DebP

Hi We've just moved and taken out an Orange phone and internet package. We have a laptop and desktop. Our laptop is connecting perfectly with the internet via wifi to the livebox, however, we cannot get our desktop to work. We've been to the Orange shop and purchased a USB wifi adapter for the desktop computer as it's not wifi enabled but it's still not working, even when we plug it directly into the livebox using the ethernet cable. With the ethernet cable it is at least connecting to the livebox but then saying it cannot connect to the internet when it tests the set up. This is at odds with the laptop as this has no problem getting on line so there has to be a connection to the internet through the livebox. We were using Neuf/Segetel/SFR (or whatever they are called now) at the old house but needed to leave this behind for seasonal rentors as we let the place. Any suggestions as to what we're doing wrong? Thanks Deborah

Hi Rockstitch....Welcome to the wonderful world of French bureaucracy!!  We now always allow double the time to make anything happen than we're originally told.  Even then we know we can't guarantee that we'll actually get what we asked for or were promised, even after sometimes months of battles.  If we have to go for meetings to get things done, we write off a full day for one meeting and treat ourselves to a slap up lunch if we get done what we planned in half a day! It's our little way of keeping sane .... nothing ever appears so bad after a glass of chilled rose at lunchtime! It's all quite amusing to us now but initially I remember clearly going through the pain you're experiencing.  Please don't ever expect things to be sorted out like they are in the UK and you'll get on fine.  If you try to fight the system you'll just stress yourself out and still not get anywhere any faster. Good luck with France Telecom. We were promised connection over a week ago and it's still not happened.  We guessed this might be the case, so have still kept a computer and phone line at our old place and keep popping back to check messages. Obviously not everyone can do this, so I really do understand your frustrations.  It might help to use a fluent translator.  Our French isn't too bad these days but we still use a fantastic lady to wade in on our behalf when things get really sticky. This has a dual effect of not having to deal with bureaucrats any more than we need to and also getting to the bottom of a situation far quicker.  I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post her name but if you email me I'll send you here details. Best regards Deborah      

Hi All We have Neuf (SFR) at our old house and whilst for the landline and internet they've been great, they've treated us really badly with our mobile services - every time we contact them to change our package to a cheaper one our bill manages to go up and to add insult to injury they default our contract to the new date so we're locked in for a further 2 years!!!  So under no circumstances do we want to give them any more of our business. We think we've found a good packaged in the end by going to FT where for 29,90 for the ADSL line + 3.00 for livebox rental and 7 euros per month gives us 30 minutes per month to French mobiles and unlimited calls to landlines to 63 countries (including Europe, USA and Canada).  We're not set up yet so I'm not holding my breath re service levels but the package at least appears to suit us. I'll post with any news....good or bad, wish me luck!! Deb  

Hi Please can anyone suggest a good phone and internet provider for the Aude.  We have SFR for our current property but we're moving and would like an opportunity to change to a better provider.  Thanks Deb

An update Well it's been a painful process.  Our estate agent insisted on seeing the last 2 years of business accounts and forwarded them onto their insurance company to assess us. When we didn't pass the underwriters criteria (which we knew we wouldn't), the estate agent then asked if we had someone who could stand as guarantor for us by providing their own salary slips and basically going though everything that we had.  Being in our 40's I don't think our one surviving parent would be too happy in doing this and there was no way was I going to ask.  I kept trying to get the caution bancaire option on the table but we had to go through all the other avenues first before anyone would consider it.  Even though the owner was more than happy to accept this, the estate agent really didn't want to go down this route. Because she'd not heard of this form of protection for the owner she was, I think a tad suspicious about it. However, we have a fantastic bank (Credit Agrocole Languedoc), and our contact there phoned the estate agent on our behalf and I think one official person talking to another finally paid off.  So after 4 weeks of wrangling everything is now going through.  Can you imagine a UK bank doing this!!? Our planned move date has slipped but luckily we gave ourselves a bit of extra time, so we're still ok for a few more weeks. So we're now getting there and should be in by the end of April. Ahhh.....looking forward to a lovely summer in our wonderful new home

Thanks Vida I've since spoken with our bank and they've said this situation is becoming more and more common but that most immos should accept a bank guarantee of up to a year's worth of the rental value.  So I had a word with the immo and she confirmed that the owner will accept 4 months from us, providing all our other paperwork is in order.  So this is great news.  Now we just have to submit everything and hope we tick all the other boxes for them  - blood group, proof that we've been born, inside leg measurements ....that sort of thing! Thanks for your help and advice Deb

Thanks Vida Out of interest did your accounts show a profit?  My concern is that ours didn't for the first two years and our accountant has only just started working on our 08 accounts which should show a profit (albeit a small one and certainly no way up to allowing for the 30% rule).  Deb

Hi We're trying to rent a property on a long term rental through a French estate agent and have been asked for the usual pile of documents.  Most of which are ok but they've also asked for a work contract and 3 years worth of income documents. We have our own business, so we can provide the extrait K - will this be sufficient to replace the work contract? -the estate agent appeard to be flumoxed by us not being employed by someone!!   Then what do we do to show income?  We don't draw an income from the business and in addition, because it's a relatively young enterprise, we showed costs rather than profit for the first two years and will only show a small profit for last year (which is still in the hands of the accontant).  However, we do have quite a chunk of savings, so will have absolutely no problem with paying a monthly rental but it's the case of how do we prove it. Any ideas?!! Thanks Deb  

Thanks all, especially Odile I'm due to go back to the house in the next couple of days, so will take my camera. This has certainly got me more interested in the different types of birds or prey in this area.  I'm now pretty much reasurred that my cats are safe from these birds.  It's a minor worry about traps and poison (for my cats anyway) because they're old cats so are unlikely to go wandering off into the woods......I just had visions of them happily sunbathing on the terrace and a large bird thinking they'd make a rather nice supper!! Deb

There are a number of birds of prey in your area - some of which are eagles (various) - as well as goshawks, Peregrine falcons and buzzards.* From an interest point of view, you are very lucky! Thanks Catalpa, there's a birds of prey centre about an hour from here, I'd not thought of contacting them, think I'll give them a bell.  Regards Deb

Hi Odile Herault (34)- Languedoc Rousillion.  The house we're looking at is on the edge of the Haute Languedoc and is overlooked by high cliffs.

Thanks for this Craig I think I'll go back to the house and take another look because it was possible that the bird I saw was an Eagle Owl, looking at your picture.  The house is right on the edge of the Haute Languedoc and is overlooked by quite high cliffs.  This was my worry because in this area as you know Buzzards are almost as common as sparrows!!  Well not quite but I see them daily, so I was pretty sure it wasn't one and if it was then it was the biggest I'd ever seen and quite plump, which again is not what I'm used to seeing.  But that said, it was probably the closest I'd been to a bird like this before also, so it could also have been a case of perspective.  It's also good to know that even if this was as I suspect an Eagle Owl, there's still little liklihood of this being a threat to my cats. Thanks also to Cathy...I used to use this forum a lot but got fed up with seeing genuine concerns being mocked by the superior beings on this forum.  It's nice to know though that there are still some great people here who are willing to help.  

I've seen plenty of buzzards around here but this bird looked a lot bigger than one of those.  Could do with knowing what it might be, if not a buzzard and if there are birds of prey in the south of France which could attack domestic pets

Thanks Cathy I've posted the same question in wildlife forum, hopefully there will be someone who's up on the birds in this area and tell me I'm being daft...it was just so large (beautiful though)....didn't see any small dogs or cats in the village either but that's probably me being paranoid now!!    

Dear all I have the opportunity of renting a fabulous house in the country (Herault Dept 34).  The house overlooks stunning countryside and vineyards, so it should be a simple tick box.  However, on the second viewing I saw a huge bird of prey sitting nearby.  We get lots of birds of prey in this area but I've never seen one quite so large and so close to a house I'd like to live in.  I love to see these birds but am now being slightly paranoid thinking that my cats could be fair game for it.  Please could someone in the know let me know if I'm being over protective or if this is a fair concern.  My cats are quite large, they weigh between 4-5kg (9lb - I think?).  I'm not up on birds of prey but it had markings similar to a thrush i.e dark brown feathers but with black flecks and at a guess I'd say it's wingspan would have been 3.5 - 4ft. Thanks Deb

Dear all I have the opportunity of renting a fabulous house in the country (Herault Dept 34).  The house overlooks stunning countryside and vineyards, so it should be a simple tick box.  However, on the second viewing I saw a huge bird of prey sitting nearby.  We get lots of birds of prey in this area but I've never seen one quite so large and so close to a house I'd like to live in.  I love to see these birds but am now being slightly paranoid thinking that my cats could be fair game for it.  Please could someone in the know let me know if I'm being over protective or if this is a fair concern.  My cats are quite large, they weigh between 4-5kg (9lb - I think?).  I'm not up on birds of prey but it had markings similar to a thrush i.e dark brown feathers but with black flecks and at a guess I'd say it's wingspan would have been 3.5 - 4ft. Thanks Deb

"this cat must be taken to the vet as it sounds like she/he has cancer of the ear /skin cancer) (don't take my world literally as I'm not a vet but have had a cat with this) is she white or has white ears as it is very common and it is caused by sun burn and she needs treatment  please get her to the vets asap hope this helps" ........Sadly I suspect Liz may be right and yes the cat is white.  I think there is a vet near here who speak English, so I'm going to try to sneak the cat there tomorrow as I think time may be of the essence.  I'm now kicking myself that I didn't decide to act sooner but I just thought that my neighbours couldn't possibly ignore such a major problem. Re Chrissies email.  This approach sadly won't work as they know that I know the cat is theirs as we've been neigbours for a couple of years and I don't want to offend them by implying they're not looking after their cat.  They got a cute dog last year and this was when the problems started with the cat.  However, now even the dog is showing signs of neglect....but that's another story.  It's just heartbreaking when you're faced with this scenario day after day.  As for money, they drive a mercedes, and their children have all the latest toys etc... so whilst I understand there are many French who quite clearly could not stretch to paying vets fees, this family is not one of them.  This sounds like I don't like this family when in fact I do, they've always been good neighbours to us, which is why I've tried ignore the cat problem for so long.  Thanks again to all the feedback, it's nice to know there's a support network out there. Deb    

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions I really appreciate it. It's a delicate subject and regarding mentioning to to my neighbours I was really concerned that with my basic French I'd end up  causing more problems than I'm trying to solve. One really valid point was that my neighbours may see the cat as a stray.  This is probably the case, as this was a stray which 'found' the prevous neighbours.  When they were moving they told us that the cat was staying with the house!!  We were at the time still living in the UK for most of the year, so had to just hope that the new neighbours would take her on.  They did take her on but have slowly become less and less interested and whilst I understand that they may feel it's not their responsibility, the fact of the matter is that now this lovely little cat now has open bleeding sores and the tips of her ears have either burned off or been eaten off by an infection. So I'm left with this dilema.  I think I'll try the organisations mentioned in previous posts over the next few days and will post an update when I finally get to a solution. Thank you everone once again for your support and suggestions.

Hi Panda Sorry forgot to say, I'm in the Beziers area (dept 34).   

I am extremely concerned about our neighbour’s cat.  She is being neglected but I don't know how to get involved.  It's now at the stage of permanently bleeding open sores and it’s breaking my heart to see the poor little thing suffer. I keep trying to ignore the problem but it’s now too bad for me to turn a blind eye any longer, so wonder if anyone has any ideas or could recommend a vet who speaks a little English that I could discuss this with.  I'd be happy to pay for treatment as I just want to see the cat out of pain.   Any advice gratefully recieved

I am extremely concerned about our neighbour’s cat.  She is being neglected but I don't know how to get involved.  It's now at the stage of permanently bleeding open sores and it’s breaking my heart to see the poor little thing suffer. I keep trying to ignore the problem but it’s now too bad for me to turn a blind eye any longer, so wonder if anyone has any ideas or could recommend a vet who speaks a little English that I could discuss this with.  I'd be happy to pay for treatment as I just want to see the cat out of pain.   Any advice or thoughts welcome

I am extremely concerned about our neighbour’s cat.  She is being neglected but I don't know how to get involved.  It's now at the stage of permanently bleeding open sores and it’s breaking my heart to see the poor little thing suffer. I keep trying to ignore the problem but it’s now too bad for me to turn a blind eye any longer, so wonder if anyone has any ideas or could recommend a vet in the Beziers area who speaks a little English that I could discuss this with.  I'd be happy to pay for treatment as I just want to see the cat out of pain.