Dont disagree but I am intrigued that to change my internet/email setup with Orange, I have to send them a snail mail. Email is not accepted :-)
A story about french entrepreneur with the odd zinger here and there:
What creases me up, is the ones as where I began, who have a website. Indeed the dog parlour even has an English version. Inspect website, following instructions to the letter and send an email. Then find out a few days later that they don't read them. I have a friend who uses email as I do but is far more angry than me. Why? He is French and this/his country, in his opinion, is in an intellectual Sleeping Beauty land.
When we were buying an RV recently we sent an email to our insurance agents to advise that we had made the purchase and gave all the pertinent details and asked for coverage. Days went by without a response and we were due to pick up the vehicle. My husband called and was told that Sophie was on vacation for 2 weeks. I was aghast that no one was checking her emails! Email is efficient and it is a written record of inquiries/questions and responses (oh, I just realized, maybe that is why it is not used??? LOL) and it takes less time complete the transaction...again not the French way.
Oh Chris how right you are and yes that is one reason why I choose to live in France I do think that the rest of the world could do with taking a chill pill
France is in some kind of weird alternate dimension where the only thing that matters is eating, being on holiday and looking chic. The first two is kind of why we moved here...
Yes I have found the same problem maybe it's because the French like to talk LOL I have a lot of hounds and one French company have missed out on my buissness purchasing dog food, I do think that sometimes it is because they have a layed back attituide to life
It's most definitely a frustration.
Especially when compared with the rest of the world (and that includes some that are not really considered to be First World). Here I am in Kuwait, not exactly the bastion of all things modern customer relationshipwise - and yet, this morning I was searching online for a specific business oriented book. Contacted the publisher by email asking for a list of their re-sellers.
Fifteen minutes later I receive a call direct from the publisher, quick sales chat with them and then 30 minutes later the book was delivered to my office !
OK, there's no expectation of door-to-door service like that in the wilds of France, but as an example of generating customer loyalty things like this nowadays DO go a long way.
Cool that could explain why I've only had about 4 responses from the 800 or 900 emails I've sent to different companies for Vinexpo...
I am just back from my doctor. One of the questions I asked was whether he had had a letter from a neurologist. No! On the way out I had a word with the receptionist, in fact they do have it. It arrived as a fax and when she has time she will scan it in! The neurologist looked at all of my files online, they have a fairly sophisticated stack of machinery including computers so too the doctor, which means since the records are centrally retained somewhere, why wasn't that diagnosis? I am, yet again, lost for words on the subject.
We have a Minitel machine tucked away, am often tempted to drag it out and see if we get a response from the many departments that refuse to reply to emails. We were given an email address by one Functionare (with her name in it), sent the documents that she required. When we asked her at a later date why she had not dealt with them we were told that she does not receive emails they all go to the receptionist! Am sitting here shaking my head still.
Oh, don't get me going on the e-mail situation in this otherwise wonderful country. If they have no intention of ever using e-mail, why do they not just have the guts to tell us that - and stop pretending. I have sent many e-mails to businesses throughout the world, and the only ones I have NEVER had any response to are those sent to French businesses. I feel we may need to wait about another 10 years until all the young French people currently being educated in the UK university system, or working in London, return to their Motherland, and wonder why the dickens no-one uses the tools available to them!!!
Update: I called the doggy parlour. The same assistant answered. I asked if she passed on my message and could I speak to her boss. No and no. She had forgotten and anyway I was calling back but her boss was delivering some dogs somewhere. I asked if she has a mobile. Of course, I was told, but she doesn't like her number given to strangers.
So. Telephone does not work, email does not work, message via a human does not work, not allowed to have the mobile and so what is the secret to getting an appointment?
I suppose I always have the alternative of going to either of the others that are well over twice the distance away.