I had a mail from a reader this week who was defrauded by a tradesman, asking me if there was any authority in France to complain to – YES, there certainly is.

If you have had problems with any service, most countries have an official department you can complain to and report the supplier. A good website listing these offices is http://oecg.org/ – for France the official consumer protection bureau is The DGCCRF – it is an official French government authority for Consumer Protection, they have a website in English at http://http://www.economie.gouv.fr/dgccrf – they have produced a leaflet, in English, which gives some information and other contacts. You can see this at Welcome to France

In my experience, I have learnt that they take all complaints very seriously.

There are other services to arbitrate in disputes. I have also found these to be very effective and fair. For a dispute turning nasty the CDAD have an excellent free service.