ordering from Darcy

[DZ]

I need to buy some domestic equipment for my house in France and Darcy was one of the firms recommended by the forum users as being easy and convenient to use from the UK.  I wonder if they have changed their policy now, as when I try to do an on-line order, I am required to put in a French telephone number (which I haven't got!).  Leaving the box for the number blank invalidates the order too.  Is there any way round this problem (short of putting an imaginary number or, say, the number for  the Tourist Office in my village, for example!)?  Has anyone else tried and succedeed in ordering goods from Darty from the UK?

Thanks!

[DZ]

Now, that wasn't supposed to read "Darcy".  Too much Pride and Prejudice, obviously.  The company is called Darty.

[Clair]

[quote user="davieszak"]I need to buy some domestic equipment for my house in France and Darty was one of the firms recommended by the forum users as being easy and convenient to use from the UK.  I wonder if they have changed their policy now, as when I try to do an on-line order, I am required to put in a French telephone number (which I haven't got!).  Leaving the box for the number blank invalidates the order too.  Is there any way round this problem (short of putting an imaginary number or, say, the number for  the Tourist Office in my village, for example!)?  Has anyone else tried and succedeed in ordering goods from Darty from the UK?Thanks![/quote]

RE Darty online orders: I have used them before (in France) and would be very happy to use them again. I bought some Dyson filters more cheaply from them than from Dyson direct... The order was confirmed online very quickly and goods delivered as promised.

Re Tel #: whenever I am asked to put my tel # on an internet order, I simply put 0123456789...

Always works...

[Anton Redman]

Unless your house is very easy to find they may end up telephoning to ask where you house is. I ended up with a rendevous at the local Marie.

[DZ]

Thank you for your quick replies..   Our house is not that easy to find as none of the properties in my street have names or numbers, plus access is difficult!  This is the kind of information that I would like to be able to specify in my on-line order, as well as giving my English mobile tel number.  As it is not possible, I guess I will have to pick up the courage and ring my closest Darty shop instead!

[Tourangelle]

They are generally quite good with deliveries and the number is so that

they can ring you up if there is a problem.  I have not been happy

with their after sales service.  When my fridge needed a new part

(for the inside, just a bit of plastic), we had to go miles to get it

ourselves from a particular place ( a Darty SAV), and they would not send it, even

though we would have paid the postage, and they would not send it to a

nearby store despite us living just 10 minutes from one.  So I no

longer use Darty.

[DZ]

Sorry to hear, Tourangelle, that you have had a problem with that company.  I have now taken the plunge and,. following Clair's advice about the telephone numbers, have actually made an order.  For anyone who might be interested, you can supply supplementary information (like English mobile numbers, for example) later on, by e-mail, once the order has been processed.  So thanks a lot, everyone, for your help.  Now I will just have to hope that they manage to deliver the stuff to our house, without getting stuck in la ruelle...

[Graham and Lynn]

Just wanted to share our experience with Darty's internet site.  We were in the process of buying our French house and didn't yet have a French telephone number - we therefore put in the number of the estate agent in France (the estate agent had agreed to field calls for us).  We also paid a 30% deposit for four large electrical items.  Darty telephoned a couple of days before our delivery was due but got the estate agent's answering machine (we think because they called in the evening) and rather than leave a message, simply cancelled the order.  Despite it being an internet service they did not send us an email to tell us about the cancellation.  We then waited in all afternoon on the date we had prebooked for the delivery....     When I called to find out what happened they told me that they had cancelled the order "because the number was an estate agency."  I would therefore not recommend giving a French number belonging to anyone who will not be available to answer in person both during the day and in the evening.

We have always had excellent service from Darty when visiting their shops and they do have an excellent range of goods.  The person I dealt with by phone after the order had been cancelled was very polite and apologetic.  However I do not get the impression they are going to change their website or their delivery policies to deal with this issue.

My practical suggestions for dealing with the issue are:

(1) buy a French SIM card for your mobile and use this number for deliveries.  If you put the French card in an old mobile phone you can then leave it switched on in the UK (which from a French point of view is roaming).  We have successfully used this approach for orders since our debacle with Darty.

(2) If your French is up to it, call Darty and order by telephone.  By telephone they are extremely helpful.

(3) Go into one of their shops and order in person.  Again, in person they are very helpful.

Incidentally, we ended up ordering most of our large stuff from Conforama, simply because they were able to deliver at a time convenient to us.  Our local shops, in Avignon and Nimes, were very helpful indeed, despite not really being set up for taking orders over the phone (they apparently can't take credit card details over the phone but agreed to let me give the delivery men a cheque for the entire balance).