Changing television suppliers
Despite assurances from Telmicro Levante s.l. that they will be back on the air and broadcasting again soon, some of their customers have decided they cannot be without British television for a moment longer and have looked for alternative suppliers. We were contacted by one of those people who decided to go to a new provider. He lives in the Torrevieja area but does not wish his name to appear in the newspaper. We shall call him John. John decided to approach Torresat and was suitably impressed by their offer that he signed up to have three installations, two in his own house and another in a nearby property he owns.
The installers duly turned up and attached the new dishes to the existing stanchions and connected up the Torresat box to his television. While the installation was progressing John slipped out to the bank in order to get the money to pay for the work being carried out. When he returned the installers were packing up having completed their work. All appeared to be correct and John paid the money due and settled down grateful to once more being able to watch the box. Fairly quickly John noticed that something was missing. The old Telmicro boxes had gone and the cards. He asked his wife if she knew anything about them and she said no.
It appeared the installers had removed the boxes and the card.
What is more John claims they also took away with them the copy of his Telmicro contract. John was concerned because the boxes were not his. Under the terms of the contract with Telmicro they were the property of Telmicro and were not to be passed on or sold to a third party unless they went with the property when it was being sold. John went down to the offices of Torresat and talked with the lady on reception.
He explained what had happened and said he wanted the boxes and the cards back. She relayed his message to someone in an office who according to John did not come out and speak directly with him. John told me that when she returned she had an answer for him. She had been told to tell him he had three options, he could leave the office; he could pay €300 for the three boxes or he could have his new Torresat installation ripped out. Understandably John was not very impressed with this answer and decided to contact the CoastRider.
I rang the Torresat office on Friday afternoon and told the receptionist who answered that I worked for the CoastRider and that we had been contacted by one of our readers with a complaint. I explained what John had told me and that as we understood it the boxes and cards were the sole property of Telmicro and should be returned. She asked me to hold and after a short while came back and told me I would be contacted by the person responsible for dealing with the press. As at the time of going to press I have still not been contacted.
I have been contacted by several other readers who are also concerned about losing their Telmicro boxes which they are contractually responsible for looking after. The matter has also been mentioned on one of the popular local internet forums.
One reader that spoke to me said he had been told that the current offer from Torresat was contingent on them taking the Telmicro boxes away with them but he had never been made aware of that. “No one ever mentioned that to me,” he said. The same is true of John. He told me that no one had ever said they were going to take the Telmicro boxes away with them when they installed the new system.
It appears that customers of Telmicro have different arrangements as regards whether they have paid for their boxes or whether they remain the property of the company. If you are thinking of changing suppliers then it is worth checking what your particular contractual arrangement is before parting with equipment that you may be liable for replacing if and when Telmicro are back in business.
Paul Mutter
And the moral of the story?? Should have called me! 
Re: Telmicro Levante television broadcasts 
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