A jammed lock, a power outage… Certain emergency situations, embellished with a few drops of stress and a little anxiety, are conducive to scams. In the panic of a door slammed by mistake or a water leak in your home, it happens that you accept the services of a professional even before he has announced the price.

Conditions taken into account by the law when it set up the obligation to establish an estimate for certain services, products and services. “Before the purchase of a product or a service, the customer must be informed of its essential characteristics, the price, the date or the delivery time of the product or the execution of the service”, specifies the official website of the public service. In the slideshow below, Planet provides an overview of where an estimate is required.

According to the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Prevention (DGCCRF), the estimate must mention the following elements:

If the estimates are generally free, nothing prohibits a tradesman, a craftsman or other professional to charge for it, in particular in the event of displacement or in-depth studies. “When the estimate is paid for, the professional may offer to deduct the amount of the estimate from the service possibly provided subsequently”, specifies the DGCCRF.