So we have identified the bath we want, panels & stuff to go with it, available from Manomano and Bricomarche. I get the stuff in the basket and go through to checkout, but then find I can only have a French billing address to make payment. Ditto Bricomarche. The stuff is not available in store, delivery from the maker only.
With Manomano I could do a virement but that may entail a week-long wait and I lose the little protection I might have had from a French CCard.
When I had this issue with Leroy Merlin I ended up just putting my French address as the billing address and thankfully (and partly because of PSD2 requiring authentication I suspect) even though the billing address was actually incorrect, the bank didn’t refuse it, and the retailer was happy they got their French address. I was surprised it worked, and suspect it depends on individual banks, retailers, and payments gateways, so I’m not suggesting it will necessarily work for you, but it’s what I did, and it worked, I have windows rather than draughty holes in the walls
We leave Friday night, and I feel it’s just a bit too tight on time.
The irony of this is that I identified the bathroom stuff needed a couple of weeks ago, but didn’t order because delivery was likely when we weren’t there, so held off ordering until the delivery window was right.
I may try calling if I can get enough courage together. There’s also an Amazon UK retailer with the same (Alibert) bath on sale, and I might see if they can get one delivered in France.
There is a Bricomarche. On the website it seemed to suggest delays would be longer if ordering instore, but that could be negotiated via google translate.
There’s a Gedimat in Autun, and their website appears to suggest they have an example of a suitable alternative bath in store, but it’s not clear if this is the showroom and an actual bath would have to be delivered from a remote store.
It’s not the end of the world. If I can’t get the stuff this time then there is plenty of decoration etc to be done elsewhere in the house. I won’t be sat around bored and lonely.
We had the same issue with both Manomano and Ubaldi when we wanted to use a UK addressed CC. We rang them up to get the card ‘registered’ with them, everything then went straight through.
If you can find what you want on Ubaldi, you can define the date, morning or afternoon, you would like it delivered (at least we could for a fridge freezer)
I wonder if a Wise VISA card would work? I have a UK address but the Wise Euro account is located in Belgium.
They will issue you with a virtual card that you can add to Apple Wallet (or the Android equivalent I assume) so you don’t have to wait for a physical card to arrive.
A Wise account is free and the issuing of the card is also free.
(I know I bang on about Wise but I’ve found it very useful!)
So following up on this, another forumite very kindly stepped in and ordered the bath and bits for me, delivery expected any day now. This was going above and beyond, and I’m grateful.
My next question then is - is there a good reason not to use flexible hose for making connections? The old school plumber in me looks aghast at them, but the French seem to use them everywhere. I have some nice big ones with the right adapters for 14mm to 22mm bath fittings so it should all work.
Longevity is my only concern, seen quite a number fail but likewise in my own houses some lasted 10 years + but personally I change them around 10 years to be safe. Multicouche I like a lot more and have switched over to that except for tap ends which pretty much have to be flexibles for sink taps with tiny space.
Multicouche isn’t a name I recognise. By flexible hose, I mean the braided stainless stuff. I see Multicouche is reinforced pipe with push-fit connectors. Is that reliable?
Yes I knew what you meant. Multicouche is great when you havent a copper pipe bender to hand and being white it doesnt look bad either. I use the crimp type ends but there are various types. Yes very reliable and EU/France acceptable unlike john guest etc which is push fit in the truest sense.
Yes, use flexible pipes, but make sure you get the ones with the fitted washer in the female end. When we first arrived, the fittings were a bit different abd some of the flexible pipes had some sort of weird olive fittings which , to our insurance company’s detriment, failed (typically when we were our for a day). I think that type has been mainly replaced but I was quite surprised to see some when last in bricodepot.
(typically when we were our for a day). I think that type has been mainly replaced but I was quite surprised to see some when last in bricodepot.