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Very pleasant and helpful in Torrevieja

Posted: Sat Oct 12, 2019 4:00pm
7 replies503 views4 members subscribed
Lizzietin

Posts: 12

18 helpful points

Location: Torrevieja

Joined: 16 Jun 2017

I used to live on La Siesta and ran a business there for almost 10 years. I hated the bureaucracy, the grumpy people on the utility counters and the endless paperwork. Sadly my husband died here in 1997. I moved back to the UK and met and fell in love with a lovely man 2 years later. After exactly 20 years together we got married this July (there is a reason for this post😂). We still have a property here in La Siesta. We arrived a couple of weeks ago for a six week stay to get my name changed on everything. I came equipped with a suitcase full of attitude!!! What a difference. Staff in all the utilities, Suma, the banks, insurance office etc have been amazing. Friendly, helpful and incredibly interested in our Marriage Certificate. We overstayed our appointment in the bank by 20 minutes while the girls marvelled that our Dads names and occupations were on the certificate! Nothing like that when we get married we were informed. My suitcase full of attitude has been packed up and we’re enjoying our stay in Torrevieja. We bought in 1985 and I’m still finding places I’ve never visited. Hope I haven’t bored you.......

DonnaDiana

Posted: Sat Oct 12, 2019 4:32pm

DonnaDiana

Helpful member

Posts: 87

96 helpful points

Location: Calp / Calpe

Joined: 19 Apr 2019

Posted: Sat Oct 12, 2019 4:32pm

That's a really nice post Lizzie.  Like a breath of fresh air and no not at all boring. 

Lizzietin

Posted: Sat Oct 12, 2019 5:30pm

Lizzietin

Original Poster

Posts: 12

18 helpful points

Location: Torrevieja

Joined: 16 Jun 2017

Posted: Sat Oct 12, 2019 5:30pm

Thanks. I did ramble on a bit. But it was so different to 22 years ago I wanted to put it in writing. 

Kimmy11

Posted: Sun Oct 13, 2019 10:42am

Kimmy11

Legendary helpful member

Posts: 6869

12554 helpful points

Joined: 8 Aug 2017

Posted: Sun Oct 13, 2019 10:42am

Hi Lizzietin,

What a lovely story, thank you for sharing it with us.

A good lesson, too, for the grumpy Brits I've had the misfortune to meet here in the last 3 years - usually in the bank or SUMA office - that, despite what they think to the contrary, Spain's customer service skills have actually come a long way 👍😄

I hope you and your husband enjoy the rest of your stay.

Best wishes, 

Kim

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Belcat

Posted: Wed Oct 16, 2019 8:57pm

Posts: 58

28 helpful points

Location: Torrevieja

Joined: 4 Aug 2019

Posted: Wed Oct 16, 2019 8:57pm

Nice story Lizzietin.

I too live in La Siesta. 

I had a business here also , which I opened in 2001 ( retired 3 years ago ).

I can relate totally with your experience .

When I first opened the business ...it was a beaurocratic nightmare.

But over the next 15 years - things progressively  got better. 

Now , it's a lot easier ( and less costly ) for new business starts .

Enjoy the rest of your holiday .

Lizzietin

Posted: Wed Oct 16, 2019 10:20pm

Lizzietin

Original Poster

Posts: 12

18 helpful points

Location: Torrevieja

Joined: 16 Jun 2017

Posted: Wed Oct 16, 2019 10:20pm

Glad things got better for you too. It used to drive me mad, the Water Company being my pet hate. Queue 1 stamp a piece of paper, move to queue 2 take piece of paper (with second stamp) to an office the size of a cupboard halfway across town to get a payment slip. Take payment slip to bank. Pay small amount of money and take receipt back to queue 1 (or was it queue 2😳).

Less than 20 minutes and all sorted this time - accompanied by a genuine smile.

Hope you’re enjoying your retirement. Two weeks today we’ll be back in wet dreary England. But love where we’ve recently moved to in the UK so no real hardship.

Belcat

Posted: Fri Oct 18, 2019 12:26am

Posts: 58

28 helpful points

Location: Torrevieja

Joined: 4 Aug 2019

Posted: Fri Oct 18, 2019 12:26am

Yes - I can relate to all that .

It used to drive me crazy also.

Enjoy the rest of your time in Spain. 

Babuka

Posted: Sun Oct 20, 2019 8:57pm

Posts: 2

1 helpful points

Location: Torrevieja

Joined: 2 Oct 2018

Posted: Sun Oct 20, 2019 8:57pm

Only now came back from Torrevieja where we have apartment. We also love this small city, good weather, sun and sea. Spanish food is amazing))) Fortunately, things have changed, and city is improving and prospering, but only wanted to warn new arrives: crime, bureaucracy and swindlers are still existent.  Sometimes you trust to people who look like so confidence and serious, they have their own business, pay taxes, have clients and, you think, they are reliable, because they are living here, having family members, who also running their businesses, and the city so small that doesn't make any sense to cheat overs and gain bad reputation.

We have have a bad experience with a lady, who is living in La Siesta, she is Finnish, running her own  business-cleaning services. We have found her advertisement in internet. She looked like reliable for us: having daughter, house with a swimming pool, her relatives dealing with airport transfers and air conditioning installations, she also had a good reviews from her clients. So, after discussion and meeting, we passed her key of our flat. In the beginning everything was ok, we have been satisfied with  cleaning. Later we noticed she didn't answer on our messages when we needed her, and she explained it as she was sick. This time we decided don't tell her we are coming to Torrevieja. The end of this story: we have arrived one week ago at night, about 2:00 am and couldn't open the door, when we managed to open it, we discovered one person inside, and he already prepared to have a supper: it was maid of ingredients that he found in the flat. On our question who was he, he answered he is a cleaner and shown us keys.  I don't want to bother you with a full story, only tell that our host ,,employed,,  one homeless person, trusted him cleaning our flat in exchange of living in and using everything.   

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