El Éxito (owner of Carulla), headed by Carlos Mario Giraldo, was sanctioned by former superintendent Ma. del Socorro Pimienta for negligence towards the affected person.
For delaying in responding to a customer’s request, resulting from a problem at Carulla Niza, The Superintendency of Industry and Commerce (SIC) ended up reprimanding the Éxito chain, owner of this supermarket chain.
It all started at Carulla Niza, when a client felt his right to habeas data was violated, considering that the security personnel had been invasive and that they also collected information from customers through videos. The client’s dissatisfaction led him to take action to defend his right to privacy.
The citizen felt trampled by employees of the supermarket (which is part of the Éxito warehouse chain, now owned by the Calleja family of El Salvador), but whose manager is Carlos Mario Giraldo and decided to act.
The path he took was a right of petition where he made clear five claims that he considered fair. Carulla did not respond. The client decided to go to another instance to present his voice of protest for his violated rights: Superintendence of Industry and Commerce. It had been almost two years since the incident that he issued a statement on May 27, 2020.
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With the pronouncement of the SIC, Éxito, finally reacted quickly in its capacity as owner of the Carulla supermarkets and it was its president Carlos Mario Giraldo who responded.
At that time he was the CEO of the entire business structure then owned by the Cassino Group.
However, for the SIC, the delay was not a minor failure. Having an untimely response of one year and almost ten months turned the company’s delay into punishable conduct, even more so if the response had been a product of the actions of the Superintendency, at that time headed by María del Socorro Pimienta.
On May 25, 2023, it issued a fine to Éxito for $53 million fifteen thousand pesos equivalent to 1,250 Tax Value Units.
With the Éxito sanction, Super set a precedent: it punished negligent behavior by the company in relation to customer service.
