clombardelli's activity

One of the problems with regard to insuring with British Insurance agents is that they normally only allow your car out of the country for 90 days in any 12 month period.  If you want it for longer - they charge an enormous premium.  A couple of years ago we found out that the National Farmers Union Insurance would allow a car out of the country for up to 6 months - the premium was slightly larger than what we were paying (but only by about 5%) - and it works fine for us.

We live near Tolentino - during the summer we are at our house from April until October, and have two cocker spaniels.  Next year my son is getting married on August 9th and we need to come back to the UK for probably a couple of weeks - so would be interested in talking to you.

We used the freight company recommended by Ocean - a company called gbs freight www.gbsfreight,co.uk and the cost was £332 +VAT for an eight piece sofa set with cushions - came in 4 big boxes.  GBS freight seem to use a network of freight companies very effectively - they first arranged shipping to Milan - we then had a phone call to say they had it.  Another company shipped it to Macerata, and then a local company to us, near Tolentino.  Since I have used GBS freight to ship a large picture to a friend in mainland Spain - they collected from me on a Friday and it was with my friend the following Friday - no problems.

We looked at a number of different outlets in Marche for outdoor furniture - and we found that they were either very cheap - and horrible, or terribly stylish and cost a fortune. By chance we went to the Ideal Home Show last year and visited the stand of Ocean Furniture - http://www.oceansint.com/ - they have a terrific range of outdoor furniture - we were offered a 40% discount off list price, and a second set of cushion covers thrown in for free as well. We were really concerned about delivery to the Marche countryside - in the middle of nowhere.  However, the shipping company picked up the order from Banbury (where they are based in the UK) on the Friday and we were sitting on them on our patio the following Wednesday. A remarkable service - I really don't think you would be disappoiinted with either quality of product - it is resistant to all weathers (although we obviously don't leave them out during the winter) or the service.  

My husband and I have residency, but two years ago when it was granted we were told by the commune that we had to pay for private health insurance, which we duly did.  When our renewal for our health insurance came up last year, we were advised to notify the commune that we had renewed or they could 'suspend' our residency.  So after renewing, we showed the paperwork to the commune, who said - why are you paying for this - you are entitled to the Italian health service  - but we don't know the process that we need to do to sort this out, and threfore to stop paying for private health insurance.  So - Penny if you could just lay it out for us, that would be great.  By the way we are not in Amandola - but near Tolentino.

Was surprised to read the headline ' don't bother with Michael Murphy' as I felt it was going to imply negative thoughts about their service, - when I continued to read it just indicated that they were not taking on new clients. I have used them now for around 3 years, and their service for me has been faultless.  I know that there are only the two of them - Michael and Anna, his partner, that they have no employees and as a consequence they are probably not willing to take on more work then they can reasonably handle if want to continue with their quality of service, but I do understand that they are still giving consultancy advice. It is definately worth contacting them ask whether they can help.

Thankyou everyone for your input - I had tried Saga, and it was very expensive for 6 months cover in the EU, I got a quote from Stuart Collins - which was very reasonable, however, I found out that the National Farmers Union provide car insurance for up to 6 months abroad in any 12 month period, at a good rate. It is always handy to have this 'chat-room' for when you need some advice   Happy Christmas to everyone

Monarch charge for allocated seating - I think that it is £8 each way for standard leg room seats, and £25 each way for extra leg room. As the saying goes 'you don't get something for nothing' !

We used this company last year when we decided to cancel Sky Italia and just have a dish/decoder just for RAI L'Antennista di Torresi Alberto, via Picenca 78, no 74, 62020 Passo Ripe San Ginesio. Mobile Number : 338 276 2123. This was recommended by an Italian friend of ours, and he did what he said he was going to do very efficiently.

We had ordered a high speed internet line - at a cost of around E30 per month, we were delivered a modem, and a satellite dish was due to be installed. All payments were set up through our bank including the on-going monthly payments. However when it came to install the satellite dish - we were not in an area that we could pick up anything - so no dish installed.  It took 12 months of Telecom Italia taking monthly payments, including the annual maintenance fee for a un-used modem that had been returned, before they finally stopped, and then around another 6 months to pay us back - which they did, but the cheques that they gave us were only valid for 60 days, and had we not been in Italy when they arrived they would have been invalid after this time and we would have to start the process again. So my advice would be - put your issue in writing to them, and then send them a reminder every couple of months, enclosing previous correspondence, and you will get your money back.