Orange Contract in France, what the consequences can be expected?

[danil70]

Hello,
I have signed 2 years Orange contract, because I was told that I will be able to terminate it whenever I leave France. But when my leaving date approached they refused to terminate it, because they needed two proves that I was leaving. So I sent them both proves they asked me for and left France, but I am not sure if contract was really stopped (I closed my bank account so they could not take money anymore).
The question is for the ones who know about the French or EU laws... What is the worst I can expect in the future in case the contract was not stopped? I will be put in the black list and will not be able to make any other contracts, right, but for how long they will keep me in the list? I wonder about this because I am not going to come back to France, but I am a citizen of EU country... Is there any possibility that after some years I will be put on court so that finally they would get this money from me? For how long the debt is recorded (is it cancelled after some years or is it for the rest of the future)?

[wardell]

Difficult to say - I think it is highly unlikely they will come after you with court action as it will be too expensive for them to pursue, particularly if they do not know where you are living. It IS possible that the failure to pay out the contract will be recorded on a credit history but I have no idea to what extent these are internationally referenced. A debt can be legally enforced at any time following the default. However in reality, most major comanies write them off once they;ve been on the books for a certain period (3-6 years).