Invicta

Thanks for that, I'd better phone them today.

Sorry, wrong section!!

Some friends of ours are coming over to France next weekend for a few days, bringing their dogs, and want me to make an appointment at the vets for their two dogs for the all-clear to go back to the UK on their passports.  Can anyone tell me what I have to ask for in French?  Their nearest vet is quite a way from us so I wanted to do it by phone rather than go in and try and descrie or mime what they are after. Thanks a lot. Invicta

Aside from the GDF thing these people are still using the old photos of the dining room, guest living room etc, which were furnished with antiques by the previous owner and which I know have gone with them.  Now I suppose the new owners may have replaced with even better antiques but something tells me that in that case they would have reproduced their own photos!  So, someone looking for a B&B with elegant antique furniture may well be extremely disappointed on arrival at this B&B.  What I also meant when someone else said well don't worry, if that's the case they won't get repeat business, is that a lot of B&B business is made up of people touring certain areas just once and perhaps their first choice would have been an antique furnished place, but if not available, then my place may have been their second choice for their one-off visit to this region, so if the uptodate and truthful views of these rooms were used I could well have got the business instead![:@]

Sounds quite a sensible one Gary.  Perhaps I will introduce myself as a fellow B&B owner and over a glass of wine or cup of coffee ask how they got their rating as I'm interested in doing the same.  Perhaps a little underhand, but it would settle my mind.

Thanks for the responses.  I'm a bit surprised by those that say, leave it til people have been and see it's not up to all it should be and they won't go back.  The fact is, I was thinking about signing up with GDF (if they'll have me) but it's not cheap and if these people can just claim it without being part of it surely that is the same as stealing from those that are.  No one has yet told me whether ALL rooms need to be en-suite to gain 3 stars.  Two of our 4 rooms are en-suite, which is why I thought we may not get the rating and it has been holding me back but if it doesn't matter then I may go for it.  Alternatively, I don't want to be in the same area on a 2* rating if these people are claiming a 3 * rating with no better facilities than me. It's a difficult situation really because I'm not a confrontational person so don't really want to face up to them.  At the same time I wouldn't be totally surprised if the previous owners sold their place on the pretence that they were still in GDF, so wouldn't want to "dob them in" as the Australians would say.  And equally, I don't want to appear like some old busy-body by telling them something they may already know and don't want to face up to.  I think I'm in a no-win situation.  I either believe that they are doing this in all naivity and perhaps I should intervene (but don't know whether I have the bottle) or believe that they are chancing their arm and taking advantage of the situation (and I still don't have the bottle to confront them directly) but am quietly boiling away to think that they could be taking some of my business by claiming to be what they are not!

[quote user="Cerise"]Who cares - customers can look at the web sites for themselves.[/quote] Why bother to reply with such an unhelpful reaction?  I care.  They're our competition and declaring themselves as being something they're not!

I've just been checking on some of our competition in the area.  One couple that we know of, who was registered with gites de France for a short while, have since sold up to new owners.  The place is advertised on one of the same sites as us and is listed as being a 3* gites de france B&B.  They are using all the same photos as the previous owners (who I know have taken all their furniture and fittings with them) and the new people are now letting 3 rooms instead of the original one.  Basically, it is not the same property that the photos portray.  Does anyone know how they stand legally in France?  In England I would have thought that trading standards or someone would want a word.  Also, the original owners were assessed on one en-suite bedroom as a 3* B&B.  These people are now saying they have one en-suite room and two with shared facilities but are still saying they are a 3* gites de France.  They're not, I checked on the gites de France site.  And could they be a 3* place if they only have en-suite facilities to one of the 3 rooms?