staking out - my new hobby :)))

Another story that I haven't told so far was that sometime in July I have ordered on the internet a refrigerator from a firm established in Paris. I have chosen the brand and model and paid for it online, the money being cashed in after 2 days. The promised delivery delay was from 8 to 20 work days.

As probably you have guessed already, cause if it were not the case I would not have written this post, after more than 30 work days no delivery was made. I have called the firm and I was told that my refrigerator was not in stock and that it will take until the second half of October to be delivered. OK, that was a little too much for me - from 20 work days to more than 60. So I have decided to cancel the order and to buy a refrigerator from somewhere else.

When I have canceled the order I have been informed that I will be reimbursed in 8 to 15 days. This was on 14 September. As usual, the deadline for reimbursement has passed and no transfer was made to my banking account. Big surprise :) Further more, each time I have talked with the folks at the overcharged hot line of the store they told me that they will send the cheque next week or that their boss was absent and that there is no one that can sign the cheque. Of course no cheque was received.

One fatal mistake that the reimbursement office of that firm was that it had added in the cc of the mail containing the order cancel confirmation all the people that made a cancel order demand in the same time. This facilitated an exchange of messages between the customers, that helped us see that no reimbursement was made for anybody on that list. Some people on the list started talking on getting a lawyer and suing the company. But nothing was made to this date.

Seeing that my attempts were totally ignored by the hot line support team I have decided to do a rather "nasty" thing: I went to one of the Paris stores of this company and demanded to talk with a supervisor. If they would not put me in touch with a supervisor I have warned them that I will not leave the store. Although I am not a mean person, this situation made me act like one.

So I talked on the phone from that store to a supervisor and as usual he told me that my cheque was sent to me that very afternoon. Really???, I have told him. From that moment on I started talking loudly at him in order that all the customers in there to hear me. He kept telling me that he can't do anything and if I would like the cheque I should go by myself to their offices located somewhere in the suburbs of Paris. Well, that was not my problem, I have waited more than two months for the reimbursement, so I am not supposed to do this trip to get the refund. I am in one of the company's locations, location that sells stuff, so somebody could write me a cheque and I will be on my way. The supervisor started yelling at me and invoking the same old excuses that his employees used on me before. I have told him I do not believe him even a little bit and that I would stay in the store until someone handed me my cheque.

As you probably imagine after the conversation was over I was invited to leave immediately the store, because I am no longer a customer of theirs. Really? I did not wanted any trouble so I have exited the store and stood right in front of the building. Starting from that moment I have began talking with every man that entered the store in warning him that what has happened to me could happen to them too, if they buy from that company. Very surprising, most of the people were very cooperative and received my message very well. Some even told me when they have left the store that they haven't bought anything and thanked me for the advice.

After one hour and a half, the employees of the store seeing that I was not going to give up in talking to people that entered the store decided to call the police :) And although I was standing on public property - the very street with the store, at one meter in front of that building - I was asked to leave the premises, on the reason that I cannot perturb in this way a business. I do not know if the police was right but as how I am not a law specialist and not wanting to learn it using the hard way (plus that the lunch break in which I did this was long time over :) ) I obeyed the recommendation and left.

Finally, this Monday I went straight to the company offices and requested personally the cheque. After the small show I have done in front of the store I was well known at that office and my cheque was handed to me right away. I have told them also what they can do with their excuses :))

I was a little bit disappointed if even in France there are people that do business in this way, by violating the contracts and mocking people around. I was not sure all the way if the effort was worth it, because the amount of money they had to refund me was not that significant, but it was more a question of principle. And finally I have discovered that the satisfaction you get finally makes up for all the effort invested in such a story.

Still, if I think about it now, maybe I will put this in my CV, because how many people can say they have done this and did succeeded in the end ? :)))))))