I’ve been recommended (by my British-born but local Bank counsellor) to a plumber with a British name who also lives locally. I have a malfunctioning lavatory cistern (it runs constantly) that I’m not up to fixing as it mounted en haut and there’s not much headroom if I scale a ladder, and my eyesight isn’t that good at 82,nor my manual dexterity what it was.
Two French plumbers have told me I need to replace the whole appliance including the cuvette which I know is just a try-on as everything except the cistern is in good order; replacement cisterns of the same type are widely available by most big brico outlets at around 40 E.
What questions should I ask the plumber to check he is properly set up to do business in France as a plumber? I don’t want to get involved in any unregulated or ‘under-the-table’ transactions. I am not wholly convinced that the recommendation given was above board, but don’t want to be seen as a shit-stirrer.
I generally steer clear of other local Brits, some of whom seem decidedly dodgy in their various enterprises…
The Siret/Siren number will do. From there you can look him up and check he is registered to do what he says he can do. It should be on his devis, and you should get a written devis. And for fixing a cistern a guarantee biennale is probably more appropriate.
Such a tiny job, I supposeif you have nothing else to do you could go through the whole procurement process but based on two lying french plumbers what have you really got to lose on the changing of the flush valve 20 euros from a brico shed and an hour maybe 2 to fit?
It’s a small job, so if you find someone legit prepared to do it for a reasonable cost then go for it… Asking 3 plumbers to prepare a devis for this seems excessive to me.
And no ladders! OH fell off a ladder last week pruning high hedges at a much more tender age than your. Finished the highest hedge on longest ladder fine, but then got on smaller ladder and promptly fell off. Luckily missed stone plinth, the dog and my favourite hydrangea. And didn’t break anything but has an impressive set of bruises.
Yes, it’s a pain Peter, as we get older the little things around the house we would have just tackled become a pain in the arse. There are companies that recognise that and have an “odd job” service.
Yes you are quite right! Was a bit tired when I posted that so didn’t think that one through!
I think as someone else mentioned such a small job can probably be handled by an odd job man. And I wonder if even the most registered of people would put such a small job through the books (if paid in cash anyway). You seem quite worried about that.
At my ‘stage’ to become an AE (as was) someone actually asked the question of the teacher ‘how much should we not declare’ and the answer was 30% I guess that covers your social contributions on what you do declare
I believe USAT was / is a union…not sure.
He said to one very beligerant Belgian woman
“Do you want to pay RSI everything you earn ?”
She came up with a load of self-righteous tosh about it being immoral etc.
I’ve mentioned this before but 99.9999% of French trades will never turn down cash…despite what anyone says or any perceived immorality
Totally agree! It has always been the French way. I think there is a huge difference between working totally on the black and being properly registered etc and pocketing the odd cash payment when the charges are just so high. As we’ve both experienced it is so expected that it is being discussed openly on courses!
Which is fine for the French as they just get fined. But risky for a foreigner to use a cash-requiring British worker as it is one the the stated reasons for withdrawing your residence card…
Pendant sa durée de validité, votre carte doit ou peut vous être retirée, si vous vous trouvez dans l’un des cas suivants :
Vous avez employé illégalement un travailleur étranger
My thanks to all responders for these helpfully illuminating insights into the way the wind blows.
I have set my sails accordingly, and will definitely not be scaling any stepladder with a screwdriver in my top pocket and my pounding heart in my mouth.
