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Vol. 1 Issue 40 www.theolivepress.es October 1st - October 14th 2020
Costa jobs lifeline AT LEAST 40,000 jobs have been saved in Alicante Province for the time being, after the national government extended the ERTE furlough scheme until the end of January. The news came on Tuesday as around 600 vehicles took to the streets of Benidorm to demand the extension with thousands of local tourism and hospitality jobs on the line. The motorcade was led by a tourist bus with a banner proclaiming ‘ERTE OR DEATH’. The Valencian Business Federation (CEV) says that 27,567 workers are currently getting ERTE benefits. They estimate that an extra 12,500 people across Alicante Province will be able to claim as the area moves into the ‘low’ tourist season. The scheme, which was launched in March, was scheduled to end yesterday
By Alex Trelinski
(September 30) but will now run until at least January 31. A last-minute deal between the government and trade unions saw authorities climb down over plans to drastically cut help to struggling tourist-related and hospitality businesses. CEV president, Salvador Navarro, said: “Common sense has prevailed and the effect on the Alicante Province economy would have been barbaric.” Payments to laid-off staff will be kept at 70% and new benefits will start for short-term seasonal workers who would not normally qualify for unemployment benefits. Business owners will have their social security contributions subsidised on a
sliding scale of up to 100% depending on their size and the time of the year. Speaking to the Olive Press, San Fulgencio councillor, Darren Parmenter said: “This is excellent news as so many businesses in the area, including ones owned by expats, are related to tourism including bars and restaurants. This will help them get through the winter.”
Extension
Though the ERTE extension has been universally welcomed, calls have already started for more to be done. Nuria Montes from the Benidorm-based Costa Blanca Hotels Association(Hosbec) said: “We need payments to continue until we can return to normality and that means ERTE running until June and the start of the summer season.”
SEUR Grapes THOUSANDS of expat customers of eBay and Amazon UK living in Spain claim they are having their parcels stolen by Spain’s leading delivery company. Droves have taken to review site Trustpilot to slam SEUR as a ‘scam outfit’, with one Olive Press reader refusing to shop anywhere that uses the firm for deliveries. The company, which is part of the DPD group and self-professed ‘leader of the sector in Spain’, is accused of lying to customers, failing to deliver parcels, providing a phone number that doesn’t work and an email address to which an automatic reply says the package does not exist and is therefore not deliverable. Expat David Bullock told The Olive Press that he was left fuming then two Amazon or-
By Eugene Costello & Kirsty McKenzie
ders were lost by SEUR. The electrical items that he bought for his car were not of huge value, but David said he refuses to order another Amazon item until the online retailer switches to a different delivery firm. He said: “I have had a negative experience with deliveries from SEUR, even to an Amazon locker. “SEUR stated the item was delivered but no access code for the locker was sent. It is fairly obvious what happened to the Amazon order. “Another item which was supposed to be delivered to my house have also gone missing.” He added: “I will not be ordering from Amazon again until they change delivery compa-
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The company is accused of lying to customers and failing to deliver parcels by enraged expats ny.” A Mac Air ordered from a reputable company in the UK via eBay recently went missing. The UK company subcontracts its deliveries to DPD, who in turn subcontract Spanish deliveries to SEUR. On company reviews website Trustpilot, SEUR receives 4,423 ratings. Of these, 4,250 – 96% – give the company the worst possible rating of onestar or ‘bad’. Another 2% rate them ‘poor’ or ‘average’. Less than 2% rate them ‘excellent’. Comments include; ‘The worst delivery company I have ever seen’, ‘they lie in your face… I can’t believe Amazon uses them,’ ‘The worst service ever!!!’ The Olive Press tried to ring the number listed on their website; a recorded message advised that the number does not exist. We then tried to email them; it came back as ‘undeliverable’, advising that the address does not exist. And we tried to fill in a form on the site; the ‘submit’ button did nothing. Contacted by the Olive Press, an eBay spokesperson told us: “eBay does not have a role in deciding the delivery service used on an international order as this is the seller’s responsibility. However our eBay Money Back Guarantee ensures that if something goes wrong with the delivery and an item does not arrive, the buyer can be quickly refunded. “If a buyer would like to opt out of using a certain courier
YOU WHAT?: The delivery service is accused of deception on an order, they should conitems and ditching delivery ultrasound machine. tact the seller and request an slips. The latest of the disappearancalternative prior to purchasThe Olive Press investi- es at the Los Boliches branch, ing.” gation revealed that over appear to be part of a wideIt comes after dozens of pack€1,000-worth of goods had spread problem across Spain. ages mysteriously vanished gone missing at Fuengirola from an Andalucian post ofpost office over the last eight Have you lost your packagfice, with expats accusing months, including an expen- es to SEUR? Contact newsCorreos of stashing high value sive plasma pen and a €500 desk@theolivepress.es