I am accustomed to getting generally poor levels of service in shops supermarkets etc as well as from my insurance company and other organisations who have been allowed by the French to get too big for their boots.
but now and again i get a pleasant experience which restores my faith !
2 weeks ago i was on "le bon coin " and searching for firewood , i found an ad in my dept (47 ) and emailed them to enquire , reply came back the same day with complete answers to my questions so i emailed back an order , the lady called me to confirm and arrange delivery saying she would call again at the beginning of the week to confirm which she did , then she called this morning to confirm "debut d apres midi" then at around 3pm she called again to say hubby was 5 ins away so could i be ready to show him where to put it .
Hubby arrived in 5 mins and was extremely polite and friendly driving slowly on the driveway so as not to scare the puppies .
In November last year we bought a new wood burning stove from poelepascher on the internet, it took 'weeks'to arrive despite supposedly being in stock,and we'd paid 100 euro for delivery that said next day.
But that was nothing;
In January, i discovered a large crack, about 15 cms long across the side wall of the stove, full thickness from the front by the door almost to the middle, you can see the flames through it. I emailed and got no reply so i telephoned and they put me on to a very nice lady who worked in accounts rather than customer service but spoke excellent English, she asked for photographs which i sent and she passed it on to the customer service team for me. Then, no reply, so a week later i emailed her and she contacted them 'again'..... after 3 weeks of this i, very politely, asked to be passed to a manager and within 20 minutes we got a email from the customer services team saying the details had been passed to Godin, (it's a Godin stove)
That was ooh, 6 maybe 7 weeks ago and we've heard nothing since.
To be honest we're at a loss as for what to do next. If i was in the UK i would have created such a stink we would of had a new fire installed weeks ago, but my French isn't good enough for that.
Is there a body to help with things like this or are we just suppose to accept it and buy ourselves a new stove? Surely they should replace our stove THEN return it to Godin?
A friend bought lots of boxes of floor tiles in Leroy Merlin in Grenoble. They took way longer than the delivery time originally quoted, and when they eventually arrived he was desperate to have them and get started. So he went to the store and found that all his tiles were in a storage area outside, and it had rained a lot. They didn't give a hoot, and he took the tiles anyway in spite of disintegrating boxes and so on. Oooops. :-) I guess it comes down to the people involved.
Love it Suzie. But you got the paint you wanted? :-) Had a somewhat similar experience last week in Carrefour. I needed puff pastry and searched the frozen section with no joy. Spotted OH across the next aisle and said loudly "Can't find the puff pastry". Next thing I knew I was being taken by the hand and marched to where the puff pastry was. Such a lovely lady and yes a customer, not any class of "sales assistant". She then insisted on looking at my shopping list (the one time I had remembered to actually bring it!) and found cinnamon sticks, yeast and a few other things. Of course we got chatting and it turned out she had spent a year studying in Dublin and recognised the accent!
A couple of weeks ago I was in castorama to buy some paint.I wasn't quite sure exactly what type of paint I needed but no problem I thought to myself,I've got plenty of time to choose and I wasn't expecting any help from the sales assistants.I arrived in the paint department and promptly saw a "sales assistant".I was very pleased to see him and said to myself "Great I'm going to be able to get some advice".I marched up to him "excusez moi monsieur" ........and we then spent 20 minutes discussing what paint I needed etc etc etc.At the end of our discussion I said "goodbye" and" Thank you" and I then watched him pick up a pot of paint and walk off........OMG as I realized he wasn't a sales assistant but a customer!!!!!!I was so embarrassed but I had to run after him to apologize
Oh dear, Catherine, what on earth did they do to you[or not do?]. We got our shed from them -unbelievable online bargain. Then it didn't appear for weeks. I phoned- eventually they admitted saidshed had fallen off the lorry and was trashed. It was an end of line, but bless them,they made [or had made] another and sent it to me.Is that good service or bad? Could read it either way ...
Our insurance company left me reeling in shock last year. Because of how nice they were, and how well they handled... well, everything...
from changing vehicles, to a car fire claim, to running in just as they were popping out of the office for lunch fir something quite small (my insurance disc had been sent to me, but, as it is for a motorcycle, the little sticker needed to attach it wasn't in the letter)... no problems, they took me in, sat me down, offered me tea or coffee, and told me never hesitate to pop in.
Fair enough with numerous vehickes and properties insured there, it is in their best interests to be nice to us, but the time the car went on fire, and we felt so hopeless and confused and people were coming at me left right, and centre asking me to fill out forms, our lady in Groupama re-assured me not to say, or sign anything for anyone, and just hand anyone a bit of paper with the reference number on it, and it was all cleared up, and re-compensated within about 3 weeks.