In France the necessity of a signed quotation.

In France you have the obligation to let the customer sign the quotation on which you both agreed.

If not you will face major difficulties to prove that the customer accepted the amount of the carried out works.

The highest French Court called the „ Cour de Cassation «had to rule about the following facts: An Artisan made for a Farmer a renovation of a building without a signed quotation. At the end of the renovation the farmer refused to pay the bills arguing that he never agreed with those works.

The artisan was only able to provide testimonies from other people working there.

The Court decide that this is not sufficient to prove that the Farmer agreed about the works because for a quotation for more than 1.500 e the signature of the customer is mandatory.

The artisan couldn’t get paid for his Job.

The Judgment was issued the 11 October 2017 under the Number 16-22507.

Conclusion: in France you have to get as many signed writings and documents as possible to prove your debt and to have the best chances to get paid.