Bulgaria Ski discussion board

Hi Jimee,
I am in exactly the same situation as you. My appartment is ready in December and I need to furnish it.

Last time I was over, I popped in to the little furniture shop 'Creative Interiors' on the main road, just down from the Gondala. Its run by an ex-pat and he was really helpful and seems genuine.

Personally, I think you're always going to pay a little more for a 'package', but the value is in the hastle factor. I'm going over in November for an inspection and will be double checking the price of furniture against the high street in Sofia, but I think all I'm doing is re-assuring myself it's not worththe hasstle of van hire etc.

Thanks to Jo for the advise about Orpheus, I'll know to be cautious if I come accross them, although I wouldn't mind knowing more details of what went wrong?

Good luck,

Si.

Si,

Re orpheus. They had and hav a glossy website and also profess to be UK based in case of problems, which all sounds perfect. They quoted a price including delivery to our development. The quality was better than the developers package and cheaper, all seemed well.
They insisted on all the money up front. Which I have never really liked and to be honest I start to mistrust anyone who wants everything up front. But, largely because of their assurances that they were UK based we went along with it.
We were very lucky in that our development was actually finished on time. We signed up for a 3 year guarenteed rental scheme which was due to begin on completion.
But then orpheus started messing about. They claimed that they had become so poular that they needed more vans and labour to get their goods from the base in Plovdiv to Bansko, therefore we had to pick up the extra cost. This meant the true figure was equal to our own developers. Obviously we resisted at which point they refused to deliver the furniture. It was only then that we discovered they didnt have a UK base. We threatened to take them to court, their response was to say 'go on then but you'll get nowhere in Bulgaria.'
They had our £6000, had our furniture and wouldnt deliver unless we came up with more above and beyond the agreed figure. In the end we had to pay.
It took them 6 months to deliver an acceptable package to our developers. This meant we directly lost 6 months of gauerenteed rental, not rental if we could manage it, but actual cost.
Even now, 2 years later they have not delivered everything. Our dining room table was damaged in the first season and they have still not replaced it. We have given up on them now, they dont reply to emails etc.
As I said, for less hassle etc its far better to stay with the developers, if things get broke, torn or need fixing they will do it.
For you own sakes avoid orpheus like the plague.

Jo

Si i will be out there back end of Nov early Dec myself to start to look into furnishings, but there isn't ant great rush as there's no one using it until Jan, so i think getting bits at a time maybe worth thinking about. Its the bigger items that are concerning like bed/dining room and settee's that being the case i will have to do the inevitable and hire a mini bus for a few days and do the shopping tours. Would be interested to know how you get on, we may even be there at the same time ?

Jackie - Thanks for that i wasn't aware of that electrical shop down near the Pirin, i will have to look into that one. Maybe good for the electric blanket :O)

Jo - Thanks for the pointers NOTED !

Cheers Jimmy

Reading that story about costs rocketing at the end and upfront costs has 100% put me off that option (even though I'd 99% decided to use the own developer).

To the chap who bought in the Canaries - thats a totally different proposition to a Ski resort. However I guess you could class it as an investment & then compare them to each other. That said Spain mainland has been shocking with land grabs by the state and zero recompence / assets impossible to sell.

Globally every asset is taking a hammering canaries too - Bansko is an "up & coming" resort & Im sure what I spent in bulgaria buying my two pads might have bought me a tiny ancient sh&tbox in the canaries.

Canaries issue for me would be air flight taxes - its a far higher CO2 emmissions to get there than it is to Bulgaria & I guess taking things to a silly scenario with global warming the coast resorts would be wiped out with rise in ocean level - likewise every European ski resort will/could have no snow due to global warming.

Every investment carries risk, Im pretty confident that the vast majority of people never saw the dire global situation coming else if they did they would have sold every share they held sold their house and put every penny on betting that the market would fall from 7200 points to 3600 points and quadruple their money (well I'd say probably raise their bet by 15 or more to one...)

Jo,
Thanks for the info...that definately looks like a good reason to 'avoid like the plague'. I'm sorry you had such a poor experience, but hopefully sharing the knowledge will save the next person suffering the same fate.

Jimmy,
I am scheduled to be over there on the 17th Nov, and have booked a taxi from the company I use for transfers to take me around a few stores in Sofia which was surprisingly reasonable. I'll keep you all posted as to how I get on - nothing ventured, nothing gained and all that! My deadline is a little closer than yours as I hope to get over for some snowboarding at Christmas, subject to electricity supply etc at the appartment....but thats for a different thread!

Tom and Jackie,
Thnaks for your info, that is really useful. I hope to get a chance to have a look in Blagovegrad now that you have highlighted it.

Si.