e-griff
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Posts posted by e-griff
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The first time our freezer went the insurance didn't cover it.
This is so annoying! They must have similar resets in the electricity substations, etc Why can't I have one?
And Voisinage ---- yeh, sure, sure. But where we live our 'protectors' get different weather from us, and we are at the end of a long overhead line coming from a different direction to theirs...
It need fixin' In this day and age it's crazy! (watch me cleaning, bare handed, the corrupting contents of the freezer - the stench!) when all it needed was a quick reset (but we were in the UK)
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When there is a thunderstorm, my main supply trips out occasionally. This has to be manually reset at the main supply inlet to the house. Recently we were away, and consequently lost the contents of the freezer after one simple 'orage'.
Surely there must be something that attempts automatic resets over a period after tripping out and doesn't require a physical presence?
I am not talking about individual circuit breakers, this is the main input.
Does anyone know where and how I get such a device fitted?
JohnG
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Credit-Agricole charges
in French Finance
Posted
I've been delving into this topic, and the posts here have helped me confirm the situation.
I am in Deux-Sevres, and a UK resident, although we spend a lot of time at our house here.
I signed up for what I thought were just the cards on the telephone. I do not speak fluent French so I guess I missed some of the nuances - namely that they signed me up for the 'Confort' package - which costs 8.70€ per month including immediate debit card (which can be used on motorway tolls, unlike the ' autorisation systematique' that requires a response to confirm (as in the supermarket). 3€ of this pays for the card (from 2009, 36€ per year), which is why it is 5.70€ 'sans carte'. The rest pays for life insurance, travel loss of documents and unlimited access to internet.
I still have uk bank accounts and cards, so I get all that already for free. The CA internet site is so restricted compared with my Loyd's one (ie I can't transfer money or change standing orders, or see back over a year's statements) I don't use it often. mostly when we are in the UK over Christmas just to check. If you have no package, internet access costs 50c every day you access it. I do about 6 times a year - that's 3€ (as opposed to 12x2€!)
Bank acounts are free. Cards cost from 15€ per year (CA- 'l'autre carte' - resticted in some ways) with an average of 25-40€ for an normal Visa or Mastercard, per year up to vast amounts for Platinum etc. Visa and Mastercard automatically provide basic insurance (against fraud) - true they don't all cover loss of passport, expenses etc, but I don't need that.
So I'm going to reduce my current 8.70€ pm (104€ a year) to 36€ a year by simply cancelling my 'package' (as someone so wisely suggested earlier in this topic)
I have to say, after an hour with the bank manager on Friday, I was no wiser (he reminded me of that guy in the UK TV ads - you know the one who talks about 'hooking' customers and puts his finger in his mouth - just kind of smiled and said, well that's it). At one point he said the charge is obligatory (er, it is if you choose that package, of course) - All I know now I got from deciphering the leaflets I picked up (one of which was about packages, but didn't describe the cheapest one (equilibre) except in passing. I also combed the internet and CA website last night - driven by the thought that no French person I know would dream of paying that much for a card! :-)
So - check your packages carefully. You probably got a leaflet from CA with the charges from Jan 2009. The reason for this was the law that was passed earlier this year that from that date, banks have to declare all charges transparently to customers (no, transparency wasn't the banks' initiative, despite what they say) - they havan't been. And it's still not THAT clear.
I love France, but I've found some things here are really badly done, and then again some things are much better than the UK, I guess that's life. The banks here are pretty arrogant, IMO. I'm still considering moving my account anyway.
good luck!
JohnG