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Overcharged telephone numbers
Overcharged telephone numbers are more and more common in France. A large number of businesses and recently also public administration use such telephone numbers to boost their revenues by making people pay for calling them. Watch out for numbers beginning with "08". Some may be free, some cheap, others expensive. Whoever you use as operator for your fixed telephone line, these calls are always invoiced by France Telecom - unless you have signed up for one of the few operators that take over your physical connection too. The price may be higher from mobile phones, and none are them are free if dialed on a mobile. Here is the whole list. Bear in mind that you can get a national call at a rate of 0.04 € per minute with a low-cost operator.

Overcharged hotlines
Internet service providers may provide hotline support through an overcharged number and at the same time by e-mail. By either waiting a month before replying to the e-mail or by not dealing properly with the problem when contacted by e-mail, they force you to use the overcharged phone number. The mean part of this policy is that if you really have a technical problem that is not your fault, you still have to pay through the nose to report the problem. In cases where the provider is responsible, they must then refund your call charges, but how many customers get around to picking out these numbers on their phone invoices two months later and writing a letter to request a refund?

NEW: The overcharged hotline numbers have been abused so much that they will be made illegal for Internet service providers in 2008. As for public administration numbers, the government has started a drive to limit this abusive practice.

Restaurants
See our page "Streetwise Travel in France"

Selling you something so that you don't even notice it
Selling you something in such a way that you don't notice that you've bought anything is not uncommon. Particular problems sectors are telecommunications, especially mobile, and cable and satellite TV. Something that is presented as a free welcome gift may turn out to be an additional subscription that you have to cancel if you don't want to be charged extra. But you may also find that what you thought was a signature to approve etching the vehicle identification number on your car windows made you sign up for an insurance as well. Even authorised dealers of a prestigious German car brand are known to have let car buyers into this trap. 

It is a common problem that unscrupulous agents for even major Internet and telephone companies collect names, addresses, phone numbers and signatures for some bogus purpose and then subscribe them to another operator without their knowledge or approval. The phenomenon is called slamming in good French. This typically happens at exhibitions, supermarkets and other places with lots of people, but there are also reports that people have been cold called by Internet and phone companies who proposed their services, and regardless of the prospective client's refusal to take up the service, the cold calling company has taken over the line of the victim. The victims only find out when they are disconnected from their current operator or start getting bills from the new operator. Some Internet/phone companies have opened freephone hotlines to deal with this problem. You are obviously not bound by the new operator, and don't hesitate to get it sorted out. It is estimated that up to 500,000 people a year may be victims to this. Avoid giving out personal details to someone in the street you don't know, even if they pretend being charity. It's easy to make some bogus charity id card. If you want to help the cause presented, then ask for documentation so you can verify the charity later, but avoid giving any personal details on the spot. These people could be anybody from burglars noting down those wearing expensive clothes or jewels, to ordinary crooks.

"We refund the difference if you find the same product cheaper elsewhere"
Many shops advertise to refund the price difference if you've bought something and then found it cheaper elsewhere, but they ask you to bring a quote from the shop with the lower price in order to refund you. If the other shop refuses, then they may not refund you. I don't see what should motivate a shop to write such a quote. That means that the guarantee can be a bit of a gimmick. Another trick they may use to avoid paying up is to claim that their model of super-xyz is a later version than the super-xyz sold at Farty, that they are therefore not comparable, and that they therefore don't have to refund you, unless you can demonstrate that they are the same versions. In other words, the shop where you didn't buy it has to write up a small novel.

Making it difficult to cancel contracts
French companies love their customers so much that they hate to see them leaving. In fact, they hate it so much that you may find that you can only give notice once a year and/or that the notice period is 2-3 months. While you can usually change a service to more expensive options during the year, changing to a cheaper option could be as difficult as giving notice. Some insurance companies use the tactics of notifying you about the increased premiums for next year when it's too late to give notice. This is at the limit of legality and can only be done for certain types of insurance. A recent law obliges companies to remind you in writing about the annual deadline for cancellation, and if they don't do it, you can cancel at any time.

Ignoring your requests
The quality of customer service varies enormously from one shop or provider to another. It is not uncommon that an employee who receives your written request for something, such as for example a medical reimbursement, will simply ignore it if he believes it can't be done, if he believes - whether correctly or not - that your request is in error, or if you made a mistake. In such a case, he will not notify you, and it is up to you to follow up on your requests and contact them again. It may also happen that they don't confirm that your request was fulfilled, such as for example the cancellation of a standing order, in which case you'll have to phone them to find out whether or not it has been done. In general, I recommend keeping one file where you note all outstanding requests and their dates.

"Forgetting" to refund balance in your favour
When you cancel a contract and respect the terms of the contract, then you may already have prepaid too much, so that the final invoice shows a balance in your favour. Some companies like for example Neuf Telecom hope that you just forget about it. That is the only conclusion I can draw after having cancelled a contract in June. In December, I was still waiting for the refund. It took two letters before they responded - with a request that I send them my account number (which they already knew because they took payment by direct debit) so they could refund the money on my account, adding that this would take 4-6 weeks.

"Forgetting" to refund deposits
Watch out that deposits are refunded when you cancel a contract that involved an initial deposit. Once I moved, the water company "forgot" to account for the initial deposit on the final invoice and only sent an additional credit invoice when I requested it. Keep a simple file on your computer and make a note whenever you pay a deposit.

Making you think you buy a local quality product but selling you a cheap import
There are many lovely open-air markets in Provence, where you will find herbs, lavender, local olive oil at reasonable prices, and many other local products with an inbuilt atmosphere of Provence. Unfortunately, while you may think you are living out your dream of Provence, reality is sometimes slightly different. The French consumer magazine Que Choisir, issue 427, June 2005, revealed that 11 out of 14 olive oils sold on such markets were from Spain. In a single case, an analysis revealed that the declaration on the bottle was false. Of course, there is nothing wrong with Spanish olive oil, but it is not from Provence, and you may not get the quality you thought. Genuine products from Provence simply do not come cheap, one of the reasons being the high cost of labour in France. Read the labels and don't forget that you rarely get more than what you pay for.

Not calculating pro-rata on cancellation
When cancelling a contract, watch out that periodical subscription fees and similar are properly adjusted on a pro-rata basis. For example, the above mentioned water company charged a flat fee for having access to water twice a year, each covering six months. I lived in the house 2 years and 1.5 months. When I checked the final invoice, they had charged me for 2 years and 6 months. As they explained, they simply charged the fee to whoever lived at the address on the date the fee was due. If that is true, then you could equally benefit from this odd - or should I say French - way of calculating fees.

"1 litre + 10 cl free"
French supermarkets are bursting with free goods. Amazing how they can make money out of selling free goods, isn't it? Buy something and get something in addition for free has become a new type of marketing. Of course, you can't just take the free part and walk away with that. But it's still a promotion that makes you save money. Or is it? Keep your calculator at hand if you want to be sure to save money. It sometimes happens that the unit price per litre or weight is higher for the something-for-free product than the same product without any "free" part. That's of course illegal, but it's for you to be aware and ask staff to correct the price. Another problem with these promotions is if for example a pack of 6 x 1.5 litre water bottles bears the mark "1 litre free" and the shop sells them by the bottle instead of using a price for the pack. In such a case, a supermarket had priced the bottles 0.50 € each, and at the checkout they counted 6 bottles at 0.50 €. Their excuse that it had been calculated into the price doesn't hold unless it's sold by the pack. They must deduct the cost of 1 litre. Certain shoppers don't bother about these details. Others on a tighter budget and with time on hand may want to watch the cents.

"Shock price!"
Or prix choc in French. Seen on a bundle with 3 packs of chocolate biscuits in Auchan Avignon, stacked up for volume sales. However, the shock was not that the price for the bundled pack was very low but that it was more expensive to buy one bundle with 3 packs than 3 individual packs of the same product of the same weight. Illegal? They didn't say the bundled price was lower, just that the price was a shock. In such cases, they often place the big stack of products far from the individual products on the shelf so it is more difficult to compare the price.

What you see is not what you pay
In same Auchan Avignon, a detergent was stacked up and large signs mentioned a low price. Next to it, there was a just as large stack of the same detergent bundled with a softener. But the large sign only mentioned one price, and it was not obvious to figure out if it applied to both products or just the single detergent. I finally asked, and I was shown a small price label near the bottom of the crate holding the bundled products, very discreetly placed. If you are in a hurry, you probably just read the big sign with the wrong price, believing it applies to the bundled product, and you don't notice when it's another price coming out when you pay. These price differences do matter if your budget is limited.

Another example from Auchan Avignon is a sign showing 2 bottles of soft drink at a promotional price according to their catalogue. But when you pay, it's the full price. Explanation: There were some bundled packs with the low price, but they have already been sold. Left are the single bottles of which you can take two, but the sign doesn't say that the promotion is only for the bundled products.

Some shops use the tactic of putting one type of article on promotion, putting up a large sign with a low price, and then - very close to the first products - placing products so similar - same brand, same packaging, same description, all matching the description on the promotion sign - that the customers don't notice the difference, except if they check the price on the back of the packaging. It is not a mistake, because if you ask, they refuse to sell at the lower price shown. The shopkeepers know very well that customers will quickly mix the two types of products, and some will eventually end up buying what they thought were discounted products at a higher price. This has been seen in Galerie Lafayette in the 2008 January sales in the menswear department - and reported to the Direction Générale da la Concurrence, Consommation et Répression des Fraudes (DGCCRF), the authority that monitors that sort of price games.

This issue in general is likely to be found in any country. The price shown on an item is not what they put on your bill. It is most common for quickly changing items like fruit and vegetables and promotions.

Luring you into the shop with catalogue promotions that are sold out
Supermarkets regularly distribute catalogues with promotions to lure you into the shop. The promotions are valid during a particular period written in the catalogue. But when you get there, the discounted products you wanted are already sold. Shops have been fined for this, and according to the law, it must be possible to order the product if sold out during the period shown in the catalogue.

Small packaging cheaper than large
Most commonly, the price per unit is cheaper if one buys a large packaging than a small. But it is sometimes cheaper per kg or litre to buy two small packs than one large pack with the same quantity. Examples: Canned tuna, toothpaste, chocolate. The 400 g Toblerone are consistently more expensive per kg than the 50 g or 100 g packs.

"75 cent instant reduction at the checkout"
That's another typical promotion type. Very simple. Cash in hand. Except that the checkout staff often forgets to peel off the reduction sticker and credit it to your bill, so you either lose the reduction or have to go back to the supermarket - spending fuel for 2 € to get a reduction of 75 cent. If you care about these reductions, you may want to keep the items concerned apart in your trolley so you don't forget the stickers.

"1 € refunded"
In other types of promotion, you have to post a letter with the bar code, the ticket with the reduced item and its price encircled, your name, address and bank account number and perhaps other documentation in order to obtain your refund a couple of months later - sometimes a complete refund of a product. In most cases, it is refunded directly to your bank account. It's often later than the limit they say. They often refund the 48 cents it cost to send the letter, but you must ask for it. If you care about these reductions, read the instructions very carefully. If you don't want to send the whole supermarket ticket, ask for a ticket for just that item at the checkout. You may need the ticket in case of problems with another item.

25% reduction
If a sign says 25% reduction on certain items, then watch out if the reduction has already been applied to the prices shown or not. If it has been deducted already, then the label should say so, but it is not always the case, as I once noticed in an Office Depot.

At the post office
It could appear that staff at the post offices are instructed to suggest the most expensive product to ignorant customers. The best defence is to examine products and prices before going. www.laposte.fr is the post office site. 

It has been a problem that post office staff ask you what's in a letter if they believe it is not paper. What they want is to force you to pay for a more expensive packet rate if there are goods in the letter. The easy solution is to say there is paper in the letter, even if it's not true. The regulator ARCEP has decided that while the post office can suggest more expensive packet products, they cannot refuse posting of non-paper items in letters, so long as the size, shape and weight corresponds to a letter.

The post office removed the economy rate for inland packets a couple of years ago, leaving only the more expensive Colissimo rate that "guarantees" delivery (or at least presentation) in 48 hours (the second postal day after posting, provided that you post it before the time shown at the post office) and that can be traced online. The trouble is that the 48-hour delivery is often not respected. When that is the case, you are entitled to a voucher for a free packet of the same weight. The voucher is valid 6 months.

Don't put postage on the envelope but just write "POSTE" where the stamp usually is.
Within the envelope, put a copy of the posting slip, a printout of the online trace from www.laposte.fr/colissimo showing the delivery or first presentation date, and be sure to write your name and address clearly, and that it is a "Réclamation avec demande d'indemnisation". They can take between 2 and 8 weeks to respond. If the compensation packet is again delivered late, you can ask for compensation again and thus keep sending free packets. Tip: If your compensation packet is lighter than what you're entitled to, then you could add a couple of stones to get it up to the weight you're entitled to. It sounds silly, but if it is delivered late and you ask for compensation, you will keep your entitlement to a higher weight rate than if you sent a lighter packet. Exceptions: In special circumstances, the post may prolong the guaranteed delivery time, for example during summer when lorries are not allowed on motorways during the weekend because of holiday traffic. Check signs at the post office before complaining.

The customer is always wrong
If something you buy has a defect that you couldn't know about when you bought it, then the shop is liable to repair or refund you, and without any limitation in time. Shopkeepers obviously aren't too keen about this part of the code civil, and if they can't repair it, they may try to convince you that because you have used the item, then they can't take it back. That is not a valid argument. Others may try to pass the buck and blame on the importer or the manufacturer, well knowing that it is always the retailer that is liable to the client; no one else. Finally, they may accuse you of having used the item in a way you shouldn't have done. Others again will say that there is no warranty on that type of goods. The first thing to do is always to be courteous and friendly and explain the problem from your side. Asking for the manager would be the next step. Asking for his manager again a third step it the first manager doesn't solve it. I once had to argue 30 minutes with 2 managers at IKEA before they would refund 45 € for a broken sun shade that was only 2 months old. Making a fuss in front of other clients who are waiting is a good tactics. The shopkeeper will be afraid that they lose their patience and leave without buying anything. You may also want just to make such a nuisance of yourself that they will be happy to pay just to make you leave. However, that is not always a good idea, and it often won't work. If the shop is part of a network, it may help to write to the managing director of the headquarters as I had to do with MERCEDES-BENZ. Try to find his name on their corporate website. If you've bought what you consider a quality brand and the retailer cannot fix it, then it may help to write to the manufacturer of the item, because they have an interest in guarding their quality image. That's what I had to do when DARTY had sent the same repairman around 5 times without being able to fix a new MIELE dishwasher. Ironically, Darty's slogan is: le contrat de confiance. Another way of trying is to call for sympathy or pity. This should not be done so openly that it looks like something you make up. Try to look and sound tired, weak, exhausted, sad or whatever feeling is appropriate. Don't overdo it. You can also ask if they would be willing to make an exception in just your case by doing a small gesture (un petit geste commercial), while assuring them that now you know how to avoid that problem in the future.

Conclusion
By being vigilant and by using one or more of the methods explained above, I have been mostly successful in obtaining what I wanted from consumer complaints in France, both for myself and my relocation clients. The downside is that even when you win, you may have wasted many hours complaining, so it does not pay off in all cases if you could have done something better with your time. It is a very individual decision when to insist. If you are retired and have enough time but not enough money, you are probably more likely to pay attention than if you are working and have enough money but not enough time.

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