Is telefonica really that bad?

I think locations may make a difference. We live near Granada.

We?ve had good and bad, although I would point out that they?re probably no worse than BT back in the UK in all honesty. There are more service providers coming on the scene so it?s always worth "shopping around" for what package is best for your needs.

When we first had our phone line installed, phoned them on a Monday and they had the line installed by the Wednesday. Quite a quick turnaround there, so a big tick there.

Having had the phone installed ok, we wanted to connect to the internet. ADSL via a landline is unavailable in our village as yet, so went for basic dialup. Happily enough they set up our account and gave us the number to dial through the modem. First bill came and to our horror, we were being charged the monthly subscription AND the calls via the modem, to the tune of over ?400. We challenged this and it turns out they gave us the wrong number to dial. They did refund the incorrectly charged amount and gave us the correct number, after initially saying it was our fault and that they coul?nt have given us the incorrect number!!

Following bills then made little sense and did not correspond correctly to the calls we made and in the end we changed our calls to Europa, and just pay line rental to Telefonica. Since we changed to Europa, the calls are far cheaper, especially for UK calls, and we get a seperate number people from UK can call us at UK local rate.

My parents moved to a country property earlier this year. They already have an antiquated DOMO satallite phone system installed. We enquired about upgrading this to enable ADSL as well as a better phone system, having already looked into the packages on their websites they offered, we knew that "rural" systems were available "countrywide", with "free" installation. Basically, when I called them they said it was?nt available yet, which is in fact rubbish. They basically were?nt interested in helping. I?ve heard it suggested though, that although they "offer" rural packages, they sometime pick & choose clients they want to help - this I hear from Spanish friends of mine, not just fellow Brits. From there I requested basic dialup internet for my parents. This did?nt work at all so was cancelled. Again, billing was incorrect and they charged for an engineers visit which did?nt even take place.

Net result, my parents are also using Europa for their calls, just paying line rental to Telefonica, but are still without any form of internet. At present we?re both looking at Iberbanda who offer ADSL internet and telephone systems at a reasonable price, via a dish. Going by the website, virtually everywhere can get it. Once we?re set up, I?ll post to let everyone know how they compare.

In the long run, I think that with newer service providers coming into the market, Telefonica is going to have to pull their finger out, or lose alot of business. I think that prices for ADSL will gradually come down. It?s a bit like it was in the UK a few years ago. BT held a monopoly, more providers came on the scene, competition grew between companies and prices came down. It?s bound to happen here too, may just take a few more years is all.

I guess we?ve got a bit waiting for us then.
The truth is, that after we move iam thinking about Orange for their services. But seeing the hardware is still in the hands of telefonica,
you can?t completely forget about them.
We are thinking to go with Orange in our next place. Does anyone have experience with them?

Other thing: I?ve tried to find this "Europa" , but I seem to end up in Brussels with every google search I do...
Could you give me some more info on that?

Hola,

I think you are looking for:

www.europa-network.com

as per their ad in the local paper - but I cant get it to connect - says something about their service ??

Maybe Telefonica are not so bad ??

Mmmm, too bad, sounded really nice...

BTW, their website is dead as well.

Try again tomorrow - I know people who have dealt with them but at the end of the day the big boys (if you are prepared to pay the price) win! Which is a shame because us small businesses do offer service and value

PS our web site works!!

> Try again tomorrow - I know people who have dealt with them but at the end of the day the big boys (if you are prepared to pay the price) win! Which is a shame because us small businesses do offer service and value

PS our web site works!!


I was talking about http://www.europa-network.com/ , doesn?t seem to be working

I have used 4 ADSL suppliers over the years and Telefonica has been the better out of them all for me. I am in town so am close to the node and so have no problems with connection speed, if fact Telefonica is the only company I have used where the speed is actually close to what I have contracted... OK, you will get the odd day where it may be slow or be connection problems but this happens with them all and they do work on the lines at times don't forget.

You need to remember that the further away you are from the node the more impact there is on the broadband, so if you are contracted to 3Mb BB and are 5 Klms away from the node the speed will not be like what you will get 1 Klm from the node.

Telefonica have there problems, including their attitude at times but one other 'well know' company actually tried to blatanly deceive me and my bank on several occasions... and this was after putting the matter in the hands of the consumer. This other company took up and wasted my time to such an extent I was on the verge of contacting the local TV company... beleive me, Telefonica are not as bad as some of the others.

Remember when you sign up to Telefonica or any other company you are contracted to a minimum of 1 years service unless otherwise advised, it doesn't make any difference if you put the service in baja or not... you will be charged for 1 year, but then you read that didn't you? :)

I would also advise to get a router and not a USB modem for your connection as the router will give more speed and generally doesn't need pain in the *** software to use with it as many modems do.

If you use a Mac then it is a sinch to set up a router and telefonica 24/7 ADSL, just set up your network for automatic, set to DHCP and then save. After a second you will be connected.

Telefonica in Malaga province is terrible. I have been living here for 8 years and I can safely say they are a complete disaster.

I have been involved with

Home moves
Office moves
Office installations

And they have messed things up more often than not. Smooth operations are rare.


Just for information I work in a Real Estate company in Estepona, M?laga. We deal mainly with property sales and rentals in this area.
Property Estepona (http://www.palmestates.net)

Well when Telefonica dose work , It works vey well , moving , Homes Offices , yes that can be a problem got BT, EIRCOM(Irish telphone company) losted my dsl few times , now run over 300 dsl line in spain , Uk , Ireland and Swedeen aswell so manybe i have bite off power with the phone comanys , do wish i could used one company for it all but cheap , not splashing out big amounts off cash for a system . Ha i have to make a living aswell , some one has to pay the bills

jurdy

Hope someone can help:

Is the north (Gerona area) more advanced with internet connections/coverage than other parts or south spain? And how can one find out where is th closest 'node'? Are most of your bad experiences based on smaller towns as I am assuming the cities are rather 'safer' than rural areas? I need to rent retail premises in Gerona city soonish (ful functioning adsl is a must) and am seriosuly starting to worry..

Thanks for info

Claudio

why not go and get the ADSL USB via one off the Mobile phone companys , it a Internet Movil 3G unit
plug in to you laptop

Since Joining with telefonica November 2007 I have had nothing but Internet Connection Problems.... I call it the 10min Drop out!
After speaking many many many times with Technical department they say it DISTANCE PROBLEMS TO THE EXCHANGE!!!!

Yeap you guessed it they blamed me for being so far away from the exchange!!! I live in SALOU!!!

Never mind they want to refund the money now since my Solicitor wrote them a letter...
Amazing with force things get done!!!

Regarding saving money on phone calls. The undoubted best deal available is http://www.tcwmobiletalk.com go to their website, have a look it is a company that has been doing this for 3 years and offers up to 90% saving on international calls on both your landline and your mobile. There are 1000?s using it both personal and business. You get a free trial of up to 15 minutes and are not committed to anything. No contracts etc. If you are wanting internet and a landline http://www.tcw.es can offer a very good cheap solution but it is down to where you are. You need to be in the network coverage area and have line of site to an access point. The main area is from Mijas (Mountain) to Cancelada.

I use a great company that offers alsorts of ways to connect to the internet and cheap calls try

www.telitec.com

> Seeing there is a seperate forum for this, I was wondering:

Sure, Telefonica is expensive, but this bad?

Lately, we were getting more and more dropping of our adsl during and after rain.
One call to telefonica had a technician at our place the next day. Him realizing it was a major job, he fixed it the best he could.
The next day he came back to put whole new cabling in from the junction box at the beginning of the street. Ended up almost a full day?s work for three people! (ok, at a spanish pace.)

The first time we got connected, it took a whole 3 days to recieve their usb thingy in the mail. One phone call later i had the username/pwd combo, and of we were...

I have more examples, generally to do with an afterservice i am quite impressed with.

Is it location within Spain? Would the south be a little more laid back?




If you live up in the mountains or maybe near Heidi, Telefonica can be a pain, I live in a town in Alicante and i will have fibre optica soon.......I have internet at 5 mb?s............so for me they are fast and competant.........as for (spanish pace), please dont even go there...dont put everyone in the same sack, my hubby is a spanish constructor and works his arse off, builds luxury villas in no time at all and at fantastic standards. Sorry the guy that came to you was from the snail family, Perhaps you should learn to speak Spanish, its amazing how things go quicker and smoother. I speak fluent Spanish after being here for 25 years and i dont get snails working in my house and i wouldnt accept slackers!!!!!neither would my hubby and nor should you!

Yes I agree there are many bad times but the
service has gotten faster now for repairs often 24h.

saludos,
Montse

http://www.magicalspain.com/

http://www.magicalspain.com/tours/

Yes.

Hi, I have recorded my best-forgotten experiences with Telefonica for posterity. In the end I got rid of them - but not without even more stress. I changed to a local company, My Bubble, who are based in the southern Costa Blanca and are much friendlier and more helpful, but I have still had problems. Like being charged 19.50 euros for a call to an 0845 number in the UK! Both stories are on my website if anyone wants to know more!

The first time we got connected, it took a whole 3 days to recieve their usb thingy in the mail. One phone call later i had the username/pwd combo, and of we were?

oh??i want some topic information?who can give me?

Early ast year 2010 I cancelled my telefonica account To save them giving me a hard sales pitch to stay I said I was moving house.
I cancelled for 3 main reasons- 1- I live in spain only from April- November excluding August. and there would be too much hassle in suspending & reconnecting - I had done it before. 2 - I was on Telefonica Radiophone dialup and needed a faster connection which I got through Simyo PAYG- making sure it was all working before dispensing with Telefonica.
3- my friends continuing legal spat with them didnt bode well for me selling the house in the future.
I ensured that in my cancellation I asked for - and got - a reference number for the cancellation . This made no difference to the aggro that resulted in this simple task.! I even used my spanish friend to start the ball rolling with the disconnection path - and she was absolutely amazed at the number of redirects during the process. I gave them a final exit date at which time they were to ensure they removed their gear ( basically a fixed mobile with a sim in it ) as I had a friend who was in a legal tussle with them that include removal of equipment and she advised me to record every conversation from the outset.
Time came for me to go to the uk for some time and the exit date I gave telefonica to remove the gear was a week earlier as I anticipated probs
I was not wrong ! To cut a long story short, I left my keys with spanish friend and she could not get them to come- or give answers why not - I arrived back 2 moths later ( still no action ) and topped up my bank account with 1000 euros for spending money. Within 48 hours telefonica robbed my account of 500 Euros. I gave proofs of agro/ final phone bill receipts to the bank and the bank manager sucked the money back from telefonica to my account immediatly as I waited at the counter !!Within 15 mins of the transaction Telefonica attempted to contact me - I refused to answer and went to their Guadix office to complain. Just as I started on the complaint, the local technician phoned me and asked me to meet at the house and he would extract the equipment. He had been on holiday and the order for him to remove it had been sitting in his intray - apparently? I couldnt begin to give the real detail as it would run to pages. So I have one piece of advice for current telefonica customers - If you ever anticipate stopping your account permanently - do it 2 months in advance, get them to remove any equipment- or take it to the shop and get a receipt, log every call you make and at the first instance of a delay be aggressive.
Andalucia - Guadix

also email them , with copy to CMT - Comisi?n del Mercado de las Telecomunicaciones www.cmt.es
if i was you get in touch with them , and take your case up

i'm glad i brought my homing pigeons now

Hello

Newbie here, Tom, Hi everyone

I have had many problems with Telefonica, but I must say, they are trying to get better in their customer service dept.

I still have my internet with them & get a good speed, but their mobiles were cost me a small fortune.

I recently received an email from BT with their new mobiles deals, so I gave them a call & they sent me 2 sim cards for me & my other half. No phone though. They said that the free phone would be tied into the contract so it wouldnt be free?

Anyway, I pay 8cents per minute to any phone, both mobile & fixed line anywhere in spain & the Uk, plus calls to & from my wife are free. Now I have reduced my monthly charge from ?60 to under ?10.

I am now a happy englishman in sunny spain, that must be a 1st...

All the best everyone

Tom.

I will NEVER use telefonica, movistar again......

I had a series of incidences with them many years ago that lead me to threatening legal action. In the end Telefonicas own lawyers were so disgusted with the way that our firm was treated that they advised their client to write off the mistaken amounts that they were demanding us to pay and they allowed us to free up our contract in order to go to another firm.

To be honest Vodafone, Orange etc etc are not much different. I could pay someone a full time job to reclaim the monthly anomalies in our phone register for mistaken charges and over prices bills.

I just hope that some day the competition comes to town and starts to offer the consumer a decent service.

I am currently with Vodafone however always looking for a better deal and have refrained from committing to permanency contracts after the initial 12-18 months.

Indeed. Everyone's experiences are different. I've been with Movistar since 1996/7 (mobile on contract) and have never had any problem, indeed I find them most reasonable, even though I do quite a bit of "roaming".
However, we had a bad experience with Vodafone and I would strongly advise against using them.

Patricia

jmacguire...

One advert is enough.

Your other two posts deleted by admin.

Your IP address decodes to the UK; your posts indicate that you have little if any experience with Telefonica in the long term.

Please refrain from further posts unless you have something meaningful to add. This is a serious forum about matters pertaining to life in Spain, it is not an advertising forum.

fb
Admin

> jmacguire...

One advert is enough.

Your other two posts deleted by admin.

Your IP address decodes to the UK; your posts indicate that you have little if any experience with Telefonica in the long term.

Please refrain from further posts unless you have something meaningful to add. This is a serious forum about matters pertaining to life in Spain, it is not an advertising forum.

fb
Admin


well jmacguire... now banned any one up for braking the rules ...... ?

Jurdy

i was with telfonica service excellent but then they increased by 10 eu in December then another ten in January changed now half the price and works just the same wonder how they keep customers??

telfonica are one biggest telecommunications provider in Europe and Latin America. Operating globally aswell ... its closeds shop there and had two open to outher companys , yes we still have problem with them ... but time it get better

thing is if they want my custom they will have to follow the market and halve their prices

A - Of course they are!
RHand doesn't know what left is doing!

Typical scenario...
We moved house recently. After failing to deliver on install in our last home (they totally ignored our official complaints etc), we decided they were the only option due to location (again - no signal for other co's!)...
They came, they installed and no router - but as we were not due to move for a few weeks (issues with other supplies in house ;), we didn't follow it up until it suited us. (But of course we were billed for all this - but a phone call to them yesterday and a 'heavy complaint' we got our money back.)
The biggest laugh however (or crying in your milk if you took it seriously).. was that when I first called and asked them to check the ADSL possibilities, I was told outright that it was 'not possible at this property as it is too far from the exchange/there is not a strong enough signal etc.' Knowing how useless they are, I knocked on a few doors of new neighbours and confirmed they all had ADSL... So went ahead with my request for phone line install. (You have to commit to a 12 months contract, and pay for the full year if you cancel before - so not a light decision!)... Immediately this was done, their sales dept was calling me night and day to sign me up for ADSL!!! So it was now possible after all?>?

Long and short - we took a 'risk' as we knew how bad they were. They delayed on sending the router (which suited us).. Had to chase it - and finally we are up and running.

But oh what a lovely example of Movistar/Telefonica not knowing how to run a business!

moviestar hmm wait till they start putting the price up bin there done that went elswhere

Hi Dozy...
I hope ???!!! they stick to their promise of Eu45pcm 'For life!'.... as that is what they said! This offer is for existing Movistar mobile customers, so as long as I stay with them for my mob (which infact is very little usage - and I only pay for what I use - on a contract ;) then we should all be happy???

I did look at 'other suppliers', but having worked for Direct Telecom/(BT Spain agent), I know they cannot match that price at present. (OK I am not including calls outside of Spain, but as I use Voip for that, then I don't really see the value of the extra.)

Likewise, although DT/others will promise you great service etc, etc, as they still only rent the lines from Movistar, if anything goes wrong with your connection in the street - you have to pay for a call out (unless you take the 'extra insurance' which now covers this - so adding to your monthly bill yet again.)

I know Movistar are still a pain in the proverbial.. but until I can see the benefits of the other suppliers (inc price), then I will stick with the ones who install the line/are obliged to maintain it inc in the bill. ;)