Holly1

Sounds remarkably similar to the other one doesn't it :-( Holly

Hi Smiley, Yes, it's exactly the same email that I received initially. I suggest that you don't reply at all but alert www.theholidayhost.com . Perhaps they might be interested in reading the above warning mail that I got too? I have a copy of the follow up email that is sent out by the scammer as well, email or PM if you want a copy of that. HTH Holly

Hi all, this is a bit complicated but I think worth passing on. There is someone trying to rent gites as a scam and sending enquiries to numerous gite owners. I had already replied to this person when I received the warning message from the advertising website, and have since received a detailed personal reply from the person. I will paste the latest email from the advertising website which explains the situation in  more detail. Beware if you receive anything similar! Here goes..... We recently advise you of a potential scam by Piet Thoney. From what information we have gather so far, it appears this is a scam and it works like this. They contact you pretending they want to rent your property for a long period of time. They try to gain your confidence by asking for a discount off the price of the rental and quoting an expensive piece of equipment. In this persons case it is a Pentium laptop computer. They pretend they own a business and need to view the property before he brings his family. It looks like at that stage they will try and give you a worthless cheque already made out to you but this cheque will be for a lot more than it should. They will then request that you pay them back the amount they over paid you. We are not sure if they will request this to be paid in cash but we suspect they will. When you bank their cheque it will not be paid and your bank will advise you that the cheque they paid you with is worthless. ONLY IF YOU HAVE REPLIED TO THIS PERSON If you have already replied to this person, you should tell them out straight that you will not rent your property to him and that you know what he is trying to do is a scam. Maybe you should inform your local police before you reply to him again as you might be able to weed him out with their help by pretending you will rent your property to him and arrange to meet in the general area but do not under any circumstances pass on any address or landline details to this person. If he keeps emailing you, simply tag his emails as SPAM or if you are using Outlook or Outlook Express simply highlight his email, click on the Message tab at the top of your screen, scroll down to Block Sender and this will delete all his future emails from his email address. Be careful in the future as you may be contacted by another person using a different name and email address but the motive will be the same. This is one of the reasons we do not recommend payment on arrival. You should always insist on payment before any address details are given out and ensure any payment is cleared by your bank first. If you insist on this procedure you will not have to worry about this type of scam. If you accept payment by bank transfer, never give out your normal day-to-day bank account details. What you should do is open a second bank account and only use this account to receive payments for your bookings. As soon as any money arrives into this account, simply transfer it into your normal day-to-day bank account so there is never any money in this account. If you have not replied to this person, DON'T!!! We have already emailed this person advising them we know what their scam is and what they are up to and that we have warned our advertisers  

Hi daughter of godwinsj :-) Thanks very much for your message, it was most helpful for my daughter and I. Good luck with the rest of your studies and with your exams when the time comes! I have since been in touch with someone else from La Baule and they too are being very helpful. We are still looking into the whole OIB issue. Just a note to anyone who may be reading this in future, perhaps after finding the message during a search. Even if it is some time since I sent this I would still be interested to hear from you, so please do reply. Thanks again Holly

"Holly, I am speechless!!  Your collège really has all that?  Animals????  " I don't think I do speechless, but I am equally surprised that other colleges don't seem to be like 'ours', I assumed they all did the same sort of thing! Animals are nothing exotic btw, rats, mice birds etc although the birds had to go cos of bird flu so we now seem to have acquired some zebra finches! IDD has included some tree hugging, walking through the town with eyes closed holding onto a rope trying to work out where they were going by the sounds (someone fell up a kerb and a couple of them got scratched by a rosebush but a good time was had by all!), visit to a recycling centre, building mud-pie/sandcastle things out of materials found on a walk, pouring pink and purple paint onto a big sheet and accidentally on purpose all over some steps, which were purple for ages afterwards...all quite fun things. Some less interesting too obviously. Apparently there are also astronomy, health and handball clubs and a reading group, all at lunchtimes. So YES, I think we must be lucky. Back to the original point of the thread, the reports and assessments...  I too think that testing as they go along is less stressful than something like SATs. But in our schools, primary and college, there IS great emphasis put on the overall moyennes, the individual moyennes and the child's position in the class compared to everyone else. Three out of my four do very well and luckily are good at sports too, so they are always at or near the top of their year. The other is a bit above average, gets a moyenne of 12/13 which I am happy with, he is about where he was in his class in Ireland. But he finds it quite hard and compares himself to the others, it doesn't do his confidence any good at all and sometimes he gets quite discouraged and doesn't want to bother learning/working. God knows what it must be like for the kids at the bottom, particularly those with parents who put such emphasis on marks out of 20, that whole thing is so ingrained in the system. Rough play and bullying seems to be tolerated more than I would like too. Holly

[quote user="Teamedup"]Holly1 your schools are exceptional then with all those ex curric activities.[/quote] I should clarify that the extra-curricular activities are in college only, not in the primary schools. Also that the outings and projects are part of the curriculum.

[quote user="battypuss1"]Actually I meant 'fun' as in interesting projects, drama, creative writing...[/quote] Ah, I see what you mean. However, our school has a drama group, a choir group, a biology club which looks after the school animals and various extra-curricular sports activities. The children go on outings, some of which are fun and some are more educational. They do IDD, which are sort of outings combined with projects. They really do seem to do 'fun' stuff too, but I appreciate that not all children would. Holly

Sorry, I can't work out the proper way to to quote just part of a text. battipuss said: " I never noticed 'fun' being a concept that the French grasped in relation to schools. You went, you took yet another controle, you dragged yourself home, did 2 hours homework, ate your dinner and crashed out to be at school for 8am next day...this was 6ieme last year. My two daughters loathe sport and participated as little as possible the entire time they were at school ..." I understand your experience but for others reading just want to say that ours is quite the opposite. Our four (in 4eme, 5eme, CM2 & CM1) love school here, they *do* think it's fun despite the hard work and homework. They look forward to holidays but by the end of the holidays they look forward to going back to school to see their friends. They did find it tiring at first but all seem to cope without any problem now. Holly

Sandblasting would take off as much as you like and will get into the corners. If you have dodgy timber it might cause some damage. It makes a hell of a mess though, I wouldn't do it if I were living in the house. Holly

Hi Nicky not Preston :-) Our oldest was 9 when we came so I don't have personal experience of moving older children but a few English families have moved to our area recently with teenagers. Of the ones at our college, two families have gone back and one child from one of the other families have also gone back. Two children are still in school and one of those is thinking of going back too! There are another 8 english speaking children who have been here longer and are bilingual or nearly so and settled in. The college got extra funding for extra french tuition last year but haven't been able to this year but seem to make every effort they can to help the english speaking children. So, from my own limited view it seems the age at which they move makes a huge difference....I'm sorry to say that I don't think it's going to be easy. Having said that, if I were in your position I would still give it a try. There are lots of other benefits for children of living in a different culture, the education system here is good overall, and if they can get over the initial hurdles it is well worth it. And having truly bilingual children is wonderful! Good luck, whatever you decide Holly (north Dordogne)

Hi all, does anyone have a child who has done the BAC with OIB please? If can you offer any advice or comments on how it's going/how it went, and in particular whether it is of great benefit in the longer term for a child who is more interested in sciences than the language and history/geography which the OIB concentrates on. If perchance anyone has personal experience of the lycee Francois Magendie at Bordeaux please do get in touch, by PM/email if you prefer. Thanks, Holly

Thanks Les for the boxtoo link, I'll have a look at that, and for the two lines explanation. I notice in the free.fr terms and conditions they say that they can't guarantee sufficient quality for fax transmission (and something else too but I can't remember what!) so they appear to know there is variable line quality.We will have to hope for the best there. Now I'm wondering, if I order a freebox, when I should write to tiscali to give my two months notice. I have heard of delays with the freebox arriving and I don't want to be stuck on a PAYG rate for weeks. And even when the freebox arrives I somehow don't think it will just work as soon as it is plugged in, there always seem to be technical difficulties of some sort. Thanks again Holly

Hi everyone, thanks for your comments. Sorry, I just said in another thread that there hadn't been any replies - I hadn't ticked the email notification box so hadn't seen that they were here! I am currently working my way through the various free.fr pdf terms and conditions documents on the website, but I think I'll probably go for it.  I hadn't found the one regarding which phones work with the freebox so I'll have a hunt for that. Also, please can anyone confirm that the phone and freebox work together even when the computer is switched off? Can anyone think of any questions I ought to have asked, but haven't? :-) Thanks again, Holly

Hi, thanks for your reply, glad to hear you got it sorted out. No replies from anyone else as yet.... Holly

Hi, I have just asked a question because I was thinking of subscribing to Free and your post doesn't look very encouraging! Did you manage to contact them, get your freebox, and is the system working now?

Hi all, I'm about to take the broadband plunge. I'm tempted by free.fr since their package offers free international calls to UK and Ireland, whereas the other ISPs seem to offer free calls in France only. However, there seem to be alot of complaints about free.fr. I only know one person using them and he is very  happy with their service. If you are a happy or an unhappy free.fr user in a zone non-degroupee please would you post any comments you have about them? Also I would be interested to know if you have kept your France Telecom line because I think in some cases this is optional (but I may have that wrong) Neuf.fr seem to be popular too but don't have such good phone rates. Any thoughts anyone please? TIA Holly1 http://la-plaine.chez-alice.fr/ (registration email address no longer works so please reply here or via the website)

[quote]Is there any truth in what I have heard that if you change to a French licence you can't tow a caravan, as there is a 750 Kg towing limit. Also on my U.K. licence I can drive a truck up to 7.5 tons an...[/quote] I found a website recently which explained the categories on driving licences, alas I have mislaid the address now but will post again if I find it. I had been concerned about the possibility of losing my bike licence. It appeared to say that categories are now uniform across the EU.  If anyone is sure about the 750kg towing limit please post. It doesn't affect us at the moment since we still have British licences, but as builders we tow 1500kg regularly so we need to be sure in case my husband, as a result of the speeding ticket, has to change his licence.  Our vehicles could in fact tow more than this but our standard French insurance policy only covers us to tow up to 1500kg.  A towing limit of 750kg would cause us a serious problem Holly

You said: " I'm afraid most of the Brits I've seen who've set up as craftsmen are total cowboys" I would agree that many of them are, we have come across them too, lots of them, but I still think this is too much of a generalisation. My husband, who was a civil engineer originally is now a successful builder here and we know excellent joiners and an electrician. People need to get references and recommendations, check that the tradesperson is properly registered with the Chambre de Metiers, get a written devis etc, whether the person is French, English, or in our case Irish. Part of the problem I think is that reputable tradesmen of any nationality are so busy, so if the cowboys come along and say they can do a job, people go for it. Just my 2c worth..... Holly http://la-plaine.chez.tiscali.fr  

[quote]Can you have a French address on a UK license?RegardsS[/quote] No, you can't, you have to leave a British postal address on the licence. If you tried to give a French address they would tell you to change the licence to a French one.   Holly http@//la-plaine.chez.tiscali.fr/  

[quote]My husband recently got one of these speed camera fines, which we paid online but wondered what happened about the deduction of the point. Now I know! It's really annoying to lose the point as he wa...[/quote] Did your husband have a French or a British licence? If British, did "they" write to you about the point please?  Sorry to hear he was caught out like that. Holly gite in Dordogne http://la-plaine.chez.tiscali.fr

[quote]What is the situation if you are caught speeding, and you have a french reg car but an english license? boatyard[/quote] You haven't been reading very closely have you? That was exactly what happened to us. My husband was caught by a camera in a French registered car so we automatically received the penalty notice with notification of the fine and the points. I don't know what would happen if you were stopped by the gendarmes these days, but you would be within your rights to tell them that it was legal to be using a British licence if they questioned it. It appears they they could insist that you change it for a French one. My friend was stopped some time ago and just paid the instant fine, they didn't question her British licence, perhaps they couldn't be bothered with the paperwork?? Another point worth mentioning I think. If your French registered car is registered in joint names, the notice will go to the person named first on the Carte Grise. The penalty notice comes with a form which you have to send back if someone else was driving. This might be worth remembering for people deciding whose name to register the car in. I guess they should choose either the person who will be the main driver or the one who is most likely to be caught speeding Holly

Hi Baz, thanks for that, don't know why I didn't spot it, easy when you know how! Holly

[quote]Drivers with UK licences no longer have to swap it for a French one when they move to France to live. The law changed sometime in the late 1990s, and exchange is now voluntary, unless you commit an of...[/quote] Hi everyone, thanks for your replies. We too had tried to change our licences but were told that it was not necessary, something which I have confirmed since on various websites. Looks like it is now!  We will leave it for a while and see if they write to us, but if not I think we should bite the bullet and head off to the prefecture. Thanks in particular for the link to www.service-public.fr I had found various other sites dealing with the changing of the licence issue, but had not come across this one. I don't know about other areas (we are in the north of Dordogne) but there has been a noticeable increase in gendarmes checking for speeding around here, and new cameras are appearing. I always make an effort to keep to speed limits but it is easy to get caught out. I suspect alot more people are going to find themselves in this position in the coming months. Sorry about the quote at the top, I put in the wrong bit by mistake and can't work out how to take it out again Thanks again everyone Holly

Hi all, hope someone can help me here. My husband recently got caught by a speed camera. He was driving our French registered car, so received a fixed fine, which we have paid, thereby admitting the offence. The notice also says that he will automatically receive points on his licence. However, he still has a British licence. Does anyone know what happens in this situation please? Do the French authorities write to us here if they find they have no record of a French licence? Do they write to the DVLA? Does the whole thing just disappear into on end of the system and never come out at the other? Surely someone has been in this position before? Looking forward to your replies Holly