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Whatever Next!!


Grays
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As we are selling up at the end of the year, subject to contract etc. we decided to take a long term summer let rather than the usual  weekly change overs in our main gite/apartment, and were pleased when some Americans (a retired couple and their son) requested a four month rental so that they could come over and find an area to settle/retire .

They arrived without booking a hire car, (despite my warnings that it is semi-rural) assuming our local town would have a car rental office. We of course picked them up from the nearby train station, had to take both cars due to the amount of their luggage, and this after waiting by the phone from 9am in the morning when their flight was supposed to land at Bordeaux (approx 2 hours away)...untill 5pm that evening when they finally rang to ask for a lift.  When I asked what the delay was, it seems lunch and some sightseeing in Bordeaux was a factor.

Of course within minutes of arriving at the apartment, they wanted to know where they could get "groceries", and although I had clearly told them via e-mail that the local shops were a 20 minute drive away, they could not seem to comprehend this scenario and naturally assumed that the hosts would be free to taxi them to the shops immediately...as we obviously can't have dinner otherwise!!  Sarah my partner graciously took them shopping for their supper, while I proceeded to locate a suitable hire car for them.

7.15pm Sarah and the "guests" return laden with groceries, and i smilingly tell them that I have found them a car, not a bad price and they can have it tomorrow. Of course I will drive them the 45 km to collect, and then they will not need to rely on us and have a lovely time doing their own thing.

No, such luck 

 they must have an "automatic", and on further inquiries by phone and internet, it seems (though i've known differently) that it is not possible to rent an automatic car from either Bergerac or Perigueux.....but only back at Bordeaux !! and further...said automatic needs 48 hours notice.  AT this point I won't tell you about the 3 or 4 ensuing knocks at our door over the evening and following morning asking can the heating be put on (its June).....wheres the telephone,  wheres the tumble drier, and can i advise them on customs regulations regarding shipping 6 crates of belongings into the EU  etc etc.

Well there was soon  a further lift to the local shops and an hour spent waiting in a car park for them while they shopped.

And so last Sat we once again took them to the train station....I refused to drive them all the way to Bordeaux, and they came back several hours later with a nice automatic car...rented for two months.....and  with concealed sighs of relief , Sarah and I imagined we could leave them to it and get on with our own concerns.

Wrong,  the day after they got the car, they went out for an afternoon. Then for two days they just hung around the property.  On the third day, they knocked at our door and asked for a chat.

I listened as they poured out a list of woes....including a problem with French bureaucracy, restaurant prices and the distance to the shops, and sheer disbelief that a supposed 1st world country didn't have a larger supply of automatic cars, air conditioning,and decent size roads.....and than finally the real corker.....I was told that they had changed their minds, didn't want to live in France, and actually would like to leave as soon as possible !!

Total time spent in Dordogne, France by our guests at this point.....8 days.

Total time actually spent away from the apartment...approx.   2 days in total spread over that 8 days.

Total time booked and paid for ...4 months

Total time wasted....all of it !!

Anyone think I should even consider their request to re-advertise the apartment and give them a partial refund. I'm all ears!!

 

 

 

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I loved the story, as I read each paragraph I think my jaw dropped even more.  Refund?  No way, it was their decision to move on.  Your argument? You obviously cannot guarantee that you will now rent the gite.  What would be nice though is to pass this saving on to someone who will appreciate your place and kindness.

By the way you gite owners should get together to write a book of short stories just like this.

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Well I'd certainly re-advertise the apartment but I wouldn't even consider a refund until you have new people installed, who are all paid up.  Even then, I would withhold a reasonable amount for all the hassle, time and expense that you have incurred.

Makes my English guy that phoned a couple of weeks ago to book one of my rooms from that night for 5 days, then never showed up or had the courtesy to phone and say he'd changed his mind pale into insignificance compared to this horror story!!!

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I can really relate to the story.  The guests that ended our gite

renting were Americans too !!  They were a nightmare.

Now, I have to say I am American and I do my very best never to fit

that "ugly American" mold.  I know it well and can spot it a mile

away.  It is one of the main reasons we left America.... 

Okay, you can all assault me now...

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I have to say in fairness to our guests, they are actually decent enough people.

It just seems  they have trouble adjusting to the service levels of the rest of the world,  what they consider standard may be 5 star service in  Europe.   Its the complete inability to see the difference of culture and lifestyle, and what has been a fairly constant need for service beyond the normal, as after all they are "meant" to be renting a self catering apartment, not staying in a hotel with porters, maids and a help desk.  Of course we happen to live on site which may have attracted them to our gite in the first place,  but they are stretching the limits of tolerance very thin here at Stella's with twice/thrice daily requests for the telephone and access to my computer for internet searches etc. Yesterday the son even complained that a printout he did (on my printer) was a bit smudged !!!!  Oh and the fact we have a public telephone just 20 metres from the apartment does not seem to make a bit of difference to the requests to make phone calls.  After using our phone this morning the son just walked out without a word of thanks, and we didn't even realise he had gone for 5 minutes!!

Gram

 

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I've had long discussions with my American daughter-in-law about this. She will walk out of a shop if she can get to the back wall without someone asking if they can help her! She sends back food like no-one I've ever seen - and there is no sign of resentment from waiters, it's almost as though they want her to get what she wants! I've warned her not to try it too often in the UK.

We came to the conclusion (a la GBS) that UK and USA are similar but not identical cultures, and the differences are very nuanced, so that we may not realise that what we are saying is not exactly what the other party is hearing.

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Grays - I'm sure you are right, these folks are probably not demons,

but if they were actually thinking of settling/retiring in France and

are already so disillusioned after only 8 days, then they didn't do

their homework.  We too live on site and have had lots of guests

who needed this, that or the other.  None have been as demanding

as your guests.  The Americans that did us in - did us in - for

totally different problems.  I just found it somewhat of a

coincidence your problem guests are American too.  I know problem guests can arrive from any place on earth.

KKK - Well, I was born and raised in the South (North Carolina). 

Got married and moved to South Carolina, then to a suburb of Chicago,

then on to Philadelphia, then San Francisco and finally San Diego

before moving to Greece, Saudi Arabia and now France.  The

majority of my life was, of course, in the U.S.A.  Having visited

most of the huge U.S. (but not all), yes I do find that folks are

different from one area to the next (we loved the diversity in

California) - probably like the UK and many other countries. 

However, I think there are certain aspects that are synonymous to the

majority of Americans (again, not all).  It is those things that

sent us packing.  Even the Southern folks against the Norther

folks still exists!  We (husband and I)  have often felt we

are just plain "different, "  "odd,"  pick a word, but I must

say, we are so much happier here (and we do realize no place is

perfect).  I haven't been back to the U.S. since moving here five

years ago.  I am not saying that the U.S. is an awful place

!  Not at all.  Just that we (Americans) have gained a

certain reputation - good, bad or indifferent.  Not too unlike

many other countries   Since I am American, I guess I thought

it would be okay to throw in my own two cents worth.  It isn't

meant to be offensive to anyone.  Really.

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You are far more generous than me to even consider a refund. I think they should write off as one of life's experiences and do better research in future. Eight days is barely giving it a go in any case and they could have thought ' ok we don't want to live here but lets have a damn good holiday' . 

 I have a little but not much sympathy for them, but heaps more for you. This is your livelihood, you are not doing emigration test runs for people. If you do manage to let your appartment out again, thats a bonus and I am sure you don't get many bonuses in that business. I certainly would make sure that the refund went in my favour and not theirs , IF I did manage to rent the appartment out again, but I wouldn't commit to anything yet and if they started to nag me, no chance.

I sound like a right hard cow don't I?

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Oh yes, don't get me wrong,  i'm not trying to start up an anti-american post here.

as a matter of fact we have had some absolutely appalling  English guests,  certainly not the sort of people I would wish on this lovely country ever again.  The women who got out of the shiny mercedes in stilletos, mini skirt and a fake fur coat with her partner who had fake tan,highlights, thick gold chain around his neck and wrist, stank a bedroom out for weeks with his awful aftershave and wore pink shirt, white sports socks and sandals.  Oh how we cringed as our neighbour, in the field next door, watched from his tractor as this couple tottered towards our gite for their holiday in rural Dordogne. They of course did not come for a rambling holiday.

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[quote user="Grays"]

Oh yes, don't get me wrong,  i'm not trying to start up an anti-american post here.

as a matter of fact we have had some absolutely appalling  English guests,  certainly not the sort of people I would wish on this lovely country ever again.  The women who got out of the shiny mercedes in stilletos, mini skirt and a fake fur coat with her partner who had fake tan,highlights, thick gold chain around his neck and wrist, stank a bedroom out for weeks with his awful aftershave and wore pink shirt, white sports socks and sandals.  Oh how we cringed as our neighbour, in the field next door, watched from his tractor as this couple tottered towards our gite for their holiday in rural Dordogne. They of course did not come for a rambling holiday.

[/quote]

Her name wasn't Marlene was it ? [:)]

My French is poor but I feel on safer ground there, I appreciate my language limitations and make allowances, when I was in America we shared a language but I wasn't completely sure that we both meant the same thing ,using the same words.

 

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[quote user="Lori"]Grays - I'm sure you are right, these folks are probably not demons, but if they were actually thinking of settling/retiring in France and are already so disillusioned after only 8 days, then they didn't do their homework.  [/quote]

 

I suppose, in fairness, that this *was* their research - renting for a few months to try it out.  How much worse if they had bought something and then decided after 8 days that they hated it!

I know it's not relevant now, but for a long-term let, would it have been worth organising the installation of a separate phone line for them (at their expense, of course)?  They could have had one of the "free" dialup services for their surfing, and it would have saved them bothering you all the time.

Angela

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A friend has a fantastic  new house Florida which he rents through agents....Last month he took a telephone call from the guy in the house who complained that he had weeds in the flower beds. He told me he had been on the phone from the UK to a gardener service in Florida and just spent out 50 $ on a chap to go round and do some weeding !.
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We used to rent out a house to students. One day we had an urgent call to come down and sort out the plumbing as the bath was blocked. We drove 150 miles, only to find the plug hole blocked with hair! The only person in residence was a mature (?) student who had been in the army. We put it down to his being institutionalised . Never again!
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Grays, we've had guests exactly like that!. We too are rural and always encourage guests to hire a car if they dont have one. Its amazing the number of them who do NOT take any notice. When they land they then expect you to ferry them to wherever they want to go, whenever they want to go and then whine when they get their bill!. Because we certainly charge. And also, these 'walkers' and backpackers amaze me, they too arrive sans their own transport ( we collect them) and then decide they dont wish to 'walk' or 'back their packs' once they see we have a car. We now say no to all requests for lifts during stays, just pickups on arrival and on departure.
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