hello, I'm an expat in Spain and been one for a little over 2 years. I came under the nlv as it was after Brexit. The differences between living in the UK and Spain are numerous and it's taking a lot of energy to understand and adjust to. From professional accountants who have been business for many years but don't seem to understand the tax system through to consumer services that imply the customer has to prove that they are right before getting any service. It does feel like stepping back in time in a modern age. It's certainly a test of anyone's ability to adapt. As I have told myself many times, living in Spain is a game, you just need to know the rules and not to forget that someone is always changing them.

Look at it from the other side: do you think that someone moving to the UK (from Spain or elsewhere...) would for *any* reason think that things are better or more organised in the UK?

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Rosemary

After 18 years as an immigrant in Spain, I have to say my experience has been quite different to yours. I have made very little use of accountancy professionals to handle my tax affairs - for the first few years we needed to submit annual returns we used the free service whereby we made an appointments at our local Hacienda office, went along there with our income figures (no supporting documentation asked for) and a member of their staff completed them for us. Try getting that service in the UK. More recently we have completed our own returns online. The facility to have returns done free of charge at Hacienda offices still exists though, as does the facility to make an appointment to speak to someone in person if you have a query. I only used an accountant to do my return once after I'd sold a property and bought another one, to make sure the CGT situation was reported correctly, and he seemed to know his stuff. I've also done a Modelo 720 return online myself, it isn't difficult.

As far as customer service is concerned I have honestly never had a problem returning something faulty. Even, on one occasion, having a new cut to size glass shelf for our fridge, exchanged free of charge because when we got it home it was too small. We'd done the measurements ourselves so it was our mistake and we told the man in the shop so, but when we called back to collect the new one after doing some shopping he refused to let us pay for the replacement. On another occasion I'd bought some winter boots from a shoe shop then put them away for a few months until it was time to wear them. When I walked in them there was something sharp sticking through the sole of one of them. I hadn't kept the receipt but still had the carrier bag from the shop so took them in with no great expectation of getting them exchanged. They were exchanged immediately with no quibbles. Whenever I have ordered furniture (with the exception of IKEA where delivery and assembly has to be paid for if required) it has been delivered to whatever room in the house I want (even in my old house which was in a barrio with no vehicle access to the house which meant delivery people carrying or pushing heavy items like domestic appliances or furniture a good 200m from the nearest place they could park their van then taking things upstairs) and have been assembled, if needed, as a matter of course at no extra charge. My brother, in the UK, ordered some bedroom furniture from Oak Furnitureland. It took 9, yes 9, attempts to get it delivered without any of it having obvious damage or faults, and on the final attempt the delivery people initially refused to take it upstairs to the bedroom as they didn't want to have to lift items over the bannisters on the stairs. He had to get on the phone yet again to their Head Office and get them to speak to the delivery people to force them to do it. My late father in the UK had to get my brother and nephew to take a new mattress for his bed upstairs for him as the people who delivered it had refused to take it upstairs and left it in his living room. Once I ordered a tumble dryer from a local shop here, late morning on 26 December. Would you like it delivered this morning or this afternoon, asked the man in the shop. I have recently had some new made to measure sheer curtains delivered for my living room. The shop sent someone to take the measurements and whilst they were there took down the heavier curtains for me so I could get them dry cleaned, and when they brought and hung the new sheer curtains they put the heavier curtains back up as well to save me struggling with them. I will stick with Spanish standards of customer service and be glad to do so.

I am feel the same as Lynn R. As a person who hates dealing with this sort of thing I have been amazed at how efficient and easy it is to deal with things here in Spain. People are very helpful the vast majority of the time. Obviously there is always going to be a few bad apples amongst officials but so far I have not come across any of them. I strongly believe in treating people politely, provide clear explanations and listening carefully to the responses as this normally gains the best results. Arrogant immigrants who make unreasonable demands, complain about the methods used and try to break the rules are usually the ones who find the systems unworkable.

Rosemary

I've always had satisfaction during my 10 years living here in Spain and found everyone helpful especially the healthcare services.
Perhaps the OP expects Spain to be exactly the same as the UK, expecting anyone official to converse in English and doesn't allow the time to let things happen!
Spain is a totally different ball game and the OP always has the option to return to the UK.....

Steve

Same here, been here permanently now for nearly five years (Aug) but visited the area we live in for about 20 years.

Before we moved I researched everything we needed to do. Made sure I knew the process and employed the professionals to do their job if I was unable too.
Yep doing paperwork is fun, all i do is smile and agree when get told something different to what i expect.

Yep things are different here, same as everywhere when English is your language and that of the country you are in is not..
To be honest the opening comment made by the OP, smacks of troll like behaviour that is designed to get us going.

As Steve rightly sayes go somewhere else, there are another 190 odd countries where I bet lots will be even worse than here.
Moscow was interesting in the mid 1980's, almost everywhere else Ive been has been a cake walk since...

Yes that has been my experience too.

When we lived in Spain we only encountered one problem, but most of our dealings with officialdom were straightforward, the one problem we had was with Gestor who had done out tax returns with no problems, we used him for a property sale, again no problems but he did tell us there was a problem and we were paying too much ta because the previous owners had failed to declare they were leaving Spain, we did contact them and they wrote to the gestor so her could claim the money back, apparently this he did, then disappeared with the money, even his office had no idea where he had gone, we did get trusted solicitors to try and find him but apparently he had just disappeared, we could have taken things further but were advised that the costs would almost certainly be more than we were claiming, so €8,000 lost.

From my experience of talking with Spaniards, they seem to love how easy everything is in the UK.

Seems very elaborate for €8000 but I've had builders disappearing with less

Until they encounter the lack of law or legal common sense in many issues, simply because of the whim of certain institutions that can just decide what they want off-hand.

Take IHT for instance and the completely stupid and unlawful way in which you are treated in the UK. If your parents gift you their property and you don't make them pay market rent for continuing to live there... UK authorities will have an absolute ball with this.

Now take this same scenario over to America and your lawyers would refuse to charge you because of how ludicrous and "unloseable" such a case would be: your property, your decisions, you could even PAY your parents extra money to live there if you want! It's NOBODY else's business what you do and how you do it. You property. Your decisions. You have the RIGHT to do ANYTHING you like. End of story. But NOT in the UK...

You might be right in how Spaniards see moving to the UK and truthfully I cannot relate to that. You definitely have more data than I do. Personally I only know what's it's like to deal with legal issues when moving to/from the likes of Singapore and Australia and although I once contemplated a move to the UK I quickly changed my mind after seeing what a cowboy republic it has become.

Heck, IHT is one thing... but they were even dragging someone through courts (in a very loud case) because they didn't like the salary that person set himself as the owner of his very own company. Supposedly it was beneficial to receive a certain salary and pay dividends on the remainder of the profits, which is perfectly understandable and logical. But again the person was dragged through courts as if they should have inflicted self-harm by tilting their salary and dividends to... pay more to the treasury... which was completely ludicrous. In the end the courts ruled in favour of the individual, stating that he could set his salary at whatever he wants and is sustainable. +10 points to the courts, -100 to the system that harrasses such people...

That last paragraph can't be true, I pay myself 9k a year and they've never once tried to take me to court. I agree with you on IHT but I understand that Spain has some weird IHT laws also...its not something I've had to deal with yet