Re: BBC1 after 8pm on Sky
 

who is actually selling a 2m dish for €500, ?
even with shipment from UK good old Maplins would be less than half that
if I thought I could make that sort of money out of sat tv I would do it......but I know a guy who is a failed carpenter, failed builder, moved into satellite and usually had to make 2 visits, the second time to put right what he had done in the first place. Cant think why he has locked up his house and gone back to the UK.

I think it is all perception, when living in another country things look different, different things become more accentuated.
The UK has its cowboys, fly by nite's, etc. just perhaps you never saw them or had dealings with them. Some came to Spain, Italy, France etc to make rich pickings off the gullible local yokels and expats. They rarely stay long. Those that do have that reputation hanging around them like a bad smell.
As in the UK the good steady businesses are the ones that stay for ever, sometimes they make a mistake and employ a "wrong-un" but he soon goes. Their business is based on trust from both sides.

I can remember when money was exceedingly tight and I bought cheap and paid for it. Did things myself on the cheap. They didnt last. No need to go for the most expensive, but in the middle there are some good guys, good businesses.
You have to learn to trust. That is hard.

rgds

Re: BBC1 after 8pm on Sky
 

I think it may be more of a difference in region than perception.

The poor service, incompetence, high prices and rip-offs in this area aren't isolated incidents. It's widely known and accepted (amongst the English-speaking population especially). For example, We don't know anyone who can claim they've never been forced to over-pay Endesa for their electricity. Everybody we know has been ripped off by them at one time or another. Everybody knows that you NEVER take a car to a repair shop on a full tank of petrol. That's simply begging to get ripped off. There are lots more examples... It's "just something you learn to live with" seems to be the generally accepted theme. It's taken us 5 years to begin to realise that this is simply "how it is".

Now, having said that, we don't get ripped off everywhere. Especially if you are a faithful return customer. The way it's been explained (and seems consistent with our experience) is that the locals see foreigners as "easy money", and most of the time, after some Brit or German buys something, they never see them again anyway, so it's logical to collect as much as they can in the first sale.

If you actually return to buy something (and if you speak Spanish, at least), then it's not in their best interests to continue to profiteer. Now you start to get more reasonable transactions from them. In fact, we now get superb discounts from one of the local building suppliers. Very cheap, in fact.

OK, the cheapest satellite store in Palma prices a 2M dish at €645 PVP, but if you're a regular customer, you can talk them down to about €550. The local sat installers receive a significantly better discount, and typically they will charge about €500, +installation+Sky box+freesat or Sky card+whatever. Considering the PVP prices, €800-€1000 for the whole installation seems like a pretty good deal. But we were able to achieve the same results for under €200. Our kit has been running perfectly for several years now.

So, we aren't just doing things "on the cheap". We're just well aware that if you are happy to fork it over, they'll be more than happy to take it. And it's not just a matter of profiteering - in this case, I believe it's just laziness and no specific need to be competitive. And it's damned expensive to operate a business in Spain. We know this all too well.

Here's just one very recent example of the ongoing crap everyone puts up with here:

After a long fight, we just paid Endesa for March & April 2011 electricity consumption for the second time. It was originally paid in June 2011 (proven, indisputable), but later, Endesa's "system" spit out another identical factura, for same period and meter readings, but with a different factura number.

During the fight we learned that we have no choice but to pay it again or else their "system" will spit out a disconnect notice because this factura number remains unpaid, and our electricity will be disconnected. For some reason, they cannot stop this or delete the erroneous factura (which they won't specifically admit is erroneous), and so it must be paid or we get disconnected, without recourse.

There is a policy at Endesa that if you stop direct debit, they have no obligation to refund anything, for any reason. Two years ago, we were forced to stop direct debit because Endesa was draining our bank account with grossly overinflated facturas, which we had to go through a series of denuncias to get refunded.

We still do not allow them access to our account through direct debit, so, we are ineligible for any refund for this double-payment. End of discussion as far as they are concerned.

Obviously we find this despicable, but that's just how it is.

So please, don't try to convince me that things are the same as in the UK. They aren't.