The French
I live in France. Customer service here is so laughably bad its unreal - nobody gives a toss. A large part of the problem is that once a company has employed someone its almost impossible to sack them, so 99% of minimum wage shop workers really, really couldnt give a shit about any problems as they know they can get away with being lazy cunts.
I long for the days of Tesco, where they act quickly and generally solve things in the customers favour even if it means them taking a loss - they are more concerned about their image and the loss of future sales to an unhappy customer. I returned plenty of stuff over the years to UK shops and when I tell people here how stuff was normally swapped or refunded there and then with no quibbles and often no receipt, they simply dont believe me - behavious like that in France is the stuff of fairy tales.

Just a couple of days ago I bought something from a supermarket. It was priced at €19.99 on the shelf, but came up at €21.99 on the till. When I told the girl, she didnt give a toss - plenty of huffing and pouting and shrugging ensued and she told me to take it or leave it, and I could try to take the price issue up with the customer service desk afterwards. I paid and went to the desk where there was a lot more shrugging, huffing and pouting from the staff. Eventually we trudged across the shop to see the price, trudged back and they then spent a while fannying with a computer -huffing all the time in that very french way. Eventually, the money was refunded and I went on my way. Sure, victory was mine, but it simply was not worth the effort. The whole episode took about 20 minutes during which I was treated rudely, accused of trying to cheat them and when they were proven wrong, given nothing by way of apology- for the sake of €2.

Then there was the Deep Fat Fryer Incident. I bought a chipper which packed up after about 6 months. I still had the recipt and the box so back I went. No exchange though - it had to be sent away for evaluation and testing. This is for a €40 chipper! after many, many phone calls, the odd letter and several trips back to the store, they admitted it didnt work, and was not worth repairing so they gave me another. Start to finish there took slightly over 3 months. THREE FUCKING MONTHS. I had just bought another one from a different store by then.

Its the same story with the utilities...EDF, France Telecom etc etc...all staffed by lazy, jobsworth cuntstains who do not give a fuck about anything aside from clocking off on time. Calling any of these companies generaly involves them telling any lies they think they can get away with ust to be rid of you.

I love France, but a dose of UK customer service training would do wonders here. Most places are staffed by cunts who do not care, and complaining on gets you more cuntishness in return. Everything is made so deliberately difficult that most peopljust give up or dont bother in the first place.
(dave likes cheese, Thu 2 Sep 2010, 21:21, 7 replies)

that's what you get for living in france

( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Thu 2 Sep 2010, 21:34, closed)

A nation of shopkeepers
The UK is a nation of shopkeepers. France is a nation of ... what is it, exactly?
(uncle_bud is not the jelly roll king., Thu 2 Sep 2010, 22:00, closed)

Sily uncle, you know the answer
...cheese eating surrender monkeys
( seeballs Doo da da doo da da doo da da doo, da da doo da do, Thu 2 Sep 2010, 22:24, closed)

Hold the front page!
Englishman complains about the French! I've only read about this in books, didn't think it happened in real life!
(Clerk T Hazarde are all the wine, Thu 2 Sep 2010, 22:07, closed)

I thought the French like to surrender.

( idonthaveafunnynickname Drink-Aware? Sure. I'm aware I want another drink., Fri 3 Sep 2010, 2:43, closed)

Only when threatened.

( disasterprone "Pyjamas caused the Holocaust", Fri 3 Sep 2010, 8:10, closed)

France is lovely
but the French are shit.
( disasterprone "Pyjamas caused the Holocaust", Fri 3 Sep 2010, 8:10, closed)