Thursday's thoughts -- just a little rant

Or it might be a big one. I'm not sure yet.

So... one thing that will make it easier to leave France is customer service at certain large corporate organizations. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.

Don't get me wrong. We have had no rude shopkeepers anywhere, and only helpful people at locally-owned or family run businesses throughout France. But...

France Telecom?

The after-sale department of E. Leclerc?

Rental car companies?

Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.

First -- about the phone. Laura and Franck switched from a fixed landline to an internet telephone line (and wireless) just before we arrived, thinking it would make it easier for renters to have all services in one. The service was spotty -- a fault of the line? a fault of the box? we never really knew -- and after eventually being unable to make or receive calls for a few weeks (or having periodic, unpredictable service), Franck wrote a letter for us to take to the France Telecom people to switch back to their old system.

After waiting many, many, MANY weeks and making four trips to the France Telecom store in Beaune to check on the status (including one with Geraldine, to make sure it wasn't a language problem... it's wasn't, sadly...)... well, on Tuesday afternoon, we were able to receive calls again. Yippee! Still haven't been able to make outgoing calls, but by this point, I'll take what I can get.

And the thing is -- I understand that technology issues can be complicated. A renter who speaks barely passable French with a terrible accent bringing in a letter from the owner makes things complicated, I am sure. But... the thing that really drives me crazy is the poor service each time we had to interact with the France Telecom people. Each time we'd go in the store... no "bonjours", no "I'll be with you in a moment," rien! Once I was yelled at for approaching an employee who (although I didn't know it) was helping another customer. Ugh.

Ugh.

On to my next favorite subject... E. Leclerc's "after-sale" department. So. We bought a printer shortly after we arrived, back in early February (note to anyone considering a sabbatical in Europe -- it's a good idea to budget for a cheap printer, especially if you want to take any of the cheap airlines. You need to be able to print out your own tickets or pay a hefty fee to have them do it for you). Anyway, about 16 days after we bought it, it stopped working. John did everything he could to make it work. Nothing. Rien. So with great trepidation, we took it back to E. Leclerc, my favorite mega-grocery store (and home of everything else from light bulbs to school supplies to toilet bowl cleaner). We had heard that returns in France can be tricky.

Our fears were completely merited.

It would have been pas de probleme if it had broken within the first 14 days. But since it broke a few days after that, we couldn't simply return it and get our money back. But they could send it back and try to get it fixed. They said this would take between two and eight weeks.

So... each week, for the last TEN weeks, we have been checking to see if the printer is fixed. We ended up buying another one for John's work (and boarding passes). But we kept checking in, anyway (I kind of wonder if they were hoping we would just give up.). And each week, rien. Finally, on Monday, I said "Look! We are leaving the FREAKING COUNTRY ON SUNDAY. What's up with our printer?!?!"

She said she'd call me and let me know.

I had to explain that our phones don't always work... but I hoped to hear from her soon.

Thirty minutes later, she called the cell phone and said to come back on Wednesday and it would be ready. OK. Great. Enfin. So I came back on Wednesday, and they handed me a new printer, just in a plastic wrapping, no box. I asked (as I had asked each week), if we just couldn't get our money back. Nope.

So... I took the printer home. We figured we would leave it here for future renters to use... and then last night, as John was looking at it, he noticed it had no cords. Really. There was no way to actually make the printer work.

So... back to Leclerc we go this morning. We didn't keep our cord when we returned the broken one, she asked? Nope -- we brought it back in the whole box, wrapping, cords and all. Well, she said. I'll need to check with my boss. She said she'd give us a call back.

WE ARE LEAVING THE FREAKING COUNTRY ON SUNDAY, I said, calmly, you can be sure. Oui, she said. She would see what she could do.

Thirty minutes later, as John was pulling into the train station to catch a train to Paris for work, our cell phone rang. Your package at E. Leclerc is ready to pick up, Madame H., a man's voice told me. I'd be right there, I said.

I arrived and found no one at the after-sales desk. No one at the photo desk where it said to check. I asked the main customer service desk if they knew where the after-sales person was... they called her... and she came to say (not nicely), that she was with another CLIENT, thank you very much, and she'd get to me as soon as she could.

So I waited. And waited. And after 13 minutes of waiting I had to leave to pick up the girls at school (and I was late, which they hate, and which never seems to happen to other parents here. But that's another story).

So... we are still waiting. I am going to check back in tomorrow after I pick John back up at the train station (taking Kate and Liv to Leclerc is kind of a nightmare, and I just am not up for it this afternoon).

Ugh.

And finally. Rental car companies. So... we fly out of Lyon airport, and in about a year, it will be REALLY easy to get there from here after they finish the new high-speed rail line between Lyon and its airport. But right now, you either need to drive, or take a train to the center of the city and then catch a bus out to the airport. We bought very cheap train tickets way back when, and then decided it'd be easier to just rent a minivan one way and avoid having to haul all of that luggage on public transportation.

So a couple of weeks ago, we books a minivan with Avis. And a day ago (yes, one day ago, three days before we were going to pick it up), we got an email that they have no minivans available, and they are very sorry.

That was it. No other solutions, nothing. Just that they are sorry.

So... back to the computer we go. It turns out there are no minivans anywhere in the greater Burgundy area to be had. We know because we have tried them all. I have even made many phone calls (and I still don't love the phone).

Ugh.

We're OK as we still have our train tickets, and we will just leave early and plan to take our time. But I am annoyed at all three companies right now. I kind of wonder how French people don't go crazy, as they probably have to deal with this much more than we have (I think Franck and Laura have shielded us from many of these kinds of stresses). Ugh.

Knowing we are going back to the land of Nordstrom's, which has the best customer service anywhere in the world, to the land of Sears Canada, where the appliance installation guy says he will come between 8 and 8:30, and actually shows up on time, to the land where companies big and small seem a little more eager to help -- well, it's a welcome kind of knowledge. And it's making it easier to think of leaving. At least we won't have to deal with this kind of service anymore!

Sure, we'll miss the wine, bread, cheese, food, market, countryside and most of all the amazing people we have met. But if we need to return something at a store -- pas de probleme!