In the world of Harry Potter, all the kids are heading back to Hogwarts today! I could definitly use a little magic today to help me think of other things than my muggle worries. I forgot about it earlier today when I was preoccupied by other things, but I can't deny being a Harry Potter fan.
I called the agency we rent our apartment from to ask about getting a quittance de loyer (proof of rent payment) to use as a proof of address, and the receptionist started telling me how it wasn't free to get it, and that we'd signed something in the lease that we didn't want to get them every month, and that in any case I had to call back in the morning since the woman who handles our rental is only available in the morning.
Feeling rather dumb, but also kind of "wtf?", I did a quick google search of quittance de loyer payant. Guess what? It's illegal. So I called back to ask again if I really had to pay a fee to get it, and she just kept repeating that it wasn't a quittance that I wanted, but une écheance, and that they'd print it out and keep it for me at their offices for free so I could come by and pick it up.
Mmmouais. Spend an hour and a half taking the metro and then the bus over to their offices and back to pick up a piece of paper they could put in the mail?
I feel like French companies are more likely to ignore a law or two and leave it up to customers to complain than American companies. I bought a 60 Millions de Consommateurs (Consumer Reports equivalent) in July and only half the magazine was product comparisons. The other half was responding to subscribers questions about dubious practices they'd encountered and explaining which were legal and which weren't. It was all very handy and informative; I don't want to criticize the magazine. But it was interesting that unlike Consumer Reports, which mostly reviews products, advertising claims, and preprints recall information, the French magazine dedicated a large section to helping people identify illegal practices they might come across.
American companies are not perfect by any means. A friend of mine got scammed by a magazine subscription service and was never refunded because the company denied all responsability for the "independent contractors" they hired to solicite people.
Is it the difference in ideas of customer service? The presence of class-actions in the US and their lack in France? Differences in the ways companies are punished/fined for wrong doing in the US and France?
2 comments:
Happy Hogwarts day indeed! And I have often been complimented by people here on my exceptional knowledge of their laws. Um, yeah I kinda need it, or I'd have been screwed so many times by now! Is the magazine yearly/still available? Sounds like an important read.
It's likely a combination of those reasons, but I'd vote that it's a difference in customer expectations. It seems French folks are quite used to getting screwed over, and content with playing the investigator to ensure their satisfaction. It's almost like playing a game - if you ask the right questions and say the right things, you win, if not, you lose. It just sucks for those of us who don't know what questions to ask and just expect honest business practices.
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