Beryl Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 My husband's French bank card expired end of November and this caught us out as a new one had not arrived. We waited a week or so and then contacted the bank who informed us that the new one would be sent out in the middle of January. We emailed them to say with Christmas this was not acceptable etc and had no reply. Still not a huge problem as mine did not expire until Dec 31st. Now neither of us can withdraw any money etc until our new cards arrive in 3 weeks time.[:@]I am completely confounded by the whole matter, what the heck are they playing at? I will be changing banks as soon as practical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjamin Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 berylIt might be helpful if you said where you are located and why you can't just turn up on their doorstep and demand they sort something out for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beryl Posted January 2, 2007 Author Share Posted January 2, 2007 That's the difficulty, the branch is located many hundreds of miles away as we opened it when we had our holiday home in France. When we moved here permanently and to a different area, we kept to that bank for convenience ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjamin Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 So long as it's not one of the regional banks (e.g. Credit Agricole) why don't you try going into the nearest branch to where you now live and explain the situation and ask them to speak directly to your "home" branch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teamedup Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 Every bank we have had so far, and we have got through a few, have always issued the new card about ten days before the expiry date of the old card. This drives me mad as if we plan on going away, could end up without a card. Whichever bank you are with are not acting correctly in any way with regards to this. You should have had notification of the new card being available towards the end of November, and for the other card by around the 20th December. Change banks, what more can I say. And if you are with the CA well this wouldn't surprise me, the only dealings I have had with those guignols was when I was a treasurer and I kept an eagle eye on them from day one, they were so inefficient. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beryl Posted January 2, 2007 Author Share Posted January 2, 2007 I contacted them again today and was told that my husband's card has been ready to collect from the Branch since the end of October and mine is now ready too. They know full well that we live about as far from SE France as one can get but though we could pop in [8-)] I have asked if they could simply post them to us and now it has gone quiet again [Www] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 CA told us (at our English address) that we had new cards to pick up in France. I told them that we couldn't do that for a couple of months, but it didn't matter. They said they couldn't post them to England, we said OK, we understood. So they posted them to England... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beryl Posted January 2, 2007 Author Share Posted January 2, 2007 Initiative and communication skills do not seem to be pre-requisites for a job at our bank. My request to have them posted has probably been sent to the new rubber stamp department for actioning! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunday Driver Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 Fifty million French people manage to live with their banking system. A few Brits fall foul of things because although they're now living in France, they expect the processes to be the same as in the foreign country they've just moved from......[8-)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cjlaws Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 I could not agree more with Sunday Driver.Sounds to me like you need to visit your local branch, as has already been suggested, and move your account to there.In the meantime - can't get at your money? have you thought of using your chequebooks? - your local branch will help you to withdraw cash by making a cheque out to "soi meme", but be sure to take your passport with you! [;-)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 You definitely need to move your account to a branch nearer to your French home. I am pretty sure you will have to visit the current branch to complete the task. We did it when we moved from one area to another in France. I signed one paper (in the first branch) and the account was moved to the new branch. Makes everything SO much simpler.Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beryl Posted January 3, 2007 Author Share Posted January 3, 2007 [quote user="Sunday Driver"] Fifty million French people manage to live with their banking system. A few Brits fall foul of things because although they're now living in France, they expect the processes to be the same as in the foreign country they've just moved from......[8-)] [/quote]50 million French people are obviously lucky in that they get communication from their banks informing them that their cards are ready for collection. Mine hadn't even got the courtesey to do that and I haven't developed skills of telepathy yet [:D]I don't have a local branch either. However, I think I have made some progress and will be changing my bank in the very near future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony F Dordogne Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 We still have our original account with Britline on Normandie and have another account at our local branch for our business/local banking here in the heart of deepest SW France - not had any problems at all with either bank, staff have always been really helpful, couldn't actually get a better service and much better than the drongos who worked in Barclays in Romford.Thing SD has got it about right - when in France, expect things to be different and just go with it - when OH's bank card expired, she just phoned Britline in advance, asked what the system was, what did she need to do and voila, she received another one through the post, though by that time we were living here rather than in that increasingly foreign country.But it was forward planning - card runs out end of January, speak to bank to clarify things by end of December!And as already mentioned, there are always cheques here which are as good as cash, at least for larger purchases. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyphilpott Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 I use Credit Ag and they are always pretty helpful if somewhat overburdened by red tape!When our debit cards are due for expiry we get a letter (sent to the UK) reasonably well in advance saying they are ready to be collected from the branch which is usually impractical unless we are visiting around that time. A friend of ours in the village just goes into the bank and asks them to post them to us in the UK which they do and without charge! Small village so the bank staff know most of those in the village which might help I guess. They have even been known to hand over the cards to our friend to hold pending our next visit!My only gripe is having to pay for debit cards, albeit one is at half price, but that is how they work so just grin and bear it.Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooperlola Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 If you are thinking of opening a new account, I did this for some friends of mine who have just moved here, with our local branch of Caisse d'Epargne. Free cards for the first year - worth thinking about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjamin Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 [quote user="beryl"]Initiative and communication skills do not seem to be pre-requisites for a job at our bank. My request to have them posted has probably been sent to the new rubber stamp department for actioning![/quote]Sorry, but I'm with beryl on this one. Look at her opening post. She communicated with her bank as soon as she realised there could be a problem and they completely ignored her.This seems to happen not infrequently when dealing with French banks when you try to do something that doesn't fit in with their "norm". They seem to be completely bemused when you have the audacity to actually demand a bit of personal service. I always think that French people are kowtowed when dealing with banks and as a consequence bank employees are not used to going that "one step further" to help out in unusual circumstances.I visited my bank (it doesn't matter which one) in the middle of December to point out that my name on my debit card which is due to expire at the end of February was not quite correct (they had printed my second Christian name in full and linked it to my surname with a hyphen thereby making it into a double barrelled surname).I could tell from the look of complete apathy that nothing would be done about it so I went straight home and put my request in writing. We will see, but if it's still wrong when the new one is ready they'll get it back.......sideways! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunday Driver Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 They probably couldn't understand what was wrong with Benjamin Ffoulkes-Farquarson.....[;-)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teamedup Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 SD, french people can and do have terrible problems with their banks and they râle about them. We do not have 50 million happy smiling contented banking clients in France. I don't think you can have such an 'odd' system as is the french banking system and it not be problematic. So insinuating that it is just 'brits' having a whinge is not fair IMO. Just how many people know, really know how their own banking system works before they move, they may have some notion of it all, but understand it, well, not that many do. And then they are faced with the french system which I will kindly call idiosyncratic and the sad truth is that there is little notion in many banks of proper customer care, never mind offering good service. No wonder that there is customer confusion accompanied by outbreaks of naievety.We are now on our, well let's do a list of our french banks accounts. We had Banque de la Prudence, which became Barclays and what they did with our accounts beggared belief and would have been illegal in the UK at the time and likely now; the Banque Nationale de Paris, followed by the Credit Mutuel and then the Banque Populaire des Alpes and now we are with one which is part of the HSBC group........ small branch and so far they are OK for a french bank and not a patch on our UK HSBC. Whichever bank Beryl uses has let her down badly. They should have been helpful. Their money is with these people and they have the right to be given easy access to their own funds, it is the least any bank anywhere can do for their clients.Ours would certainly have sent the cards out, recommande avec accuse de reception, and charged and arm and a leg, but they would have done it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjamin Posted January 4, 2007 Share Posted January 4, 2007 [quote user="Sunday Driver"]They probably couldn't understand what was wrong with Benjamin Ffoulkes-Farquarson.....[;-)] [/quote][:)] [:D] [:)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjamin Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 Just got back from a few weeks in sunny Spain only to find that CA completely ignored the letter I wrote to them and have issued my new debit card with exactly the same incorrect title as before.They are going to get another one issued but answered the question of what happened to my letter with a Gallic shrug!If I thought any other bank was any better I'd be off like a shotBenjamin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beryl Posted February 27, 2007 Author Share Posted February 27, 2007 I have since changed bank accounts and have gone with CA rather than La Poste and everything has gone really well ...except my card also has my first name as an initial and my middle name in full with a hyphen to my surname [8-)]. But as I only use a pin number I am not too worried. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 [quote user="Lori"]You definitely need to move your account to a branch nearer to your French home. I am pretty sure you will have to visit the current branch to complete the task. [/quote]We are in the process of chanigng branches - Banque Populaire. We have not had to visit the original branch. The new branch has opened a new account for us and is in the process of closing the original account and transferring the funds in it to the new account.As has been voiced here, the systems in France and the UK are different - i.e. charges. However, it would seem that UK banks are looking to introduce charges so it might not be that diffeent for much longer.Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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