electical goods

We are moveing to just outside marbella and was wondering any ideas where and what prices we would be looking at for fridges,washing machine and t.v etc?

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Depends on what you buy. Generally prices similar to UK. Need to be careful about what you buy and what you are told - suppliers will tell you Balay is made by Bosch but in fact while part of the same group Balay are made in Spain to inferior specifications. Some of the main appliance manufacturers (Bosch, Whirlpool etc) also have assembly plants here in Spain and generally speaking those that are made here are to a lesser quality.

There is an electrical disount store called Boulanger at La Cañada shopping centre just above Marbella - its worth haggling as you might get a deal. POssibly try El Corte Ingles in Pto Banus or Marbella itself. Carrefour (Estepona) and Eroski (Fuengirola) carry some appliances too. Like the UK there are on line suppliers as well. Do a Google search and it will come up with the companies - cant give a verdict on their service or supply. Possibly download a list of prices from the web and take it in to the store to see what they can do to match it.

Should be noted that some models of appliances available in the UK not available in Spain.

RGds Smiley

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If you're the Estepona side of Marbella, you could try IDEA in San Pedro. There's a guy there called Miguel who is very helpful and speaks great English. Very honest about which brand is more suitable for your requirements I find.

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Speaking of electrical goods - does anyone know what the procedure is in Spain regarding faulty goods.  We purchased a Polti vaccum cleaner, which is not picking up very well, from the Eroski store in Fuengirola.  Someone told us that we have to return it to the manufacturers ourselves rather than to the shop of purchase.

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The retailer has a liability as well if the goods are faulty to offer replacement or repair depending on age. Take the cleaner back with the receipt and they should deal with it.

Rgds

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Thanks Smiley, we'll give it a go. Just hope we can make ourselves understood!

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Hi Crackers dont know if in electricals but they have some English speakers there - however you can hire my services for the afternoon if you like for 200€ and I will come and translate for you - alternatively live dangerously and work out using a dictionary what you want to say in advance - write it down and try and learn it - when you go in explain that you are English ("Soy/Somos Ingles") (I/we) and that you do not speak much Español. "No hablo/hablamos bueno Español" (hope thats right!).

Presumably the vacuum was a lot less than 200€ and I can assure you that a dictionary will be siginificantly less. If they rapid fire back at you "mas despacio por favor" means slow down please. They really appreciate it if you make the effort and usually hand gestures will get over any word problems and if worst comes to worst they will probably find you an English speaker. You are alos more likely to resolve the complaint to your satisfaction. The big thing is not to be afraid of laughing at yourself if you screw up - it is inevitable but if you dont make mistakes you arent doing anything.

Rgds and lots of luck - let us know how you get on.

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By the way almost forgot to mention - further to Passion's post of 22nd November we have used IDEA in San Pedro ourselves for appliances for new kitchen. Knocked spots off everyone else - and very nearly matched internet suppliers. Also happy to get anything not in their normal stock run (except a Franke sink that has only just been released in the UK). Boulanger were nowhere near on price as was the situation at El Corte Ingles and with Boulanger unless it is part of their normal stock RRP was what we would have to pay for a special order. Cant recommend them highly enough.

Rgds

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We are waiting to complete on an apartment in Calahonda. The apartment comes complete with fridge, washing machine and dishwasher, but I will need to source a TV and DVD.

We are based in the UK and plan to rent the apartment. When we come down we'll only have a couple of days to get things sorted, so I was wondering about bringing a UK TV and DVD down with me (the sales are on here now and there are some good bargains). As far as I know the voltage is the same, although of course the plugs are different. Are there any other implications that anyone knows of?

Alternatively, Imperial Furniture will supply a 21" set, but I imagine they'll charge top whack.

 

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Hi Alan your UK Tv and the DVD too will work here in Spain. YOu will need a dish and box to receive UK channels. To be honest I suspect that it will be just as cheap to buy the TV and DVD here and dont forget you wont have to have them shipped to Spain as I am not sure they would fit in your hand luggage. IDEA as I mentioned in my post will do a good deal. I have just bought an HD ready 42 inch LG Plasma with 80gb hard drive for 1659 Euros which I guess is about £1120 - of course you dont need a Plasma flat screen but that might give you a comparison. IMperial will probably be top money but IDEA is not far away or try Boulanger at La Cañada if easier.

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Hi Alan.  Look further down the list of subjects and click on the TV in Spain thread.  Lots of questions answered there.

TV and DVD prices compare favorably with the UK so it is not really worth you bringing them with you.  The bigger supermarkets stock about the same range as Tesco in UK so they have a pretty good range to choose from and comparable prices.

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Does IDEA in San Pedro have a web-site ? Have tried searching for it but no luck

Many thanks

Will

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Thanks Smiley.  Yes you're right it was less than 200e.  Now I see where you get your name from.  We won't be over for another month or two but will let you know how it goes.  Meanwhile I will keep practising 'mas despacio for favor'

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Hi Alan,

Smiley and Bobaol are right - British TV's, LCD's, Plasma's and DVD's will work fine in Spain, in fact anything electrical will. Although I don't necessarily agree with what they said about purchase prices, even when you factor in shipping costs, there are loads of moving companies that will add your separate parcel to their load for someone else at a fraction of the price of couriers.

I purchased a 32" Sharp LCD and HDMI DVD player to go with it and sent it out to our apartment in Spain along with a British Satellite receiver and 'Free-to-Air' Sky Card. Plugged the whole lot into a four gang British Anti-Surge Protected Extension lead, seeing as the Electricity in Spain surges more times than the wind changes direction here in the UK, and plugged the extension lead into one plug adapter. Put all of this and a few other bits 'n bobs into one big box and sent it all in one go.

Don't forget Spanish TV runs on a different PAL signal to our own. We use PAL-I and Spain uses PAL-B/G so if you purchase a Spanish TV and want to hook up a British Satellite receiver, then you will get a picture on your Spanish TV but no sound. There are ways around this but it means either taking the set to a TV repair shop and swapping out the crystal and handing over a large wad of dosh or purchasing a Spanish VCR, connect up the Satellite receiver to the VCR and then tune-in the VCR on the TV, although the later may not work with all VCR’s as again some are not multi PAL

So, look on the box of any Spanish TV that is under 21" and you will see PAL B/G only, however Beko have a 14” TV in Spain that’s both PAL systems. Over 21" and 95% of the time it will say both PAL  systems. LCD's and Plasma's are different, they will be fine with a British Satellite receiver as they are manufactured for the whole European market and are multi PAL, hence why a lot of them come with more than one type of power lead and an instruction book in about 15 different languages, of which the English pages are somewhere in the middle of the book.

I could have purchased a Spanish LCD and DVD but couldn't find a good, mid ranged priced, high spec LCD. It was either Saivod, Sony, LG or BEKO (which for the small 15" sets are good value for money). Until I went down last October to La Linea and saw the same Sharp LCD as mine in Carefore for 1499 euros (£1000 more or less), which put a bigger smile on my face than that of Smiley himself  as I only paid £749 (1130 euros).

I don't know much about how things work in Spain with regards to Law, Finance etc, but I do know my Electricals as I work for a Euronics store here in the UK. From TV's and DVD's to Washing Machines, Fridge Freezers and Cookers.

This message was last edited by TechNoApe on 2/7/2007.

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Hi Will have not looked at this thread for ages so apologies for no reply - unforunately IDEA does not have a site - they are easy to find if you are in this neck of the woods

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Hi Alan,

Forgot to say we used Imperial Furniture and the service was Impeccable and the Furniture the same.

However they wanted a LOT of money for the 24" Sony Widescreen TV which n the UK was a discontinued model and had been for two years. When I say a lot of money, in mountaineering terminology the price was almost at the summit whilst here in the UK the price would have still been at base camp.

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Imperial are expensive for everything - all furniture can be found cheaper if you have the time to look around -but particularly electrical items are much cheaper at somewhere like IDEA - good service too. 

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Hi Rose

What is the address for the IDEA  store. By the way, thanks for sending me the childminding magazine.

Westport

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Hi Westport the address is IDEA Costa del Sol SL, Av. Alvarez Quintero 16, 29670 San Pedro Alcantara. Dont know how well you know it but if you are driving through San Ped on the N340 just after the turn to the new underground car park (Marques del Duero) there is a road with shops running parallel to the 340 - there is a Pinturas Andalucia there as well - it is on that road. After the lights just after the turn to M del Duero there is a right turn take it and turn immediately left onto the parallel road - about 50m along on your right.

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