I have received a letter from Maitre S. on behalf of a well-known telephone company.
After the initial lovely communication from Maitre S indicated that his clienthad filed a complaint which will turn very nasty ("poursuites") if I did not settle my debt by May d (I received the letter on May d+1). I called the client who said that I should speak only to Maitre S. I called Maitre S who said that I should only write letters to him. I wrote a letter to Maitre S, in my most polite French and I specified the following facts:

- I had given my credit card details to pay for the installation fee. My account was supposed to be charged immediately after the line went live. The fact that this has not happened (I need to pay this too now) could indicate that the line was never turned on.
- I have no phone line - which I hoped was enough to justify my right not to pay much for the service.
- that I was told that the two technicians and combined total of 4 hours spent on site looking for a phone linewere bundled with the installation fee.
In the absence of phone services and successful line installation, I suggested that more time be spent clarifying the legitimacy of the charges. One of us called the telephone company at some point to try to do this and was told that our line was going to be cut off.

Maitre S. sent me today a copy of the invoice with the following caption: please pay and don't forget the late fees I added on page 1. This is a great leap forward. It is extremely satisfying to know that my letter was read in its integrity, that all my concerns are being duly addressed. I have total confidence that my claim is being examined with genuine interest and that we are moving fast toward a fair resolution of this immaterial dispute.