La Maison Malfeasance

Stoker and I started going to France to ride a tandem way back in 2015. We did 5 rides that year, and things went so well that in 2016 we went back for a two week trip, staying in 4 different villages, with 12 tandem rides.

On this trip we had a day off the bike in Malaucène, on a Wednesday, which happened to be market day. The main street was closed to cars and vendors assembled selling all kinds of fresh vegetables, fruits, meats, cheese (oh my, the cheese!), pastries, wines and more. As we wandered around and then sat at a café for a coffee, I kind of jokingly said “You know Stoker, we really can’t move here”.

Her response was “How about a month?” I thought for a second and then said that seemed possible. I was pretty sure it was just idle talk and that reality would set in at the airport. Nothing like travel hassles and discomforts to bring you back to the real world.

I underestimated her resolve. As soon as we got home she went hunting for a rental house for May of 2017. She found one, and we booked it for our great gamble: one entire month in the village of Malaucène.

We loved it. So much that we went back again in 2018, and in 2019. The 2019 trip was remarkable. We had our best month of riding together ever. I’m going to write about that in some detail later, since it now seems likely that we have done our last tandem ride in France.

We booked the house ‘le portail du Ventoux’ for May 2020, and paid for it as soon as we got back to California after that Magic May of 2019. We all know what happened starting in March 2020.

For a while I believed the ‘two weeks to flatten the curve’ decree, but it soon became clear we weren’t going anywhere in May 2020. I texted the Landlady and at that point I just said that we would keep in touch and try to get to France when the pandemic was past. I didn’t bring up anything about a refund.

Well two weeks turned into a year, and in the spring of 2021 our Malaucène Month of May was still not possible: France was closed. So in April 2021 I asked for some money back:

Of course no refund was forthcoming, which didn’t surprise me much. In August 2021, France finally opened up to travel from the US, and I asked for the house from May 4 to June 3, 2022. The Landlady was happy to keep the money and agree. She even used the smiley face, which is as good as a notarized signature.

So when our plans for May 2022 turned into a shortened trip for one I texted the Landlady and said I would be there from May 18 to 27. Note that this is a subset of the dates I asked for in August 2021 in lieu of a refund. I did this as a courtesy so she could rent it at the other times even though she had agreed for me to have it from May 4 to June 3. But she generously offered it to me until May 22 only, since it was rented to someone else after that!

I’m sure glad I took screenshots of our text messages. I tried to be polite but I pointed out that we had a ‘contract’ dating back to August 2021, which she signed with a smiley face. She suggested that I could change my dates, but since I have another tour starting on May 28 I really needed the dates I asked for.

Finally she agreed to a refund. I have learned from 44 | 5 that there is a Covid law in France that requires her to give me my money back, even when she said it was ‘difficult’. I didn’t push the issue because I thought we would get to Malaucène eventually and I was willing to pay in advance.

I sent her bank account information a week ago, and I haven’t received anything yet. I really don’t expect to. I have no leverage here. What am I going to do, hire an attorney and sue in France’s version of small claims court?

Here is how I have chosen to look at it: Diane and I spent 3 wonderful months in this house over 3 years. If I take the 1950 euros I’m (probably) out, and add it to the rent we paid for the other 3 years, we still got our money’s worth. Stoker and I have spent some wonderful happy years together, but we have never been happier than we were in ‘our’ Malaucène house.

Our front door in May… And le Tour came by the same door last July!