Apparently he was cold called by a building company who offered a free quote. A salesman came over and lots of tooth sucking quoted 4€K for unnecessary woodworm treatment.
He told me that he signed the devis that was shoved under his nose. They will be going back on Monday (19 Oct 2020) to sort out finance.
I’ve checked this company out and they are scammers and have a seriously bad rep and reviews.
What are the rules regarding a signed devis? I’m not legal.
The client is a member on SFN and knows I’m posting the question on his behalf. He will seethis post. He is retired, on a limited pension and not an overly confident grasp of French (hence the devis was signed).
Sensible replies please. If you wish to pm me, I’ll forward messages.
Here you go. Also be better to have someone french speaking with him when they pop round. The standard letter I’ve attached must be sent by A/C.
Si vous avez été démarché à domicile
Lorsque vous acceptez un devis à la suite d’un démarchage à domicile, vous disposez en principe d’un droit de rétractation de 14 jours. Vous pouvez donc revenir sur votre décision dans un délai de 14 jours à compter du lendemain de la signature du devis.
De plus, aucun paiement, sous quelque forme que ce soit, ne peut vous être réclamé et aucune prestation ne peut être effectuée avant l’expiration du délai de rétractation. Il est interdit au professionnel de recevoir un chèque avant le terme de ce délai, quand bien même il ne l’encaisserait que plusieurs semaines plus tard (cass. civ. 1re du 18.6.96, n°94-15121).exemple-lettre-retractation-devis-demarchage.pdf (68,1 Ko)
This is absolutely awful… and your customer is not alone, sadly.
There was a glut of this sort of thing targeting the Brits in our commune…
as soon as we twigged what was going on… the Secretaire at our Mairie did all the “retraction” letters and they were sent Avis de Reception…
Robert, thank you for being so kind and looking our for one of our members.
Who ever you are please don’t feel silly or anything for signing, these crooks can be persuasive / frightening and so easy to feel pressured when you are on the spot.
I’m so pleased there is an easy way to get out of it. Lets hope the letter is an end to it.
How true, not long after we settled here, 21 years ago, a man came to the door apparently selling apples and potatoes. I declined as there was only the 2 of us but he was relentless and finally gave in saying, I thought, ‘well one box of each then.’
Him and his mate then started trooping in with box after box. The cost wasn’t high so not a serious fraud, and we did gain some advantage from it.
I had obtained a non-working half size chest freezer from a local plumber, who was glad to get rid of it, in order to sit in it full of cool water in the forest. It was a very hot summer.
So, emptied it of its water, filled it with all the apples and spuds, separating each layer with straw. Kept us going for a full year, but I have never bought at the door again since.
Hi Thanks to Robert & everyone for all the helpful advice. I was really worried about these dangerous Capricorns & was brow-beaten into signing the devis. Sent a copy of the annulation form AR last week & a furthere email today asking them not to come.
Our builder who will be here if they come said many old barns have them & they are not"dangerous" as the caller said. Our old former dairy is about 300 years old so no urgency.
Thanks to Robert Moon again for calling me back & explaining.
All the best,
Roger
PS Started A-level French 50 years ago-it was Molière & stuff-no mentions of Capricorns!
to Warren for quickly posting that.
