I ask for an opinion from one of "my comrades"

5 February 2009 12:57

Nadia, hi,

So, do you think anything will come of CAF?  Or am I simply being lead on by a broken promise and process? 

I received the rent bill this morning. It looked like something was going to happen and M Thevenot or somebody else whited out what seemed to be some token of social  assistance. But no, toujours rien.

Christopher 

-- 
http://saltlakeglobalist.googlepages.com

dcp


Charles M. Schulz  - "I love mankind; it's people I can't stand."

 

RESPONSE:

[Nothing; none]

 

Arranging a meeting at CAF with one of the teachers

 29 January 2009 15:34

Karine, hi!

 I am curious and hoping that you can help me in the near immediate future. I am having some serious problems with CAF. In fact, their incompetence is absolutely astonishing to me. 

 Well, rent is about to be due and it would be nice to have some sort of resolve with them before I pay anything else. I story is too detail for me to recount it here in this email. I'll tell you when we talk, ok?

 So, will you be free to go the office, which is right around the corner from this apartment, sometime soon? Friday or Monday?

 Regards,

Christopher

-- 
http://saltlakeglobalist.googlepages.com

dcp

 George Carlin  - "May the forces of evil become confused on the way to your house."

 

 

RESPONSE:

2 February 2009 10:20

Hi!
I've just had your message.
I will be free on Thursday 5 February at 10 o clock. 
If you like we can go straight away after my lessons. Let's meet at the main entrance at 10
See you
Karine

 

RESPONSE:

3 February 2009 20:38

 

Karine, hi!

Yes, I think it is useless to return at this point. I've been lead on for so long by CAF and their requests and they have seen too much of me in the past two weeks. As I have alluded to in my previous email, they have become very obstinate and, despite what I consider to be their unethical actions and my several demands for adequate explanation (to no avail), it seems that there is nothing to be done for the time being.

So, I think it is best to abandon plans to return on Thursday...

If I had the means, knowledge, and energy, I would consult a lawyer and commence legal proceedings (and claim and extra balcony -- or something in the apartment since I pay more in rent than Neyling and Marlene combine)...

Well, I suppose I will take my punishment (which is what it feels like); bite the bullet; burn a French flag and move on!

See you soon!

Christopher

Samuel Goldwyn  - "I had a monumental idea this morning, but I didn't like it."

 

RESPONSE:

5 February 2009 10:03

[Christopher]

What is given by the CAF keeps changing. It depends on the age of the person. It is the same with SNCF; you are not on the same footing as the people who are under 25 and who pay less. 
I know French laws and rules are not that simple!
What is strange is the fact that they ask you to reimburse money that they din't give you. There must be a mistake somewhere. Let me know.

See you
Karine

One of my 1st letters to try to solicit assistance, after having tried for nearly 5 months in Lons-le-Saunier

5 February 2009 13:44

Dear Catherine,

 I have a legal question. CAF has been giving me an absolutely incredible run around. To make a very long story story, Iwas told that I would be entitled to some assistance for my rent when I moved into this apartment; the proprietor is apparently the Mairie.  So, I completed all the papers and sent all the required documentation over a series of months. At last I was told that I would receive about 30 euro reduction each month from my rent, which is a drop in the ocean compared to what my roommates are receiving -- a Spanish assistant from Costa Rica and a German assistant from Bavaria.  Now, I am being told by CAF that they have overpaid me when, in fact, I have not received one cent from them, when they said that a reimbursement for November and December was supposed to be coming; they sent me a bill and told me that I need to write a check to CAF ASAP -- and I have not received anything. 

 Once I was told I was denied access to all rights because of my Declaration des Ressources for 2007 and how it said I was an employed professional, I replied that that was wrong and that I was actually a full-time student during that year. I went to CAF's office again and told them that they should not be sending me bills for money or services I have not received; moreover, I told them there was an error in my dossier. After that, I was informed that I am actually denied assistance but because of my salaire minable or my declaration des ressources for 2007, but that I am being denied assistance because of my age. I am 28 years old now. Well, I thought CAF was not for the under 25 only -- and, if so, I was never told so; and besides my birth date has been on the very first papers I filled out at the end of September 2008 (and on every paper that followed). So to deny my five months later, after at least a dozen letters and after I have complied with all of their requests -- an abundance of them, is, well, to put it lightly, astonishing. This level of incompetence is absolutely astonishing to me (and I wish it were not the case)! To lead me on for nearly 5 months, to send me bills that say I have been overpaid, to finally deny any assistance from a program that everybody pays into, including myself, and is not age exclusive is ridiculous -- and has really, unfortunately, taken a heavy load on my morale, leaving me in the dumps. On top of that, the fact lingers that the three of us have the same salary, the same job, the same apartment -- and that I pay three times as much as them out of pocket for the same amount of space -- actually less space because I have the smallest room. But, I do not quibble over how we divide our space; I just want to state the fact.

 I don't know if there is anything to be done at this point. Well, I suppose that I think you should know about it -- and, I don't know if there is anything that you could do to rectify the situation. As far as I am concerned, I have not received an adequate explanation for their behavior... 

 Sincerely,

 

Christopher Perkins

Lons-le-Saunier

  

 

RESPONSE:

5 February 2009 18:27

Christopher, I am sorry to hear about this CAF mess. I am now  busy  with our school's exchange arriving tonight so can't  do anything right now but I'll use the week end to send  Emails and all that and try to be of some help .  Hope this cheers you up although there must be little I can do ;)

Bye for now,

Catherine

 

 

5 February 2009 19:52

 

Dear Nadia, Karine, Isabelle, and Marie:

 

What follows is correspondence I have had with the French Embassy in Washington DC, the Catherine Lanquetin in the Besancon Academy...  An FYI.

 

Regards,

Christopher

Language Assistant

 

Lucille Ball  - "The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age."

Words from Walt

Unscrew the locks from the doors !

Unscrew the doors themselves from their jambs !

Whoever degrades another degrades me,

And whatever is done or said returns at last to me.