Brit Expats In Marbella Furious About Month Long Internet Failure

British expatriates living in Spain’s Costa del Sol region are furiously angry over an internet failure which began over a month ago and is still not resolved

The service went down on December 3, with providers OliveNet promising it would be repaired quickly, but it soon became evident the problem was far more serious than had been admitted. Prior to the shutdown, customers had received letters advising of issues between December 5 and 11 and promising the service would be quickly restored.

When it became obvious the service was not going to be ‘quickly restored’ expats hoping to enjoy video calls with their families and friends over the holiday season began to complain.

Despite the service provider’s reassurances, nothing happened, and those affected are still without internet a month later. Expat businesses gearing up for the holiday season were hard hit, with several reporting lost sales as a result.

Lynda Woodin, an expat who runs an online magazine business was told early in December she was of priority concern, but has still not been able to reconnect. She told local reporters she’d been sent from pillar to post by the service provider, and had even taken her complaint to the company’s head office. She’d been told her service would be restored by the time she’d returned home, but it’s still out, and the company has informed her there would be a charge should she need a visit from their engineers.

She’s furious, saying she’d been given no apologies and adding having to pay for a visit to fix OliveNet’s problem is a disgrace. Another expat businessman and owner of a local restaurant told of his nightmare Christmas period and the false promises he’d been given as to when the service would be restored. In desperation he’d visited the company’s San Pedro office, only to find he was one of around 200 hopping mad subscribers all wanting to know why they still had no service after a month.