cheques and 2 forms of ID

[peterw]

I went to Carrefour today to pay for some white goods, when I got to the caisse they asked for 2 forms of ID as I was paying by cheque from our french bank.

To my surprise they would not accept my passport and drivers licence as valid form of ID because they were not french ID. I tried to point out that ID should be ID irrespective of where it comes from and the fact that I had been issued with a cheque book by a French bank should imply that the bank had already satisfied themselves of my identity.

Has anyone else come up against this problem? Is it legal in view of new eurozone laws that are meant to promote free trade within the zone. I mean how can you have "free trade" if everyone is meant to have french ID if they want to pass a cheque for over 300 euro.

I would expect a small trader without the sophistication of Carrefour to behave in this manner. A multinational conglomerate should IMO be better organised to meet the new world.

 

[SaligoBay]

The number of places who don't accept cheques at all is increasing all the time.   There must just be too much risk involved.   Maybe what you met is part of the general tightening up against cheque fraud?

I find Carrefour to be as sophisticated as your average rutting walrus. 

[pinkfluff<P>Big Wet Drops and Lots of Them, Are a Sure Sign of Rain!<P>]

To me this sounds like they were being racist a passport is proof anywere in the world ,was it a one off by an over zealous moron or is it now policy to brand us brits as bad payers

[Val_2]

Unfortunately due to some brits coming here and writing cheques with no funds in the bank to back them up,people are suffering. We received a letter last year from Credit Agricole warning us about no english cheques being permitted to be paid in direct here due to many people bouncing them. It only takes a few rotten apples to spoil it for others. As for ID, a foreign driving licence isn't usually accepted as it has no french address on it, the address is the most important thing along with a photo,hence the reason why my family always carry a Titre de Séjour.

[peterw]

Unfortunately it was not a once off with carrefour. My wife had a similar experience 6 weeks ago. Then she only had a drivers licence. This time I was prepared with passport DL and, because our titre de sejour has not been processed yet, our temporary TDS which was issued by the local mairie.This of course had our french address on it.

 

 

[BJSLIV]

Another good reason for using Carte Bleu!

 

 

[peterw]

"Another good reason for using Carte Bleu!"

Which we normally would use, but when you are spending fast and furious (setting up costs etc) the CB limit is easily exceeded and then you cant use it

[james419]

Had a similar experience in Carrefour - paid by Cheque - Barclays International with Paris address but had our old UK address on it - cashier would not accept the cheque  despite having my passport - she rang some supervisor who also said they would not accept  a cheque from a British bank - when I pointed out again that it was a French Euro account and that despite having spent a considerable amoun t of money by cheque with Carrefour that I would like the rest of my cash abck as it was evidently illegal for me to pay them - the next customer was also translating to others in neighbouring check out lines - a supervisor appeared as if by majic and made the point that this was obviously a french account and that the girl was being stupid! The cheque was then accepted and no note made of the passport details. Lack of proper training seems to be a problem with the checkout staff in Carrefour.

Never had a problem since - mind you very careful to avoid that stupid operator.

Have better luck nect time you shop

James

[Teamedup]

Personally I would carry not only my ID but a couple of utility bills with my name and address on and that should work.

One day in Carrefour a scandanavian was in front of me and wanted to pay with her card and they requested ID. The only thing she had her photo on and signature, looked ID cardish, but even without speaking a scandanavian language I could tell it was a bus pass. They accepted it.

[YCCMB]

We've bought all the white goods for our house in Carrefour and shop there regularly paying by cheque (CA Britline account, so French bank - ish - , but not "local" to our area). All the signs in our Carrefour at the normal supermarket checkouts ask for one piece of ID if paying by cheque and we've always used passports, not having a titre de sejour because we aren't permanent residents. We've never encountered the slightest problem, and never been asked to provide additional proof of ID or residence.

Frankly, they only ever seem to be concerned about the fact that due to the French preoccupation with knowing WHERE every b.... document is issued, UK passports don't actually provide any indication of this!

[Teamedup]

Around here for important amounts two ID's have always been asked for, but I am pretty sure that utility bills along with ID do count.

[Mpprh]

[quote]I went to Carrefour today to pay for some white goods, when I got to the caisse they asked for 2 forms of ID as I was paying by cheque from our french bank. To my surprise they would not accept my pa...[/quote]

Hi

Many large stores ask for 2 items of ID for cheques over a certain amount. I've also seen signs requiring 2 ID's for cheques from banks located outside the department.

They are looking for ID showing your current French address and photo. Neither UK passports or driving licenses meet these requirements.

A French driving license or,even better, a carte de sejour does meet the requirements.

Peter

 

 

 

[YCCMB]

Clearly from what Mpprh/TU say, there's either a regional variation or I've been incredibly lucky. Aside from the Carrefour experience I mentioned before, we bought the entire basic contents of our house at Ikea Bordeaux at one hit, and did 2 trips round the store on the same day, racking up a considerable total, and paying twice by cheque, again with only a passport.

If only a TDS or French driving licence will do, then as someone asked earlier, what if you don't have one??????????? Carte Bleu is b..... all use as the limits are set pitifully low, and  it's perfectly feasible to have a French address without actually living permanently in France, as we all know.

[Teamedup]

Croixblanches, a t de s wouldn't suffice when writing cheques for big sums around here. All french people have ID cards and they have to provide other ID when writing big cheques and as I said usually a utitily bill will do as it proves that you are living where your card says you are. There are no cheque guarantee cards, but it is or was at least, illegal to write a cheque when one has no money in the account, although I must say that people must have been doing it.

Some places seem to have a special machine they put cheques in and this could well be linked to the Banque de France black list.

I must say that I use my card when I can and have done for years now.

[Opalienne]

I'm a bit surprised by this.   We live between Calais and Boulogne (an area where you would think there might be a big problem with bouncing cheques from Brits) and have never had cheques refused in Carrefour or anywhere else.  If asked,we have shown a passport and a driving licence, both British,and they have always been accepted.

[zeb]

I got caught out at Geant in Angouleme a couple of years ago when I bought a dishwasher and other electrical goods in the sales and the bill came to around 400 euros. I tried writing a cheque but only had my CdS on me, so they just asked for two cheques!! Since then I've always used CdS and photo part of Uk driving licence.

The need for ID to back up large cheques is nothing to do with Brits (well, maybe it is in Brittany!), it's because of all the cheque books which get nicked every year and used by the thieves to try to buy stuff. Same as anywhere!!

[YCCMB]

TU yes, I know that the French all have ID cards and I also know it's illegal to write a rubber cheque. I also know that it's perfectly feasible to buy large, expensive items (or at least, to want to do so) without having an ID card (because of NOT being French) and, potentially, without having a utility or other bill proving your French address: e.g. we bought out furniture 24 hours after completing on our house, so it was a bit premature to have a utility bill (not that we were asked for one). From memory, although our French address appears on our utility bills, they are all sent to our UK address and this is the one that appears as the billing address on these, as well as the taxes fonciere and hab. bills.

My point was not that a TDS would suffice, (which was wht Mpprh said, no me) it was just that the need for 2 pieces of ID doesn't seem to be mandatory across the whole country (which Opalienne and others seem to confirm). My second point was that if you aren't French, don't have French ID or a TDS and the shop you want to buy from won't accept UK ID, what do you do - Knit yourself some???

[andyh4]

For some (perhaps many) French stores the provision of a UK passport as ID has a significant problem in that it does not have your address on it.

 

I have come across this a couple of times, not when paying by cheque but when paying by credit card (German bank).  OK for me since I had the German equivalent of a CdS with me.

 

Of course the really starnge thing is that having produced it, the cashier rarely makes a note of the address.  Oh well some things we are bound to never fully fathom.

[peterw]

A utility bill merely proves that someone with the name on the cheque book(Joe Bloggs) lives at an address in france. It does not at all prove that you are Joe Bloggs. Surely the issue here (for Carrefour) is to prove that you are Joe Bloggs and that you have the right to write the cheque that you are presenting.

Clearly, ID with your photo and your name on it gives Carrefour what they need to prove that the person standing in front of them matches visually with the name on the cheque book. A passport or DL with photo has both name and visual ID and both are much harder to forge than a utility bill.

A utility bill can be found in rubbish bins etc, passports as a general rule are not thrown out in the rubbish and are guarded by their owners -as is a drivers licence.So to my way of thinking, this emphasis on where you live is completely irrelevant(especially in todays "eurozone" environment). What is important is that you can prove who you are. Surely a Passport and DL is sufficient. But there again they are French......

[Teamedup]

peterw that is not what I said. I said an ID card or titre de sejour and a utility bill. Utility bills alone ofcourse stand for nothing. And hey it is the law that we have proper ID with us in France, so there really is no excuse for not having ID or a Carte de Sejour or Passport to show anyway. A utility bill just proves more or less that you live where you live and some stores will take photo copies of both the ID and utility bills for large amounts being spent.

Re the address being taken by the cashier, they usually put the number of the ID card on the back of the cheque and where it was issued and when it expires.

[YCCMB]

[quote]peterw that is not what I said. I said an ID card or titre de sejour and a utility bill. Utility bills alone ofcourse stand for nothing. And hey it is the law that we have proper ID with us in France,...[/quote]

..........and many's the happy 5 minutes I've spent at the checkout at Carrefour or Leclerc explaining that even I don't know where my UK passport was issued, but that "UKPA" is the best they are going to be able to do if they want to write something down. The cashiers without exception have been OK with this, so yet another pointless exercise is accomplished.