Brazil by bus

Your point is.

Now that I think about it a bit more, I don't think the government charges any taxes at all on incoming international money. The 6% is on outgoing money (not all, but most consumer transfers, such as cash exchange or card use).

Ontopic: I don't think it's very fair to make fun of the OP. Yes, this forum repeatedly advises people to buy tickets at the bus station, where it's cheaper. But this third party is clearly ripping people off with a huge upmark. I have bought plenty of bus tickets online, and get charged a minor administration fee. It is not insane to expect your service to have a cost, but that that cost be reasonable. The only thing the OP didn't do is verify the scruples of this third party service. Sure, he/she should have checked, but it's not a completely stupid mistake as some here are implying. Also, this post is clearly aimed at helping future tourists avoid this shitty service, something we should be applauding instead of bashing. Lets not act as if this is some glorious victory of Brazilian inventiveness. It's a shitty con artist who should be chased out of business.

Thanks, andrew, it is nice to see that there is somebody with brains on line, not just jokers (or BBT employees). Once again: arriving from Paraguay, we got the information that the bus prices are in Brazil far higher than in neighbouring countries. We were ready to pay more and avoid a trip to the bus station (let's call it Gringo tax).but not ready to pay double price, though in a hurry to get a certain bus to Floripo. The point is, that there is no information about these extra extra extra charges on their web site. That's all, just to inform further BrazilBusTravel website users, who will, as they mailed to me, try to improve their sevice. I do my best, too.

If the OP is serious about his complaint, he should bring a case with Procon (but probably he won't put in that effort).

Of course that's never going to happen. I'm not sure Procon even exists outside of SP, but even if they do make it to SP, you started talking about shitty customer service; Procon (and most other government organizations) are great at that! You really expect a tourist to stand in a poupatempo for a couple of hours to register a complaint about 50 USD or so, that Procon will do absolutely nothing with?! (probably especially considering that, being a poupatempo, the first question the bored desk clerk will ask after it's finally their turn is: "what is your CPF?")

EDIT: bwahahaha, talking about customer service, I found Procon's online service. It only accepts complaints during office hours. Rir pra não chorar!

But after verifying it a couple of times with different buses, I have now registered a complaint on ReclameAqui. Doesn't do much, but I saw they answered someone else's complaint there. So hopefully they see it and it scares the shit out of them. I looked at registering the complaint on Cadastur as well, but their online system doesn't seem to work.

I honestly don’t know who Procon works for; can’t tell if it stands for consumers’ rights or for unscrupulous, deceitful companies. It is hard enough for a Brazilian to file a complaint there, let alone for a tourist.

Which is why some warning about ticket companies like “BrazilBusTravel” (or whatever they’re called) wouldn’t hurt.

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