Notes published to the community recently may suggest that some owners may risk being charged for their fibre internet upgrade if they miss out on the opportunity to have it connected free of charge.
Concerns follow the revelation that a new contract signed with Cable Murcia on the 8th April included periods in the summer of 2020 and during the holy week 2021 when owners were eligible to receive the installation in their home for free.
The inclusion of a limited offer of free installation may come as a surprise to many occasional second home owners who have had a hard time travelling to Condado de Alhama this year.
So far it’s reported that 2,287 installations have been completed but in a year that has seen the Covid-19 crisis restrict travel to many overseas owners and visitors it’s likely that many of the remaining 1200 installations could be where holiday home owners have been unable to travel.
At the start of the project Cable Murcia worked ahead of schedule and offered owners the opportunity to get their fibre connection sooner and within 2 hours over 100 people responded but soon there were some incidents of botched or untidy installations into people homes. Many second home owners hearing this will undoubtedly have opted to wait and organise the installation work to be completed when they could be present, only to find travel restricted due to the Covid-19 crisis.
Although property owners were notified in good time to have their internet upgraded and even advised to coordinate the work through their keyholders, some feel it was not made clear that there was a set window of opportunity to have the work completed free of charge. Furthermore, not all second home owners have a keyholder and so Covid-19 travel restrictions could mean that many will not have had the the option to get the work completed within the contracted ‘free of charge’ periods.
On a resort where the majority of property owners are not permanent residents or might not even live in Spain full time it seems very short sighted to have agreed to a limiting period of installation for free, especially as the community handed Cable Murcia a lucrative ten year contract for the service.
It’s understood that the issue has raised with Cable Murcia but a the time of writing this article they had not responded. If you have not yet had your connection upgraded then the next opportunity is the holy week at Easter next year.
Let’s hope that the offer of free installation is rightfully extended so that property owners can receive the upgrade when they can be present and not be penalised because they don’t visit at certain times of the year or choose not to use a keyholder.
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