twyntub

Not having strong enough Spanish to cope with telephone calls yet (hand gestures are difficult over the phone), whenever we or next door blow the service fuse outside the house I ask to get put through to the 'English' speaking department at Iberdrola.

Every time - it's the same.

I get told, in English - 'It is because you have a very low potencia, you will need to call out an electrician, here is the telephone number, they will replace the service fuse and you will have to pay them'.

I then go next door to our Spanish neighbours. They make exactly the same call, in Spanish. Iberdrola reply - 'We'll be with you as soon as we can'. 30-45 minutes later an Iberdrola van arrives and the fuse is replaced.

To their credit, when at 11:45pm our next door neighbour's son decided to turn on every electrical appliance going and literally blew the fuse box off the wall , Iberdrola were on site by half past midnight and the offending fuse box finally replaced with a cable joint (no more fuses ) by 1am.

That doesn't explain why I am expected to pay an electrician to come out whereas our Spanish neighbours aren't...

CBANDY

Always be the same i`m afraid. I have lived here 10 years and you will always be an imigrant no-matter how fluently you speak spanish. You are always treated differently. In some ways it is happening to you in Spain what happens to the imigrants in the uk.

GrapeEater

Yep heard of similar many times !!! (But not Iberdrola). It's Outrageous !

One I remember was a car dealer. English chap (spoke decent Spanish) wants to buy a second-hand 4x4 at an Alicante car dealer. Managed only a €500 discount and said he'd come back with deposit later.... a few hours later sent his Spanish girlfriend in, in short skirt, dolled up and she got €2K off !!!!

Better still they then went in together a few minutes later and by was the dealer embarrassed!!!

twyntub

We'll put the kids on the phone next time.

jackytoo

I had this problem with sevillana Endesa some years back. The refused to come out until I got an Electrician to check out my side! I speak spanish and did not go through the English op. It was about 8 years ago and hasn't happened since though.

There does seem to be some sort of institutionalised xenaphobia amongst civil servants and utility workers here. They try to move the goalposts with anyone foreign. A friend went to apply for a spanish passport for their daughter (she was born here) and they cannot get a UK one (long story). They were told to go away she was not entitled to one. Only managed to sort it through a Lawyer.

twyntub

It's interesting experiencing this first hand. Just before Christmas, I had terrible trouble checking into a hotel. I had to spell my very British name out about seven times, eventually writing it down on a piece of paper.

I was then given the wrong room.

It was incredibly embarrassing all round, and none of the four people behind the desk seemed remotely interested in the fact I couldn't speak their language!

This wasn't some small two-bit hotel either - it was a major chain!

So where was this hotel? Alicante? Madrid? Barcelona? Wrong! It was at Stansted airport, Essex, United Kingdom, Britain-land.

Econ

I visited the UK a few months back to see a relation who had gone into hospital, I called at a shop and tried to buy a paper with a £10 Northern Ireland bank note (sterling is clearly on the note), the lady in the shop said "Oh I don't think he will take that", this foreign chap came and looked at the note and said... "It is sterling, we can't take this here!"

I know there are problems getting some places on the mainland to take NI sterling (British) bank notes but it was the "It is sterling, we can't take this here!" that got me, I wonder what currency it had to be? :curse:

Econ

Cheap labour (generally immigrant), it can be the same with English speaking support here in Spain, speak to the Spanish support and no problem, speak to the English support and can't do.... they are programmed to make certain replies and so take less time up from more expensive employees I guess.


In the few hotels I have stayed in within the UK mainland over the last couple of years I think it is safe to say 90% of the staff I had to deal with where non British and spoke little English (many actually Spanish so at least * we * could communicate properly), again... paying less to staff means making more money!

It's the world (EU, EEA or whatever they call it now) we live in now...

GrapeEater

My Grandad (bless his soul) frequently said "Yous pay peanuts, yous get monkies, lad!" in his N Yorkshire accent.

Generally speaking..... Hotel & Catering has always had a employment problem in the UK, not many really want to do it! It's demeaning for us Brits !!! Let the 'others' do that. Maybe we Brits just don't like paying for good service in the UK.

But how come 2 Spanish blokes or women in a Spanish bar can run it, do table service, take money and trust you to pay, clear-up, have an extensive menu, serve food, have time to chat and make you really welcome BUT in the UK pub chains we have to queue 3 deep in the UK, get ignored, charge the earth, pay in advance, get served 'plastic' food and hopefully avoid eye contact with anyone in case of reprisals + (men) go to toilet swimming with urine !! YUK !!!!

I generalise of course.

Econ

In most cases it's probably because the Spanish don't mind doing some physical work to make a living.

Lionda

Friends of ours have been charged a lot extra on their electricity bill because they have used more electricity than they should have They have a couple of radiators on to keep their house warm that is the only extra they are using. Needless to say they are both upset about it. They are pensioners and have resorted to switching off the radiators and have bought a gas heater which is causing condensation, but they are afraid to use the radiators too often. They are questioning the bill but not had any rebate so far.

linda Coyle

Lionda - "used more electricity than they should have" - is there a limit?

Mitzyboy

The radiators use more power, but its the cooker and rings and the water heater that really send the meter wild

I dont understand the fine thing ...... I have no idea how much electricity I should use or not

twyntub

Your electric bill will state your 'potencia' which is the maximum power you're allowed to draw. You pay a standing charge according to this maximum power - and of course a fine if you use more than you should in a billing period.

Ours is just 1kW - which is 4.3 amps at 230V nominal. I'm really looking forward to our electricity bill - we've used 3000 units (3000 kWh) in 2 months = 60 days - which is 50 units per day = 50kWh, divided by 24 hours gives an AVERAGE consumption of 2.1 kW - more than double what we're allowed!

Anyway, we can always tell when we use too much from the noise our electric meter makes. Our meter has 'maximum 5 amps' written on it, so when we flick on about 20-30 amps it makes this lovely sound as it accelerates through the pain barrier...

hmmmm-hmmmm-wowww--wowww--woww--woww-wow-wow-ow-ow-we-we-we-wewewewe-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i