chris18's activity

Thank you all.  

This scam has been going on for a number of years.  I must, just out of curiousity look at the accounts of some of the major car hire companies to see just how profitable they are, and how much they make from the non-car hire part of the business; its a little like Ryanair and other budget airlines - the basic costs of a seat is competitive, its the add-ons and fees that make up the profits.  I think these scams have always existed, they've always had us so to speak, over the barrel (or bonnet in this case).  The difference between now and then, is that now we are all able to talk to each other through forums like this, to swap stories and keep each other informed of the rip off tricks the car hire companies get up to.  I've had experience of this is France and in Italy at a number of airports.  In Carcasonne I started my current practice of taking photos on my Iphone of the car when I pick it up, and when I drop it off.  Sure enough the girl at the hire desk in Carcasonne tried the 'oh look you've scratched our car routine'  and looked very surprised and (how shall I put it), somewhat disappointed when I was able to produce photos of the car before and after hire.  I strongly advise anyone on this forum who is considering hiring a car to follow the same practice.  Incidentally, I photograph the dashboard as well which normally gives me a photo of the fuel gauge before and after, so no arguments there either.  Happy snapping my friends.

Thank you for your reply and words of encouragement Gala. Whenever I recount this tale the reaction is always the same - people are amazed at the cost.  We do not order the gas, the agent does.  We pay the agent an annual fee to pay our bills and visit the house every other week to check it out and make sure everythings OK.  We are then re-invoiced for bills paid on our behalf.  As we bought the house in October 2011 we were going through a 'settling in' period.  The tank had some gas in from the previous owners so when we had the week in late October we were using the last of their gas, we then needed a full tank in December 2011, another one in February 2012 , and a further full tank in April 2012, prior to our arrival.We are never there when the gass arrives, and a bill is left in the gas tank unit and the agent picks up the bill and either pays it direct, or adds it to our bill and we settle it when we go to the house.  I suspect that if the bill says €700 that we are getting say €350 of gas. 

Thanks to you both for your replies.  Our converted cantina would give us another whole floor and of course its this, plus the fact that we would have ground floor access to our rear garden, that makes a conversion attractive.  The cantina floor is sloping.  At its lowest it probably meets the 3 metre height requirement, but there would be part of the floor where the height is less than 3mtrs which would have to be dug out and then a steel brace fitted/underpinning carried out around the interior perimeter.  Its going to be a cost benefit judgement in the end which determines whether we go ahead or not. Geometra essential!

Thanks Alan. Looks like its been kicked into the long grass for now, but I understand the Swiss govt told its voters that if the vignette did'nt go up, other motoring taxes will have to.  So I think this is an an issue wilth legs so to speak.  Good luck with the non-motorway route, sounds like a good idea.

Thank you very much for this.  Aulla sounds like a great place to start a potential rail journey.  On a separate blog someone else told us the train journey from Bagni di Lucca (where we will be staying)to Aulla is quite spectacular, so BDL to Aulla, and Aulla to Venice sounds good. I'll check out those hotels.

Great post Barry. Thanks for the insights into finger biting driving around Genoa - Italian drivers hey! 

Thank Alan.  Yeah I just re-read the thread and it was Chris Notton who mentioned the Thai near Colmar. 

That sounds really good.  We take our dogs and go via the chunnel.  I think we'll be heading to that Ibis Hotel in Colmar that  you mentioned in a previous post, instead of Strasbourg.  Did you say there's a Thai restauarant not far from the Ibis?

Hi,  anybody out there dusting down their roadmaps to Italy?