

He was starting to get annoyed and asked to see my wallet and he could see that I did have dollars and he was mad I lied to him. I finally asked to talk to a supervisor and he waived me through for further inspection. They finally let me go without paying anything. I thought these days were over with this kind of fraud. My friend told me they did this a lot before many years ago. I hope I don't have to go through this every time I enter Argentina with multiple devices.
 
Terrible. @Uncle Wong you are correct that this was happening a lot when I first moved to Buenos Aires and even after it when I brought in electronics. They usually gave up if you protested too much. They are mostly targeting locals not foreigners but a friend told me a similar thing happened to her coming in last month. I am sure they are isolated incidents.
 
You should report this and officially complain against this employee. Now everything is recorded 24/7 so if you tell them the time and day they can research it and will fire that employee. I think the last thing the Milei government wants is reports of fraud like this. Not a good look and he is all for firing employees like this.

 
Is anyone else having any problems at EZE? I went to Miami for Christmas and to load up on some shopping. I can't stand the prices in BA for clothes so I went to many stores like Marshalls and TJ Max. I also bought a new iPhone 17 Pro. I also had my iPhone 16 Pro max that I bought last year. I have not had any problems before at EZE but the customs guy tried to make me pay for having another phone. I explained to him that I purchased it to replace my 16.

My Spanish is not too good. He was asking me to pay $200 to him. He opened up the rest of my suitcases and I just had no clothes but I removed all the tags on them. He kept trying to bring me over to the side and tell me I needed to pay him $200 dollars. I told him that I was not going to pay and I didn't have $200 anyway. He asked me how much I had but I only had some pesos.

He kept searching through my clothes and asked if they were new and how much I spent in them because I had one large suitcase full of new clothes and shoes but the tags were off. I told him they were my clothes. He asked to see my backpack that had my laptop and an iPad too. He kept trying to make a big deal about all of it and tried to say I was going to sell them. I told him they were my personal belongings for work and I turned them on to show him they were not new and had my things on them.

He was starting to get annoyed and asked to see my wallet and he could see that I did have dollars and he was mad I lied to him. I finally asked to talk to a supervisor and he waived me through for further inspection. They finally let me go without paying anything. I thought these days were over with this kind of fraud. My friend told me they did this a lot before many years ago. I hope I don't have to go through this every time I enter Argentina with multiple devices.
Sad to hear about this. This was common before when I first started coming to Argentina. I hope this doesn't start again.

Interesting timing. Not sure if they are cleaning house or the new people in charge are causing new problems.

Probably just rogue employees. Very easy to spot who it was with videos.
 
I thought these days were behind us. Long time visitor to Buenos Aires and this was common decades ago but very surprised to hear this. Sounds like a few bad apples but report them and they would immediately get terminated.

Interesting timing. Not sure if they are cleaning house or the new people in charge are causing new problems.

They are probably getting rid of these last bad apples.
 
Is anyone else having any problems at EZE? I went to Miami for Christmas and to load up on some shopping. I can't stand the prices in BA for clothes so I went to many stores like Marshalls and TJ Max. I also bought a new iPhone 17 Pro. I also had my iPhone 16 Pro max that I bought last year. I have not had any problems before at EZE but the customs guy tried to make me pay for having another phone. I explained to him that I purchased it to replace my 16.

My Spanish is not too good. He was asking me to pay $200 to him. He opened up the rest of my suitcases and I just had no clothes but I removed all the tags on them. He kept trying to bring me over to the side and tell me I needed to pay him $200 dollars. I told him that I was not going to pay and I didn't have $200 anyway. He asked me how much I had but I only had some pesos.

He kept searching through my clothes and asked if they were new and how much I spent in them because I had one large suitcase full of new clothes and shoes but the tags were off. I told him they were my clothes. He asked to see my backpack that had my laptop and an iPad too. He kept trying to make a big deal about all of it and tried to say I was going to sell them. I told him they were my personal belongings for work and I turned them on to show him they were not new and had my things on them.

He was starting to get annoyed and asked to see my wallet and he could see that I did have dollars and he was mad I lied to him. I finally asked to talk to a supervisor and he waived me through for further inspection. They finally let me go without paying anything. I thought these days were over with this kind of fraud. My friend told me they did this a lot before many years ago. I hope I don't have to go through this every time I enter Argentina with multiple devices.
What a crook. Report.
 
You should report this and officially complain against this employee. Now everything is recorded 24/7 so if you tell them the time and day they can research it and will fire that employee. I think the last thing the Milei government wants is reports of fraud like this. Not a good look and he is all for firing employees like this.

Good to know they have a report hotline to call. When I came through I brought an extra iPhone for my neighbor. They also stopped me. I told them I just bought it for myself. If you bring in extra items, I would recommend removing it from the box and setting up the phone so it isn't the default screen with a brand new phone. They made me turn it on to show them it wasn't in the default new phone. They are trying to prevent people bringing in items and selling them.
 
Back in the day I had an issue when I brought in iPhones or iPads for friends. But have not had problems for the past 10 years. Key is to make sure to remove all the boxes and it is a good idea to set up the phone in case they turn it on. Same with iPad or computers. I just tell them I have one for personal and one for work.
 
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