People who want to pay on arrival

[juliew]

I have a booking for this week from French people who are staying 2 nights and would like to pay by cheque on arrival because they claim that they have been ripped off in the past by arriving at a house that does not match the description. I am concerned that it will be me who is ripped off.

[la vache!]

I have a booking for this week from French people who are staying 2 nights and would like to pay by cheque on arrival because they claim that they have been ripped off in the past by arriving at a house that does not match the description. I am concerned that it will be me who is ripped off.

I've just had that. They said they lost 300€ last year by booking and paying in advance for a place that didn't exist. I've decided to take their payment on arrival as it is quite a substantial sum of money and I'm not sure I'd re-let now at this late time.

[pepsipuss]

Is it not a criminal offence to pass a cheque which cannot be cashed and/or to cancel a cheque which has been legitimately paid (in other words not lost or stolen?). That was what I was told when I queried taking a cheque for the security deposit on arrival.

[la vache!]

Cheque fraud is much more of a problem in France than it used to be. Some shops around here refuse to accept them at all and all shops have a ceiling limit of around about 200€ maximum of cheque payment as there are too many cases of stolen cheques or people writing them who are already in debt and therefore the banks wash their hands of them.

[juliew]

As said above, many places now do not accept cheques at all but if they do they usually want 2 pieces of identification.

[kendalcottages]

I have a booking for this week from French people who are staying 2 nights and would like to pay by cheque on arrival because they claim that they have been ripped off in the past by arriving at a house that does not match the description. I am concerned that it will be me who is ripped off.

...and rightly so, I think (your concern, I mean).

Why can they not at least pay cash on arrival if the house matches the description?

[juliew]

They will have to call and pay on their way to the house. We do not meet and greet as we have several properties quite widely spread. The irony is because they are a late booking they are getting the house at half price.