Contacting EDF

[jayjayef]

I received an electricity bill from EDF at the beginning of Jan and duly sent off a cheque with the payment slip. After about 10 days I received a letter from EDF enclosing my cheque and advising me that they had only received the cheque and to return it with their form which asked for my a/c number and billing details. This was done immediately. Three days later I received the paying-in slip asking for a cheque to accompany the paying-in slip. This I ignored as I'd returned their letter. Three days after that I received a reminder to say I hadn't paid my bill, which I, again, ignored. Three days ago I received another letter threatening to cut off my electricity at a cost of €54. I then found on their website a telephone number for 'English speaking customers' and called it. Guess what! All the instructions are of course in French!!, just what an 'English speaking customer' needs. Today I have checked my French bank account and notice that my cheques has been cleared. Does anyone know of a number that IS in English? I do have a limited knowledge of the French language but if they are advertising a number for English speakers, for goodness sake have the instructions in English as well. I feel really quite aggrieved by all their correspondence especially as they made the mistake in the first place. And, as my wife pointed out, my name and address was clearly printed on the cheque so why couldn't they trace the payment using those details?

[Quillan]

Try looking under the Renovations part of the forum. You will find the contact number there in the FAQ section. When you ring it you will get French to start with because they are telling French people to phone another number as this is the 'International' number for English speakers. After that it will be in English.

[Jay]

(05) 62 16 49 08

(05) 56 17 40 70

Just keep listening, eventually you will get an American sounding lady saying "sorry all our lines are busy", at least that's what I got - maybe you will be lucky and speak to a human!

Sounds to me like you signed and dated the tear off payment slip which you must not do if you send a cheque. If you did sign and date it they are asking for your bank rib details so that they can take payment direct from your account in future (much easier than sending cheques)

[Gardian]

Jay is quite right - those are the numbers.

However, I've tried to get through several times in the last week on behalf of a friend whose French is poor and after a lengthy wait, I got answered by a 'normal' French-speaking operator.  It seems that there are only a handful of people on the English-speaking helpline numbers and your call will default in most instances to the regular call centre.

By all means try, but if your blood pressure starts escalating, then just go for the regular number on your bill. You might be pleasantly surprised at your ability to make yourself understood!   

[marmite]

[quote user="jayjayef"] I then found on their website a telephone number for 'English speaking customers' and called it. Guess what! All the instructions are of course in French!!, just what an 'English speaking customer' needs.[/quote]

What you might try is ignore all the instructions you hear and just hold tight and don't press anything, you may then be put straight through to the English speakers. Works in the UK quite often for me when asked to press 1 then 2 etc. for UK companies.