Clarkkent

OK, this has nothing to do with France and I don't know whether this particular company operates in France. But if it does ... watch out.   I have been for a short holiday in the Algarve and booked a car through a normally excellent broker. I should have been aware that something was amiss when I saw that the rental charge for 10 days for a Ford Focus sized car was just £46. Even when I added CDW the price was only £80 or so, so I booked it. The documentation named a hire company I had never heard of - it has a name which includes a metal - and also a statement that, when picked up, the car would have an empty tank and should be returned with an empty tank. When I collected it, the car had a full tank for which I was charged €83. I told them that I had a CDW and did not require theirs. They told me that under Portuguese law my waiver was not legal - since they had my credit card at this point they threatened to load it with a deposit of €1000 which would be returned when a undamaged car was returned, or I could buy their insurance and the deposit would not be taken. The car, when I found it, was covered with scratches. (They said that they would not inspect it when it was returned.) It was also nearly three years old, and was rather sluggish. I've no objection to the "rent - a - wreck" approach to car hire but would like to have been given an informed choice. The Algarve is not a large area and it is very difficult to do sufficient driving to use half the fuel in the tank. I returned it with more than half a tank and was not given any refund. You can be certain that the next user will be charged for a full tank!   I have been ripped-off. The cost of hiring was about £250 not £46. Apparently the Consumers Association has expressed its concern and has asked its members to report their experiences with this company. A Google search has found much negative attention about this company and its business practices - had I have known this I would not have used it. I shall contact the broker with my concerns, but doubt they will be prepared to do anything. Perhaps I should report them to Trading Standards. Be warned.

My wife and I bought our house en tontine and when she died it was treated as though I had always been the sole purchaser. I have a total right to dispose of it in any way I see fit and without reference to my children. When I die, the usual inheritance rules will apply. Since our marriage was the only one either of us had, and since neither of us had children outside the marriage our circumstances were uncomplicated. However, if she had had children outside our marriage, the tontine would have effectively disinherited them. In my case, the house was valued so that I did not have any tax to pay (it was not large or expensive) I merely had to pay a registration fee. This, together with notarial fees came to about €500, if I recall correctly. There is a value beyond which a tontine cannot be used and other methods of securing the desired transmission should be considered.

Sorry to be nitpicking, but don't you mean "gall"?

Long shot - but possible. Is it shown in the car purchase documentation?

Rosabeth Moss Kanter - one of the world's most respected experts in the management of change - was interviewed on Radio 4. She blamed complacency and the inability to innovate quickly. Kodak, apparently, had a better plain paper copier than Xerox but failed to get it to the marketplace quickly enough. Their R&D activities were well placed for the digital revolution but the trading company allowed itself to be overtaken by the electronics firms who found a new product area they could enter.

And on Sunday evening - Birdsong on BBC 1.

A couple of years ago, I had my small, two bedroom house rewired and it cost me €8000. I think that you have just got to get used to French costs.

[quote user="Mr Coeur de Lion"]http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/English_Wikipedia_anti-SOPA_blackout I hope this bill fails. Governments are starting to get too much control in things that don't concern them.[/quote] Forgive me if I've got this wrong, but I thought that this bill was being driven by the entertainment industry who are frightened that they would lose their royalty income.

[quote user="Martin963"]I know we've some fans of 3D TV on here,  but it seems that their cause may be slipping away from them with Canal + apparently "pulling" their only 3D channel. https://groups.google.com/group/fr.rec.tv.satellite/browse_thread/thread/47748d635828c051?hl=fr# Certainly people I know (and respect) who've seen demos have mentioned that the quality isn't all it's cracked up to be (very "flat" looking in spite of being 3D) and it seems that some people switch back to 2D as they find the 3D too distracting and fatiguing.  Progress eh....? [/quote] I think that 3D tv was doomed from the start. In my lifetime there have now been three attempts to introduced 3D to the big screen, the previous attempts have failed and I think that this one will too. As for 3D tv - it is too soon after the introduction of HD. I don't believe there is the willingness in the marketplace to spend large sums on an "improvement" in television so soon after the last innovation. Film and tv 3D relies on disparity - the differences in images falling on the retinas of eyes spaced a few centimetres apart. Contrary to popular opinion, this is not the only source of "3D", there are at least half a dozen other mechanisms which contribute to the perception of depth. A further problem is that a significant proportion of the population do not have disparity depth perception due to injury, uncorrected or late correction of squint or other vision problems. Disparity-based 3D does not work for them. Another factor is that disparity is only used by humans for objects which are relatively close, say less that about 20 to 30 feet. Forcing people to use this mechanism for action which is much further away causes some to report fatigue. Disparity-based 3D is a neat little trick which can be dragged out of the cupboard to entertain the children from time to time, but I don't think that it will have any permanent place in mass entertainment. It isn't needed.

Does anyone remember Isobel Barnett, who used to appear on What's My Line? She became severely depressed after the death of her husband and was prosecuted for shoplifting from her village shop. A few days after her conviction she was found dead in her bath - electrocuted from an electric fire which she had pulled into the water.

[quote user="dave21478"] .... then down the A20 to Montauban  ....[/quote] There is a stretch of this road north of Brive where the speed limit is reduced from 130 to 110kph. I have twice been flashed by a speed camera at this point (you'd think I would learn) doing well in excess of 120kph but heard nothing more on either occasion. On one occasion I was in a UK registered car but on the other I was in a rental car. Hertz would have been onto me before you blink.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought that a European directive had imposed a uniform set of regulations on consumer rights on all members countries. The European Commission had looked around for the best practice and found it in the British Sale of Goods Act and related regulations. Sale of Goods states that the contract is between the seller and the buyer and that the buyer should seek recourse from the seller. Any guarantee or warranty is in addition to the SoG protection and cannot be used to reduce or remove SoG rights. Goods have to be as described, fit for purpose and of merchantable quality. Now SoG has been round for donkeys years, but shops and traders - including some who you would think should know better - still get it wrong and try to get the customer to take their complaints to manufacturers. It is no surprise, then, that traders in France are apparently clueless when it comes to consumer protection!

[quote user="Angel"]Very sick and very sad. Most of the stories that you read in the papers or hear on the news are very frightening.[/quote] But that is why they are in the papers. They are unusual and rare - that's why they are newsworthy.

[quote user="Théière"]Cannot comment on the grounds of race.[/quote] Possibly not, but you could comment on the grounds of culture.

I think that Frederick is talking about his experiences in England - I shall too. I do not feel guilty about using on-line suppliers. The service is often excellent, and the information associated with products is excellent too. If I buy electronic goods from Amazon or Dabs I can see quite thorough specifications and technical descriptions as well as customer comments about their experience with the product. In the retail outlets - you know who they are - I experience inadequately trained staff whose main motivation often seems to be selling extended warranties. I get dvds, cds and books faster and cheaper through Amazon than high street shops. High streets have to change. They are no longer an essential part of many people's shopping experience.  Reasons for their decline have already been mentioned. I suspect that another factor in their decline is the existence of property company landlords who are demanding unreasonable rents from traders whose income is declining.

Give up salt and food will taste bland and uninteresting at first, but after a while you will begin to discern the real - sometimes delicate - taste of things. After a further period you will find that food containing added salt actually tastes rather unpleasant. Professional cooks frequently over salt their creations making eating out something of an ordeal.

[quote user="woolybanana"]Is the reason for this legislation that the French do not want Turkey in the EU and this is just another stick with which to beat them out?[/quote] Next year is Presidential Election year. There are very many French people who are of Armenian descent (I believe I heard the figure of up to 500,000). As our American friends would say   ...   Do the Math! Well, that's my theory ....[8-|]

That is very annoying, Paul. But don't forget that the likes of Hertz and Avis operate through local franchises and the behaviour found at one location may not be typical of the brand as a whole. Two more points  1  When I use Ryanair I always check the price of booking a Hertz car on the Ryanair site. It is usually cheaper than any other source including brokers. 2  If you are going to hire a car on more than one occassion it is usually very cost effective to obtain annual third-party collision waiver insurance.

I agree with Cendrillon - try Holiday Autos. They are not a car hire company but a broker. You may even find that the hire terms with them are better than anything you could obtain by going straight to the hire company itself.

I have had a series of e-mails coming from BT telling me that my internet connection was unsafe and that it would be disabled if I did not contact them with various details. Happily (for me but not for the sender) I knew that no BT e-mail would be sent from the BT Internet Security Center.

It's a long time since I was in Liverpool. I thought it an exciting, lively place - unlike Manchester which was stuffy and worthy (a bit like the difference between Nottinghan and Leicester). The waterfront in Liverpool - Pier Head, Liver Building, Cunard Building etc - is a World Heritage Site. But I hear that some property developer wants to throw up skyscrapers which will ruin the visual effect. UNESCO are threatening to remove the world heritage status.

[quote user="woolybanana"]She is in fact NormanH[6][/quote] Yes ... and Outcast went to a charm school and is now Woolybanana   [6][6]

Where has this come from? It's wonderful to see Saligo Bay again ...  ...  and who is this Teamedup?

Perhaps he takes it off when he goes to bed - with his wife, that is.

[quote user="sweet 17"] From each, according to his means; to each according to his needs. [/quote] So said  Karl Marx. (I wonder what Groucho would have said?) According to, I think, the Grauniad, Dave's Big Society has been characterised as "From each according to their vulnerability, to each according to their greed". In the case which Wooly refers to - if the facts are correct - this seems appropriate.