Great (French) Customerservice

This my friend, brits tend to forget it too often :wink:

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:+1: Maxime :slightly_smiling_face:

I know a lot of French people that are not so easy to deal with, I don’t think stupidity has something to do with a nationality :wink:

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Lack of French, so frustration plays a huge part, I suppose!

Our experience so far has been pretty good too.:crossed_fingers: Our Agent whilst costly went above and beyond what any UK agent would do, our Notaire was hilarious on the day we signed and our insurance agent has been really helpful for both the house and the car. The concessionaire at Mazda made our purchase virtually painless (parting with cash for cars always hurts :joy:) and even EDF (in the form of Energis) turned up on the appointed days within the time slot on both occasions - something that has rarely happened in my previous experience in the UK .In fact I’ve waited in all day (here in UK) for our Electrician to come and quote for removing the oven and other stuff before we move . No call or text to say he couldn’t make it . I know he’s really busy but …

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My agent was good too, when I was refused permission to convert the ‘cowshed’, he got me by the arm, hauled me out to his car, off to the Marie, talked to them, resolved things amicably, so the deal went ahead, been on good terms with the Marie since too, even got married there :slightly_smiling_face:

One good one from Espace Emeraud in St Foy-la-Grande I bought a pair of wheels for my sack truck in their branch in La Reole which didn’t fit the axles. As we were in St Foy I took them back to the branch there and, somewhat to my surprise, the young man who served me was happy to take them back on production of the bill ofrm La Reole (unusual in itself). He couldn’t find either a suitable replacement or a new inner tube for the old wheels so we bought a watering can and he refunded the difference in cash.

A very bad one - Ikea in Bordeaux. We bought a kitchen there on 25 June and delivery was arranged for 5 July. No one turned up. Many emails (37 actually) to Ikea customer service at Bordeaux, 3 to CEO Ikea France (not answered) produced another date for 12 July. 5 of 326 packages arrived, nothing else. Another date eventually fixed ot 24 July which I had told them several times would be after we had left so finally a date for 6 September was arranged. No idea if they will turn up then either. Email to Ikea CEO in Sweden acknowledged with auto reply be return. Actual reply two days later from secretary wholly inadequate and offered apology for my experience.

Many similar experiences reported on various review websites. Pretty poor service.

My advice - if you buy anything form Ikea in Bordeaux take it home that day or be prepared that you may never get it.

That is Swedish service Mike :wink:

So it may be Bill but that doesn’t make it acceptable.

Bit of a panic when the (fully-closed) Heki Rooflight was torn off my caravan in an overnight storm in March. Although I was able to make the hole vaguely waterproof, there was no way it would survive the further storms forecast. The nearest stockist proved to be Narbonne Accessories (in Narbonne) and I chatted online with “Karim” about availability, stressing the urgency. Home delivery would however be around four days, with three days to the shop – I said I would place an order for the latter. It was only at the end of my fifth “chat”, that I added my name.

About 5 mins later, the phone rang, it was Karim who said (in English) that he had found me as an existing customer, had been to check the stock in the warehouse, and I could have one in the morning, if I came to the Head Office (also in Narbonne). Really impressed with his level of service.

A check with my insurance – Matmut – showed that there was an excess of €200 for storm damage (unless an official “disaster” was declared) and the claim was duly submitted. I got a response advising that they were waiving the excess in “our constant commitment to the quality of the coverage we provide to our policyholders”. Can you imagine this from a UK insurer?

A double whammy of exceptional French service.

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But we are talking French Service Mike :wink:

Brilliant Pete, don’t get better than that :+1: :grinning:

That doesn’t make it any more acceptable. From the lack of response to my emails to the French CEO and the tone of that from the main board CEO it clearly represents a policy set at the top. Surprisingly we have had very good service from Ikea in UK and Cyprus so it is evidently influenced by local management as well.

Ok :slightly_smiling_face:

Good morning everyone not often I comment on here but I do glean loads of info which is very handy when motorhoming around France. This year due loads of circumstances I put petrol instead of diesel in the vehicle at Calais, right guys stop falling about laughing; because of this I encountered customer service which was beyond exemplary. contacting Red Pennant good service very prompt yes but, France Depannage from Avenue de Calais Marck were tasked to help. The recovery driver was friendly, cheerful and efficient, arriving at the garage Madam was again friendly welcoming spoke better English than my French offered us Coffee etc, the son worked through his lunch to make sure we were on our way quickly and again friendly, helpful and efficient. This is all a little long winded I know but, brilliant service demands comment; as an extra if anyone here knows this family please tell them they have been mentioned. We are writing anyway but perhaps a word would be good. Oh and they also liked our Spaniel :slight_smile:
Roderic

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Done that ‘trick’ too Rod’ and lucky also having a kindly guy put things ‘right’ :wink:

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Our desktop computer was showing signs of distress which we ignored, and eventually failed to boot up. Have we done regular back-ups? Of course not! So we were faced with the prospect of loosing all our photos and documents…

Anyway, found a likely looking computer person about 50km away who managed to save the contents and replace the hard disc. Unfortunately when we went to collect it he had reinstalled windows 7, not 10. No matter said he, I’ll redo it. Which he did, and delivered it to us this morning as since it’s a public holiday his shop is closed. No extra charge, nothing but a happy smile. And it was only 120 euros anyway… Now that’s good customer service!

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Brilliant Jane, we have a lad near here, His shop in Redon 35, equally obliging, and skilled, He is in fact a Brit, “Dan the Man”, sells comp’s and bits too, new and second hand.