Americanas: what you need to know before clicking “buy”

The disclosure of a BRL 20 billion shortfall at Americanas, which led the company to urgent judicial recovery, leaves consumers with doubts regarding purchases on the company’s website.

But, in the midst of everything that is happening, is Americanas still safe to make purchases, whether on the website or in the physical store?

Guilherme Farid, chief of staff at Procon-SP, says yes. According to him, the agency forwarded a notification to Americanas asking for clarification on how this financial and accounting situation affects the consumer’s day-to-day life.

“The company responded by saying that the consumer’s routine will not be affected. So, there is an official statement from the company to the consumer protection and defense agency ”, he clarified.

Procon also carried out an analysis of the complaints registered by the company from 2021 until now. “In 2023, comparing the equivalent quarters of each year with the quarters of the following year, we found no discrepancies in the percentage of complaints or reasons for complaints. So the company maintained the number of complaints for the same reasons,” he explained.

Farid points out that the suspension of the company’s debts has already been defined and, now, it has filed for judicial recovery. “The purpose of this resource is to renegotiate credits. This impacts suppliers, not consumers.”

According to information from Idec (Brazilian Institute of Consumer Protection), judicial recovery does not remove the rights provided for in the Consumer Protection Code. This legal figure (judicial recovery) only aims to guarantee some economic balance for the finances of a legal entity, which will continue to exist and operate normally during this process. Thus, the company continues to have a legal obligation to guarantee all rights to customers.

According to the Procon spokesperson, the body will monitor the company’s complaints more closely, to verify whether, in fact, there is an increase or not in complaints. “All the company’s social networks will be monitored to the point of identifying an increase in complaints or not, and that too. We will follow up with a magnifying glass in the next few days to check for any abnormalities”.

However, Farid warns that if the consumer notices any difficulty in contacting the company, does not receive delivery or takes a long time, he must file a complaint. “We need the customer to help both the press and Procon to supervise the company. And he helps by complaining on social media and filing a complaint with Procon. Any rising curve will draw our attention and will be subject to a new notification and a new clarification to the population, either via the press, that is, via an official note from Procon”.

Idec stated that consumers can buy from Americanas without worry. “The company remains obliged to deliver the products, to meet the deadlines, to return the amounts in case of regret (cancellation within the legal period), to maintain a good relationship with the consumer and to fulfill all the obligations imposed by the Law”.

To CNN, Americanas confirmed that the consumer will not be impacted by the current scenario and that it continues to operate normally. The retailer also says that the objective of the judicial recovery request is precisely “the maintenance of the operation, jobs, tax payments and good relationship with suppliers and creditors in general.”

Read the full statement from Americana

“Americanas SA informs that it filed its request for Judicial Reorganization today at the 4th Corporate Court of Rio de Janeiro. Given the company’s Judicial Reorganization request, Americanas Management announces that it will continue to operate normally within the new judicial reorganization rules, one of the main objectives of which is to maintain jobs, pay taxes and maintain a good relationship with its employees. suppliers and creditors and investors in general.

To this end, the group of reference shareholders of the company informed the Chairman of the Board of Directors that it intends to maintain the company’s liquidity at levels that allow the proper functioning of the operation of all stores, its digital channel, Americanas.com, of AME and its affiliates. Through this announcement, we ask the engagement of all employees in this new phase and especially the suppliers with whom we have historical relationships. The history of Americanas continues with determination towards a new phase, with a commitment to society and a willingness to build solutions that may serve the company’s creditors.”