Lost credit cards and French bureaucracy
Its ages since I've written in here - and sadly not much progress since the last entry.
We had planned to fly to France on 10th May for five days and had the flights car park and car hire booked - along with appointments with the bank, notaire and builders. That all went west when DH lost (or more accurately mislaid) his wallet. Having established he had put it down in the house somewhere we (I thought) had decided to just wait and see if it turned up. I didn't want to cancel the credit cards because we needed a credit card to pick up the hire car. DH had other ideas and, after another fruitless search, called me to announce that he had telephoned and cancelled everything. I pointed out that now we wouldn't be able to hire a car - and no car in rural France was not a good idea. After telephone calls to the bank (who couldn't reinstate the cards) and the car hire company (who were intransigent about the requirement for a credit card rather than a debit card - despite us having the deposit for our French house currently residing in our current acount) - we gave up and admitted defeat. So no flying to France and no refund on the travel insurance - apparently its 'consequential loss' and not covered.
Plan B - the suggestion of DH - we finish work on Tuesday, drive through the night and arrive in France Wednesday lunchtime - a nice relaxing break - not! With no other option other than to drive, we called the vendors to see if they would mind if we took some things over and left them at the house. No point travelling down with an empty car. They were fine about it - in fact we had a really nice chat with them. So we loaded up the car and set off. We had to have a stop at about 4.30am - by which point DH could hardly follow the road - but we eventually arrived in Brantome at about 12.oo noon. After lunch, and feeling pretty 'bog-eyed' we arrived at the bank in time for our 2.00 pm appointment.
Bank account opened and confirmation that transferred funds had cleared we ventured to meet our new neighbours with whom we were staying. Mr & Mme P were delightful and the place was lovely. The appointment with notaire also went fine - as did the appointment with the builder. Then on Friday afternoon we went to Mr Bricolage - big mistake. Hubby made first purchase for French house - a strimmer, petrol cannister, petrol and 2 stroke oil - and then spent the next 4 hours strimming the grass. I did point out that we didn't actually own the house yet but.... Saturday we spent wandering around Perigueux - very pleasant. Sunday was the long drive home - we left at 8.30am and arrived back at 11.00pm absolutely knackered.
Then things start to go pear shaped. I had anticipated I would need an appointment with the nurse for weight etc and so had called the day after I had left the request to arrange one - the earliest available appointment was two weeks off!
I arrived for my appointment with the nurse to be greeted with 'Dr T can't complete this - he has to have a letter of consent from you and the insurance company must send the request directly, enclosing your letter of consent - its the law'. I offered to sign a letter of consent there and then but no - I have to send it to France and they have to send it back. Groaning with frustration I leave the GP surgery clutching the original letter and translation.
I draft a letter (in French and English) consenting to the disclosure of my medical information plus a fax to the insurance company with an idiot's guide (again in French) of what they have to do. I head off into work to fax the documents to the insurance company - only to find they have removed the old fax (that allowed international faxes)! So back home (via PC World to buy a fax / modem - we have ADSL - so no fax facility) to spend the next half hour scanning and sending fax to insurance company with copies to the bank giving fax number and address of doctor (doctor has agreed to communicate by fax to speed things up).
I asked the bank to confirm that everything was ok - and got the response that doctor 'must write his report in French'! Why I ask - he's English and he can't speak French - 'sorry', came back the response -'the insurance company will only accept the report in French'. So after a frantic few hours of tooing and froing and messages on LF we manage to find a sworn translator who will translate report to the satisfaction of the insurance company. Apperently it is quite acceptable though for me to translate the request letter for my doctor :S. Which is about as logical as asking for a medical report on me - 44 and non smoker and not on my DH - 54 and smoked for 30+ years! I don't ask anymore - just nod sagely and sing the party tune!
I write to the bank to confirm this is ok and to confirm that the insurance company are going to resend the information request and all I keep getting back is - 'Your doctor must answer the questions in the original letter and send answers in French to insurance company' - its like a stuck record. By this point I'm going frantic - don't they understand they have to resend the request??? I telephone the bank - our contact is busy call back later. I call back later (all via mobile as she is only available during my work hours!) and eventually get to speak to her. She understands my emails but hasn't had time to call the insurance company - she will call later. When I get home there is an email waiting. Insurance company have sent the request to my doctor today. Relief - finally!!!!!
The next day I call my doctors to confirm that the fax has arrived and to make sure I can collect the original report (translator must have the originals). And was greeted with - 'Sorry, we've had no fax from the insurance company'. So back to the bank to chase the insurance company - to which I have had, as yet, no response.
At this moment I feel like screaming and telling the bank where to stick their mortgage...and then spending some of the money for the house on a relaxing holiday - because - by God I need one. How anyone manages to run a business in France I really don't know - but for anyone who does, I have the greatest admiration. They deserve every penny they earn - and then some.
We had planned to fly to France on 10th May for five days and had the flights car park and car hire booked - along with appointments with the bank, notaire and builders. That all went west when DH lost (or more accurately mislaid) his wallet. Having established he had put it down in the house somewhere we (I thought) had decided to just wait and see if it turned up. I didn't want to cancel the credit cards because we needed a credit card to pick up the hire car. DH had other ideas and, after another fruitless search, called me to announce that he had telephoned and cancelled everything. I pointed out that now we wouldn't be able to hire a car - and no car in rural France was not a good idea. After telephone calls to the bank (who couldn't reinstate the cards) and the car hire company (who were intransigent about the requirement for a credit card rather than a debit card - despite us having the deposit for our French house currently residing in our current acount) - we gave up and admitted defeat. So no flying to France and no refund on the travel insurance - apparently its 'consequential loss' and not covered.
Plan B - the suggestion of DH - we finish work on Tuesday, drive through the night and arrive in France Wednesday lunchtime - a nice relaxing break - not! With no other option other than to drive, we called the vendors to see if they would mind if we took some things over and left them at the house. No point travelling down with an empty car. They were fine about it - in fact we had a really nice chat with them. So we loaded up the car and set off. We had to have a stop at about 4.30am - by which point DH could hardly follow the road - but we eventually arrived in Brantome at about 12.oo noon. After lunch, and feeling pretty 'bog-eyed' we arrived at the bank in time for our 2.00 pm appointment.
Bank account opened and confirmation that transferred funds had cleared we ventured to meet our new neighbours with whom we were staying. Mr & Mme P were delightful and the place was lovely. The appointment with notaire also went fine - as did the appointment with the builder. Then on Friday afternoon we went to Mr Bricolage - big mistake. Hubby made first purchase for French house - a strimmer, petrol cannister, petrol and 2 stroke oil - and then spent the next 4 hours strimming the grass. I did point out that we didn't actually own the house yet but.... Saturday we spent wandering around Perigueux - very pleasant. Sunday was the long drive home - we left at 8.30am and arrived back at 11.00pm absolutely knackered.
Then things start to go pear shaped. I had anticipated I would need an appointment with the nurse for weight etc and so had called the day after I had left the request to arrange one - the earliest available appointment was two weeks off!
I arrived for my appointment with the nurse to be greeted with 'Dr T can't complete this - he has to have a letter of consent from you and the insurance company must send the request directly, enclosing your letter of consent - its the law'. I offered to sign a letter of consent there and then but no - I have to send it to France and they have to send it back. Groaning with frustration I leave the GP surgery clutching the original letter and translation.
I draft a letter (in French and English) consenting to the disclosure of my medical information plus a fax to the insurance company with an idiot's guide (again in French) of what they have to do. I head off into work to fax the documents to the insurance company - only to find they have removed the old fax (that allowed international faxes)! So back home (via PC World to buy a fax / modem - we have ADSL - so no fax facility) to spend the next half hour scanning and sending fax to insurance company with copies to the bank giving fax number and address of doctor (doctor has agreed to communicate by fax to speed things up).
I asked the bank to confirm that everything was ok - and got the response that doctor 'must write his report in French'! Why I ask - he's English and he can't speak French - 'sorry', came back the response -'the insurance company will only accept the report in French'. So after a frantic few hours of tooing and froing and messages on LF we manage to find a sworn translator who will translate report to the satisfaction of the insurance company. Apperently it is quite acceptable though for me to translate the request letter for my doctor :S. Which is about as logical as asking for a medical report on me - 44 and non smoker and not on my DH - 54 and smoked for 30+ years! I don't ask anymore - just nod sagely and sing the party tune!
I write to the bank to confirm this is ok and to confirm that the insurance company are going to resend the information request and all I keep getting back is - 'Your doctor must answer the questions in the original letter and send answers in French to insurance company' - its like a stuck record. By this point I'm going frantic - don't they understand they have to resend the request??? I telephone the bank - our contact is busy call back later. I call back later (all via mobile as she is only available during my work hours!) and eventually get to speak to her. She understands my emails but hasn't had time to call the insurance company - she will call later. When I get home there is an email waiting. Insurance company have sent the request to my doctor today. Relief - finally!!!!!
The next day I call my doctors to confirm that the fax has arrived and to make sure I can collect the original report (translator must have the originals). And was greeted with - 'Sorry, we've had no fax from the insurance company'. So back to the bank to chase the insurance company - to which I have had, as yet, no response.
At this moment I feel like screaming and telling the bank where to stick their mortgage...and then spending some of the money for the house on a relaxing holiday - because - by God I need one. How anyone manages to run a business in France I really don't know - but for anyone who does, I have the greatest admiration. They deserve every penny they earn - and then some.
posted by Me at
6:28 pm
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