Me too… and not a thing wrong with that … 
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That, and consumer rights generally.
I’m really shocked by both these things here.
In answer to your question : yes I can imagine… and this is also moaned about by locals…how very difficult it is to take relatively modest amounts of cash out of bank accounts here.
It’s almost as if the currency was worthless and they don’t want anyone to find out by actually taking some out to spend on something they might not be able to earn a second fee on (as in interchange card they earn when you spend on debit or credit card). Or, govt wants to see everything and tax everything, as govts tend to.
The constraints on getting your own money out of your own account in cash, kick in at far too low a level.
I like to use the ATM which allows me to tell it how much I want to “take out” and in which denomination…
I did have quite a lively conversation with a cashier some years ago. They stopped handling money themselves and I asked why a 50€ was the smallest note I could get out of the machine. “how can I buy a newspaper with that?”… was met with “the shop will have change”.
But in recent years the machine has been changed (or its innards have been) and I am more in control… I can actually get 10€ notes out … phew, result!
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Change Bank!
I’ve been with Credit Mutuel for over 30 years and always have excellent service.
Is that the same as Credit Agricole? Since my first post way back in Jan and my email to the bank - I am still waiting for a reply. Have emailed again and still no reply. Hardly good customer service.
With CA you will have a named advisor, I think everybody does, their name and contact details are on your online account. Did you contact him/her personally? I am not sure we have ever contacted ours by email, we usually phone him and very often he has to go away and check something and he says he will phone us back, but he always has. Or your online account has the facility to make an appointment to speak to your advisor.
I only remember trying to use the online message facility once. The issue was quite complex which is why I thought I would put it in writing. I spent a very long time composing a message and trying to make it clear and comprehensive, and when I clicked the button to send it, my message vanished and I got a message telling me that my connection had timed out. I do not often swear but I did then. And I do not trust the message facility now.
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Oh dear… that must have been so frustrating. Must confess my online messaging to CA is kept short and sweet.
One time, I got an automatic message saying my personal contact was on holiday.
No problem, I popped into the bank and they dealt with my query face to face.
A couple of weeks later, my personal contact phoned me… threw me completely for a moment until I realized she was catching-up after her hols.
She was pleased my query had been settled and apologized for disturbing me. (while I felt pleased that she had actually responded…)
No - Credit Mutuel is another bank altogether - sort of half way between a bank and a building society in my experience! Our local one is brilliant but then I suppose a lot depends on the quality of the local advisors…
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My advisor sends out text messages to wish me happy birthday, happy Christmas, a prosperous New Year, warnings to be careful when bad weather is forecast for the town and all sorts, Obviously it is not my advisor thinking about his customers all the time, it is an automated system they have set up. I wonder if all CA customers get this, or does it depend on the franchise, does the advisor even know what messages are being sent in their name or is it something each advisor can opt their customers into or out of?
Would never use Credit Agricole.
I have a Credit Agricole account and a Credit Mutuel. I’ve found Credit Agricole to be ok recently - to start with they were imperious and unhelpful but that was many years ago and now it seems to depend entirely on the personal advisor. The last one I had was brilliant but the current one is dreadful. Fortunately, this particular bank seems to be a training venue for youngsters, including arrogant ones, and they moveon after a couple of years.
Credit Mutuel is a recent account and they’ve been great so far. We used them for setting up our Association and they couldn’t have been more helpful.
I should have expressed myself better… I was expecting a call from someone else… and suddenly I’ve got Madame xxx from Credit Agric talking about helping me with “something”… total confusion for a nano-second…
and yes, there’s an amazing amount of help/info that comes from all and everybody these days.
Our CA is excellent. Always had good, non-pushy advisors. All down to your local branch whatever bank you are with.
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Glad you like Crédit Mutuel.
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If you want to send a long message, whether to a bank or anything else, to avoid this problem, it’s best to write the message in an write programme and then copy it into the online messagerie.
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Our UK house will be sold on Friday April 1st…The funds will be used to complete the purchase of our house in france on Tuesday April 5th. So I was tempted to use Britline for the transfer as it would be helpful to open a French bank account before we move to France but I 've read somewhere on this thread that Britline only updates accounts overnight not real time so that could make things a bit tight as the funds need to be in the notaire’s account by Monday April 4th
They managed to transfer a little more quickly for us but it was 16 March 2020 the day before lockdown. We were charged a fee too, about 11 euro. Perhaps contact them beforehand to ask what is possible.
Just get a couple of quote for the transfer - it can make a very big difference. Britline is not normally the cheapest - and when buying a house the difference due to the sums involved will be big.
We have done all our house buying transfers through the Foremost Currency Group, they have been quick, have given great advice and we got an excellent exchange rate, we have always been very happy with them and would use and recommend them again.