Another French customer service experience

In a continuing series...

A little over a month ago I bought a pair of shoes from Minelli - a
chain of shoe shops here in Frogland. After 4 weeks of occasional wear
to take me from home to the RER station to work and back I noticed that
the heels of both shoes were completely destroyed, with holes appearing
where the thin rubber had been worn away. It's true that I am hard on
shoes, but this is certainly the first time that they've disintegrated
quite so rapidly.

So I decided to return them to the shop.

I though that there would be three possible scenarios:
1. The shop assistant would be very charming, appreciate the
disappointment I'd experienced, and refund my money
2. The assistant would be a typical employee, not give a flying ****
about me or my shoes, but would refund the money because it wasn't her
money anyway, and she didn't give a flying **** about her employer
either.
3. The assistant would be an unhelpful miserable sod who would argue
the toss every step of the way.

In fact it didn't take long for me to find out which was the scenario du jour.

Her - Good morning Monsieur
Me - Good morning Madame. I bought these shoes not long ago and as you
can see the soles are completely worn out
Her -What do you want me to do about it?
Me -I'd like a refund, please
Her -You've got to be ****ing joking. That's normal wear.
Me -It's normal for shoes from this shop to be worn out after a month of wear?
Her -Yes - it depends on the wearer
Me -But this has never happened with any othe shoes
Her -Well I'm going to send them to our technical department and they
may decide to replace them but I doubt it. Come back in 2 weeks.

etc etc etc

I suppose I was expecting an unfriendly reception, but I was shocked by
the aggressiveness and abusiveness that I actually received. Just for
comparison, years ago I bought some shoes from Peter Lord in the UK.
After wearing them for ages a split developed in the sole. They were
replaced without question. The same thing eventually happened to the
replacements and again they were replaced without question.

So I will end with a plea for advice from our French readers, and other
knowledgeable folk: what organisations exist to look after the rights
of consumers in France, what recourse do I have, and where can I inform
myself of my options (yes, Google ... :-)

J;

--
Encrypted e-mail address. Click to mail me:
http://cerbermail.com/?nKYh3qN4YG

Jeremy Henderson wrote:

I suppose I was expecting an unfriendly reception, but I was shocked by
the aggressiveness and abusiveness that I actually received. Just for
comparison, years ago I bought some shoes from Peter Lord in the UK.
After wearing them for ages a split developed in the sole. They were
replaced without question. The same thing eventually happened to the
replacements and again they were replaced without question.

Remember that consumer protection rights are very strong in the UK. The
retailer has an absolute legal responsibility to take complaints
seriously, and not try and pass them off to the manufacturer. Having
said that, these are rights under EC law, and I would have thought
applied equally in France. I hope you pursued this complaint!

On 2004-10-30 17:17:01 +0200, said:

On Sat, 30 Oct 2004 15:51:51 +0100, Mike O'Sullivan
wrote:

Jeremy Henderson wrote:

I suppose I was expecting an unfriendly reception, but I was shocked by
the aggressiveness and abusiveness that I actually received. Just for
comparison, years ago I bought some shoes from Peter Lord in the UK.
After wearing them for ages a split developed in the sole. They were
replaced without question. The same thing eventually happened to the
replacements and again they were replaced without question.

Remember that consumer protection rights are very strong in the UK. The
retailer has an absolute legal responsibility to take complaints
seriously, and not try and pass them off to the manufacturer. Having
said that, these are rights under EC law, and I would have thought
applied equally in France. I hope you pursued this complaint!

Consumer rights are supposed to be harmonised throughout the EU.

Hmm ... surely you know that EU law doesn't apply in France, except in
certain special cases :-)

Now my problem is finding out who to complain to in order to exercise
my rights ... ?

J;

--
Encrypted e-mail address. Click to mail me:
http://cerbermail.com/?nKYh3qN4YG

On 2004-10-30 17:17:01 +0200, said:

On Sat, 30 Oct 2004 15:51:51 +0100, Mike O'Sullivan
wrote:

Jeremy Henderson wrote:

I suppose I was expecting an unfriendly reception, but I was shocked by
the aggressiveness and abusiveness that I actually received. Just for
comparison, years ago I bought some shoes from Peter Lord in the UK.
After wearing them for ages a split developed in the sole. They were
replaced without question. The same thing eventually happened to the
replacements and again they were replaced without question.

Remember that consumer protection rights are very strong in the UK. The
retailer has an absolute legal responsibility to take complaints
seriously, and not try and pass them off to the manufacturer. Having
said that, these are rights under EC law, and I would have thought
applied equally in France. I hope you pursued this complaint!

Consumer rights are supposed to be harmonised throughout the EU.

Hmm ... surely you know that EU law doesn't apply in France, except in
certain special cases :-)

Now my problem is finding out who to complain to in order to exercise
my rights ... ?

J;

--
Encrypted e-mail address. Click to mail me:
http://cerbermail.com/?nKYh3qN4YG

"Jeremy Henderson" schreef in bericht
...
In a continuing series...

A little over a month ago I bought a pair of shoes from Minelli -

What a whiner you are. You bought bad shoes. Take your loss and go on with
your life.

Sjoerd

On 2004-10-30 18:18:58 +0200, "Sjoerd" said:


"Jeremy Henderson" schreef in bericht
...
In a continuing series...

A little over a month ago I bought a pair of shoes from Minelli -

What a whiner you are. You bought bad shoes. Take your loss and go on with
your life.

Yes, I did - but why should I take the loss? Is it "whining" to expect
things you pay money for to fulfil their function? I sure wish I was a
shopkeeper in your town "Here comes that fool Sjoerd. Let's rip him off
again - he's too dumb to open his mouth to complain"

J;
--
Encrypted e-mail address. Click to mail me:
http://cerbermail.com/?nKYh3qN4YG

On 2004-10-30 18:18:58 +0200, "Sjoerd" said:


"Jeremy Henderson" schreef in bericht
...
In a continuing series...

A little over a month ago I bought a pair of shoes from Minelli -

What a whiner you are. You bought bad shoes. Take your loss and go on with
your life.

Yes, I did - but why should I take the loss? Is it "whining" to expect
things you pay money for to fulfil their function? I sure wish I was a
shopkeeper in your town "Here comes that fool Sjoerd. Let's rip him off
again - he's too dumb to open his mouth to complain"

J;
--
Encrypted e-mail address. Click to mail me:
http://cerbermail.com/?nKYh3qN4YG

Jeremy Henderson writes:

A little over a month ago I bought a pair of shoes from Minelli - a
chain of shoe shops here in Frogland. After 4 weeks of occasional wear
to take me from home to the RER station to work and back I noticed that
the heels of both shoes were completely destroyed, with holes appearing
where the thin rubber had been worn away.

Buy shoes with better heels. Cheap shoes (cheaply constructed, that is,
which isn't necessarily correlated with price) can be worn out very
easily in that period of time, if you walk a lot.

It's true that I am hard on
shoes, but this is certainly the first time that they've disintegrated
quite so rapidly.

Next time, buy better shoes.

So I decided to return them to the shop.

After four weeks?

I suppose I was expecting an unfriendly reception, but I was shocked by
the aggressiveness and abusiveness that I actually received.

That's pretty typical for French shops. However, whatever her attitude,
it's true that you shouldn't expect replacement or refund of shoes that
you've been wearing for a month. The changes you describe correspond to
wear and tear, not defective workmanship.

Just for comparison, years ago I bought some shoes from Peter
Lord in the UK. After wearing them for ages a split developed
in the sole. They were replaced without question.

Maybe Peter Lord makes better shoes, and the split was due to a defect.

I've had shoes resoled after several years in Paris for free--French
shoes sold at a French shop. I had been willing to pay for it, but I
was not charged. However, these were very good shoes that were quite
expensive.

The same thing eventually happened to the
replacements and again they were replaced without question.

How many times does it have to happen before you switch to better shoes?
How many times do you think a shoe store should replace shoes? Should
it replace shoes simply because you wear them out, or only for defects
in manufacturing?

So I will end with a plea for advice from our French readers, and other
knowledgeable folk: what organisations exist to look after the rights
of consumers in France, what recourse do I have, and where can I inform
myself of my options (yes, Google ... :-)

It's impossible to give any advice without looking at the shoes in
question, and knowing what you paid for them.

I don't think the store owes you anything if you simply wore them out,
no matter how quickly you did so. Unless there's a defect in
manufacturing, it's up to you to buy replacements.

--
Transpose hotmail and mxsmanic in my e-mail address to reach me directly.

Jeremy Henderson writes:

A little over a month ago I bought a pair of shoes from Minelli - a
chain of shoe shops here in Frogland. After 4 weeks of occasional wear
to take me from home to the RER station to work and back I noticed that
the heels of both shoes were completely destroyed, with holes appearing
where the thin rubber had been worn away.

Buy shoes with better heels. Cheap shoes (cheaply constructed, that is,
which isn't necessarily correlated with price) can be worn out very
easily in that period of time, if you walk a lot.

It's true that I am hard on
shoes, but this is certainly the first time that they've disintegrated
quite so rapidly.

Next time, buy better shoes.

So I decided to return them to the shop.

After four weeks?

I suppose I was expecting an unfriendly reception, but I was shocked by
the aggressiveness and abusiveness that I actually received.

That's pretty typical for French shops. However, whatever her attitude,
it's true that you shouldn't expect replacement or refund of shoes that
you've been wearing for a month. The changes you describe correspond to
wear and tear, not defective workmanship.

Just for comparison, years ago I bought some shoes from Peter
Lord in the UK. After wearing them for ages a split developed
in the sole. They were replaced without question.

Maybe Peter Lord makes better shoes, and the split was due to a defect.

I've had shoes resoled after several years in Paris for free--French
shoes sold at a French shop. I had been willing to pay for it, but I
was not charged. However, these were very good shoes that were quite
expensive.

The same thing eventually happened to the
replacements and again they were replaced without question.

How many times does it have to happen before you switch to better shoes?
How many times do you think a shoe store should replace shoes? Should
it replace shoes simply because you wear them out, or only for defects
in manufacturing?

So I will end with a plea for advice from our French readers, and other
knowledgeable folk: what organisations exist to look after the rights
of consumers in France, what recourse do I have, and where can I inform
myself of my options (yes, Google ... :-)

It's impossible to give any advice without looking at the shoes in
question, and knowing what you paid for them.

I don't think the store owes you anything if you simply wore them out,
no matter how quickly you did so. Unless there's a defect in
manufacturing, it's up to you to buy replacements.

--
Transpose hotmail and mxsmanic in my e-mail address to reach me directly.

Jeremy Henderson writes:

Now my problem is finding out who to complain to in order to exercise
my rights ... ?

You don't have rights when it comes to normal wear and tear.

--
Transpose hotmail and mxsmanic in my e-mail address to reach me directly.