Yesterday we had to venture to the costa for a new shaver for OH. A quick trip to Marbella we thought.
The good: Arriving at Worten we found a salesman who seemed to think the problem was with the connecting lead and not only refused to sell us a new razor but gave us the address of a spares shop in Fuengirola. The whole conversation took place in a mix of our very bad Spanish and his slightly better English. In UK he would have tried to sell us the most expensive one in the shop.
Not all try to rip off the newbies

The bad: On arriving home, we discovered the problem was not the connection and may now be the battery. However once Semana Santa is over we can return to the spares shop and get a new battery. In the mean time I will have to live with a scruffy, stubbly OH.

The ugly: Fuengirola was a nightmare. Nowhere to park. The shop was closed until 5pm so we decided to find a restaurant and have a long lunch, see the beach etc. After 30mins of driving around the town and failing to find another place to park and not seeing anywhere we wanted to eat we went to Miramar shopping centre and had an OK lunch which to be fair was good value. I am not trying to start another cost v campo thread but it was a relief to get back to our little corner of the mountain.

You made a good point that not all Spanish people are trying to rip off newbies to Spain, as is the usual generlisation, but then spoil it by saying that sales people in the UK are not helpful, would have tried to squeeze you to the max and try to sell the most expensive one in the shop.



You seem to have a very low opinion of Brits, or at least the ones who work in retail.

The people in my local electrical shop are always great and will often talk me out of the more expensive items and recommend cheaper ones that they have in their own homes and can tell me more about them because of this. They have saved me quite a bit of money during our time here.

Rosemary

Sadly, having lived there for over 60 years it is a true reflection in salespeople in places like Comet, Currys etc.. I have lost count of the times I have gone buy a relatively inexpensive item there only to be pushed towards a more expensive version with features I neither want nor need. Then to be pressured to take out 3 years warranty costing more than the original item.

I was however simply making a comparison to demonstrate how pleasantly surprised we were.

Whilst living in the UK, lots of families like us, ie Spanish, Italians etc also made the move as things were so bad in their own countries, that leaving for pastures new was the only option for a great many.

But for all the hardships that they had passed through at home, I honestly cant recall any of them slagging off their birth country and countrymen, even though I suppose they had a lot more reason to do it.

So I will put down "slagging off your own country/countrymen" as a typically British trait for the sake of argument, as it seems you are the only nationality that seems to do it on a grand scale/regular basis. Or at least plenty of Brits do.

The title is the Good, bad and ugly, and there is somthing very ugly in tarring everyone with the same brush and losing all sense of love for ones home country.

Enough said from me on the subject.

I think Sujee's point is more along the lines of big corporation/chains versus the good service you'll get from family-run stores - well sometimes!

I think that a lot of Brits tend to complain rather than praise which is why the Aussies call us whinging poms.

A couple of different times I sought out the manager of the local small Tescos to talk to him about a what had occurred with one of his staff members. When I said that I wanted to talk to him about their attitude he immediately went on the defensive and was not initially really listening to me. I was praising their attitude and helpfulness and he was shocked that someone had bothered to seek him out as it was not a complaint but compliment. These were two different staff members, two different managers and I did not know any of them.

I have always believed in speaking as I find and will always give credit where it is due.

Rosemary

Su, after 60 years and you havent learnt the word NO!
I have found a glare also helps

IMHE most expensive things have a similar failure rate to the lowest cost, just more frills and go faster stripes, posh name and chrome to bedazzle the friends and family when they visit.

I've been to Fuengirola every week for the past 3 years and never had a problem parking

If you dont mind paying you can go to the underground carpark near the square. Slightly cheaper is the blue zone at the start of the carretera de mijas, or if you want free than on the seafront in Los Boliches or at the Mosque near the castle

Just some tips in case you want to go back!

Fair dues - I should have read more carefully. Still, if it's a well-run chain store then all the better.
It's a danger when operations become too big, that genuinely good service can take a hit. Not always the case, but big companies like Curries, Comet, Santander are often flagged up for poor service.
The best chain stores like M&S or Waitrose pay attention to customer service and it shows (normally)

An article in the Telegraph touches on this.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/exp...hange-you.html
That paragraph isn't knocking the UK as such (you can still find local friendly low-cost cafes), just the mushrooming of the corporate chains that strive constantly to extract more and more out of you for less. Problem is: they're winning.

Absolutely. One of the big reasons we love living in Spain is the excellent cafe culture. In the UK it is a fake corporate version.

Btw, having just spent 2 weeks in the North I can resoundly say that the price of coffee and canyas is twice the price here than in the South

1 euros 80 for a coffee and 2 euros 20 for a canya. Pretty much everywhere in Oviedo

If I could see a cafe was packed out and waiting for a table/seat I wouldnt have even ordered a coffe but moved on. when its like that the tables are manky, the seats not much better, and the floor disgusting.

can't see why people have to put up with such facilities just so they can say they have had a coffee in a particular establishment.

.

had the €3.50 del dia yesterday,
bread roll
plate of spaghetti bolognese
plate of meat balls (5) and chips
banana
coffee

took some photos of the advertising board - must remember where I put the download cable so i can post here.

Oh goody, another UK is crap and expensive and Spain is wonderful thread. Pity I am out for lunch in London Also includes coast is rubbish, campo good! Bonus thread for a rainy day

We always parked in an underground one close to Dunnes stores without problem or on the Port....is there really nowhere closer to Tolox for shavers Who listens to salespeople anymore. I have usually decided what I want in electrical stuff before I buy it. Most of them have only been in the job a few months and know nothing about the products they sell.

Reason why you can get a coffee and have another etc etc. in Spain is cos there is an over supply of bars doing nowt.