Retiring In Style - A new life on the Costa Blanca: June 2011

I have a number of iPods acquired over the past few years, one of which was a present from Kathie for my 60th birthday. Naturally this takes pride of place and I look after it even better than I do the others.

A couple of months ago the click-wheel stopped working and I could neither turn it off or use the menus. It would still function perfectly on a dock using the remote control so I decided to seek out a repair company and have the iPod mended.

After the usual trawl around the Internet I came upon AppleIpodRepair.co.uk, a division of M Blue Ltd. I called them from Spain and they promised to do the repair for £19.99 but would need to add £15.00 for the return postage. I was a bit miffed at this latter charge as I know that postage to Spain is not very expensive, and this company normally offers inclusive delivery within the UK. They should only have charged the difference, say £5.00. To the left/above is their logo as it appears on their website.

A graphic from the website showing how easy it is

Having no choice I duly shelled out the money from my credit card, packed up the iPod in bubble wrap, put it in a jiffy bag, and sent it using the Royal Mail service from the Costa Blanca. It left Spain on 3 May and was received back on 24 May. It had cost them less than £9.00 to post it. Their website promises a three day turnaround but even allowing for the vagaries of the Spanish postal system this repair took a long time.

When I opened the pack I could immediately see a problem. The top plate was missing. The reason I sent the iPod out for repair was that I did not want to attempt to take it apart even though I could have bought the parts for a fraction of the cost of sending it away. So I was surprised when, following my phone call of complaint, AppleIpodRepair.co.uk told me that the plate was missing upon arrival. I know it was in place when I packed it up because I used the "Hold" switch on the top plate to prevent the device from turning on accidentally once the click wheel ceased to function. I think that most companies would have advised their customer of any noticeable damage before commencing work so as not to be blamed for said damage.

Additionally the iPod was returned in a filthy state with oily finger marks all over the newly installed click wheel, a large piece of masking tape wrapped around the body with the repair details written on it (although no mention of the missing plate), and the bottom plate had been removed and replaced in a damaged fashion.

Five unanswered emails later I had to resort to the threat of bad publicity if they would not send me a replacement plate. They first of all offered to send me one "if a spare happened to come into their hands". Later they said they would send one out to me anyway. This was 3 June 2011 and today is 18 June 2011. I asked them to email me when the item is posted but I am still waiting. I have sent two further emails of enquiry but have not received a reply.

Now this may seem a lot of fuss over a small missing item but Customer Service in the UK has fallen to such an appallingly low level that if we do not report it and continue to accept it then it will deteriorate further.

I do not expect to receive the missing item as AppleIpodRepair.co.uk have had my money and now apparently cease to care. If they did I am sure that they would at least answer my emails.

If the missing part does arrive then I will amend this post to say so. After all I am only stating the truth about this incident and will continue so to do.

Any readers of this article should consider carefully where to send their expensive iPods when needing repair and not just believe the Testimonials which any particular company chooses to publish. I don't suppose this one will see the light of day.

The newly finished pool
Please click on any picture for a full size view

To start with a good picture. Our Communal Pool which has been out of action for refurbishment since last November was finally finished and the internal lights were switched on. Work continues on the rest of the area but the pool looks splendid and all residents and holiday makers may now swim to their hearts content. It is still a bit cold for me but it will warm up as the sun gets higher in the next few weeks. Midnight non-skinny dipping now a distinct possibility.

Last October I was asked if I could take over the maintenance of the website for the Torrevieja U3A (see earlier post about the U3A) and this month it was finally announced to the club. I have been re-touching the site since it was first completed in November last year as the Committee Chairman has wanted to let the previous Webmaster finish off gracefully, and wanted to make sure that the pages were absolutely as he wanted them. Finally, after it was totally finished he was away on holiday for our Monthly Meeting so delayed a further month before he announced the new site. I jumped onto the stage and talked the assembled members through the various pages and it seemed to be well received. Have a look at it here. I am trying to keep the site alive by changing pages as necessary and refreshing the news as it happens. This way we will maintain an interest in it for all members. I have signed us up for the Google Site Analysis system and this gives us excellent feedback on number of hits, pages visited etc.

We took a trip with the U3A to Cordoba and Granada by coach.

Cordoba was first on the agenda. We arrived late in the afternoon and after checking in to our 4-star hotel we went for a short walk and came upon our first incident of the day. The hotel had not provided tea making facilities so we went out to buy our own. First stop was the ubiquitous Chinese bazaar where we purchased kettle and cups, then Mercadona for the makings and some wine etc. On the way back to the hotel we had to pass again the bazaar and out through the door ran an irate Chinese man who took hold of an exiting “customer” and tried to seize her large handbag. He was closely followed by a colleague and between them they tried to pry the bag from the struggling woman’s grasp. It burst open and out flew packs of ladies underwear and other items. She continued to struggle and we saw a man run across from the traffic and join the fray. He calmed things down and produced his warrant card – a plain clothes police officer. Later we saw a police car outside of the bazaar, no doubt to cart off the shop-lifter to chokey.

Later we walked into Cordoba for a quick look around before our full day’s visit the next day. On the way back the skies darkened quickly and within minutes we were in the middle of a full blown thunder storm. In seconds we were soaked to the skin so decided to carry on walking but the wind was so strong we could hardly breathe. We ducked inside a supermarket to drip all over their floor and no sooner had we done so but a woman screamed out and pointed across the road to where a huge tree had been blown over and taken a street light with it. Seconds earlier we had walked past that tree. After this we walked the last few hundred metres to our hotel and dripped all over their reception.

The Roman Bridge in Cordoba, storm clouds gathering
Please click on any picture for a full size view

The Patio Festival was the reason for visiting Cordoba and we were not disappointed as we spent the next day visiting the (mainly free) patios inside mostly private houses which had been opened to the public. Some made a small charge and others left an honesty box for contributions. Until you have been inside these patios, small courtyards inside medieval terraced houses, you cannot imagine just how many flowers the owners can fit into such a small place. Enjoy the photographs.

After Cordoba we travelled the two hours to Granada. Our hotel was immediately outside the gates of the Alhambra and we had been organized for an early visit on the next day. Before that however we were taken to one of the very old areas of Granada, Sacromonte, where we visited a Flamenco Show. The singing and dancing seemed most authentic and we were seated right at the foot of the low stage so were able to get some good photographs. In previous shows I have been to, each dancer did a short dance then gave the next dancer a turn. Here the girls danced themselves almost to exhaustion before handing the stage over.

Please click on any picture for a full size view

The Flamenco Cave was across the valley from the Alhambra

Bright and early the next morning we took breakfast and walked over to the Alhambra where we were able to enjoy a really quiet walking tour before the serious crowds of the day came in. It was a brilliant day, the gardens were beautiful, and we were overlooked by the snow capped Sierra Nevada mountains.

After a very long lunch we travelled back to Home and the Coast.

Being a member of a “wrinklies club” does have its advantages.

And finally..........

Last year (2010) as summer approached, many of our acquaintances were packing up and moving to England for a couple of months. This we could not quite comprehend as after all one buys a place in the sun for just that -- sun. However, as July came and then August it quickly became apparent that one can have too much of a good thing.

I know that holiday makers from the UK dream of lying on sun drenched beaches, sipping Sangria into the night, swimming, etc. These holidays usually last for two weeks or so then it’s back to Blighty. When you live here the summer months become a bit monotonous with the extra crowds, the constant heat, the noise, the lack of parking at home and so on. We are not ungrateful and realise how wonderful it is to be here on the Costa Blanca and it sounds as if we are “complaining of too much cream” but to be quite honest it is good to get a break from the sun.

We have been here for over a year now and once again our friends are making their plans for the exodus to England. We had planned on a month long holiday in Northern France but have also been thinking of acquiring a holiday home in the UK. Having made many searches on the old Internet we decided upon a static caravan on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales within easy reach of Pippa and Mike plus our other friends in the North of England.

The price was too good to miss so we made a flying trip to England, paid over our money, and became the proud owners of a luxury static caravan on the Gallaber Park site near Hellifield. It is just ten minutes from the site where we had our previous van and fifty minutes from Mike’s house in Bacup.