hammer1

Hello!

I'm new in this forum and I would like to talk about my experience in the city of Valencia (Spain).
I'm french but i have lived 12 years in england and i consider I am also an english expat.
The big mistake of my life was going living in Valencia (Spain).
This city is plenty of rude people and con artists everywhere. Be very careful when shopping in computer shops and in mobile telephone shops because in A LOT of this places they try to sell you used items. In two different telephone shops the sold me used mobile phones that conserved in their memory a few telephone numbers. In five different computer shops they sold me used cds whith stored information, a defective digital camera card, an used graphic card, a defective cd drive and a defective flopy disk drive.

Be careful when renting a house. Where I'm living now is a duplex and the 79 year old woman who lives downstairs and who is the owner of the house is stealing me water and electricity. She is all day long asking my neighbours if they have seen me going out of the house. When she knows i'm out she steals me a lot of water to water her garden: i know that because when i return home i allways look the water meter. I'm paying astronomic amounts of money in electricity bills but i can't find a better place to live because here it's a very cheap house (about half the price normally costs to rent an apartment).
The problem is that it's very difficult to find a cheap apartment to live in; here the salarys are very low and apartments normally costs 700 euro per month.

Now I want to return to England because I'm fed up of this big amount of con artists, rude people, staring people everywhere in this city and low wages.

marisol

hello hammer1
I'm sorry, you have had a few bad experiences living in Valencia but, nevertheless, you shouldn't generalize. I have had a very bad experience when i was in London long time ago but i just think i was unfortunate with the people that i found, I have actually met a very good people from London

littlelambfound

From my own experiences and that of many of my friends, the thread could also be titled, "Rude people and con artists in Paris (France).
I am sorry for your experience but look under nay rock, anywhere, and you'll find the same. Roll with the punches!

poshnbucks

I am on to this woman she is well known to Interpol with regards widespread Electricity Theft. I would like you to take a long look at the photo below if its her please phone your local police who will take action on their behalf. Please do not try to tackle her yourself she has a very violent stare.

Rocksport1

I agree with you, to a certain point. I went to the centre of Valencia over the weekend and felt very unsafe. Until of course I starting talking to a street seller and I felt much better.

There are rude people here, at least what we might consider rude. For instance I have noticed that the little old ladies tag team in order to get in the shopping queue faster. An old lady walks up behind you, and signals to her friend, she then says to you. I was in front of you, but I had to get some apples etc and her friend agrees with her, so she jumps the queue. Here they call it elbow rule. Start driving in and around Valencia and your meet some real nasty people.

Is there any chance that the computer shop/mobile phone shop was actually a 60 cent shop. In that case, you might find that spanish is not the first language and stuff can be lost in translation.

There are plenty of places to rent, cheaply. I saw a villa with pool to rent for 600 euros a month. Can I ask, are you alone? because I can see that life might seem hard times and it might seem as the place is teaming up on you to bring you down.

poshnbucks

Well have you seen her......................................:eek :

Rosemary

Hi Hammer1 and welcome to BE. So sorry to hear that you are having a bad experience.

I personally hate large cities with a passion and put off visiting Valencia City for the first 18 months of living in Spain but eventually gave in and went for the day. I expected to feel unsafe and insecure but did not and met loads of very helpful and friendly people so was totally surprised. I loved the city and the people so much that I went there a couple of times a week for several weeks.

It sounds like you have not met the right people as yet and are maybe feeling a little insecrure in general, I hope that all of this changes quickly for you and that life improves greatly.

Good Luck

Rosemary

hammer1

Lol!!
Hi!
What a fright you gave me! No, she is not the Electricity Thief, hahaha. When I rented the house I never imagined that an old woman could be capable of doing this sort of things. I feel impotent because i am a few months looking for another rental house and it's all very expensive so i have to grin and bear with this situation. What happens here it's that you simply can trust nobody.

hammer1

Hi rocksport1!
Yes, the center of Valencia is a place a little insecure. One time i was walking there and suddenly a man came to me and he asked me if i had some money for him; i answered i had no money in my pockets and he started shouting very loud insulting me all the time; i had to walk fast and he didn't pursuit me.

hammer1

The same thing has happened to me a lot of times in supermarket queues. Now with time I'm used to it, but a time ago it annoyed me.
When you are driving in the city, the other drivers start hooting at me even if the traffic light is in red. They don't want to wait until it's green. One day I was driving and a driver overtook me in a city street of only one direction! When you are going to cross a pedestrian crossing there is a lot of drivers that accelerate when they see you are going to cross and only a few stop and let you go.

The computer stores were not 60 cent shops, lol!!

hammer1

Hello Rosemary!
Maybe you're right; I think everywhere in the world there is good people and bad people, however I also think that in certain places you have to be more careful that in other places.
I also hope my life improves

digdug

sorry dude, but your experiences of valencia are waaay different to mine. i spend a lot of time in the city as i live about 20mins away. i've never felt unsafe in valencia city, ever. yes, there are gypsies and thieves, as in any city across the world, and bag snatchers are well known especially around plaza de la reina. what to do? keep your wallet where they cant get them. my wifes had a fone nicked in a bar, by a romanian (we know cos we had €140 of calls made on it in 4 hours), i've been treated like s**t in a restaurant (by a german waiter) and i've been queue raped by more grannies than i could shake a big stick at.
on the flip side, we were met by a lovely old valencian women on the street one night while looking at a map (looking for a pub, tbh) and she insisted on walking us about 1km out of her way to get us to the street. another time, we bumped into a party of 8 spanish guys having a stag night - standing behind their rental bus drinking everything they could find, they insisted we join them for a g&t!! another time i met some brummies in the centre, and they were pretty sozzled, looking to get to the mestalla to see valencia. we took them in that direction, and stopped off in a tapas bar for a beer stop. including my wife and i, there were 13 of us, and our 'guests' as i said were all pretty drunk. any problems? not at all, the barman brought out extra chairs for us, and the owner had no problem taking an order for 39 (yep) mixed croquettes.
sorry, thats my experiences of valencia, i'm sorry yours havent been so good.

bil

Hmmm. I fear that I see a VERY steep learning curve ahead. True you will earn more than in Spain, but hey, you'll need to, in order to pay all the taxes!

To be honest, I have experienced some if not all of the experiences you have in the UK.

As for queue jumping, well, I just ask 'Quien es el/la ultimo?, and then watch out like a hawk. In the pescaderia, just as it was my turn, one woman just stepped forward and started to give her order. I was just about to tell her off, (politely) when the sales lady said to her, 'Actually, this gentleman was next.' You could really see how the woman didn't like being put in her place.

Sam Greenfield

Hello Hammer
Sorry youve had such a bad experience but unfortunately this happens throughout the world and not just in Spain - we live in quite a quiet little town but it happens here as well - sadly this now seems to be a daily occurance throughout the world.
Take care
Sam

andyrich666

What does - banging your horn when some timewaster in front of you does not move on a red light, well - that is City Living !!!

When you are driving in the city, the other drivers start hooting at me even if the traffic light is in red.

Not being funny but if your on a red light and its not a major junction and there is nothing in sight - then move and get on with it, if there is no one crossing the road move - drive on.

That is not Valencia, its city living and it happens all over, Taxi drivers when empty always jumping red's

I suppose the OP is the type of guy who stops at a roundabout when nothing is coming and then nearly gets hit up the arse, if not gets a very loud "bbbeeeeeeBBB" and a finger.

My point is like Sams it happens all over the world - we all have different ways of moving about and living and mine is as the drivers behind you !!