Least to say they haven't had the best enderring publicicty However, me an Mrs. VOX had a unpleasent companonship with one who handcuffed (is that one word?) himself to us all around the Mar Menor. Eventually giving up to my definate NO for a house that was unsatisfactory to our remit! Tut Tut, his BMW diseal was very nice as he had unknowly given us a tourist trip of Sth Blanca / Colida free!!!!!Thank-you Parador Scamers.

Nice one ....

we bought from them, no problems at all.

the employees in Parador work extremely hard and are very dedicated to the clients. The problem they have is the management, their hands are basically tied. It suffers terribly from bad management. So much so that they have just had to lay off nearly half their office staff because they are financially struggling. So if you have purchased a property through Parador. Be warned. they are now understaffed and overworked. You will not be receiving your 700€ - 950€ worth of Parador Aftersales service. Good luck... but remember, if you are not speaking to a manager, then the person you are speaking to is only acting as a go between you and them. Demand to speak to a manager, go into the office and refuse to leave until you have seen one....and in Parador, the more you complain and threaten to make things public the more likely they are to listen to you....

How do you know this? This is quite a serious thing to say about a company, that it is in financial difficulties. Do you have evidence

Was this trip with Parador ?
Never seen them with BMW's.
I think all the big companies are struggling and was told by a solicitor that some of the big bosses were bailing out.

We bought in 2005 with Parador, moved out here in Oct that year. We had aftersales, couldn't fault it, plenty of running around, they organised wills, registering with social services, on the padron, ran us round to various shops etc, in fact our aftersales chap got really upset if we took a taxi as we didn't have a car. However, we did keep in touch with him after our aftersales period had ended, and he was telling us that a few months later, aftersales was costing more than we paid, and was limited to just 1 day, we had it for 12 months. They did close down the offices we went to, and most of the staff were made redundant, and the last we heard at least one was suing them.

we went on of their tours and they were really nice and no pressure at all

I would rather not go into details as to why I know these things as peoples jobs could be at risk. But I know their aftersales staff work hard and I know they are making many redundencies...they just made a huge amount of redundencies last week, and yes, one employee is suing them for unfair dismissal.

The post completions service, where clients are taken to get their padron, Social Security etc, that has all been stopped as since December 2006, unless the client has something in writing.. and now clients will pay 950€ but receive a less concise service than clients that paid the previous 700€ Owners Club fee.

Parador Properties, is only one of many major companies in the Spain that are struggling financially due to a down turn in the current property market. It is not a serious thing to say, it's the truth and most people know this. Unfortunately, Parador might have been able to do more, if they had correct management, which in turn would have meant that there would have been less redundencies leading to the clients getting a better service as the company would have been properly staffed.

A majority of the current Owners Club clients deserve better service and after all they have paid through the nose for it. It is just a shame that most of them don't get it.

Hi Alannah, Your info about PARADOR is very much subjective and lends it self to know such accurate detail, therefore I can only dismiss your comment and go forth with Parador !!!

Sometimes it is useful to hear it from the horses mouth! They don't have a very good reputation on other forums either.

Even though I am an agent involved in selling properties in Spain and have heard and read many 'negative' comments about Parador , I have also talked to buyers who have had a good deal

So to Vox Populia I say:
Go on their trip
If it works for you and you are happy with the after purchase package they offer [which is very expensive......ours is 390 € and more personal & comprehensive] the buy via them

If it does not work then use someone else

Big firms can never be as efficient and personal as a medium sized professional one!...

Good luck Vox Popilia and I hope you find the Spanish home 'right for you'

I have heard good and bad about them .... trouble is as I said earlier in the thread ... once someone spreads rumours like "they are in financial trouble" then their reputation will become quickly tarnished by word of mouth on other forums.

I can assure you that Parador Properties are not going out of business and the reason for any lay-offs is down to the numbers of inspection visits. The good weather in April and May saw less people attending exhibitions in the UK and Eire, this then has had a knock on effect with less inspection visits.

With top heavy numbers and low visits, it's obvious that people would be laid off, this is not going into financial difficulties but just good business sense. Maybe you should find out the facts before bad mouthing an extremely good company.

calma!