Leaving Andalucia....

Do you have a query on how to get things done in Andalucia, where to find things, who to call? Find out by posting and hear about others experiences.
Pamela1
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Re: Leaving Andalucia....

Postby Pamela1 » Sun Jul 09, 2017 6:18 pm

I think everyone has a point with bin collection whether it be in Uk or Andalucia...Our bin collection in the Uk is every week except it's recycling bin one week and general rubbish bin the following week..so we do have a collection each week of one sort or another, our bin is always full no matter which week it is and it drives hubby mad ...In our property in Andalucia we don't have a collection at all even though we pay for it, instead we have to take it down to what i call the street bins in the local village, it is less than a mile away, at least in the Uk the refuse is collected from each farm or country house..I just hate having to drag the rubbish with us each time we go out... :thumbdown:

Miro
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Re: Leaving Andalucia....

Postby Miro » Sun Jul 09, 2017 8:17 pm

Our bin collections are alternate weeks too, but I don't think we'll normally fill either bin in two weeks so shouldn't be a problem. I do think it's a bit of a cheek that we have to wheel our bins out to the curbside for the lazy *****s, but I'm remembering a time when they came down your driveway and into your back garden to collect your bin, and then returned it to whence it came! Mind you, we had no less than three separate & very noisy bin lorries collecting every night right outside our apartment in Torrie - usually between midnight and 4:00am - plus the weekly street cleaning with a noisy & diesel fuming water truck parked outside for over an hour in the middle of the night, so I can't really complain - at least I haven't heard them on the few occasions when they have been here so far!

Things are looking up on the shopping front (slightly): our nearest supermarket is actually a Farmfoods, a bit like Iceland it seems, and for certain things they seem to be very reasonable: spuds at 40p per kg in a 7.5kg sack; 3 x 600gms packs of bacon working out at £3.33 per kg. And today in Liverpool we went to an "international" supermarket (I think I mentioned it in a previous post when we were over viewing property) and they had a huge array of fresh fruit & veg to select your own from: lovely fresh tomatoes (any shape or size you care for) at £1.29 per kg - so the Big Supermarkets with their silly little perfectly round and tiny toms in a pack of six (not even enough to make a decent salad) at silly prices can get stuffed! Except - we don't live anywhere near the aforementioned supermarket :? Quite frankly, we need a few more immigrants in this town, to provide goods and services the way they should be!
Don't worry about what people think, they don't do it very often

"Acquiring a dog may be the only opportunity a human ever has to choose a relative," Mordecai Siegal 1935-2010.

maureenscot
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Re: Leaving Andalucia....

Postby maureenscot » Mon Jul 10, 2017 11:09 am

Our bin collections in Highland Scotland is the same as Pamela1. But our paper/plastic bin is always more full than general rubbish these days due to excessive packaging.
We do all our fruit and veggie shopping in Lidl and Aldi, cheaper than Spain

Pamela1
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Re: Leaving Andalucia....

Postby Pamela1 » Mon Jul 10, 2017 7:01 pm

Maureen, is fruit and veg in Uk Lidl and Aldi really cheaper than buying it in Spain? ..I wouldn't know because the nearest Lidl and Aldi is about an 18 mile trip from where i am located in the Uk...I always shop in the green grocers in Guadix and i'm always amazed how little it costs compared to buying in the likes of Morrisons back home. I have been told recently that there is a warehouse at the end of the town which is full of fruit and veg and even cheaper than the green grocers and supermarkets, i'm definatley going to check it out when i'm back over there soon...I won't be buying peaches because our neighbour supplies us with more than we can eat and even if he didn't they are sold along the road side for 1 euro a kilo, i doubt Lidl or Aldi could beat that! :thumbup:

bernipops3
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Re: Leaving Andalucia....

Postby bernipops3 » Tue Jul 11, 2017 6:13 pm

Nimrod wrote:Does anyone have any experience on how long it takes the Spanish authorities to return the 3% retention ,or what remains of it?
I sold in March.
The selling process was very quick,our English estate agent was great as was our Spanish lawyer.
But why,oh why,does it take so long to get a final electricity and water bill?!
We sold in October 2016 and we still haven't had our3% retention returned. Our lawyer is saying around nine months but he has known it to be over a year.

Pamela1
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Re: Leaving Andalucia....

Postby Pamela1 » Wed Jul 12, 2017 3:35 pm

I wouldn't worry...it's Spain at the end of the day...don't expect that it would happen any faster in Uk..all that matters is that you get it in the end, think of it as a windfall.. :thumbup:

Miro
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Re: Leaving Andalucia....

Postby Miro » Wed Jul 12, 2017 5:03 pm

Supposedly, if they don't pay you within 6 months of your claim, they have to pay you interest on top. But our gestor has said that most claims that are not paid promptly are due to incorrectly completed applications or missing non-res tax returns in previous years (or none at all!)
We completed our 210s ourselves, to our own satisfaction, and went over them with our gestor before leaving (and leaving him to submit them - we had to wait until we had proof of purchase of another property). We were not non-resident up until when we sold and decided to go that route, and we have filed resident tax returns every year we were in Spain, so hopefully our claim will pass through the system without any problems....but I'm not holding my breath. I'll try to remember to report back here when and if we get the 3% back - although I may be old(er) and senile(er) by then so may forget.
Don't worry about what people think, they don't do it very often

"Acquiring a dog may be the only opportunity a human ever has to choose a relative," Mordecai Siegal 1935-2010.

Miro
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Re: Leaving Andalucia....

Postby Miro » Wed Jul 12, 2017 5:28 pm

Miro wrote:I logged on to our Endesa account a couple of days ago to discover an outstanding bill for about 4 times our normal monthly bills, with a meter reading (that says "actuál") way over what it probably is even now. Guess what? they can sing for it!
I sent them a sh*tty e-mail, and although I've received no reply, logging on to my Endesa account again today I notice that the offending factura has simply disappeared!
Don't worry about what people think, they don't do it very often

"Acquiring a dog may be the only opportunity a human ever has to choose a relative," Mordecai Siegal 1935-2010.

Miro
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Re: Leaving Andalucia....

Postby Miro » Wed Jul 19, 2017 10:55 pm

The saga continues (exactly two months after personally visiting an Endesa office to put our contract on "baja"):
my online account with Endesa now shows the last bill I paid (for the period up to May 2nd) for approx. €66 has been cancelled, and replaced with one for approx. €51. Why, I don't know, except that the meter reading for that date was estimated - but so is the new reading (obviously, since it's too late now to take a real reading). And the offending 3 figure bill previously mentioned (covering May 2nd to 19th, the day of the "baja") has been replaced by one for approx. €13 (with an equally incorrect reading, but one I'm not going to argue over)
So, I went online for a chat with them, asking them to explain the above, which culminated in the agent saying (almost verbatim) "so, you have to pay us €13, then we'll pay you back €15. Is that OK?", to which I said "no, not OK. You pay me €2 and we call it quits. Is that OK?"
Since then, I've had several e-mails a day letting me know that they're dealing with my claim, that they will get back to me within 10 days, that they are hoping to resolve the issue so that it doesn't occur again etc. etc.
Utter madness :crazy:
Don't worry about what people think, they don't do it very often

"Acquiring a dog may be the only opportunity a human ever has to choose a relative," Mordecai Siegal 1935-2010.

Evelyn
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Re: Leaving Andalucia....

Postby Evelyn » Thu Jul 20, 2017 9:44 am

No one who has posted and left Spain has mentioned health care which is why a lot of people move back for. Would be interested to hear about experiences back in UK.

Miro
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Re: Leaving Andalucia....

Postby Miro » Thu Jul 20, 2017 2:37 pm

Yes, I'm sure it's a topic that many are interested in, and I will endeavor to add to this as time goes on.
So far, I can report that registering with our nearest GP practice (housed in a large, modern multi-purpose NHS facility, about 5 minutes walk from our house) was very easy, the staff friendly and helpful. We only needed to present ID and proof of address (e.g. utility bill). The myth about having to be resident for 3 or 6 months or whatever, is just that - a myth; although often heard, I've never understood where it came from, and now I can categorically say it's simply not true. We had an appointment with a very nice nurse (Polish, by the way - roll on Brexit :( ) a couple of weeks later to take our bloods and log our medical history, current medications etc. We have an appointment with the doctor tomorrow to review the results of the blood analysis & discuss our ongoing conditions etc. We also registered for online access (very easy and straightforward) and will be able to use the facility to make appointments, view medical records etc. etc. If we need to see the doctor in the future, apparently we can make an appointment in the morning to see him the same day. When we get to put that to the test, I'll report back!
OH's meds (blood pressure, cholesterol & a couple of others) will be free as she's a pensioner, I am not so mine won't be; I also take blood pressure pills and another for thyroid, and since the lot can be bought over the counter without prescription in Spain for €1.61 I stocked up ( a year's supply!) before leaving. :shh:
Don't worry about what people think, they don't do it very often

"Acquiring a dog may be the only opportunity a human ever has to choose a relative," Mordecai Siegal 1935-2010.

Miro
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Re: Leaving Andalucia....

Postby Miro » Thu Jul 20, 2017 2:46 pm

Endesa have just e-mailed me (second one today!) to say that, having considered my petition, the credit on my account has now been applied to the debt I owe them. No figures, no further explanation. Checking online, the bill for about €13 has now also disappeared, leaving just the €66 bill that I paid showing as credit and the replacement €51 bill showing as paid - which by my calculations leaves them owing me €15 (which I don't think they do actually) - but no suggestion as to how they're going to pay me back! Still, it's only been a couple of months, maybe I should give them a bit more time to think it over....
Don't worry about what people think, they don't do it very often

"Acquiring a dog may be the only opportunity a human ever has to choose a relative," Mordecai Siegal 1935-2010.

masterob
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Re: Leaving Andalucia....

Postby masterob » Thu Jul 20, 2017 5:21 pm

Miro, we left in Dec 2014 and Endesa are still haggling over bills they allege are outstanding! It took them a year to explain why invoices had not been presented to the tenants of our house over there. Never got an explanation but finally settled the matter last month! Surprise, surprise, this week I got an email from a collection agency in Jaen saying we owed Endesa Euros 13! No explanation of why etc. Maybe it's your Euros13!

Am still pondering whether to ignore it or start another couple of years correspondence!

Miro
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Re: Leaving Andalucia....

Postby Miro » Thu Jul 20, 2017 5:40 pm

That's hilarious, masterob! Perhaps we should swap case numbers, to really confuse them - if it's possible to confuse them anymore.
They will never get a cent more from me, but I will play along with their silly game a while longer, just for fun !
Don't worry about what people think, they don't do it very often

"Acquiring a dog may be the only opportunity a human ever has to choose a relative," Mordecai Siegal 1935-2010.

Miro
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Re: Leaving Andalucia....

Postby Miro » Mon Jul 24, 2017 7:02 pm

Endesa have now added a new bill to my online account (although they haven't e-mailed me or notified me any other way of it's existence, so as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't exist)
It seems they've finally accepted my meter reading for the day we handed over the property, and issued a new bill based on that, which results in a bill for €34. But because they adjusted the previous paid bill down by €15, that leaves me owing only €19 of this latest bill, which is almost exactly what I originally estimated we would owe. In my online account, it does show a split for the €34 bill, with €15 paid and €19 to pay - but unless they actually issue me with an invoice for just the €19 I don't actually see any way to pay it - so I'm simply not going to bother.
If they had accepted my reading two months ago and just issued an invoice for €19, I would have paid it before leaving the country. But now, due to their incompetence, & because they irritated me, I will let them pass the debt on to a collection agency, who will never trace me, and they will eventually (after 5 years I suppose) have to write off the €19. Too bad!
Don't worry about what people think, they don't do it very often

"Acquiring a dog may be the only opportunity a human ever has to choose a relative," Mordecai Siegal 1935-2010.

Miro
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Re: Leaving Andalucia....

Postby Miro » Mon Jul 24, 2017 7:35 pm

From the "Moving to UK" thread, back in March, but more relevant here really:
Miro wrote:There have been rumours for the last couple of years, but I heard today that from next year all subvenciones (discounts) on local rates (IBI) are being scrapped in our town.
They did sort of scrap them, but then re-introduced a new system of discounts, based mainly on your household's income. We calculated that the new system would actually give us an even bigger discount. The catch, though, was that you had to re-apply, and unless the discount is already applied to your forthcoming bill for 2017, you would have to pay in full & then get a rebate some time later. I may have posted about this elsewhere, but can't remember now. We did apply, but since then, the (un-discounted) bill for 2017 arrived, which we duly paid as we understand is our obligation since we owned the property on January 1st this year. We live in hope that we may one day get a nice surprise in our bank account, but meanwhile, the new owner of our property has been to the town hall to register on the padrón, and was told she couldn't, until we de-register (baja) - this even though she has the escritura proving she now owns the place, and presumably utility bills now in her name etc. She was told she had to get a letter from us saying we no longer live there. We obliged. Now she has contacted us again saying they won't accept our letter which states we no longer live in Torremolinos, unless we also provide our new address. Previously, we had been told that unless we renew our padrón registration every few years, we would be "struck off". Now it seems surprisingly difficult to convince them we're no longer there. Makes no sense to me.
And so the BS continues. We thought we'd left Andalucia, but it seems it's hanging on to us for dear life one way or another!
Don't worry about what people think, they don't do it very often

"Acquiring a dog may be the only opportunity a human ever has to choose a relative," Mordecai Siegal 1935-2010.

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patricia
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Re: Leaving Andalucia....

Postby patricia » Mon Jul 24, 2017 7:46 pm

That is very funny Miro :thumbup: You could not make it up to be honest! :P
Torrox Costa "El mejor clima de Europa"


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