Consumer rights in France...are there any?????

[chilly]

Thought it might be interesting to start a post on people's experience in France as to 'customer satisfaction' re exchanging faulty goods. I have been here three years now and have yet to be  impressed with any large store when it comes to a genuine complaint regarding taking something back under a year old (sometimes even as new as a few weeks), with receipt. I have been given all sorts of excuses (usually with no politeness) including several times YOU HAVE TO KEEP THE PACKAGING!!!!!!!!!!!.Could it be that in the UK we just dont put up with this and as a result very rarely have a problem when it comes to taking faulty goods back? Maybe it various over here from department to department, but it's one of the things that frustrate me most about life over here.Any advice/comments?

 

 

 

[cooperlola]

I have never seen an electrical product, for instance, that did not state that one should keep the packaging for guarntee claims purposes either here or in the UK - and I've just had a look at a few. 

 However, a good story.  I took my Hard Drive DVD recorder back to Boulanger the other day - 19 months into the 2-year warranty period.  It needed a complete new hard drive and power unit.  I had not kept the box.  They replaced everything no problem (although it did take them a while to get the parts) and when I got it back, they gave me a document extending the guarantee for a further 6 months.  Charming and unquestioning service.  I was very impressed.

[Frank]

Here is my experience of returns etc. I had  fridge 15mths old with rust spots that appeared on the door .I telephoned the shop, the chappie came out, made a few noises about it not being normal and said it would take a month to sort out the problem.  Two weeks later, I had a brand new fridge and the chappie removed and disposed of all the packaging and positioned the fridge in the kitchen.  I was well impressed with the service[:D]!!  I haven't had any probs with other shops either to return or exchange items I had bought in error , which seems to happen a lot[Www]! 

[Deimos]

When I have returned stuff I have had excellent experiences in France. Purchased a mobile phone last year and the PC software was "poor" - so I took it back and got a refund with relatively few questions (though terminating the contract did take half an hour). Similarly, purchase something you don't want or buy too many of in e.g. Leroy Merlin and just take it back (with receipt) and get a refund (cash for small amounts and credit note for larger amounts).

People grip a lot about Customer Service in France but I've not found it bad at all - comparable to UK. Maybe some people have unrealistic expectations.

Ian

[Sunday Driver]

My wife recently bought a pair of fine pendant earrings in Geant and when one of the dangly bits snapped off, we took them back to the store.  She needed to nip to the loo, so in her absence, I showed the shop assistant what had happened.  The woman smiled and said "she's not supposed to wear them in bed, you know.  I'll have to send them back for repair." 

At that moment, my wife returned and said "Oi, Madame!  I'm not daft enough to do that!".  I quickly stepped in to avoid a potential cat fight and pointed out an identical pair in the display cabinet.  "Can we not have these ones as a replacement now instead of having to wait for the repair".  The woman's eyes lit up and with a lovely smile, she said "Of course you can..."

 

[Jc]

I bought a light in M. Bricolage;it didn't work-neither did the replacement they gave me-no problem-the cashier called over a lad who opened all the packages and plugged them in till we found one that worked-they were German!!

[chilly]

I am  heartened and yet amazed by all these positive responses...I can only assume i've just been unlucky...and no.... I DO NOT HAVE UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS....I do find remarks like that unhelpful and a trifle provocative!

I also am not the only one who feels this way where we live and which prompted me into starting this post in the first place.I seem to have met quite a few people lately who have had very similar negative experiences. I certainly had never had this in the UK and am not in the business of complaining unless really pushed to and feel that its warrented.

C

[5-element]

Chilly - I have had several pretty negative experiences with faulty goods - which usually involved being given the run around for something that supposedly could be fixed - then was not - then returned - then the third time, eventualy fixed - that was a Magimix Robochef. Also currently experiencing similar problems with a duff DVD reader.

For the Magimix (which stopped working when I first used it) it was suggested that I had used it wrongly (what, grating carrots wrong???) then that there was nothing wrong with it, then it actually got lost as wrong label had been applied to it in the distant repair warehouse, where they never answered the phone. The shop manager where I had bought it was so incredibly unpleasant - he still is, I think he needs to be video-ed actually, as he is virtually a cartoon character in his systematic unpleasantness - that in the end I started hassling the repair people myself. Had to send emails to Magimix customer services who themselves, tracked down the warehouse etc. etc...There was never, ever, any question of replacing it, even though it had gone "for repair" - brand new - for 6 or 8 weeks.

As for the DVD reader, it was a mistake to buy it in the shop where it was bought, as I have absolutely no doubt that the manager there has ripped us off for other things (decoder, and computer repairs), but unfortunately Mr 5-E, who hardly ever sees the empty part of the glass half-full, gave him another chance with the DVD reader.

Customer service is a Martian notion here where I live, I don't know as much about the rest of France, and am prepared to accept that there might be regional variations[:'(]. Not too optimistic though.

I am glad that others here, have had better treatment. It might restore some of my faith in consumer rights!

[cooperlola]

I certainly had a bad experience with a large electronics retailer in the UK years back.  The tapes kept getting stuck in my VCR and it went back so many times (each time developing the same fault just after its return) until the warrantly ran out and they refused to try again - unless I paid.

[Teamedup]

I think that I have had the best service apres-vente these last three years than I have in  all the time I have lived here really.

In the past there are some things I should have done more about and didn't, others I persued, not always with success, but even when I was successful was left with a feeling of distrust.

I am now very picky about where I shop. I don't buy things in Confo at all and some makes I stay well away from.

[Cjlaws]

My after-sales experiences in France in the ten

years that I've lived here have, by and large, been very good. Two little blips

were a local privately owned shop  which didn't want to replace a handbag

with a faulty strap, and a local supermarket which gave us grief by claiming

that a credit note had expired. Both of these "blips" were resolved

in our favour.

In the last six months I have been impressed by the following:

Hewlett Packard France - Excellent telephone support (they ring you back), and,

when it was agreed that the computer was faulty, an excellent pick-up and

return service -5 working days from first telephone complaint to return

of the machine.

FNAC - Excellent telephone support - an engineer rang me within 10 minutes of

my original call - money back on the faulty goods (DVD/VHS player) and a 33%

discount on the current price of the latest model . Their pre-discount price

was the same as Amazon's.

Le Comptoir de Famille, Passage Jouffroy in Paris - gave us full credit for goods

we had bought in a fit of enthusiasm and which we returned months later with no

receipts.

Leroy Merlin - have always replaced or refunded anything with their label on, with

or without a receipt.

[Deimos]

[quote user="chilly"]

I am  heartened and yet amazed by all these positive responses...I can only assume i've just been unlucky...and no.... I DO NOT HAVE UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS....I do find remarks like that unhelpful and a trifle provocative!

[/quote]

Then maybe you should "chill out" a bit (sorry - could not resist that one). It was a general comment (read - "Maybe PEOPLE ..." not "Maybe Original Poster ..."). It was also a quite serious comment. Often people expect exceptionally high levels of service forgetting that at the end of the day they pay for it. Having loads of customer service staff waiting to bend over backwards for any request costs money and the shops will make a profit.

Thing is that people seem to love griping about bad customer service in France but then look at the experiences people are quoting above - mostly good but Coop did have a bad experience - in the UK !!. I'm sure there are examples of bad customer service in any country and it is a fact of life that people remember the one bad one rather than the loads of good ones (and thus often form opinions that do not reflect what they have actually experienced).

Ian

[Georgina]

OK I'll start this off, something that really drives me mad is I have found that when something is on special offer, and you get charged the original price (always check your receipts because this is common).  Often it is you that has to prove that you had not misread it. So you get told to go look again to the place where you bought it, take off the price tag and take it to the customer service desk, they rarely go look for you.  Then when you give them the price, they check it over thoroughly (thus you are standing there another ten minutes) they often ring the person whose department it is, (to check that you have not just had it printed) [:)], and then reluctantly give you the difference, no apology.  In England we are used to being given the product for free or refunded double, if they have not charged you the correct price, as they can be fined for doing this.  I do wonder what protection the customer has over here for being charged the wrong price though. I doubt if they ever get fined.  

I think the big supermarkets are definitely the worst culprits and I use all of them but the little ones, even Netto are much more agreeable.

Georgina

[Owens88]

Its not all the same.

 FWIW I have found that big stores less good than UK, small ones a lot better, often fantastic.

There is also a rural/urban divide in attitide to cust service, I think.

 

[Chancer]

[quote user="Georgina"]

OK I'll start this off, something that really drives me mad is I have found that when something is on special offer, and you get charged the original price (always check your receipts because this is common).  Often it is you that has to prove that you had not misread it. So you get told to go look again to the place where you bought it, take off the price tag and take it to the customer service desk, they rarely go look for you.  Then when you give them the price, they check it over thoroughly (thus you are standing there another ten minutes) they often ring the person whose department it is, (to check that you have not just had it printed) [:)], and then reluctantly give you the difference, no apology.  In England we are used to being given the product for free or refunded double, if they have not charged you the correct price, as they can be fined for doing this.  I do wonder what protection the customer has over here for being charged the wrong price though. I doubt if they ever get fined.  

I think the big supermarkets are definitely the worst culprits and I use all of them but the little ones, even Netto are much more agreeable.

Georgina

[/quote]

Agree with the above but have never got the product for free or refunded double in England, I have just been happy to pay the promo price and get some civility and/or apologies.

Here I experience all the above, the gallic shrugs and annoyance of those behind me in the queues.

I wanted to buy a Senseo coffee maker and waited till it was on promo, I ended up having arguments in 3 seperate shops where the colour black was not at the promo price, I argued to no avail, despite having the prom "pub" showing the model number and in one case the actual colour black in the photo.

This was 3 seperate promotions from different retailers (although I suspect that the common guilty party was Phillips) but in every case I was treated with total indifference as described above. I should also point out that the coffe-makers were not individualy priced, in the worst case (the one with the colour black in the photo and model number) the only price on display was the promo price.

Each time I tried to discuss with the person responsible "don't you agree that it wastes both our time and gives you a bad reputation to advertise goods at one price and charge a higher price at the tills" the concept of "fairness" did not seem to register with them.

Finally at another store I found the black senseo machine at a lower price than the promo ones, it also had a price ticket on it, and very pleased with it I am too!

Editted.

I should point out that my French is now reasonably good (although obviously accented) and all the discussions were in French

[Russethouse]

Chilly - perhaps you should write in another colour - green has unfortunate connotations for this thread [:D]

http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/g.htm

[Georgina]

JR said

I should point out that my French is now reasonably good (although obviously accented) and all the discussions were in French

I agree, there is nothing like being able to make a reasonable complaint in French -  it's much less frustrating [:D]  I think half the frustration initially of BCS is not getting your point across properly. I  have had some that have agreed that prices are misleading (even though they have them on the product) ha ha.  And then the shrug.  Oh and the sympathetic"this is France" like they accept things for that reason alone. I like that one.[:D]

 

Georgina

[Clair]

As a follow-up of the coffee-machine...

I bought a Tassimo a few months back.

Their usual promo had been 'get €30 refund by returning the voucher', but this was near Mother's Day and they wanted to sell as many as possible so the promo was 'get €30 off at the till today and €30 refund by returning the voucher'.

So I bought one and got €30 off at the till.

I promptly sent off the voucher and the receipt to get the other €30 but was refused the refund, as "it should not have been offered at the same time as the other offer, as it would give €60 off the retail price".

I dug my heels in and returned the voucher and the till receipt (they had sent everything back when they'd turned me down) with a covering letter to Braun's head office.

I saw a €30 refund appear on my bank statement a few weeks later...

I ordered a washing-machine on line from the Aurillac (15) Conforama. I was offered and paid for a delivery service.

When I called the shop to arrange a delivery date, a rude sales person (and I am French, so no language problem here!) said they did not deliver outside the département (we live 2km from the 15 département).

I did say I had already paid for it, but no, they don't deliver and I'd have to ask for a refund...

She was not budging so I called their head office and left a message for their customer liaison to call me. They explained they had not been aware the online system was not set up to recognise variations of département numbers and they offered to arrange the delivery directly with the shop on my behalf.

I did tell the head office person the name of the rude sales person in Aurillac... I have not shopped there since.

[chilly]

Interesting..

OK I'll get rid of the green, but I am frustrasted at being patronised...I perfectly understand customer service and by and large have found there to be less of it over here in France....it is not personal against France as a country as we love living here and I am not one to knock it unless its justified....I merely wanted to start a discussion as I felt that over here people accept 'less' and its not about expecting too much...purely about 'goods not fit for purpose' and having found that in a lot of the bigger stores, they are pretty unyeilding when it comes to changing faulty goods...I would love to know the word for GOODWILL..they dont seem to know the meaning of this yet!!! Oh and by the way Deimos ...what were you saying about the posts beng mainly positive?!!! Did I miss something?

 

[Cassis]

I believe in banging on the door until it collapses.  I did in the UK and I continue to do so here.  But I find it sometimes takes longer as often I find it hard to find anyone to take responsibility for 'customer service' or 'resolution of customer problems' or 'product faults' or however I term it.

[Clair]

[quote

user="chilly"]... but I am frustrasted at being

patronised...I perfectly understand customer service and by and large have

found there to be less of it over here in France....it is not personal against

France as a country as we love living here and I am not one to knock it unless its

justified....I merely wanted to start a discussion as I felt that over

here people accept 'less' and its not about expecting too much...purely about

'goods not fit for purpose' and having found that in a lot of the bigger

stores, they are pretty unyeilding when it comes to changing faulty goods...I

would love to know the word for GOODWILL..they dont seem to know the meaning of

this yet!!! Oh and by the way Deimos ...what were you saying about the posts

beng mainly positive?!!! Did I miss something? [/quote]

Why do you

feel patronised by the replies?

I have had bad service, in France and in the UK and, like Cassis, persevere until I get some form of redress.

[Dick Smith]

[quote user="chilly"]

Interesting..

OK I'll get rid of the green, but I am frustrasted at being patronised...

[/quote]

I find it strange that, nowadays, as soon as you disagree with someone they complain of being patronised!

Simply not understanding what the word means is one thing, but is there also an "I spoke so you must agree with me" thing going on?

[duckalaronze]

Three years ago, we ordered a Rotovator & a Polytunnel from Castorama Direct (on-line) with delivery being '3 weeks'.

After 5 weeks, we called their 'customer help line' (with our then limited French) and were told 'pas disonible!'

After numerous calls, emails and finally involving our neighbours, one volunteered to phone them on our behalf & was told 'the Client knows we don't have stock'.

After 3 months, another neighbour (who's quite high-up in the Paris office of an insurance comapny) gave us the name of a Director of Castorama, wrote a scathing letter on our behalf that we signed - and sent 'reccomandee' . . but no still response.

Finally (5 months later!), we approached Bureau des Consommateurs in Gueret - 2 elderly ladies who 'ooh la la'd', agreed it was 'pas normal' and took copies of our emails/diary notes/letter to director . . and charged us €20!!

The next day - - a phone call from the Director, 'this has never happened before, why the B de C letter? Desolee, goods will arrive Monday . . '

Tuesday am, taciturn truckie ('sign here - non, you do not need to open the package') turned up, we had to unload the boxes . . and next, a 'bon d'achat' for €100 from Castorama via la Poste, and another phone call from M. le Directeur ('we hope all is ok with your goods') but NO APOLOGIE....and we had to spend the @100 bon d'achat on line!

If you have a Bureau des Consommateurs locally, perhaps you should try them.

 

[Clair]

[quote user="Dick"]I find it strange that, nowadays, as soon as you disagree with someone they complain of being patronised![/quote]

I agree with you Dick (there's news for you!! [:P]) and I almost wrote along those lines too...

There's a lot of it about... [:)]

• patronise: do one's shopping at; do business with; be a customer or client of
• sponsor: assume sponsorship of

• patronise:
  be a regular customer or client of; "We patronise this store"
• patronise: treat condescendingly

[Chancer]

Perhaps it's the apology thing that there is not really a translation for then? Some sort of cultural face saving perhaps?

Has anyone ever received a soothing, calming, sincere or bridge-building apology? By that I mean one without the helpless shrug gesture.

To put things in perspective they are few and far between in England these days, more often an "am I bothered?" or "do I look like someone that gives a 4X?"  expression.