Small claims - any tips on serving papers on someone living in France?

Batesy1976

Screaming_Flamingo said:

My legal french is muy bien.

In terms of enforcement, we will burn that bridge when we get to it. I would hope they will prefer to pay rather than have a County Court Judgement registered against them for failing to return a deposit to a guest. I cannot imagine that will be good for business. 

But, if we put enforcement to one side, serving the claim is down to me to organise? 

They won't give two figs about a CCJ registered against them if they're French.

And I really hope the "muy bien" comment was tongue in cheek, you'd be ripped to shreds in France if you think that's funny.

brianposter

Isnt there a European small claims system ?

Screaming_Flamingo

Batesy1976 said:

They won't give two figs about a CCJ registered against them if they're French.

And I really hope the "muy bien" comment was tongue in cheek, you'd be ripped to shreds in France if you think that's funny.

They are English. More to the point, they attract English clientele who might give figs about their business practices. 

Yes, the muy bien comment was tongue in cheek self-deprecation. Apologies if that was confusing. I probably wouldn't do that in any French legal proceedings, but thank you for the advice. 

Screaming_Flamingo

Sandtree said:

KeithP said:

Sandtree said:

Screaming_Flamingo said:

Thanks Keith - I didn't know UKECC existed. Will take a look. 

Given the website is technically breaching regulations I'd be cautious of what it really is... I could have a site up in 5 minutes claiming to be formally sanctioned etc.

But that site has been there for more than five minutes.

It is mentioned in this thread - 
READ ME FIRST PLEASE . . . Useful links, Resources and FAQs -
which in turn is linked from the first post in sticky thread -
Consumer Rights Sticky - Please Read Before Posting

The relevant post was written in 2011. It's been there for almost ten years. 

And? Its possible to scam websites to be up for decades. Plus its still in breach of data protection laws by not having a compliant privacy policy whilst collecting/processing personal data.

I'm not saying its a scam, hence the "be careful" rather than a "don't use", but its unusual for legitimate site to have non-compliant privacy policy - theirs doesn't for example identify who they legally are and whilst it says "click here for full privacy statement" its not actually a link.

Thanks for the tip - I will explore and, if I use them, report back. 

Screaming_Flamingo

brianposter said:

Isnt there a European small claims system ?

Yes. But because of Brexit we are no longer able to use it: https://www.gov.uk/recover-debt-from-eu 

Screaming_Flamingo

A quick update on UKECC for anyone else in a similar boat. I have had good experiences so far - they have taken a detailed history from me and contacted their counterparts in France who are going to contact the company concerned and remind them of their obligations, before we escalate. 

Screaming_Flamingo

And a final update. Whatever it was UKECC's French counterparts did has worked. The owners just reimbursed us the full amount we were owed.

So top marks to UKECC - a free service that calmly and efficiently worked to resolve our complaint. I 100% recommend them.