In Septembre, Sephora in Champs-Elysées was ordered by the court to close its shop by 9pm in the evening. It used to open till mi-night.
In summary:
The shop's management wanted to open its shop till mi-night during weekdays, and till 1am during weekends, as 20% of the sales came after 9pm.
The employees agreed to work late into the night as it allowed them to earn more.
The Work Union, who was supposed to represent the employees, fought against this opening hour and went to court.
The court ordered that the shop would close by 9pm.
101 employees of this shop appealed, but the court maintained its verdict.
Yesterday, the 8pm news announced that Sephora's competitor, Marionnaud, has just reopened its shop after renovation in Chams-Elysées, and it will operate till mi-night. When interviewed, an officer from the same Union said they will bring the shop to court, just like what happened to Sephora. This Union's mission is to flight against working into late hours and working on Sundays.
From these cases, I can see the power of the Union in this country, it is certainly not a market driven economy, where customers are the king. What I don't understand is that who are the Union representing, in the case where the employees disagreed with them? Does it represent the interest or the believe of the French public in general? Did the court make this decision because it believes the 101 employees didn't know what they wanted and the court and the Union should know better?
Anyway, thinking about all the rigid regulations in operating hours here, I realize I spend less when I live in France. Since I can't buy whatever I want at my convenience, I consume at the most necessary. Eating out on a Sunday? Nah, they are mostly closed anyway. Checking out Christmas gifts after work? Nah, they only open until 7:30pm, don't want to flight the crowd and get stuck in traffics. Going grocery shopping on a Saturday? Are you crazy, it would take you forever to pass through the cashier. Conclusion, our shoppings mostly involve grocery, we try to buy other stuffs online, and if I'm running out of a lotion, it can wait.
Showing posts with label French Customer Services. Show all posts
Showing posts with label French Customer Services. Show all posts
Saturday, November 09, 2013
Sunday, October 14, 2012
A trip to the local library
Once a month our Town Hall sends us newsletter telling us about the happenings and events during the month. I spotted one that suited us: "Story telling to kids between 2 - 4 years old". I noticed that there was a phone number for reservation, but I didn't call because it didn't say that reservation was compulsory.
It was a raining Saturday morning. We arrived a bit in advance. Apparently on Saturday they only open at 2pm, but this day they would open exceptionally for the story telling session. Once entered, the librarian asked my name to check out her list. I told her I didn't make reservation because I didn't know that it was mandatory. She insisted that it was stated on the announce. Ok now I know that if the announce has reservation number then I need to call for reservation. Anyway, she asked me to wait a bit to see if someone would cancel at the last minute. Later, she approached and got my name. She said that she couldn't kick me out since I was already there. Well, it was very nice of her as the room was full with kids and parents. I would had been very disappointed if we had to go.
This is the room setting for the session. The librarian announced that today's theme was going to be about "The night". Two more librarians joined in and they started reading a book titled "The moon". Aelig was very focused and turned her head to look at me from time to time with a sweet smile.
There were some singings and more book reading. We were very intrigued by a shadow puppets show. A torchlight was lighting up some animal characters to illustrate a story on a book. It was about a frog who couldn't fall asleep as he was hearing weird noises. The scene of the frog going from his bed to his parents bed made me think of Aelig who has been fighting to fall asleep in our bed.
At one point there were telling a story about monster. It used a lot of adjectives that I didn't now. The middle pages in the book showed a big monster at the end of the story. Well, I don't know why people need to tell monster stories to kids. I did not grow up being afraid of monsters in my room because nobody had ever told me that monsters do exist.
The whole session lasted for around half an hour and it was a big success. The kids had fun and Aelig was playing with the puppet show characters. I hope they organize more activities in the future.
It was a raining Saturday morning. We arrived a bit in advance. Apparently on Saturday they only open at 2pm, but this day they would open exceptionally for the story telling session. Once entered, the librarian asked my name to check out her list. I told her I didn't make reservation because I didn't know that it was mandatory. She insisted that it was stated on the announce. Ok now I know that if the announce has reservation number then I need to call for reservation. Anyway, she asked me to wait a bit to see if someone would cancel at the last minute. Later, she approached and got my name. She said that she couldn't kick me out since I was already there. Well, it was very nice of her as the room was full with kids and parents. I would had been very disappointed if we had to go.
Thursday, March 01, 2012
Internet shopping: What is my right if I did not receive the good?
Updated on 3rd March 2012
I have been very unlucky with the internet shopping lately. Three purchases I made online went wrong.
1. Book 3 A Storm of Swords, George Martin
Like I shared earlier the vendor from Amazon sent me a different book from what I ordered. When contested, they told me that Amazon has listed the book with a wrong ISBN number. Basically, it was not their fault, if I want the money back, I need to send the book back to UK at my own fee. I think to send a book to UK will already cost me half the price so it is really not worth it. I wrote to Amazon, no reply after a month.
03/03/12: After reading the message from Jeremie and Ker Leed, I decided to call Amazon. Indeed, as mentioned by them and by YongLing, they have a good customer service. I entered my house phone number on their website and they called me instantly. The staff was nice and helpful. They proposed me a 5€ rebate coupon, which I later used to place another order for this book. Hope it will arrive before our ski vacation.
2. Book 4 A Feast For Crows, George Martin
I ordered it at the same time with book 3 with a different vendor on Amazon. It never arrived. I contacted the vendor and they said they were going to send me another one. It has not arrived, yet.
03/03/12: I have received the book! I wanted to use the rebate coupon from Amazon to order Book 3 from this same vendor, but the coupon was only valid for order with Amazon.
3. Two pairs of stocking for Aelig on Vertbaudet.com
I bought the bed, mattress and stocking from the same site but they used a different delivery services. We received the bed and mattress, but not the stockings. I sent an email to Vertbaudet and they said they were going to investigate with La Poste. Today I received a letter from them with a mail from La Poste saying that they have delivered the package to me end of January. The problem: I never received it.
03/03/12: Vertbaudet called me and explained that I could send back the letter claiming that I never received the order and hope to ask for a refund. So we will see.
Now, what is my right as a customer? For case 1, should I take the time and the pain to call Amazon so that they will pay for the postal fee? I feel tired just by thinking of it. I think I will just go to a bookstore and pay again. As for case 3, I had sent an email to Vertbaudet saying that I will not buy from them again. I don't know who's fault is it but I'm an unhappy customer so I could do whatever I want.
Urgggggghhh.
I have been very unlucky with the internet shopping lately. Three purchases I made online went wrong.
1. Book 3 A Storm of Swords, George Martin
Like I shared earlier the vendor from Amazon sent me a different book from what I ordered. When contested, they told me that Amazon has listed the book with a wrong ISBN number. Basically, it was not their fault, if I want the money back, I need to send the book back to UK at my own fee. I think to send a book to UK will already cost me half the price so it is really not worth it. I wrote to Amazon, no reply after a month.
03/03/12: After reading the message from Jeremie and Ker Leed, I decided to call Amazon. Indeed, as mentioned by them and by YongLing, they have a good customer service. I entered my house phone number on their website and they called me instantly. The staff was nice and helpful. They proposed me a 5€ rebate coupon, which I later used to place another order for this book. Hope it will arrive before our ski vacation.
2. Book 4 A Feast For Crows, George Martin
I ordered it at the same time with book 3 with a different vendor on Amazon. It never arrived. I contacted the vendor and they said they were going to send me another one. It has not arrived, yet.
03/03/12: I have received the book! I wanted to use the rebate coupon from Amazon to order Book 3 from this same vendor, but the coupon was only valid for order with Amazon.
3. Two pairs of stocking for Aelig on Vertbaudet.com
I bought the bed, mattress and stocking from the same site but they used a different delivery services. We received the bed and mattress, but not the stockings. I sent an email to Vertbaudet and they said they were going to investigate with La Poste. Today I received a letter from them with a mail from La Poste saying that they have delivered the package to me end of January. The problem: I never received it.
03/03/12: Vertbaudet called me and explained that I could send back the letter claiming that I never received the order and hope to ask for a refund. So we will see.
Now, what is my right as a customer? For case 1, should I take the time and the pain to call Amazon so that they will pay for the postal fee? I feel tired just by thinking of it. I think I will just go to a bookstore and pay again. As for case 3, I had sent an email to Vertbaudet saying that I will not buy from them again. I don't know who's fault is it but I'm an unhappy customer so I could do whatever I want.
Urgggggghhh.
Friday, December 23, 2011
How I wish the postman is as efficient as Santa Claus
I was eagerly waiting for my photo calenders to arrive, since I received an email saying that they were sent out on last Saturday. It would take two business day.
Tuesday passed. Nothing
Wednesday passed. Nothing. Oh oh.
Thursday afternoon, I got a note from the Postman saying that he came by and nobody was at home, so we have to collect it at the local Post Office. The note indicated the operating hours: from 8.30am to 12pm then 2pm to 6pm.
Right, times when most of the people are at work.
I was deeply disappointed. He could have left it with the guardians.
I wish the postal services here are as efficient as the Santa Claus, always deliver at the time frame promised.
Actually, things have improved over the years. Once, the UPS guy called to check if we were at home since we missed him the first time he passed by. I asked him to drop it at the guardian office and he did.
The DHL guy dropped our packages with our neighbors.
The La Poste guy, he always drops a note instead of passing by the Guardians' office. This put everyone in lose-lose situation. He has to bring the parcel back to his Post Office. Our apartment complex is huge with 14 buildings, that's why we have two guardians, imagine how many parcels he has to bring back during Christmas peak season since he usually does the delivery during our working hours. We have to go pick it up, usually on Saturday since they are closed during lunch hours. It was very inconvenient and once we didn't go pick up within two weeks time frame and the registered mail got sent back to the sender.
Hubby went to pick up the parcel today and he discovered that there was another note from the Postman. For unknown reason, the website I ordered from decided to deliver the calenders in two packages. The one hubby picked up contain only one calender, so the remaining 4 are somewhere in the Post Office. We could go collect them starting from 8.30am tomorrow morning, fingers crossed that we will have them before heading West for Christmas Eve.
Tuesday passed. Nothing
Wednesday passed. Nothing. Oh oh.
Thursday afternoon, I got a note from the Postman saying that he came by and nobody was at home, so we have to collect it at the local Post Office. The note indicated the operating hours: from 8.30am to 12pm then 2pm to 6pm.
Right, times when most of the people are at work.
I was deeply disappointed. He could have left it with the guardians.
I wish the postal services here are as efficient as the Santa Claus, always deliver at the time frame promised.
Actually, things have improved over the years. Once, the UPS guy called to check if we were at home since we missed him the first time he passed by. I asked him to drop it at the guardian office and he did.
The DHL guy dropped our packages with our neighbors.
The La Poste guy, he always drops a note instead of passing by the Guardians' office. This put everyone in lose-lose situation. He has to bring the parcel back to his Post Office. Our apartment complex is huge with 14 buildings, that's why we have two guardians, imagine how many parcels he has to bring back during Christmas peak season since he usually does the delivery during our working hours. We have to go pick it up, usually on Saturday since they are closed during lunch hours. It was very inconvenient and once we didn't go pick up within two weeks time frame and the registered mail got sent back to the sender.
Hubby went to pick up the parcel today and he discovered that there was another note from the Postman. For unknown reason, the website I ordered from decided to deliver the calenders in two packages. The one hubby picked up contain only one calender, so the remaining 4 are somewhere in the Post Office. We could go collect them starting from 8.30am tomorrow morning, fingers crossed that we will have them before heading West for Christmas Eve.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
About racial discrimination in France
Recently I read in a forum about how some people were being treated differently in France due to their skin color (mainly yellow). I just have to say that I'm blessed because I have never quite experienced racial discrimination here. Most of the situations I faced were rather due to poor customer service. Examples:
- A pharmacist was telling me that "vous m'avez dit n'importe quoi" (you told me non sense), I guess he didn't understand my French or asking a pharmacist to give me pill to delay my period due to wedding is a no no in France?
- A shopkeeper blocked my way to continue visiting the remaining of the shop. I can see in her face that she did it on purpose. I just passed cross her and bumped into her. She got what she asked for. She did that maybe I was wearing a pyjamas and someone wearing pyjamas is not welcome?
- I entered a boutique and the salegirl looked at me without saying anything. A second later a French woman entered and she put on smile and greeted with a big bonjour (hi). This could happen to anyone no?
- Being humiliated in SNCF, full story here.
Here are situations shared by forum members and they think these are real discrimination cases:
- being called chink or "bridé" which means "slit-eyes". Well I have never heard people calling me this. Forum members who had this were mostly lived in Paris or South of France
- being thrown firecracker which burnt the hair while being called chink by a bunch of North African kids. Oh no I can't imagine this! That girl was really unlucky but there is more chance to have these if you live in certain areas of Paris.
- was queuing to pay and at her turn, the cashier put on "closed" sign. Once she walked away, the cashier reopened the register and put on smile for the next white customer.
- being jumped queue. At the fifth time this happend to her, she asked herself if people chose her because she looked small and yellow and people have impression that Asian is easier to bully?
- went to an upscale butcher that are usually visited by white community. Once entered, the French white woman in front of her was looking at her from top to bottom. Same thing happened when another French woman entered the shop. She was starred at because she was yellow.
- ok this one is an experience from a good friend here. She said sometimes when she was with her French husband, some French women who was walking by would stop, look at her husband then at her, from top to bottom with an insulting look, as if how dare she dated a white man. Thank God this has never happened to me.
- She was sitting in front of a shop waiting for a friend. A boy around 5 years old came out from the shop with the parents. When he saw her, he kicked her. The parents just took him away without saying sorry. Well, kid sometimes behave inappropriately and this is up to the parents to educate them. I had met kid who told her friend while starring at me that "elle est moche" (she is ugly); on the other hand a kid was telling me that "tu es très belle" (you are beautiful). Once I was in a toilet and a kid yelled "Maman, une Japonaise!" (mum, a Japanese!) and I just smiled at her. At this point, I do not care how strangers think about me.
The main issue that most of us encountered is that how should we react when being treated unfairly. Most of us could converse in French but to quarrel and to curse in French, it is a whole different story. After being humiliated / confronted, most of us couldn't find the right words to express ourselves. Some choose to curse in their mother tongue, some just hold their tears and walk away. But, there are times we should not walk away. For example, if someone calls me bridé, I would just ignore it but if they try to bully Aelig, I would not rest the case. A useful phase I learnt to fight back is "mais ça va pas non!!!" (hey we are not good here), but what should I say next?
For the first time in my life, I reckon that it could be useful to learn some curse words.
- A pharmacist was telling me that "vous m'avez dit n'importe quoi" (you told me non sense), I guess he didn't understand my French or asking a pharmacist to give me pill to delay my period due to wedding is a no no in France?
- A shopkeeper blocked my way to continue visiting the remaining of the shop. I can see in her face that she did it on purpose. I just passed cross her and bumped into her. She got what she asked for. She did that maybe I was wearing a pyjamas and someone wearing pyjamas is not welcome?
- I entered a boutique and the salegirl looked at me without saying anything. A second later a French woman entered and she put on smile and greeted with a big bonjour (hi). This could happen to anyone no?
- Being humiliated in SNCF, full story here.
Here are situations shared by forum members and they think these are real discrimination cases:
- being called chink or "bridé" which means "slit-eyes". Well I have never heard people calling me this. Forum members who had this were mostly lived in Paris or South of France
- being thrown firecracker which burnt the hair while being called chink by a bunch of North African kids. Oh no I can't imagine this! That girl was really unlucky but there is more chance to have these if you live in certain areas of Paris.
- was queuing to pay and at her turn, the cashier put on "closed" sign. Once she walked away, the cashier reopened the register and put on smile for the next white customer.
- being jumped queue. At the fifth time this happend to her, she asked herself if people chose her because she looked small and yellow and people have impression that Asian is easier to bully?
- went to an upscale butcher that are usually visited by white community. Once entered, the French white woman in front of her was looking at her from top to bottom. Same thing happened when another French woman entered the shop. She was starred at because she was yellow.
- ok this one is an experience from a good friend here. She said sometimes when she was with her French husband, some French women who was walking by would stop, look at her husband then at her, from top to bottom with an insulting look, as if how dare she dated a white man. Thank God this has never happened to me.
- She was sitting in front of a shop waiting for a friend. A boy around 5 years old came out from the shop with the parents. When he saw her, he kicked her. The parents just took him away without saying sorry. Well, kid sometimes behave inappropriately and this is up to the parents to educate them. I had met kid who told her friend while starring at me that "elle est moche" (she is ugly); on the other hand a kid was telling me that "tu es très belle" (you are beautiful). Once I was in a toilet and a kid yelled "Maman, une Japonaise!" (mum, a Japanese!) and I just smiled at her. At this point, I do not care how strangers think about me.
The main issue that most of us encountered is that how should we react when being treated unfairly. Most of us could converse in French but to quarrel and to curse in French, it is a whole different story. After being humiliated / confronted, most of us couldn't find the right words to express ourselves. Some choose to curse in their mother tongue, some just hold their tears and walk away. But, there are times we should not walk away. For example, if someone calls me bridé, I would just ignore it but if they try to bully Aelig, I would not rest the case. A useful phase I learnt to fight back is "mais ça va pas non!!!" (hey we are not good here), but what should I say next?
For the first time in my life, I reckon that it could be useful to learn some curse words.
Friday, March 04, 2011
Rant: library opening hours
Lunch break, I discovered a library just 5 minutes from my company. Excited, I went to check it out while imagining all sorts of thing I could do there during the break: reading newspaper, listening to the musics, start reading a French novel, and my heart wished dearly that I could find some Chinese books there!
I went through the automatic door but got blocked at the second one. Puzzling, I realized, they could be closed for lunch. I was very disappointed, hoping that they would at least open at 1.30pm.
Reality hit me hard, here is what I saw written on their door about their operating hours:
Mon to Fri - every afternoon from 2pm to 7pm
Wed & Sat morning from 10am to 12pm
I felt angry, seriously. My Malaysian mentality once again wanted to question the logic: isn't library one kind of public services? Public services mean serving the public right? So who could go to library at this kind of hours? Unemployed people? Stayed at home mothers? Retirees? Students? Howabout people who work normal hours from 9am to 6pm? And why aren't the library open every morning?
This incident made me realized why I stopped going to library. I used to go to the Mediatheque in Nantes when I was a student, but their operating hours were so inconvenient that I always forgot to return books on time. Since they didn't let you renew online, I paid some fine and decided to just give up.
With this kind of opening hours, I could only go after work but I usually need to rush to get Aelig. This leaves me Sat, the day I love to sleep in...
Explanations that I could think of:
1. The Town Hall here does not care if you read or not. The library exists just for its purpose of existing
2. The librarians need to have lunch between 12pm to 2pm, so the minority's need (librarians having lunch) wins over the majority one (publics need to borrow book)
3. It is a conspiracy between the Town Hall and the book publishers. Inconvenient to borrow will lead to increase in book sales.
4. The Town Hall is cutting cost, the librarians have to cover other tasks so the opening hours have to be reduced.
I went through the automatic door but got blocked at the second one. Puzzling, I realized, they could be closed for lunch. I was very disappointed, hoping that they would at least open at 1.30pm.
Reality hit me hard, here is what I saw written on their door about their operating hours:
Mon to Fri - every afternoon from 2pm to 7pm
Wed & Sat morning from 10am to 12pm
I felt angry, seriously. My Malaysian mentality once again wanted to question the logic: isn't library one kind of public services? Public services mean serving the public right? So who could go to library at this kind of hours? Unemployed people? Stayed at home mothers? Retirees? Students? Howabout people who work normal hours from 9am to 6pm? And why aren't the library open every morning?
This incident made me realized why I stopped going to library. I used to go to the Mediatheque in Nantes when I was a student, but their operating hours were so inconvenient that I always forgot to return books on time. Since they didn't let you renew online, I paid some fine and decided to just give up.
With this kind of opening hours, I could only go after work but I usually need to rush to get Aelig. This leaves me Sat, the day I love to sleep in...
Explanations that I could think of:
1. The Town Hall here does not care if you read or not. The library exists just for its purpose of existing
2. The librarians need to have lunch between 12pm to 2pm, so the minority's need (librarians having lunch) wins over the majority one (publics need to borrow book)
3. It is a conspiracy between the Town Hall and the book publishers. Inconvenient to borrow will lead to increase in book sales.
4. The Town Hall is cutting cost, the librarians have to cover other tasks so the opening hours have to be reduced.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Excellent guide service at Paris Charles de Gaulle
My aunt has arrived safely in Nantes. Despite the pain in the booking process, the escort interpreter and her colleagues from the guide service at Paris Charles de Gaulle have provided us excellent services.
The person in charge called me three days before her arrival to confirm about the service reservation. Once my aunt touched down at Charles de Gaulle Airport, she was immediately greeted by the escort interpreter, Miss Cecile Mo, who happens to be a Malaysian. She was there since 5am even though the flight was schedule to arrive at 6.40am. Well, the flight arrived earlier than expected at 5.45am. So, she brought my aunt passing through the immigration and custom check point, then brought her to check in for her next flight. When she called me at 7am, my aunt was all set to board for her next flight. Since she has no job assignment after, she stayed and chatted with my aunt until 9am. What an excellent service she provided!
I would strongly recommend you to use this service if your friends and family are visiting you in France but have no confident to find their own way in the airport for the next connecting flight. Unfortunately, this service is limited to Air France passengers, I hope they would open up to every Airlines in the short future. This service was established about one year ago. Miss Mo was very surprised how I managed to book the service from France. According to her most of the requests are from Mainland China or Hong Kong. Well, I paid 88 euros + 4 euros transaction cost (I have to pay in HK dollar), but it is worth it.
The person in charge called me three days before her arrival to confirm about the service reservation. Once my aunt touched down at Charles de Gaulle Airport, she was immediately greeted by the escort interpreter, Miss Cecile Mo, who happens to be a Malaysian. She was there since 5am even though the flight was schedule to arrive at 6.40am. Well, the flight arrived earlier than expected at 5.45am. So, she brought my aunt passing through the immigration and custom check point, then brought her to check in for her next flight. When she called me at 7am, my aunt was all set to board for her next flight. Since she has no job assignment after, she stayed and chatted with my aunt until 9am. What an excellent service she provided!
I would strongly recommend you to use this service if your friends and family are visiting you in France but have no confident to find their own way in the airport for the next connecting flight. Unfortunately, this service is limited to Air France passengers, I hope they would open up to every Airlines in the short future. This service was established about one year ago. Miss Mo was very surprised how I managed to book the service from France. According to her most of the requests are from Mainland China or Hong Kong. Well, I paid 88 euros + 4 euros transaction cost (I have to pay in HK dollar), but it is worth it.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
No, you don't say no to a customer like me
I have a long battle with Air France about their guide service at Charles De Gaulle Airport. Of course, with a customer like me, they lost the battle. I got what I wanted, from Air France Hong Kong. Well, I still lost to Air France in Nantes though.
The battle starts with:
My aunt is coming to France. Initially I arranged that hubby goes to Paris to pick her up. Since she arrives early in the morning, that means either hubby has to stay overnight in CDG airport if he takes train, or he will have to drive overnight to Paris (round trip 10 hours). I found both solutions are inconvenient to hubby, plus I don't want him to be too far away from me in case the baby decides to arrive early.
I did some research online and I found a better solution:
Guide Service at CDG provides by Air France.
With this service, someone who speaks Mandarin can go pick up my aunt, guide her through immigration and custom, and bring her to the gate where she is going to take a plane to Nantes.A perfect solution that would only cost 88 euros, and she will be taken care of once she touches down in Paris.
Now, the challenge is how to get this service. I practically never call any services here because you need to pay for each call. I sent an email to Air France but after 2 weeks I didn't get any reply. I went to Air France office in Nantes, first they had never heard of this, and when they discovered that my aunt was not taking Air France from Kuala Lumpur to Paris, they immediately refused to serve me. I didn't give up and researched further as I don't think any reasonable person would refuse business. Then only I discovered that the service is listed in Air France Hong Kong website with a phone number. I know with my internet provider FREE, I can call Hong Kong for free and usually in Hong Kong the service line is free. So I called up Air France Hong Kong, they told me it is not possible to provide this service without any reservation. I told them that if I'm not sure they could give me this service I will not make reservation for the Paris - Nantes flight and they will lose business. I insisted that if they give me what I want, they will have my business: Paris-Nantes flight + the 88 euros services. The agent was kind of convinced, she gave me a number to contact the service provider directly in Paris.
Apparently Air France has partnership with an independent agent in Paris for this kind of service. I talked to the person in charge, he said no problem, he will take the order. However, he said I just need to twist a bit my reservation, don't tell Air France that it is for the arrival since my aunt comes with another airlines, just tell them that it is a service to assist my aunt for the departure to Nantes. Since he couldn't take the payment directly, I still need to pay in any Air France counter.
So I went again to Air France Nantes and printed out the website. The assistant was very confused as she has not heard of this service but she can't refuse as it is listed in the website that it was an Air France service. This assistant was actually quite helpful, she called here and there for information. It seemed that nobody knows about it so she called the independent agent in Paris. She got confirmation that I could get this service, and she was told how to handle the payment. Well, it seemed that there were still some procedures she couldn't figure out so she asked me to go home and wait for her call.
Two days later I still get nothing from her. I called the agent in Paris to check if they have received any order from Air France Nantes. No they didn't and they actually had sent all the necessary instructions to Air France Nantes for the payment operation. Well, I decided to call Air France Hong Kong instead. This time she told me to have this service, my aunt needs to take a long haul flight with Air France and Paris-Nantes flight is considered a short distance flight. I reasoned with her that the service provider in Paris has agreed to this service, now just let me pay. She kept asking me to hold on so that she can asked her superior for approval. Eventually she gave me a solution: she would request this service to Paris, if they agree, she will let me pay through Air France Hong Kong.
And I got a call this morning from Hong Kong! The guy called me and spoke to me in Cantonese, saying that the service has been approved, now I just need to pay. It was so weird, for some reason I lost the ability to tell my credit card number in Cantonese, but the guy has been very patient. He nicely explained that I will get a confirmation email once the payment goes through.
And I got the confirmation email 20 minutes later. Such a wonderful service.
My philosophy: If there is a business, they will find you a solution.
Well, this probably only works with Asian mentality, as until now I didn't get any call from Air France Nantes. Anyway the business amount is probably too small for them to even bother about it.
The battle starts with:
My aunt is coming to France. Initially I arranged that hubby goes to Paris to pick her up. Since she arrives early in the morning, that means either hubby has to stay overnight in CDG airport if he takes train, or he will have to drive overnight to Paris (round trip 10 hours). I found both solutions are inconvenient to hubby, plus I don't want him to be too far away from me in case the baby decides to arrive early.
I did some research online and I found a better solution:
Guide Service at CDG provides by Air France.
With this service, someone who speaks Mandarin can go pick up my aunt, guide her through immigration and custom, and bring her to the gate where she is going to take a plane to Nantes.A perfect solution that would only cost 88 euros, and she will be taken care of once she touches down in Paris.
Now, the challenge is how to get this service. I practically never call any services here because you need to pay for each call. I sent an email to Air France but after 2 weeks I didn't get any reply. I went to Air France office in Nantes, first they had never heard of this, and when they discovered that my aunt was not taking Air France from Kuala Lumpur to Paris, they immediately refused to serve me. I didn't give up and researched further as I don't think any reasonable person would refuse business. Then only I discovered that the service is listed in Air France Hong Kong website with a phone number. I know with my internet provider FREE, I can call Hong Kong for free and usually in Hong Kong the service line is free. So I called up Air France Hong Kong, they told me it is not possible to provide this service without any reservation. I told them that if I'm not sure they could give me this service I will not make reservation for the Paris - Nantes flight and they will lose business. I insisted that if they give me what I want, they will have my business: Paris-Nantes flight + the 88 euros services. The agent was kind of convinced, she gave me a number to contact the service provider directly in Paris.
Apparently Air France has partnership with an independent agent in Paris for this kind of service. I talked to the person in charge, he said no problem, he will take the order. However, he said I just need to twist a bit my reservation, don't tell Air France that it is for the arrival since my aunt comes with another airlines, just tell them that it is a service to assist my aunt for the departure to Nantes. Since he couldn't take the payment directly, I still need to pay in any Air France counter.
So I went again to Air France Nantes and printed out the website. The assistant was very confused as she has not heard of this service but she can't refuse as it is listed in the website that it was an Air France service. This assistant was actually quite helpful, she called here and there for information. It seemed that nobody knows about it so she called the independent agent in Paris. She got confirmation that I could get this service, and she was told how to handle the payment. Well, it seemed that there were still some procedures she couldn't figure out so she asked me to go home and wait for her call.
Two days later I still get nothing from her. I called the agent in Paris to check if they have received any order from Air France Nantes. No they didn't and they actually had sent all the necessary instructions to Air France Nantes for the payment operation. Well, I decided to call Air France Hong Kong instead. This time she told me to have this service, my aunt needs to take a long haul flight with Air France and Paris-Nantes flight is considered a short distance flight. I reasoned with her that the service provider in Paris has agreed to this service, now just let me pay. She kept asking me to hold on so that she can asked her superior for approval. Eventually she gave me a solution: she would request this service to Paris, if they agree, she will let me pay through Air France Hong Kong.
And I got a call this morning from Hong Kong! The guy called me and spoke to me in Cantonese, saying that the service has been approved, now I just need to pay. It was so weird, for some reason I lost the ability to tell my credit card number in Cantonese, but the guy has been very patient. He nicely explained that I will get a confirmation email once the payment goes through.
And I got the confirmation email 20 minutes later. Such a wonderful service.
My philosophy: If there is a business, they will find you a solution.
Well, this probably only works with Asian mentality, as until now I didn't get any call from Air France Nantes. Anyway the business amount is probably too small for them to even bother about it.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Bad customer services in SNCF (train station)
So far I haven't been experienced very bad customer services in France despite everyone telling me that they just don't exist.
Yesterday I met a very bad sales representative in the train station. I almost cried and was so upset for the whole journey home. It has been a long time I had not been so emotional.
So, I needed to go to the train station as they don't sell train ticket involving international destinations online. I was directed to this guy, who handles all international transactions. There are a lot of places we want to go so he had to check out the time table, the prices and the best deals for me. It was very good of him. Ended up I didn't buy any bcos the quotation was closed to 3k euros (yes, 10 of us are traveling). I needed to take time to think about it.
After one day of discussion with my family, I decided to take some of his deals. I went to see him again, but this time the prices increased. Since it involves 10 people, I couldn't decide on the spot. And his reactions:
Him: "You know, my boss is not going to be happy, you came in yesterday and today blocking my time and buy nothing."
(The fact was nobody was waiting behind me)
Him telling his colleague in front of me: "This woman is just wasting my time. Yesterday for one hour and today again. "
(I don't think we spent 1 hour on the first day and it was only 15 minutes on the second day. Plus, it was his system who slowed him down as he has to redo the checking sometimes due to system failure.)
Him:"You know you can't do this. You don't come in asking and asking and buy nothing. We are not a travel agent." (I don't remember what exactly he said but he literally meant that if I ever came in the third day, I should buy something else he won't entertain me).
I don't know why but the fact that he was speaking in French make it 10 times worst and upset me even more. I kept saying I'm sorry and just left while still hearing his complaints to everyone.
But, I want to thank him today. Because of his bad attitude, I gave up traveling by train. Instead, I found good deals with the budget airlines, saved lots of time and money. Since I'm living in France and the budget airlines is limited to very few destinations, I didn't know that one can travel so cheaply in Europe. For example, From Rome to Milan only cost 35 euros and traveling time is 90 minutes.
However, I couldn't find any budget airlines linking Milan with Geneva. So I might need to go to see him again. Anyone knows of any other way to travel from Milan to Geneva?
Yesterday I met a very bad sales representative in the train station. I almost cried and was so upset for the whole journey home. It has been a long time I had not been so emotional.
So, I needed to go to the train station as they don't sell train ticket involving international destinations online. I was directed to this guy, who handles all international transactions. There are a lot of places we want to go so he had to check out the time table, the prices and the best deals for me. It was very good of him. Ended up I didn't buy any bcos the quotation was closed to 3k euros (yes, 10 of us are traveling). I needed to take time to think about it.
After one day of discussion with my family, I decided to take some of his deals. I went to see him again, but this time the prices increased. Since it involves 10 people, I couldn't decide on the spot. And his reactions:
Him: "You know, my boss is not going to be happy, you came in yesterday and today blocking my time and buy nothing."
(The fact was nobody was waiting behind me)
Him telling his colleague in front of me: "This woman is just wasting my time. Yesterday for one hour and today again. "
(I don't think we spent 1 hour on the first day and it was only 15 minutes on the second day. Plus, it was his system who slowed him down as he has to redo the checking sometimes due to system failure.)
Him:"You know you can't do this. You don't come in asking and asking and buy nothing. We are not a travel agent." (I don't remember what exactly he said but he literally meant that if I ever came in the third day, I should buy something else he won't entertain me).
I don't know why but the fact that he was speaking in French make it 10 times worst and upset me even more. I kept saying I'm sorry and just left while still hearing his complaints to everyone.
But, I want to thank him today. Because of his bad attitude, I gave up traveling by train. Instead, I found good deals with the budget airlines, saved lots of time and money. Since I'm living in France and the budget airlines is limited to very few destinations, I didn't know that one can travel so cheaply in Europe. For example, From Rome to Milan only cost 35 euros and traveling time is 90 minutes.
However, I couldn't find any budget airlines linking Milan with Geneva. So I might need to go to see him again. Anyone knows of any other way to travel from Milan to Geneva?
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