Roundabouts

Anyone wishing to hire a car here on Lanzarote please take note!!!  There's a piece on Roundabouts under the blogs section and I'd advise anyone to read it before taking the plunge and driving here.

Holiday Reps

Please see the blog entitled Reps Reputation and make up your own mind regarding these people, usually young kids, who are here today and gone tomorrow.

Attractions

Eventually I'll do my own reports on things to do and see on the island and I'll add a few that aren't featured on any of the glossy magazines but all this takes so much time.  Check out the 'Attractions' tab on this site for a few links to sites which will help you find out more about the island before you visit.

Car Hire

The main advice here is shop around!.  They want your business after all so weigh up the prices and options as you're walking around.  I wouldn't waste too much time on this but bear it in mind as you're milling around getting your bearings as in, when you see a rent a car outlet stop, have a look in, pick up a price list, a little chat, find out about deals ( some do 4 days for 3, special offers and so on ) write it all down and then compare later.  It may be worth saying to a few "Look, I can get this down the road at 'x' amount so what can you do for me?" 

Electrical Goods

Please see the blog entitled Electrical Storm for detailed info.

Property - Buying & Selling.

Again, pretty much taken care of in the Property Pitfalls blog.  Go have a read!

As a post script to the blog I've been told of people who've put deposits down on planned building plots and semi built properties only for the builder then to go bankrupt and take all their money with them.  So, you see the plans or better still, see the foundations of a house, get sucked in to putting thousands and thousands of pounds down as a deposit only for the builder or company to either run off or declare bankruptcy.  It's shocking.  Be very careful also with people selling you the same property.  I've heard about that too.  I've also heard on the grapevine that the Town Hall is, or will be, actually knocking down illegal buildings within 50M of the beach front.  You can go for a nota simple easily enough, ask for one, check that it says urbano ( I think ) and you should be ok.  You may see a house, a ruin or whatever but that doesn't mean to say it's legal.

Flights

Try this for flights only:      www.skyscanner.com

I think this is a great site.  You can choose whether you want direct or indirect flights which could lead to cheaper options.  I get home and back for around 150E most times and I think that's pretty good.  I have found better deals but very rarely.  Go have a look!!

TelefonicaAAAAARRRRGGHHH!!! & MovistaAAAAAARRRRGHHHH!!!!!

TelefonicaAAAAARRRRGGHHH!!! & MovistaAAAAAARRRRGHHHH!!!!!

 

Here’s the story.

 

I recently changed banks, from Banco Popular to La Caja Canarias and that’s another story in itself!

The problem was that I had to wonder round changing all my Direct Debits one sunny morning in Arrecife.  A couple of them weren’t that difficult.  Social Security, despite being incredibly miserable, seemed easy enough and have proved since that they’ve actually got their act together.  Inalsa had moved which caused me bunions on my blisters but once I’d found them ( I was ten minutes after closing time ) they were very helpful and nice.  Unelco were a bit of a pain despite being polite initially as their computer had a glitch and didn’t recognise my house here in Playa Quemada but after a second visit they amended the problem after a bounced Direct Debit.  Others like Insurance and my Pension ( am I really that old???:) ) were a breeze, I hope!

 

Telefonica have a system that you can use to change your bank details and they’ll send you a confirmation text to prove that it’s gone through.  My Spanish is good so I used that method and thankfully, Telefonica shone, despite the fact that I once had to take them to an independent court through the Trading Standards Office.  I won, 50€.

 

Movistar, despite being part of the Telefonica group ( I’m sure you’ve all noticed ) must have a different system.  I called them to explain that I’d changed banks on the 15th May.  I knew this had been done, fully exonerating me from any blame because after I received a text saying that my bill had been returned by the bank I called them and they repeated the correct changes back to me.  Again, having the language helps.

It’s worth mentioning here that I received the text on Saturday morning with details of how to pay ( Banco Santander, Cash Dispensers of La Caixa and the good old Post Office ).  The bill didn’t arrive in the post until Monday afternoon and I was cut off by Monday Evening.  You can imagine how mad I was.

 

I called Movistar and the operator and she wasn’t very friendly which was fair enough because neither was I.  She said that I should pay the bill at the earliest opportunity.  I said that they should have done their job properly.  I paid the bill Tuesday morning having been past Banco Santander ( I was told that you can only pay Movistar bills on Thursday???? ) by going in to the Post Office.  The guy was extremely pleasant whilst the lady laughed at me when I asked if I could pay the bill there and on hearing the good news exclaimed an ‘At Last’ look and threw my arms in the air.  I left it a couple of hours and called Movistar again –‘609’.

The operator was friendly enough but I was mad.  He explained that it takes up to a month for the information to be processed which means ladies and gents that if you’re changing bank accounts then leave the old one open for a month until Movistar can go click, click, click and change your details.

I explained to the operator who’d calmed me down by saying that I was now connected that I thought this was atrocious and needed looking at.  He actually agreed.  I hope this little warning note serves you well…

 

Post:

 

The following month I received the same text, this time on a Sunday.  I immediately called and said “Look, this happened last month, there’s obviously a problem.  Do NOT cut me off until I’ve had chance to find out what’s going on”.  “It’ll be ok” they said “If you pay your bill”  I went through the age old saga of repeating that I don’t have a bill to pay with, I’m not prepared to go down to Playa Blanca, wasting my time and energy just because someone hasn’t done their job properly.  We parted.  I’m mad.

 

The next day I went to the bank and got a print out which revealed that April and May’s payments had actually been paid Direct Debit which made the explanation ‘It takes a month to change your details’ all the more confusing.  Why wasn’t June paid the same?  I’d done nothing and yet July had bounced too.  I can categorically confirm that despite the credit crisis I had enough funds to pay the 20.11€ I owed for June and the 18€ I owed for July.  The bank claimed they’d received nothing from Movistar.  I called Movistar again, explained the situation for a third time to another faceless person at the end of the line and she repeated that I should pay my bill.  I repeated that I don’t have a bill to pay, Banco Santander only allows you to pay bills on certain days which leaves my only option of finding a “La Caixa” hole in the wall to resolve this.  If they expected me to go wondering round trying to find a cash machine at a bank that I don’t use and don’t know where any branches are then I’m sorry but I have more important things to do in my life like licking walls!

Stalemate.  The bank blames Movistar, Movistar blames the bank.  All I asked of Movistar was that they didn’t cut me off.  I’d just done some promo to get a couple of extra gigs and I need my phone active, it’s my life blood.

 

Tuesday I’m cut off.  I called Movistar again, another faceless ‘helper’.  I’m madder than mad.  I explained the whole situation again and I was met with “You’ll have to pay your bill”.  You can imagine…

I went round to the bank.  “Listen”  I said, “I’m cut off, you’re blaming Movistar, Movistar says it’s you.  If I was a betting man I’d be with you but can you please confirm 110% that they haven’t sent you anything?”

The guy had a little surf on his computer and he told me that I’d only paid April.

I said “Hang on a minute, I’d paid April and MAY, June and July have been returned.  As you can see by YOUR print out that I got from this office YESTERDAY it says just that, two amounts, 16+ Euros and 21+ Euros???”

Another little flick through “Oh yes” he said “You’re right”

I’m thinking “Jesus!!! I’m doing his job for him!!”

“Look, who the hell’s at fault here because you’ve lost my payment from yesterday, then found it again and I’m stuck in the middle of two massive companies, cut off and mad.  He printed me another statement and I noticed that another ‘mystery’ amount had been debited from my account – 7.79€.  It related to another mobile number, my name but definitely NOT my numer!!!.  Bingo!  I bet any money that Movistar have me confused with someone else, he’s probably got my bill and I’ve got his???  I called Movistar almost convinced now that they’re at fault ( my bank had hardly filled me with confidence )  I told them the story that there’s a mystery amount that I’ve blocked and I believe that they’ve got it wrong somewhere.  I was told that I had to pay my bill which has gone up from 18€ to 25€+ due to a reconnection charge!  I’m madder than mad, now I’m thinking about flying to Madrid or Venezuela or wherever they are and kicking some butt.

 

Wednesday I’m still cut off, it’s not my fault and I’m seriously pissed off.  I went up to the bank again, explained the situation for the umpteenth time and asked them to block totally that mystery payment.  YOU phone THEM and sort this crap out!!!”

I handed him my phone and he called them.  After a brief conversation he handed my phone back, gave me a reference number and said they’d contact me.  I told him that it just wasn’t good enough.  He told me to “Change companies”.  Ridiculous…

Wednesday night I mailed Customer Services, in Spanish trying to get re-connected.  Again, they told me they’d get back to me in a couple of days.

 

Totally and utterly pissed off the next day I decide enough is enough and write all this down to take to the ‘Oficina de Consumedor’ in Arrecife.  Surely they could do something?  On the off chance that my bills have arrived, I decide to go in the opposite direction and pass by the Correos ( Post Office ).  “Do you have my bills so I can pay this debt?”  I ask, more in hope than anything.

They’re there.  She walks out with them and my heart sinks.  I open them all up in the van.  My house phone has gone through no problem, there’s the one for 18€ ( now 25€+ ) that I must pay and the 7.79€ one too.

Well, as it turns out the 7.79€ is actually mine!  It relates to my Internet.  Because I live in rural Playa Quemada, we can get Internet but only via a ‘Dongle’ which I bought along with a contract that I signed quite recently for 18 months.  We were told that the charge would be 39€ a month and for that reason I didn’t recognise the amount.  It also said ‘mobile’ not ‘Internet’ on the bank statement along with a normal mobile phone number, which I guess I can give them because that’s how it must work.  The point is, how the hell was I supposed to know?

I went back to the bank to re-open the 7.79€ Direct Debit that I’d closed.  Initially she couldn’t find it, nor the May payment but when I produced the printed statement for both of them, miraculously they appeared.  Anyway, she re-opened the blocked transaction and I wandered off in the direction on the Consumer Office in Arrecife.  I stopped off in Playa Honda to pay 18€ with my bill.  Once in the Cabildo I began the now tedious process of recounting blow by blow my experiences with Movistar.  She pointed out after looking at the statements that I’d actually been charged a reconnection charge for being cut off in June!!!  Cheeky B******s!  She told me she couldn’t act on my behalf because it wasn’t clear cut that it was Movistar’s fault – it could still be the banks.  What more can I or could I have done?  What do I do now?  I’m still cut off.  I may have lost a gig because I didn’t get back to the bar in time and that may have cost me even more money.

 

So, I’m sat at home, cut off, looking at the bills, along with a Banco Popular statement.  “Banco Popular Statement?”  I’ve tried TWICE to close that account, signing the papers and everything as I’ve had some crap with them too!!!  ( A couple of years ago I was in Finland on tour.  I had this card that I used in emergencies with a five grand limit.  I called the bank because it was the first time I’d had access to the internet in a while and I noticed that I’d go overdrawn if I didn’t get any money in my current account, incurring charges and maybe disconnections.  I’d used the card previously for this purpose until I got back to Sweden or France where there was people I could trust to transfer my money back to Spain.  The new manager said that they couldn’t perform this operation.  I was dumbstruck.  This was going to cause me no end of problems and I told her so.  I had five grand on this card which, if I was physically in Lanzarote, I could go in to the bank, withdraw and then put back in my current account.  They’d done this before so why not now?  Despite me pleading and explaining the situation and the stupidity of the rules they stood fast, I went overdrawn and got charged for it.  I also had to travel from Finland to the Canaries without a phone or financial back up.  Despite that, I decided to stay with the bank, paid off all the debt and switched offices to Arrecife.  But, since then things had gone wrong with the bank, they should have closed the account in Costa Teguise down a long time ago and when they charged me 27€ for an account that should have been closed ( and wouldn’t credit me ) I decided that enough was enough.  So, despite signing for the account to be closed twice, it was still open )

 

So, I notice that at the top left of every bill there are details of the bank from which the direct debit has been taken.  My house says La Caja Canaria which is correct.  The 7.79€ I thought wasn’t mine that actually is went through ok too, La Caja Canaria BUT the 18€ one says “Banco Popular”.  I just couldn’t believe the incompetence of it all.  What, in God’s name had, have I done wrong in all of this?

So, I call Movistar again, going through all the same bull***t as before.  I was told that they would do a reclamacion ( a claim ) and they’d look in to it.  I’d had enough.

 

The next day I went from my house to Puerto del Carmen to change to Vodafone.  I’d been reconnected so I was free to move and keep my number.  Oh, I’d since paid the 7.79€ using the bill after my Internet didn’t work???  As soon as I paid, it worked again.  I wonder if I’ll get charged a reconnection?

After waiting in the queue for about 20 minutes I got totally and utterly fed up with waiting.  I’m wasting the best part of my week trying to sort out s**t that should NOT have happened.  I went back to the car livid, phone Movistar and told them that the matter would soon be in the hands of the Consumer Office.  I told them I didn’t want to be disturbed by any more calls from them regarding this matter.  The guy on the other end was ‘meek’ to say the least.  I actually regretted doing this but I had to vent my frustration and anger at someone representing these inhumane, faceless multinationals.  I went to Arrecife, explained everything to the woman there and she then agreed that the problem was with Movistar and they’d act on my behalf.

 

From there I went to Costa Teguise to Banco Popular.  I really did not want to see the manageress there because, feeling the way I felt about Scandinavia and now this I couldn’t have been 100% sure that I would have been able to control my emotions.  She was the beginning of all this.  Had she have seen the senseless lack on consideration and compassion to a customer of 8 years in the first place none of this would have happened.  She wasn’t there, thank God.

I waited my turn and when that arrived I casually walked up to the counter.

“Can you confirm, 110% that this account is CLOSED”  I think she could see that crazed look in my eyes.  She had a little type and confirmed what I already knew.

“No, I think it’s still open”

I grabbed a tight hold of the desk, bowed my head, gritted my teeth and counted to ten.  At the end of ten I sighed.  “Close the account”  I said without looking up.

“Has there been a problem?”

I looked up.  “Let’s not talk about problems”  “Close the account – please”

 

I signed the paper for a third time and left.  I did receive a call from Movistar later that night but I told them in no uncertain circumstances that it was too late to contact me now, it was in the hands of the Consumer Office and they should contact them.  She apologised and said that she was only trying to do her job.  I accepted that but told her that I was eating with my family and I’d had enough.

 

I’ll let you know what happens in future.  I’m connected, both Internet and phone – for now.