Jump to content

JJ

Members
  • Posts

    320
  • Joined

  • Last visited

    Never

Posts posted by JJ

  1. Viv,

    We get loads of them, if you are already listed somewhere then you are considered fair game.

    I must say that I have not heard of this operation though.

    I generally ignore the ones that want money, but you will also get fee sites mailing you that can sometimes produce results.

  2. Many thanks to you all for your responses and thoughts.

    When the family cancelled thay said they would like to come in the future, so I have decided to reimburse their deposit.

    Quite a few of you had the same thoughts as me, in as much as they are more likely to re-book and reccomend us to others if we show them such a gesture.

    Yes I know we are running a business, and we rely on the income for a living, but I am thinking long term for the developement and goodwill of the business. I will not have lost any money.

    A Happy and Prosperous New Year to you all.

  3. This is our third gite season, and we had our first cancellation some months ago for two weeks in May 2007.

    The deposit had been paid by the clients. We have now just re-sold the same two weeks in May.

    I know that we are under no legal obligation to refund the deposit to the original bookers, but I was just wondering what other gite owners did in cases like this?

  4. Turkey itself is not that difficult match wine with.

    The problem lies with the sauces that can go with it.

    Cranberry sauce, stuffing etc can be a challenge,

    The previous poster mentions Pinot Noir which is a good choice, but beware of cheap burgundy, it can be like a lot of cheap Bordeaux, rubbish. I used to like new world pinot noirs which are better value that Burgundies, but almost impossible to find in France, I actually miss new world wines, and I live in France, how sad is that?

    Full flavoured whites can go well, oaky chardonnays etc, Alsace produes some rich whites which can work.

    What you do not want are bone dry whites or dry reds, they do not seem to cope.

    Hope this helps.

     

     

     

  5. Simon,

    I do not know the company, but 30k euros does sound a bit steep for a 10 x 5m pool.

    Beware, there are a lot of cowboys out there in swimming pool land.

    Do your research before signing on the dotted line.

    This forum is a great source of info and help, in particular Poolguy who gives loads of free and spot on advice.

    When you do cho0se an installer make sure that the credentials are right, in particular insurance.

    Do not get your fingers burnt like I did.

    Good Luck.

     

  6.  Their brochure is too big to search through anyway in my opinion, and every one of our bookings from them last year came from their website - hardly anyone had even seen their book!

    I would disagree with the above re the CN Brochure, yes it is too large, but a lot of people who have booked with us have browsed the brochure first, then gone onto the CN website. I have even known people making bookings from ads in the CN brochure of a few years ago.

  7. This is our third year with good old Chez Nous.

    They are not cheap at about £500 for an eighth page colour ad in their very large brochure (more like a telephone directory), and an entry on their equally large website.

    Love them or hate them, they have provided us with loads of enquiries and bookings, but they do not work for everybody.

    Historically their customer service to those who advertise with them has been pretty appalling. So they can only improve, can't they?

    I would agree with an earlier poster that the free sites are a waste of time, but if you get smething from them at least it is free.

  8. They keep on trying, after telling the scamster where he could stick his booking enquiry, I today recieved a cheque for 3450 euros.

    The cheque states it originates from Citibank in Frankfurt, posted in Finland.

    My bank want to charge me for the privelige of checking its validity, so I will just keep it for posterity.

     

  9. This will be my third winter in the Charente Maritime, and for the past two I have not winterised the pool, but just kept it ticking over with a few hours filtration overnight to stop the system freezing. It can get to minus 15 here. It is a salt water pool as well, and salt freezes at a lower temp.

    However, this winter I am considering winterising the pool, and how to do it properly which has been discussed at length on this forum.

    It might just save me fussing and worrying about everything freezing up.

    I know a lot of people do winterise, and in some regions there is not really any choice.

    But I would be interested to see what others think.

    A diificult one, anyone have the same dilemma, or am I thinking about it too much?

     

     

  10. Dear All,

    As seen below is the next stage in my e-mail scam saga, the oldest trick in the book, but sadly some people still fall for it.

    You will be pleased toknow thgat I have told Ron where he can stick his booking!

    Hi Jim And Gail,

    Accepted, But we got a called from our clients said that the booking should be for two person for that same period and which is two room seperately. and I want you to be expecting the cheque payment as from next week because i have instructed my financee to issue you the cheque of amount 3450 EUROS on their behalf. As soon as the cheque arrives you will hold out your amount which is £800 and send the excess balance of the money to my clients that they would need for tickets to fly to the france for the business trip and the money should be send via Money Gram or Western Union. In other to come over to your place, i hope i can trust you for my balance?
    Waiting to hear from you soon
    Regards,
    Ron.
  11. I too have one on the go at the moment, below is the actual e-mail. I am playing him along for thje moment, but I do not suspect for one moment that it is a genuine enquiry, merely yet another SCAM.

    Anybody else had the same one?

     

    Hello,
    I am Ron Crawford.  A one of Suffolk Sheep Association based in Huddersfield. I have a two clients from Asia that would be able to lodge into your hotel apartment for 7 days. Please let me know the amount for one star with 1 bedroom only.  I would be responsible to make the payment also let me know if you will accept a Cheque Issueing from a United Kingdom Bank or Europe Bank for payment.
    Awaiting to your quick response.
    Thanks and god bless,
    Mr Ron Crawford.

  12. I think I paid around a 100 euros, sounds expensive, but they are very usefull. I know it worked out cheaper than importing one from the UK.

    I would to concur with Lori about being fortunate to have Poolguy on this forum.

    I have learnt a great amount from him, a lot more than the conflicting advice one gets in pool shops.

     

     

     

     

  13. David,

    I thought I would get in before Andrew as I purchased one of the Palin Test Cool Pool Testers from Andrew a few weeks ago.

    I am very pleased with it as it takes all the guesswork out of reading your levels.

    It is easy to use and I would highly recomend them.

    I have no financial interests in the product at all, this is a genuine testimonial.

     

     

  14. Pip,

    Like all my other fellow gite owners who have responded to this post I am also appalled that you have been so let down.

    Do they have a customer comments book? if so that would make interesting reading.

    I have heard stories of gite owners removing pages where adverse comments had been made.

    Hindsight is a great thing, but it would have been a good idea to register your complaints at an early stage.

    Good Luck, and remember gites like this should be a thing of the past.

     

     

     

     

     

  15. St Amour

    The Ektorp is confortable enough for our home,we purchased two, one forthe gite as described, and one for a room in our main house which has had a lot of use by friends and family (as a sofa and sofabed) It has always recieved positive reports.

    But I do agree that yout must try one out first in the store.

    Good Luck

  16. As it was me who started this thread I thought I might make some updated comments.

    Most of the summer went well, I have a strict regime, but in mid August I noticed that the algae was trying to establish itself again.

    My daily checks revealed no real problems with levels.

    I shocked the pool, no improvement, so then I went for a quick fix, I used a peroxide based product which did the trick, cleared the algae, and the water was crystal clear.

    But, the peroxide masks the chlorine, so after six weeks back comes the algae.

    My levels are all spot on, conclusion is that the peroxide may be the culprit.

    Andrew, is there a test that can be carried out for the peroxide levels?

  17. We have a two bedroomed gite and put in a very expensive IKEA sofa bed (Ektorp) into the lounge area which is very comfortable.

    Do not bother with click clack or cheap sofa beds as in my experience they are not that confortable.

    In two full seasons, not a single person has used the sofa bed, so I think we have wasted some money, it is a very confortable sofa though.

    The other important consideration is if you provide a sofa bed, the guests may have to put it away every day, which is a pain with the bedding etc. Also they will need storage space for clothing etc.

    Also if you expand your occupancy, then you need to think about how many bathrooms you have.

     

  18. I have to agree with Macker on this one.

    Having been on holidays in French gites for over 20 years, and now a gite owner, there was never any question about linen and towels being included in the price.

    I used to hate lugging towells, bedding all the way from the UK, no problem if you are driving I hear you say, but these days a lot of people fly and hire a car, so the last thing you want to do is fill your suitcase with towels.

    After two very full years, we have not had a single comment about the provision of towells, nor about the dishwasher, DVD player etc etc.if you get what I mean.

    The gite market is a world away from what it was 20 years ago.

    If I was hiring a gite, I would always go for the ones that did not charge extras or asked to you bring your own towels.

     

  19. Castorama sell an emulsion/acrylic by TOLLENS called Equilibre Ultra Mono Couche paint in 2.5 litre plastic tubs.

    It is the only French emulsion/acrylic that I have ever used that is any good, I painted white primed plasterboard in their cafe creme colour and it was brilliant, coverage was reasonable and it only needed one coat.

    The downside is the price.at 45 euros for 2.5 litres it is not cheap.

    But if you have to apply two coats of a cheaper paint, does it work out cheaper in the long run?

     

     

     

     

×
×
  • Create New...