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The Vacuum Cleaner
I have just picked up my vacuum cleaner from the After-Sales Service Department (Service Après Vente) of the hypermarket chain Carrefour.I
had purchased the vacuum on April 13, 2000 at Carrefour because they
really do have the best deals (I talk a bit about hypermarkets in my
shopping guide, Best Buys and Bargains in Paris). A French
girlfriend who was helping me to look for a vacuum encouraged me to
compare prices between Carrefour and Darty. Darty is an
electronics and appliances chain, with stores all over Paris, known for
its low prices and good after-sales service. However, the price
was definitely better at Carrefour, and with my "fiches de paie," or
pay slips, I qualified for a Carrefour credit card, enabling me to
purchase my vacuum in 4 installments, with no interest. Not a bad
deal. The catch, as I mention in my book, is that all the hypermarkets
are located outside Paris because they simply take up too much space to
be housed inside the city.
At the end of April my vacuum died. Luckily for me, I had purchased a five-year warranty.
First I phoned Parisnor, the gigantic Carrefour way to the north of Paris, where my friend had driven me to buy my vacuum. I asked if I could take it to any Carrefour to be repaired, since there was no way I could get it to the original store without a car. They replied, "Of course, Madam." There happens to be a Carrefour in Saint-Denis, the city just to the north of my home in Paris. So, I set out with my vacuum cleaner nested inside a 2-wheeled shopping cart or "caddie" (an absolute must in Paris for carrying heavy groceries and water bottles). I took the Métro, and then switched to a bus. Then switched back to the Métro.
Now,
a word of explanation about Paris public transport zones. When you
buy a Métro ticket or pass, it entitles you to travel in 2 zones,
including Paris and the area just outside the city on all the Métro
stops. Sometimes other forms of transportation serving those same
stops are classified in a different transport zone! In this
case,the Métro stop Basilique de Saint-Denis is 2 zones, covered
by my transport pass. The bus, which stops at the same place, is
classified as 3 zones--do not ask me why! So, the bus was going exactly
where I wanted to go, but I would have had to buy an extra ticket for
zone 3. Wanting to be good, follow the rules and save money at the same
time, I got off the bus and hauled my caddie in and out of the Métro.
You
also need to understand that the buses operate on a kind of honor
system. You're supposed to show your pass to the bus driver or
validate your ticket. But nobody checks on a regular basis. What
does happen is that every so often there is a contrôle. When this
happens, a team of 5 or 6 transport agents invades the bus,
blocks all exits and checks all the tickets. Let's just say it's
better to be legal! You never know when the team might appear, and
you can go for days without being “controlled.” Then, boom! Same
thing on the Métro and RER. (You never heard this from me, but
it's pretty easy to enter illegally. However, on the RER you have to
use your ticket to exit--or know how to double cheat and exit without
it!)
Now, I'd like to say a few words
here about Saint-Denis. Many of the kings of France, including
Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, are buried in the basilica, a
fabulous and stunning gothic cathedral. But unfortunately for
Saint-Denis, canals leading into Paris were built right through the
town, industrializing the area, bringing in factories and low-income
laborers who were housed in hovels--goodbye stunning, hello poverty.
Saint-Denis today has a terrible reputation, not entirely justified,
but in the center of the town you can see vestiges of what it must have
been like in its hey-day. Now, it's really rather desolate.
That day, the bus ride through Saint-Denis was livened up by a very interesting couple. The man had a face like a piranha. Or Yoda. Take your pick. Plus, he was wearing dark blue shades to enhance the effect. After motioning to his girlfriend to take an empty seat, he proceeded to sit in the seat himself just as she moved toward it. It was that kind of couple and that kind of day. She remarked to the rest of the bus, "He's really strange." I couldn't have agreed more, but it did fill the time it took to travel through Saint-Denis on the way to the Carrefour.
After
I entered the store, I waited at the After Sales Service counter.
Following a rather long wait, a young man arrived proceeded to tell me,
"Sorry, Madame, but you didn't buy your vacuum in our Carrefour, and
we're too small to handle it. We refuse take it." "But they
said on the phone that any Carrefour…." He wouldn't budge. "Madame,
there is another Carrefour in Stains," which is at the end
of the bus line that stops in front of the store. (Fortunately,
Stains does not mean in French what it means in English.)
By this time I was not only furious, but absolutely determined to take my vacuum to a Carrefour so they could fulfill their very own contract that they were unwilling to fill in Saint-Denis! I didn't care anymore about being good. I didn't care about the risk of being controlled. I had already wasted half my morning getting to Saint-Denis (Métro, long bus ride, Métro again). So, I just climbed onto that Stains zone 3 bus with my 2-zone transport pass, figuring I would make it to the last stop and then ask "OK, where's Carrefour?"
Fortunately,
about 4 stops from the end, I just happened to look out of the bus to
the left, and there it was! I jumped off the bus, dragging my
caddie, and found the "service après vente," where I spent about half
an hour waiting while the young woman behind the counter filled in an
intricate form. She then wandered off because she had no staples
left in her stapler. After about 5 minutes, she came back,
admitting defeat. "No problem, I'll staple it at home." I
got on the bus to go back home (paying for my ticket, by the way), and
who should get on but Yoda and his girlfriend. Just to add that
certain touch to my day.
Then I waited. They said it would take 3 weeks. Fortunately I was just about to visit the US for 2 weeks, so it didn't seem that bad, really. I came back from my trip, and still no word. You have to understand another thing about life in France. Nothing gets done in May. There are at least 3 holidays, sometimes 4. You've got May 1, May 8 and Ascension. Then, either at the end of May or beginning of June is Pentecost. This takes its toll.
At the beginning of June I phoned the service après vente. For my first call, the response was "Call back later. The service après vente is closed for lunch." (Sigh.) Second call, bingo! I reached the same young woman who couldn't find her stapler. She recognized my voice! That made me feel better, and she admited it was taking a wee bit long. But, "Il y a des ponts." This refers to the French practice of adding a "bridge," or "pont," to each holiday, thereby taking off even more days from work. Nice when you're working 35-hours a week and also have 5 weeks of paid vacation (minimum).
I continued to wait. (By that time, I'd been waiting 6 weeks.) I then made my second call to the service après vente, finally speaking with a man who acknowledged the repair really was taking too long and that he would check into it. Just to make sure, I decided to gently harass the company, which meant one more phone call, very polite, but with the underlying message "Where the you know what is my vacuum?" At that point, they promised to phone me when it was ready rather than mailing me a notice. Oh yes, I should add that I had another excuse to phone. Because of the mail delivery strikes, it was absolutely conceivable that Carrefour had, indeed, sent me a notice that was stuck somewhere at the post office! Finally, they did phone and leave a message on my answering machine, on a Tuesday, and the following Saturday I went to Stains (don't worry, I paid for the bus both ways) and picked up my vacuum without incident.
Seven weeks had elapsed between the time I turned in my dead vacuum and the time I picked it up from Carrefour Service Après Vente. But, I did have my vacuum cleaner, repaired at no charge, and I am now known personally by the staff of the Service Après Vente Carrefour Stains. Plus, I accomplished it all by myself. Good show.
I will, however, consider buying at Darty the next time.
---
Jeanne
Feldman is an intercultural specialist working with English speaking
expatriates to help them integrate into french life, both
professionally and personally. In addition she works with French
executives who need to communicate internationally.
Jeanne has also written a shopping guide, Best Buys and Bargains in Paris.
