The computer says no!

[Kitty]

So we have been writing to all the organisations who send us post to the UK in order to change everything to our French address.

It's amazing how many companies say that they can't change our address to France as they need a British postcode on their computer system.

It took Center Parcs, wanting to sell me an expensive holiday, to see a way of gettting round the problem.  They just entered XXXX XXX.

[Albert the InfoGipsy]

You were lucky and I'm surprised that their system is so primitive it failed to validate the post code properly. All the UK-centric corporate databases I've worked on required at least a 'correctly formed' (e.g. XX1 1XX) postcode and many of them check against a master list of valid postcodes.

I do agree that any commercial organisation that can't cope with overseas deliveries or customers is losing potential business, but it's surprising how many there are.

[Judith]

I have "given up" with some of them, who as you say, cannot cope with a non-UK address.  People like John Lewis, for example, do manage, they put in France, and that seems to work - so it can be done, especially when customer service is important to them.,...  mind you they have managed to loose an order I made and paid for whilst in the UK, expecting to collect it before I left, so they said they would post it to France  .....  I'm still waiting.......

[tonyinfrance]

Ref the John Lewis note above, I work for a large insurance company - our phones and fax machines cannot access international numbers (since our customers are almost exclusively based in UK) and this might explain why some companies find it difficult to cope with non-UK addresses etc. if their systems are not set up to handle them.  If we want to send mail to an overseas address we have to carry it to the post room in an adjoining building...........

[bixy]

And how many large organisations send mail to France with second class postage. I'm surprised it gets here. At Christmas time we receive a number of cards with just UK postage. It's not as if we've gone to the moon, it's only France for goodness sake. It just reminds me yet again how inward looking and non-European minded the British are.

Patrick

[Chancer]

And whilst we are generalising one could equally say the French.

I do find that most English people when they do stop to think, say re the postage will understand that often things can work differntly in other countries, I find with a lot of the French (I can only speak for my region) to learn that something is differnt in another European country is totally surprising if not incomprehensible.

My favorite party trick is to present a UK 3 pin plug to a group of  locals, it's as if it were an alien spaceship, looks of total bemusement, much head scratching and sometimes naive questions.

I have been asked many times what way round the pedals in my RHD car and are where  is the gearlever, is the shift patern reversed etc.

[velcorin]

(I'm in the UK at the moment, love it!!)

I'll put a defence in for businesses.

We sell umpteen billions a year across 194 different countries Legal systems differ between countries. Therefore we have 194 different Terms of Business, which form the basis of a Contract.

I would never allow one of our UK businesses to sell to France. One bad debt would wipe out any potential P&L gain no question. If the Worst Case Scenario happens, you have to go to Court and rely on the TOB......UK v FR forget it.

I read on here about the UK banks, insurance companies, etc not providing services in France. Well I wouldn't. Different legal systems. Again WCS, how on earth do you enforce the Contract.

[Kitty]

Velcorin - This isn't about not selling to France.  It's about big compnaies not having the ability to insert French addresses into their computer systems.  So electricity companies, banks, insurance companies, Internet companies etc cannot send UK utility bills, UK bank statements, UK insurance policies etc to addresses abroad because someone hasn't designed their computer programmes to accept addresses abroad.

The answer on the telephone is 'The computer can't do it because you don't have a UK postcode'.

For example, when I telephones a leading insurance company, with whom we have UK buildings insurance, UK contents insurance, UK car insurance and UK holiday lettings insurance, they said that they can't send any paperwork to France and asked us to retain a UK address somewhere.  When I wrote to their head office with the XXXX XXX solution that Center Parcs used, they arranged it.

[AnOther]

I'm reminded of the famous London Times weather report: "Heavy fog over channel, continent isolated" [:D][:D][:D]