Hereford

We have had the same email from Axa.  We have an account with them solely to pay premiums for health insurance (they offered money to start the account and give "commission" back on the health premiums). We are certainly going to go to our local agent to check that this email is genuine and ask why we have to produce this information. Our main current account is elsewhere and there we do have to take tax summary in once a year for their records but have never been asked for anything further. If Axa insist on a list of our assets for no good reason that we can see we will threaten to close the account. We are considering changing mutuelle anyway! H. Edit from Mrs H I have used my car insurance renewal document as a proof of address.  

Thanks to all three respondents - aren't you quick! We are asking for a quote from Cooperlola's recommended company too.     We do indeed want to watch the small print and although our French is not too bad a policy in English would certainly make up for a company not being on the high street - face to face French is always easier than the telephone. Mrs H

We had been feeling for a while that we were being stung for ever higher premiums from our mutuelle (although we suspect they are all doing the same) so: when we got an email (can one call it a "cold" email?) from AG Conseil (brokers) I filled in just name and date of birth and asked for a comparison quote. They have come back with a quote from a mutuelle called Alptis which is certainly cheaper (by 30%) for what appears to be the same cover and for a little more, still less than we pay now, better cover. Has anyone used this company please? If so did they come up to scratch? In lots of ways we would rather use a company that has a high street presence so that we can go there if we have a problem. I have told the girl who telephoned, to follow up email, that we need time to think and will email her next week! Many thanks Mrs H

[quote user="Pierre ZFP"]Theivery of any sort makes me mad but this is just incredible!  What next? will we have to chain flowerpots to the ground? Just a thought but perhaps they knew you were English and therefore had a 'special' dish to receive UK TV?  There's no underestimating the lack of intellegence of the numptys that would do this kind of thing.  [/quote] We have twice had flowerpots, complete with plants, pinched whilst we were away...

We have never topped up online - we always use a cash machine. Many (not all) have this as an option. Really quick and easy.  Our local shopping centre cash machine offers top ups for several different telephone companies.

You will probably find that given 24 hours you will be able to top up.  That is what happened when I bought an Orange sim card for my Dad to put in an old (unlocked) phone.  The computer needs time to think!

We were told (by Allianz) that our son could drive our car with no restrictions (he is 39 and lives in Canada) and that he only needed to sign the insurance certificate if he drove the car on a trip to the UK with us.  I did give him a letter saying that he had my permission to drive the car for when he went out in it without us, not because it was seen as essential - just to cover awkward questions if he was stopped. He did not crash the car (!!) so no experience of a claim. H

[quote user="Loiseau"]Yes, condensed milk is VERY sweet! It used to be sold in sort of giant toothpaste tubes and also, flavoured, in tiny berlingot packs. When my daughter was small it was her Idea of heaven to have one of those! Angela[/quote] I think the reason I was confused is that (apart from in a cake for example) I hate ALL milk, never drink the stuff, and have memories of evaporate milk as a child - yuk!! Several people I have now spoken to all agree that I need the sucre version - I think my friend in the UK is kidding herself... Thanks to all Mrs H PS I make ice cream with "Alsa" packs (no need to churn and just gorgeous) so I shall add lumps of my soft cake mixture to basic vanilla and freeze.

[quote user="Loiseau"]Shaking each tin would probably have solved your dilemma! Angela[/quote] True!!  But the UK based friend who sent me the recipe says she is sure that the condensed milk she buys does not have sugar in!! Curiouser and curiouser. Friend is going to look at a tin next time she goes shopping, and I will "shake" a tin tomorrow when I go shopping.

Thanks a million - the most annoying thing is that we stood and thought and finally decided to buy "non-sucre" whereas obviously we could have bought the right thing in the first place. One French lesson learnt!

I bought (in France) a tin of what I imagined was "condensed milk" to make a no-cook cake (with biscuit crumbs and chocolate etc).  OH in garden when I made it and so did not see the contents of the tin.  The "cake" is now in the fridge but does not seem to be setting. My tin contained runny stuff that OH now thinks is more likely to be the French equivalent of evaporated milk.  Oh dear. Anyone know what condensed milk is in France please!!! Mrs H

[quote user="poppet"]Have re-checked the form and nowhere have we put anything to do with those things so dont know how thats come up! Nothing ever seems to be easy![/quote] What is the number of the box this figure is coming up in? That might help us to identify what it really is. Mrs H

Thanks Norman, yes I read it all but remain a bit confused.  Have decided to "go with" my gut feeling on the contract.  So long as the number of hours and the pay are right I think that will do.  I can discuss it with our helper anyway. Mrs H

Hello The APA (help for the aged at home) claim for my mother has now been approved and we have found a person to help care for her. We have to use the cheque emploi system and this is not problem as we have used the system for some years for gardening etc. However, unlike casual gardening, we need to give our "aide" a contract for 14 hours a week. I have printed off the standard contract from the CESU website but there are a couple of things I do not understand. Several of you have been so helpful over the paperwork etc to get the APA that I am hopeful that you can help over this too please. 1:  Item 7 of the contract says tick box for "Employe de maison" OR "Employe familiaux" (sorry no accents using a laptop). I don't think this means a family member but the type of job. Further boxes headed "postes d'emploi a caractere familial"  include "assistant de vie" so I think this is what I should tick. Would this be right? 2: Hours worked: the 14 hours a week will mostly be 2 hours per morning for 5 days a week and 4 extra hours for when we need them, so "by agreement". The contract has boxes to put actual hours per day or the week but we want to be more flexible than that, and the person we are employing is happy with that flexibility.  Can I just leave boxes blank and put "as agreed" (in French obviously). 3. I assume that as the job is part-time and flexible  I can ignore boxes  about "day off" and which public holidays are worked. Many thanks in advance for any input from those of you who have either paid an "aide a domicile" this way or had a contract under CE. Mrs H. PS I am going to write an article for a local Anglo/French association on getting help for elderly relatives (in fact one needs only to be over 60!!!) as I don't think many non-French realise that this help is readily available, I certainly did not.

We tried to get cash from an ATM in Germany twice in one week with our Credit Ag. debit card and could not!  Apparently C A only allow one lot of cash a week if outside France. Check with your bank perhaps!

We have an all electric house plus a wood burning stove which we rarely use.   Twelve electric radiators, an old house, renovated in 1995/6 so not modern insulation and we spent about 2,000 euros on our last full year to mid-November 2011. Our monthly payment at present is 191 euros for 11 months and we expect that will more or less balance for this current year.  We do not keep the house really hot but neither are we cold. We are in La Manche. H. Edit:  we reckon that we spend about 3 euros a day in the summer and up to 10 more more in the winter if it is very cold. I should say that we have a dishwasher, which we run overnight on cheap tariff, water is heated at night and we do NOT have a tumble dryer!

Website here shows results by commune.  I am not convinced that I have posted a proper "link" but it should copy and paste! http://elections.interieur.gouv.fr/PR2012/index.html Edit: see later posting, thanks Norman.

Thanks, that sounds right.  Will work out the net to pay her that way. Mrs H

Hi Norman Yes the cheque d'emploi is really good.  We use it ourselves for gardening help and get tax relief which halves the cost of the help. If this sort of relief was available in the UK I am sure jobs could be created. I am more bothered to make sure I pay a fair rate to the carer. Thanks for your help, without this forum I would have struggled a lot more. Mrs H

Hi I think I am being particularly dim this morning as, however much  I use the search button, I cannot find the figures for the amounts (based on turnover) that have to be paid by someone using the AE scheme.  I am about to pay someone using cheque emploi but want to make sure that they get the equivalent of the amount they are charging others under the AE scheme.  Can someone point me in the right direction please? The person is registered as an AE for services a la personne but because APA is being used needs to be paid cheque emploi by me. Many thanks, Mrs H

Thankfully we have found an English nurse which is better for my mother as in her dementia she definitely does not speak French. We are going to pay her cheque emploi as with APA this seems to be the accepted way.  I shall either ask a local (voluntary) organisation about cover for holidays etc or advertise.  I don't think I will need "agency"staff such as we know in the UK. If we are without help for a day it is not the end of the world as my Dad has been coping (refusing help would be a better description) until now. Thanks Mrs H

Thanks Norman.    If one uses cheque d'emploi on the "forfait" basis (i.e. cotisations based on SMIC) then the hourly net pay will be increased by 3.62 euro an hour, so that 12 net becomes 15.62 gross etc.   I wonder whether some people use the "reel"  basis in which case the cotisations will be higher? It seems to me that the rate paid to someone we have "found" ourselves may be less than a person supplied by one of the organistions. I shall investigate more but in the meantime any more comments gratefully received. Mrs H

Hello Forms are all in and accepted asking for an APA for my mother, and they say it will be about two months to finalise!  She has been assessed by her doctor as GIR2 so a maximum 1100 euros a month (some paid by my Dad as it is means tested) will be available to fund care.  We are waiting for the social worker to come and discuss how many hours per day/week are needed. One person has told me that we will need to pay around 10 euros an hour - plus cheque d'emploi cotisations on top.  This seems ridiculously cheap to me. If I worked on 12 euros per hour during the week and 15 euros at week-ends (I am told one pays 25% extra at the week-end) then we can get 2 hours day plus a bit more on some days. Does anyone who has carers at home, paid  under CESU scheme tell me if we are on the right lines at all please?  We are in deepest Normandie, not Paris or a big city. Would be grateful for any information. Many thanks Mrs H

We have filled in our forms online for several years and yes you can do both the basic one and the "red" one.  What does not work is the simulation as the computer cannot work it out!  We always get forms by post even though we file online and they do indeed always come in separate envelopes on different days. Mrs H

Someone will be along soon with definite answer but we think you will find that impot credits are only given for windows etc on a house which is more than two years old. When you have these things done and get the lower rate of vat one has to certify that the house is not new - we certainly had to when my Dad had his house built. H,