Antonia

Is there an equivalent French phrase? I quite like "la queue qui agite le chien" but I think that's Canadien. Having had a few run ins with French customer service this week I feel like it's a phrase I should have handy!

Funnily enough, having recently been told "no" for our French investments. I have just this minute received an email from our tax inspector to say that he'd made a mistake ( yes really!). He's asked for some more documentation for some of the claims but not all so things are looking a lot more positive. If I were you I'd send the whole lot in together with one covering letter listing everything. That way all your claims will be registered at the same time.

I'm getting so fed up with our tax department! We sent them a shed load of documents in October which they acknowledged three times ( I assumed once for each year ). We then got a letter in November from head office agreeing to the CSG charged on our UK income but making no reference to the prepaid CSG on the assurance vies / french bank accounts etc. We then received an avis of degrevement in December from the local tax office for the 2014 CSG ( sans prepaid )and today received a cheque for 2/3rds of that. The way we're going we could end up owing them money! Every letter has a different reference number and is signed by a different person except for today's which isn't signed at all. My problem is I don't know if our claims for the CSG on the assurance vie & french bank accounts have been refused or not. The head office letter said if we wished to appeal, we had two months to apply to the court for a ruling but obviously I don't want to go down that route if the claim is just stuck somewhere else in the system. We're going to have to go down to the local office early next year to find out why they made out a cheque for less than they said they were going to, what's happened to the 2013 and 2012 refunds, and do they know what's happening regarding the CSG deducted at source. I would be very grateful if anyone can tell me if they have received refunds of CSG deducted at source and if so what tax office.

We received a letter today informing us that they were going to refund all of the social charges levied against the interest earned on our UK bank accounts. The letter however makes no mention of our claim for the refund of the charges taken at source from our French bank accounts and assurance vie. Is anyone else only getting refunded on "foreign" earnings?

It may be something to do with your commune. We had a similar situation in 2012 where we were expecting a reduction of 132 euros using just our RFR. This was how it was explained to us: The Tax Imposition 2012 was 7.21% ( Commune )                                                 10.88% ( Intercommunalite )                                                  .157% ( Tax Speciale D'equipement )                                                  7.21 + 10.88 + .157 = 18.247% Taux global 2000 ( left hand side down the bottom ) was 15.2% The valeur locative brute ( up the top ) was 4475 The amount the commune takes from a potential rebate is... Tax Imposition - Tax Global 2000 x Basse Net Imposition In our case for 2012 (18.247-15.2) x 4475 = 136 euros. Or to put it another way, in 2012 our commune kept the first 136 euros of any rebate. Apparently not all communes do this, we're just lucky I guess.

We turned up to sign the act authentique only to finder the vender still ensconced in the house and under the impression that he had at least three months to remove himself and his belongings after he had received the money. As neither ourselves or the Notaire could get out of him the exact date when he would leave we decided we wanted out. Our Notaire made it clear that we would, at the very least, lose our deposit and if the seller insisted we would have to compensate him for the loss of the sale. Our two options (according to the Notaire) were to buy now and charge the vendor rent or wait until he moved out. Fortunately he was out within the fortnight as we had to stay in a hotel having nowhere else to go. Incidentally we had a clause suspensive concerning asbestos which was found in an outbuilding but as the vendor said he would remove it prior to the sale the Notaire felt it wasn't an issue.

If you click on "configure inbox" ( little cog on the right hand side ) you can unclick any tabs you don't want eg. promotions or forums and those emails will end up being left in your inbox proper ( if that makes any sense!)

Yes at one of the local DIY stores. It's a Sedea ( French company ). Unfortunately it was a few years ago and a quick look on their website shows they only make up to 65cm now. I have to say we've chopped and changed kit a number of times since moving to France and the biggest improvement by far was replacing the LNB. The Inverto really made a difference. ( sorry that was a reply to Guardian - I obviously haven't got the hang of the quote function! )

Status in northern Gard: BBC HD strength 100%,  quality 70% BBC SD strength 100%,  quality 80% 85cm dish Inverto Ultra Black Quad LNB Antonia

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Just thought I'd share the good news. My cheque is winging its way back to me in tonights post. After getting nowhere with one director of the Warranty Group I decided to blanket email every executive I could find. I hit pay dirt with someone in Ireland who passed it on to the Managing Director of European operations. He checked the policy and informed me that it had been canceled “in a timely manner” and the garage had been reimbursed the beginning of September! From the tone of the email I don't think he was that impressed with the conduct of the dealership as he said he was going to copy in the CEO of Fiat Group Automobiles Capital so that he was also appraised of the situation. Armed with that I called the garage who still insisted that they were the ones out of pocket until I shamelessly name dropped who I'd been in contact with and surprise, surprise, they checked again and found the missing credit on their books. Best Christmas present ever!!

Thank you all for your replies. I don't know what the cooling off period is in these circumstances but in effect there was none. How I think it is supposed to work is this - Punter goes into garage for extended warranty. Punter is given pre- contract document to sign to say that he understands this is NOT a manufacturers guarantee, has different terms and conditions, and he has read and understood said t&c's. Punter then signs cheque and receives new policy. What happened to me was - Went into garage for extended warranty. Asked for 1899 euros. Told new coupon would arrive in post to replace the one in the service manual. Left garage. Garage then printed off pre-contract, and policy document and posted them off to me that same afternoon. The rest you know. As I've said I've sent two letters to the insurance company, the first one asking for a cancellation of the policy, the second stating that I had just received the pre-contract and didn't want to take up the policy. Neither have been replied to. I think the garage is at fault for creating the policy at the same time as the pre-contract and they know it, but they are 1899 euros down on the deal and are hoping I'll either get a result from the insurance company or give up. As far as the validity of a cheque is concerned it's one year and eight days so I'm getting there!

Thanks for that. The problem is that I would have to claim that the cheque was obtained by deception and make an official complaint to the police prior to the bank stopping it. Much as I'd like to I don't think I can make a case for fraud. Another problem is that if the policy does exist, it started 2 months ago so there is a chance that I might only get back pro-rata.

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I wondered if any of you had any ideas where I could go next. In the last four months I have sent two letters ( recorded delivery ) to the insurance company to cancel the policy but haven't received a reply. I have also complained to Fiat France who say that I should be reimbursed eventually. The garage have yet to cash my cheque ( they claim they have been charged for the insurance ) but, as it is coming up to the end of the year, are beginning to hassle me to get this sorted. Last week I emailed a director in the insurance company's head office in London but again no reply. I'd like to try the ombudsman but as I haven't actually been charged for the insurance ( which I still maintain doesn't exist as I didn't sign the agreement ) I don't think he'll want to know. Any thoughts?

I know the regulations regarding bonfires are different if you are in an area with compulsory débroussaillage. Here we can have bonfires up to the end of June and again beginning in October. All of our neighbours have massive piles of stuff which have built up over the summer awaiting the start of the "season".

Thanks again for all your comments. I'm beginning to suspect the reason the garage is being difficult is more to do with the loss of commission than anything else. It was I who approached the garage and asked for an extended warranty after being emailed by the manufacturer. We confirmed the price by phone (1,899 euros for six years), drove to the dealership ( 2 hour round trip) signed the cheque and was told a new membership card would be sent in the post. That was Monday. On Wednesday two copies of the contract arrived by post to be initialed, signed and returned. We phoned the garage, told them we weren't happy and arranged to drive back to the dealership on Friday to reclaim the cheque,(Thursday being a bank holiday). We spent a VERY tense hour in the garage attempting to get the cheque back during which time I saw no other customers. As I say I feel very stupid.

Thank you for your reply. In answer to your questions I was under the impression that I was extending the original guarantee but, in fact, have been issued with a new policy with a third party provider. This policy has different limits and exclusions which is why I no longer want to take it up. Unfortunately neither the garage's owner, nor his sales rep. had ever bothered to read a copy of the contract prior to selling and had assumed, as I had, that the cover was the same. The garage's owner is worried that he will be charged for the insurance so is keeping my cheque in case. I should say that this is a dealership of a major European brand and the car was new. The sales rep. has a copy of a letter, signed by me, cancelling the insurance which he will send A/R to the insurer on Monday if the news isn't good. The garage then intends to bank my cheque and I will hopefully be re-inbursed by the insurer (there is a clause allowing a get out within 15 days of signing) I just hope I don't end up in some twilight zone where the insurer won't refund as I never signed the insurance! The last thing in the world I want to do right now is sign which was why I was just wondering what the legal position was on a contract not signed. Would I be able to declare it nul and void and demand my money back from the insurer regardless?

I've done something stupid. I paid for an extension to the guarantee on my new French car without seeing the policy document. This has now arrived, along with the contract to sign, and I am not happy with the limits and exclusions. The garage is refusing to return my cheque until they get clearance from the insurance company as they say that the policy has been issued and is therefore in effect.The policy is not due to not start until the end of next month but I can see me signing up so that I'm able to cancel. I always thought that you needed to sign a contract in order to be bound by it. How can this contract be "in effect"? I can't see the insurers paying up on a claim if I have refused to agree to their terms and conditions. Any thoughts? P { margin-bottom: 0.08

Bois raboté

http://www.today.com/pets/dog-pictured-floating-sleep-owners-arms-has-died-6C10680004

No is the short answer. If you haven't paid enough contributions to receive a state pension you cannot obtain a S1. You don't need a full pension - just to have paid enough National Insurance for a partial one.

Just to say, we moved 10 years ago so not exactly a new thing!

We moved in November and I foolishly thought it would be a good idea to "get into the system" as soon as possible so completed a tax return for the final 2 months of the year. Big mistake! Was called up by les impots and summoned for an interview where we were asked to provide details on everything we had earned in the UK for the ten months prior to the move. I couldn't remember off the top of my head so gave some approx figures which were added into the notes which we were then asked to initial. I was assured that this would not mean that we would be taxed twice and this turned out to be the case. However the UK income was used to calculate our revenue fiscal de reference which in turn was used to calculate our habitation tax and CMU contributions for the following year. Makes sense I suppose as otherwise our "annual income" would have been so small as to have exonerated us from either.

I am so sorry. I don't normally post on this forum but am a long time lurker. I never met Debs but I still feel as if I've lost a friend. She was a very special lady.

I've never had a dog, only cats, but I have to say that the water spray has been my life saver with all of them. To begin with I say "no" in a firm voice and give the cat a short burst to get them to desist from whatever I don't want them to do. In my experience it doesn't take long before it's just showing them the water spray and saying no. Then just saying no while pointing a finger. Cats are intelligent animals and incapable of being trained as such but are capable of understanding boundaries and rules if you give them clear guidance,

Yes our Sky box retuned last night. 24 channels starting at 450