Who do I complain to?
Consumer Protection isn't competent for everything. If your problem is with electricity, water, cell phone service, a bank, or your job, there's a specific agency—and filing it in the wrong place won't get you anywhere; it'll just waste months.
Almost all agencies require you to first file a complaint with the company and have proof of it. ALWAYS ask for a complaint number and keep the receipt: without it, many won't even process your claim. Only after the waiting period for each agency has passed will they escalate your complaint.
The organization that corresponds to you
Consumer Protection is the default. Regulated services have theirs.
Consumer Protection
- Purchases of products, in-store or online.
- Services contracted to private companies in general.
- Misleading advertising and unfair terms.
- Guarantees, exchanges and returns.
URSEA
- Electricity: UTE, including billing.
- Water and sanitation: OSE.
- Liquid fuels.
URSEC
- Fixed and mobile telephony: Antel, Movistar, Claro.
- Internet and data.
- Postal services.
BCU
- Banks, financial institutions and credit administrators.
- Insurance companies.
- Any institution supervised by the BCU.
MTSS
- Unpaid salary, incorrectly applied category or award.
- Dismissal and severance pay.
- Working conditions.
The five handle complaints against a company. If the other party is not a company but an individual—someone posted a video of you without your consent—none of the five have jurisdiction: that case goes to the Personal Data Regulatory and Control Unit, which is free and doesn't require a lawyer, and to the Public Prosecutor's Office when a crime has also been committed. How to request the removal of the video and what deadlines apply.
And there's one case that doesn't fall into any of the five categories because there's no company involved: a street light that's out on your block, a clogged storm drain, or a burned-out dumpster. The city government handles those through its own complaints system, with its own case number and file. How many complaints regarding street lighting, sanitation, and cleaning are registered in each neighborhood of Montevideo?, from the open data of the IM itself.
The deadlines are not the same
It's the detail that makes you lose the case: one counts business days and the other calendar days.
| Body | Wait after complaining to the company |
|---|---|
| Consumer Protection | Confirm it on their official channel |
| URSEA | 15 business days |
| URSEC | Confirm it on their official channel |
| BCU | 15 consecutive days |
| MTSS | Confirm it on their official channel |
What the Central Bank cannot do
It's worth knowing this before getting your hopes up. The Central Bank of Uruguay (BCU) explicitly states this.
- Ordering a refund for an unknown credit or debit card charge, or an ATM withdrawal.
- Order that the Risk Center be corrected, unless there is a documented error by the institution.
- Determine damages.
- To resolve a contractual dispute between parties.
All of that falls under the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts, that is, the justice system. The fact that the Central Bank of Uruguay (BCU) cannot order it does not mean you don't have the right; it simply means there is another avenue to pursue.
Frequently Asked Questions
The details of each case
Sources
Competencies and deadlines were verified with each agency on August 10, 2026. This is reference information: the decisions made by each office are the final version.