09 Sep 2012 8:47 AM:

Hi,

We lived in both countries.

France is a lot colder than Spain, the winters are really cold.

Petrol is a lot dearer in France, as is alcohol, and tobacco.

I speak fluent french, and spanish.

I think it depends on your personality. The british expats in France tend to think they are a lot posher, than the expats in Spain, who can be quite rough.

I found the locals friendly in both countrties, especially if you speak the language.

There is little to choose with the bureaucracy.

Property in France tends to be much, much older, and generally in a poor state of repair.

France closes on Mondays, and they also close for a long lunch every day.

I would go for Spain, but both places are good to live in.

Thread: Were we wrong to move to Spain? Should we have gone to France instead?

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03 Dec 2009 12:26 PM:

Open up a bank account in Gib, Portugal, or France, and send your funds there. Get internet with any provider other than Telefonica. Get a VOIP phone. Or, if you have squillions of euros, set up in competition to Telefonica, they are only a "screen scraper type outfit" as all the phone lines were installed by ..........BT.

Telefonica have a "Life on Mars" type attitude to customer service, ie UK in the 1970s. Thank God for Margaret Thatcher, and privitisation.

Thread: Telefonica nightmare

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02 Dec 2009 10:57 AM:

 At least Jesse James wore a mask. I am afraid that the Spanish regard the expat community as a rather fat and stupid cash cow to be milked. Endesa, Telefonica, they all work on the same principal, you will pay up because it is too much hassle to take them on. There is always the threat of embargoing your bank account, so I suspect that the advice given shortly to the expat community will be to open bank accounts in any country bar the one you are living in!

Thread: SKY HIGH ELECTRICITY BILL

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