2013 09 17
La Linea, Spanish port beside Gibraltar
Friends wrote to see if we had ever received our solar panels ordered in Almerimar and the answer is a resounding no. The panels were to be in Almerimar ten days ago, on a Friday. I agreed to pay €15 for express delivery which meant three days delivery time from a warehouse twenty kilometers away.
The promised panels never came. I attended at the chandler twice on the Friday and both times was completely ignored by the staff. This is the Spanish way of telling you they have bad news. They really hate to disappoint you so they just ignore you and hope you go away. That way they do not have to feel bad. As for you...well no one in Spain really gives a damn.
Monday following the Friday delivery date Connie again went to the Chandler and again was completely ignored. We left town without paying the special delivery fee.
Now, for those of you who might believe we are just reaping the rewards of our own ill treatment of Spanish retailers I enclose this: a note received this morning from fellow cruisers two docks over from us in La Linea. They have been trying for two weeks to buy a part for their movable keel. First the wrong part was sent by a UK retailer. It took a week to arrive and had to be returned. The cruisers then ordered from a French dealer who promised he had the correct part. That was a week ago and they paid for overnight delivery. This morning I asked (intending for it to be a friendly inquiry) whether they were now in possession of the correct part. Here was the response...
No no, we still don't have the part. Why are we not surprised? Do you have the stomach for the story?
Nothing new, we've all been thru this before:
We agreed to paying 95 EUR !! last Thursday for what was supposed to be overnight delivery with something called France Express. We tried to contact France Express yesterday only to learn they sent it *courier* instead. It would have arrived yesterday except, according to the Tracker info, *courier* didn't have the full, correct address !!!
The package went from their office to Nice, somewhere else in France, then Koeln Germany, then Madrid, then Seville. It's still stuck in Seville, and the address UPS has is Cadiz. The UPS tracker note says they were trying to determine the correct address yesterday, and they sent a postcard !!!! to the Recipient. Now what address would that recipient be, since we are the recipient and they don't have our address to deliver the package?!!!!! Why wouldn't *courier* try to contact the Sender instead?!!!!!!!
I was able to Skype the French gal Sylvie I've been corresponding with this morning, and she sounded rather helpless (hapless?). Told her she had to contact *courier* and give them the correct address. Said she'd have her colleague "look into it" and get back to us. Sigh.
In meantime I sent a message to *courier* and am now trying to call their French headquarters, the only phone listed. Wish us luck.
ps added Tuesday: The story ended today when the part was finally delivered. The part had in fact been shipped using the French Courier. For €95, the express delivery fee, the French Courier picked up the parcel and drove it two blocks to a different courier where they left it to be delivered. They gave the second courier the wrong delivery address.
Today the email writer received a self congratulatory email from the French Courier touting its ONTIME DELIVERY of their package. ?????
La Linea, Spanish port beside Gibraltar
Friends wrote to see if we had ever received our solar panels ordered in Almerimar and the answer is a resounding no. The panels were to be in Almerimar ten days ago, on a Friday. I agreed to pay €15 for express delivery which meant three days delivery time from a warehouse twenty kilometers away.
The promised panels never came. I attended at the chandler twice on the Friday and both times was completely ignored by the staff. This is the Spanish way of telling you they have bad news. They really hate to disappoint you so they just ignore you and hope you go away. That way they do not have to feel bad. As for you...well no one in Spain really gives a damn.
Monday following the Friday delivery date Connie again went to the Chandler and again was completely ignored. We left town without paying the special delivery fee.
Now, for those of you who might believe we are just reaping the rewards of our own ill treatment of Spanish retailers I enclose this: a note received this morning from fellow cruisers two docks over from us in La Linea. They have been trying for two weeks to buy a part for their movable keel. First the wrong part was sent by a UK retailer. It took a week to arrive and had to be returned. The cruisers then ordered from a French dealer who promised he had the correct part. That was a week ago and they paid for overnight delivery. This morning I asked (intending for it to be a friendly inquiry) whether they were now in possession of the correct part. Here was the response...
No no, we still don't have the part. Why are we not surprised? Do you have the stomach for the story?
Nothing new, we've all been thru this before:
We agreed to paying 95 EUR !! last Thursday for what was supposed to be overnight delivery with something called France Express. We tried to contact France Express yesterday only to learn they sent it *courier* instead. It would have arrived yesterday except, according to the Tracker info, *courier* didn't have the full, correct address !!!
The package went from their office to Nice, somewhere else in France, then Koeln Germany, then Madrid, then Seville. It's still stuck in Seville, and the address UPS has is Cadiz. The UPS tracker note says they were trying to determine the correct address yesterday, and they sent a postcard !!!! to the Recipient. Now what address would that recipient be, since we are the recipient and they don't have our address to deliver the package?!!!!! Why wouldn't *courier* try to contact the Sender instead?!!!!!!!
I was able to Skype the French gal Sylvie I've been corresponding with this morning, and she sounded rather helpless (hapless?). Told her she had to contact *courier* and give them the correct address. Said she'd have her colleague "look into it" and get back to us. Sigh.
In meantime I sent a message to *courier* and am now trying to call their French headquarters, the only phone listed. Wish us luck.
ps added Tuesday: The story ended today when the part was finally delivered. The part had in fact been shipped using the French Courier. For €95, the express delivery fee, the French Courier picked up the parcel and drove it two blocks to a different courier where they left it to be delivered. They gave the second courier the wrong delivery address.
Today the email writer received a self congratulatory email from the French Courier touting its ONTIME DELIVERY of their package. ?????
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