"Hydraulic. For emergencies, call this number. Modest prices." The note, distributed in mailboxes, also gives a reassuring idea of the reliable neighborhood craftsman, perhaps with the company handed down in the family. Instead, it is one colossal scam.
Ma we are not in Italy, where we also have the nightmare of home repairs and their sometimes exorbitant prices, but in Paris, where the phenomenon has taken a worrying turn.
The Ville Lumière is becoming the capital of home scams. Approximately 2.000 cases are brought to court each year, and according to a survey by the French consumer association, at least 200 are the companies to be blacklisted.
The most frequent case is that of locks, for which a poor town was asked for 3.131 euros who also, doubly mocked, had signed a check asking for collection at intervals that were not respected, thus remedying the closure of the account by the bank.
Not to mention the elderly. For a simple sink failure, an elderly person received an invoice for 1.229 euros, to which another 9 euros were added for unsolicited interventions, made spontaneously by the plumbers, who even replaced the boiler. Obviously, these other 9 thousand euros, in black.
Yes, because this old and unbecoming "art" is practiced not only in Italy: a flat rate on the invoice, including the price of the parts to be replaced and the cost of the call. And then the manpower aside. And therefore a tap billed at 3,23 euros can cost 204 euros, for example. A colossal scam, if we consider that we are in Paris, the capital of France which dispenses lessons to half the world on honesty and respect for the law.
But how do these small crime firms “operate”? By investing a large part of the budget in advertising, with brochures distributed in mailboxes reporting false addresses (to give an idea of proximity) and often, inappropriately, the mention of “père et fils”. Father and son, in short, the healthy family-run business to trust blindly.
But recently one of them went really badly. In September Garnier Père et Fils was condemned by the judge to a fine of 150 euros and 200 euros in compensation for damages, and its owner to two years in prison on probation. The investigation showed that among the 17 employees, as many as 16 did not even have the qualification to exercise the activity!
Thieves, and not even licensed.
Read also Le Figaro
