I hate Spain...

[scampicat]

...at the moment.

If you allow me to grizzle a bit, I'll give you some examples of why.

We spent over 400 euros on some decent tongue and groove planks to lay as a floor. 75 euros worth is bent, warped, twisted, has the tongue and/or groove in the wrong place or is otherwise unusable. Tat. Should not have been put out for sale.

Soneone I know bought a solar lightbulb, it didn't work when he got it home from the shop (more tat). When he took it back the shopkeeper refused to change it and was quite aggressive saying that the 'ingles' were all liars and cheats who would buy a bulb and bring it back in six months when it failed. (Appalling customer service).

Someone else I know who has taken out Spanish house insurance has been told that it is not covered for theft. It is 500 euros a year! (rip-off).

The wife of the same person works in a Spanish Estate Agency and has been told she will lose her job if her husband even THINKS of going to work for this particular bloke. Not in opposition in any way - they just don't like him. (Lack of any sort of concern for employment law).

Also, Spaniards can always have planning permission granted whilst foreigners are told they can't.

Hate it today and want to go back to England.

Roll on when we have a bit more income and can travel more and be based in the UK.

Thanks for listening.

[gerryh]

1. Wood
Why do you think that Spanish don't use much wood in building?

2. Lightbulb
He should haveasked for the complaints book

3. Insurance
Did they read the terms and conditions before taking out the insurance?

4. Spanish Estate Agency
I have no comment

5. Planning permoission
Do you have any proven facts to back up this statement?

6. Hate it
Goodbye

Cheers
Gerry

[alaninspain]

Sorry to upset you but there are more problems in the UK than here in Spain. I'm staying and goodbye from me as well.

[scampicat]

OK....didn't expect any sympathy, but woud also like people to be honest and accept that there are things wrong in Spain and not pretend it's all wonderful.

If things are put up for sale they should be fit for purpose and if somebody has an employee they should keep to employment law.

In any country - Spain is not exempt.

[scampicat]

1. Wood
Why do you think that Spanish don't use much wood in building?

It should still bve fit for purpose if they are selling it

2. Lightbulb
He should haveasked for the complaints book

He did and the guy got even more agressive

3. Insurance
Did they read the terms and conditions before taking out the insurance?

Don't know
4. Spanish Estate Agency
I have no comment

Why not?

5. Planning permoission
Do you have any proven facts to back up this statement?

Yes - Spaniard in campo allowed to build huge house, expat couple only a few hundres metres away refused even a tiny bathroom

6. Hate it
Goodbye

Cheers
Gerry

My comments in blue above.

[laswalkirias]

As someone still stuck in London UK who will be in Malaga next Wednesday(12 times in the last 12 months) I must point out to you that bad customer service and employers not following employment law and the victim of planning permission granted to foreign property owners which have had a direct effect on the value of my home, that the world is full of unfair and nasty people and the UK is definitely not the promised land!!!
Think carefully about a return to the UK, its depressing, cold, full of expats from every nation on earth who pay little or no regard to British culture.I cant speak for the whole of the UK but I can hardly wait to move to Malaga City and leave this unfriendly ,violent and dirty city called London

[katy]

Customer service is almost non-existent. Spanish Insurance is also bad, read the small print (twice)! Many people who thought were insured fully comp. found out they did not get paid for damage during the big Mijas fire a few years ago. If they do pay they are very slow to do so.

[scampicat]

OK, I've calmed down a bit now and I know nowhere is perfect

We've been here nearly four years and on the whole enjoy it. It's just the disregard for rules and lack of customer service that really gets to me sometimes.

Sorry for sounding off and thanks for letting me get it off my chest.

I'm still looking forward to travelling though. In about two years' time we intend to spend half here and half in the UK, travelling in Europe/UK from wherever we are based.

We still have a house in the UK so we can spend time in both countries.

(Thankyou Katy...at least I haven't upset absolutely everyone!).

[Cassandra]

Admittedly Spain isn't cold, most of the time, but it's also full of expats from every nation on earth who don't give a toss about Spanish culture.

In my experience at least the majority of foreigners who move to the UK bother to learn English, I'm still shocked at the numbers here, particulary Brits, who don't even try to learn Spanish

London is not representative of the whole of the UK any more than an individual town or city here is representative of the whole of Spain.

[laswalkirias]

Why do peopleon this forum not accept the simple fact that Spain is as close to heaven on earth and the metropolitan districts all over the uk are hell !!!!!

[katy]

I thought they did!

[princess peach]

scampicat-you think you have reason to whinge!
here are my examples of why i could just pack up and leave.
moved into my dream house in May-2007(all went fantastic)
bought another beautiful bulldog puppy.
spent 6 months trying to get a kitchen sorted out,that was all completely wrong-wood warped-doors ordered that were wrong size,no handles etc(cost€6,000 without fitting)..all in all,took 6 months to get right-silestone worktops arrived and fitted,only to find(by me)a section had been damaged,and bodged up(cost another€1,500)-made them sort it out!
Bought a brand new moto-bad electrical fault,had to go to Malaga-kept conking out on me in dodgy areas
-took it for a service,exhaust fell off about one week later-they hadnt put the screws back into the bike!
Then to top all that-my georgous puppy died aged 9 months the thursday before xmas.
oh,and i had a few leaks from the roof terrace when we had all that rain a few months ago,all the walls in the house were wet through!

So im sorry scampicat-i do sympathise with you,but you dont know the meaning of the word "wanting to go home"
all that has happened to me since May,i think i have a good a reason as any for packing up and leaving..life has been pretty rough for me!
I still have my dream home in spain,im still alive,my family is well,what more do you need.
life isnt so bad,i feel after dealing with all that-i can cope with anything..AS LIFE CANT GET ANY WORSE!!!
all that has happened has now all been fixed and put right(took a while)
apart from losing my pup.-
But i am definately staying put-nearly five years and counting!

[princess peach]

keep positive scampicat-the bad times will pass.

[scampicat]

I do sympathise Princess Peach and actually there have been much worse things in my life too than being shafted some crappy wood and having to pay for it.

I too am glad that my loved ones and myself have our health and I do actually usually count my blessings.

I was just cheesed off today and the particular things that were cheesing me off happen to be the sort of things that make me fly instantly into a rage.

I just needed to vent and I apologise for inflicting it here on the forum, but thanks to poeple for discussing it.

We never intended to stay here permanently; it was always an interlude where 'we'll stay until it's time for us to go' to paraphrase the old Buffy Sainte-Marie song.

Most of it has been fine and our neighbours in our village have been so welcoming - whenever we go away they always welcome us back with open arms, much more so than our neighbours in our street in England where we lived for nearly thirty years.

If you notice the vewy first sentence in my very first post, I said I hated Spain.... at the moment.

Anyone can get fed up with incompetence/can't be ar$ed-ness occasionally, I'm sure.

[princess peach]

yes scampi i totally agree with you on everything you have said-except sometimes you need to put things into perspective...
buying a few hundred euros worth of "crappy wood" is annoying and frustrating,but ranting and raving isnt going to do you or your family any good...there is always someone worse off than you(at the time it doesnt feel like it, i know.)
In UK i wouldnt stand for any nonsence from bad purchases-here,i have learned it gets you nowhere.You are far better smiling(gritting your teeth)and agreeing with them..you will get your own way in the end!
Then when you have what you want from them-give em rock all!
Glad you feel better after your "strop"and glad you are staying!

[scampicat]

Hi there Princess Peach, yes I agree it's not worth getting my blood pressure up over some crappy wood, but I don't have to like it or pretend that it's OK to sell this stuff to unsuspecting customers.

Our builder thinks that the timber merchants probably has two piles of wood packs - Espanoles and Ingleses - and I am beginning to think he is right and that foreigners get all the rejects.

But there is absolutely nothing I can do about it apart from vent my spleen occasionally.

I would like to finish my rant however by giving credit where it's due by saying that our Builder's Merchants in our little village have been absolutely terrific, materials and service have been great and they have not charged us anything for the mountains of sand we have had from them. We have spent over two grand with them. We were even given a bodywarmer each with their name on!

Unfortunately they don't sell wood.

Thanks for letting me rant!

[Raquel]

Well give me the wonderful, cultural, cosmopolitan, fantastic, beautiful city of LONDON any day over the dog poo ridden, small minded, dirty, racist city of MALAGA anyday!!!


Scampi your life will improve no end when you travel and very good decision to keep your house in the UK!!

Princesspeach so sorry about your puppy it's horrible losing a pet.

[pete_l]

OK....didn't expect any sympathy, but woud also like people to be honest and accept that there are things wrong in Spain and not pretend it's all wonderful.

No, no, no. Everything in spain is wonderful - the TV programmes say so.
Unfortunately this is how (and since I don't know you, please don't think
I'm talking about you) a lot of people form their opinions of spain, or
bulgaria or other parts of the UK.

I agree that there are a lot of frustrating things about spain. But there are
also lots of frustrating things about towns in the UK (soooooo DULL), no
decent shops, nowhere to park, plumbers who charge £100+ just to turn
up (late, if they bother at all).
At present there's a lot of depression around: short days, bad weather,
post-xmas blues.
Hopefully it'll get better and we'll all cheer up a bit.


Pete

[tjtops]

Not to mention PC gone mad, no personal values, no regard for people/property/responsibility/free will...Big Brother everywhere/nanny state/....need I go on??? That's why I came here, to get away from that and I do believe that I have.
Yes Spain has many faults, but IMHO the Brits either arrive thinking it's paradise (duh, where is!!) or that they should rule the world here too....equally, duh....so get a grip, take stock and either take it or leave it!

[princess peach]

raquel wrote:

Princesspeach so sorry about your puppy it's horrible losing a pet.

aww,thankyou.thats really sweet of you to say that.

scampicat-I agree its not o.k to sell "crappy wood"to unsuspecting brits,but glad you have got rid of all your rage,and are now cool and calm again!