Electricity, water, phones

TELEFONICAINENGLISH - WHY? If your Spanish is not good, you might think that you need help when making an application for a telephone line. You might come across ‘Telefonicainenglish’, but I suggest that you think carefully. According to ‘Telefonica’, the Spanish telephone company, ‘Telefonicainenglish’ is in no way connected to them. Whatever money you pay to ‘Telefonicainenglish’, and its not insubstantial, stays with them, and in no way goes towards the cost of your telephone installation. You will find that the most interesting aspects about ‘Telefonicainenglish’ is what they do not help you with, rather than what they actually do. The company that will be installing your telephone line is ‘Telefonica’, they have english speaking operators who are actually helpful, and who can/will help you with any problems you may encounter, they also do answer their phone. You can spend days getting through to the customer services of ‘Telefonicainenglish’, although they are much quicker answering their sales number. If you want a telephone line, just ring 1004 (Telefonica), for free, and ask for an english speaking customer service representative. It will save you a lot of money, it will be just as quick (which may not be very quick by UK standards), and it’s easy. I ask the question, “why would any english speaking person need the services of ‘Telefonicainenglish’?” John Richardson Torrox Costa

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Re-Telefonicainenglish... Im becoming convinced its a very well run scam. I contacted them in November last year with a view to having an ADSL landline installed. They took all of my details and bank details (of course) and informed me that my account would be debited 109 Euros immediately (which it was) and that a technician would pay us a visit to carry out the installation in 10 to 15 days. So we sat back and waited....On day 20 I phoned them again and they said they would put a chase on it, so we sat back and waited some more... Mid January I phoned them again and again was told that they would put a chase on it...sat back and waited. until Feb 14th.  By now we were totally peed off with telefonicainenglish so phoned Telefonica on 1004. Told them what had happened re- telefonicainenglish, they confirmed that there is no connection between the two companies. Telefonicainenglish is in fact based in England...and is an English company. Anyway, the real telefonica took full details, advised me of their latest promotion, free installation and a 3Meg adsl service a free wifi router and would I like to take them up on an offer of a cordless phone for 29 euros...Yes please I said.  The young lady I was dealing with said that she would look into my previous request from Telefonicainenglish and cancel the application if it ever turned up..She then advised that the phone would be dispatched same day and that in order to allow time for its delivery  I should allow 10 -15 days to pass before I started getting concerned but that she would pass on the details to Telefonicas engineering dept. This was mid afternoon. The next day the phone arrived by courier. so we prepared ourselves and sat down and waited. Mid afternoon we got a message on my mobile, Telefonicas engineers would be at the house first thing the following day to install the line... Yeah yeah we thought believe that when t happens... sure enough first thing the following day... nothing....then jst when we had given up hope in the late afternoon, Acompany appointed by telefonica phoned my mobile 'here we go,' I thought but no it was just to make sure that we were in. Five olock engineer arrives by five thirty we have our line and its working. No internet but we had the wifi router and the phome connected. and apparently working.

Cant fault Telefonica for their service up to this point. However their appointed engineer thought it would be the following day before the internet was live so off he wentThe weekend passed still no internet. Phoned telefonica who spoke to the their installation people and next day the same guy turns up, installs a cable between router and laptop and Bingo; instant internet. Ten days later phone and inernet went down, spoke to neighbours and confirmed it was just us not the entire village. Phoned Telefonica again, who took details (at first they actually seemed to think we didnt have a phone because the system didnt recognise our landline number) but she said leave it with us and we will contact the installations company. Same day three hours later the same guy again arrives, checks out the system declares it to be ok, but maybe disconnected at the village exchange box. Away he goes to check and a few minutes later the phone came to life.as did our internet connection.

Basically Telefonica the real deal, have been very good. The installation and subsequent problems have been sorted out promptly.

Telefonicainenglish however is a totally different story. Frankly the somewhat bored girl who always seemed to answer the phone really couldn't give a sh*t. They are just there to fleece the newly arrived Brit who really doesnt know any better.

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We know the difference now, thank you Foxbat.  Will avoid Telefonica English when I'm in the same position.

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This has been well documented now, both here and in other forums. How come the English newspapers are still publishing their ads?

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I believe if you ring up Telefonica (1004) and say "ENGLISH" when the recorded lady starts talking, they wil transfer you to an English speaking operator.  Newver tried it though.

So who needs Telefonicainenglish anyway?

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Just to add my two penneth worth!

My Brother lived in our apartment for a year.

I applied online to Telefonica in English for phone and broadband installation, in December 2004.

We are still waiting for installation!

However, we are not that silly to be still waiting!

So in Feb 2005 we walked into the local Telefonica shop in Torreveija, ordered the services and they were installed within a week.

So, avoid Telefonica in English at all costs, go to the correct supplier!

Rgds,

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Just to remind of my previous post (maybe in another thread?) - as far as I know, there's no such thing as a "Telefonica" shop, but there are agents who sell Telefonica services (along with other products probably). Just because a shop has Telefonica livery across the front, does not necessarily mean it IS Telefonica, just as a sweet shop in Liverpool with Daily Post & Echo emblazoned across it's facade does not actually belong to a regional newspaper. However, and fortunately, it would appear that the Spanish agents for Telefonica ARE legit and will provide you with the service you request.

Still, as I & others have said, it's just as easy to ring 1004 and ask for an English speaking operator (if needed).

1004 1004 1004 1004 1004 1004 1004 1004 1004 ...............

Got it?

If you are still afraid to speak to them, you can send a message in English here: http://www.telefonica.com/ldirecta/index_english.html

 

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hi everyone

we purchased in costa esuri how do i get my services put on from england ready for our next visit in june

anyone know

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Hi Tiffany,

Not sure of Costa Esuri, where is that?

Is your place a new build?

If so, the builder arranges to have the supply switched to the supply companies.

Even if that's not done yet, you still will have the services on builders supply.

Not sure if I have answered your query or not, as the question was not really understandable, sorry!

Kind regards,

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Do you know if the licence of first occupation has been issued yet? If so, the developer should have obtained on your behalf the necessary "boletins" to present to the utility companies, in order to get connected. Do you have an agent or lawyer acting on your behalf in your absence? If so, they should be able to arrange everything for you, but be sure to check how much they'll charge for doing this - it's not a big job, but they sometimes like to make it sound like it is, in order to justify a high fee for nothing.

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Telefonica...

In an earlier post in this thread I praised Telefonica for their almost instantaneous request for a phone line and ADSL which was on offer at the time, and even now is still on offer albeit in a slightly different format. In the light of my first bill however I have to say be careful when you buy their service either over the phone or via the internet.

I requested installation on or about 10th Feb and the whole thing was up and running within a few days. We sat back and waited for the bill...nothing during February, March or April, then on the 4th May whilst checking my bank account I noticed that Telefonica had stung me for 308 Euros. This seemed impossibly high given that only three calls to the UK had been made and both under five minutes each.I phoned their client services line on1004 and was advised that the offer was not applicable in my case because I live in a rural location, and my service is known as rural ADSL and that the bill was made up of installation charges for the line, the provision of ADSL and the cost of the router plus telephone line rental from the date of installation. That plus the cost of the calls plus IVA brought together the final amount.. I felt more than a little aggrieved by this the phone bill should have been for three months line rental only totalling about 60 odd euros. At the time of installation and booking their service it was never suggested that the installation costs would have to be borne by me. Now it seems a little odd to me that since the installation was nothing more than hooking into an existing distribution box about 25 metres away, and drilling a hole in my front wall to pass the cable through, in other words exactly the same as they would have to do for an apartment in a complex or a house on a main street in a town, that I should be penalised for living in the country. The infrastructure was already in place and irrespective of this the router for the ADSL is identical to that used in any other installation. It was supposed to be  free as part of the deal. If I lived within the city it would be free...again I am being penalised.

Just to clarify the situation I again spoke to Telefonica a couple of days later and without hinting at why I wanted to know I asked for an explanation of the bill. Again they gave me the same story.

Then today just eighteen days later they have stung me again by extracting a further 71.39 euros...Line rental for the next period through to June and ADSL service.

Again I have spoken to Telefonica and they seem quite unrepentant; I have never actually signed a contract with them so I wonder if I can actually fight back in some way. I just dont know.

I just wonder if any of the legal fraternity in EOS have any thoughts on the matter.

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Do you have to rent a telephone line from Telefonica or are ther cheaoer alternatives, i only want the line for my burglar alarm so not bothered too much about the calling plans/charges.

cheers

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 As far as I am aware you have to contract your electricity by K/Watts. Does any body know what the typical wattage one should contract  for a 2 bed1.5 bath rooms, air-conditioning apartment, we are based close to Fuengirola

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The normal electricity supplied in Spain is 3.3Kw.  This is sometimes not enough power to run all your appliances, for example, if you have the water heater on, the aircon (which, surprisingly, doesn't take all that much power), the electric oven and then stick the kettle on, you may find your power trips out.  Ours did it on a regular basis the first winter we were there and had a couple of electric heaters on.  Sticking the kettle on then tripped the whole lot out.

You can up the "potencia" rating to your home to 5.5Kw.  This should be ample BUT your bills will go rocketing up.  Be aware that electric is charged at a higher rate the more you use.  It doesn't really matter how big your place (unless you have a huge mansion with aircon/central heating and tea making facilities in each room) but just be aware what appliances you have that will use the highest amount of power.  The kettle, the electric stove and bar heaters are the worst offenders.  Lighting, aircon, tv etc are pretty low power consumers compared with these. We now make sure we switch off a fire or two when we want to make a cup of tea.

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Our place is in Formentera and our electricity was installed whilst we were away.  When we returned a 25 amp main trip had been fitted, which by my calculation is 5.75kW.  However, I don't see this as a lot for a place all electric and mainly to be occupied in winter (UK Standard is 60 amps -13.8kW) and we have gas as well!  I intende to ask them if I can have a 50 amp supply which will at least give me 11.5 kW to play with.

Mike

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Don't make no difference wot wattage you got, when there's a power cut, your lights go out!  (last power cut was last night)

We've got 5.5kw for a typical 2bed/2bath with a/c etc. Never trips out, even when 'Er Indoors is drying her hair. Probably 3.3kw would be sufficient most of the time, unless you're into electric blankets and bar heaters all winter. Plus it would be a bit cheaper on the standing charges etc.

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