12 Nov 2009 12:01 PM:
Maria - That's alright...no problem. Good service deserves good praise. People these days seem ever so quick to criticise when things go badly but not so eager to reward when things are done well. I'd be quite happy using your very personable services again should the need arise and am not afraid to tell other the same!
Keith110 - Our Bank Guarantee had an expiry date on it, which had passed. We were initiating the process of renewal of said guarantee when Banco Popular pulled the plug on funding the development. This is before we discovered that expiry dates on bank guarantees should be irrelevant. To be fair to our agent, I think they just believed that to have an expiry date on the bank guarantee was valid but the date on the document had passed. I say this not through naivety, but because they gave another couple we knew with an "in-date" guarantee the option to execute the guarantee or go for a key-ready property.
MagicMeg - That's a very dim view you spin on things. Once we got to Maria, from meeting her in her office to being refunded with money in our account was about 9 months. I'd have thought a court case in the UK would take just as long if not longer. So I don't really think you can say the system is flawed any less than ours is...and ours IS flawed. You only have to look at cases like the Baby P case and the sentences passed to know that our judiciary can be as much of an @ss as anyone's.
What IS obvious though is that it seems crucial what lawyer you speak to. Bearing in mind we showed two lawyers (both impartial - i.e. not connected to the developer) the same documents re our case in the space of three weeks, I find it bizarre their conclusions could of been so different. The first clearly stating (and believing) our bank guarantee was not only out-of-date but also invalid anyway because of our failed 2nd property purchase, thus leaving our only option to go after the developer (who might possibly go into administration); the other (Maria) stating yep your bank guarantee is valid and you have a strong case to get your money back! 9 months on we know who was right (!) but, for the sake of others, the first lawyers view concerns me and also does make me wonder that although law 57/68 seems to clearly state your rights, how many lawyers actually realise\believe this?
From a personal point of view, despite periods of quiet (I guess all legal cases are like this) on reflection a case going through the courts in 9 months seems perfectly normal to me. However, I'm peeved it had to go that far although, bizarrely, had the bank agreed to pay sooner after being written to before going to court, due to exchange rate fluctuation, the conversion rate to gbp would've worked against us and in effect we would've received less sterling back!
So I guess every cloud...
Brian
Thread:
La Tercia Real Deposit Refund - Don't Give In!
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