Another Home thread

[bazfaz]

We got to our new home by 11 on Tuesday morning. The removal men were fantastic. The notaire who handled the house here was terrible right to the end. We saw the final contract at midday. I saw a mistake in one of the clauses to do with the land. And the notaire had just that morning realized she didn't have the information about the asbestos survey. Awful person.

It was fun watching the removal men getting things in place. One chest of drawers was too big to pass up the stairs. So one man stood on the roof of the truck, hauled it up and passed it to his colleague who manhandled it through the window. It reminded me of those houses in Amsterdam with hooks under the eaves for hoisting up beds.

Boxes are still everywhere but the kitchen/dining room is getting organized. It is a good room with big French windows leading onto a gravelled courtyard. There is a stone wall with half a dozen steps leading up to the garden. I can see the bright yellow splash of sternbergia from where I am sitting.

Two hours at the bank yesterday to move our account. One hour at the mairie today to get all the documents we need to fill in. And then there is the telephone. Bjd, believe me it is not automatic. Mrs Faz gave France Telecom 8 days warning. The old line was duly cut at midday precisely (she was telephoning at the time). Silence until the next day. Then they restored the previous owners' number (and apparently account) because they then connected our new number as well. When Mrs Faz reported this she was treated to an abusive tirade (as if it was her fault) and was told it would take ten days to correct. She telephoned again today and got a man who was amused by the whole saga and put it right while she was speaking to him. Why does France Telecom employ rude and hopeless harridans? Maybe she is the sister of the notaire.

Weather is wonderful and Mrs Faz is just going to have a swim. Once we have things straight this will be a good home.

[Deleted]

France Telecom subcontracts just about everything now, just like all of the other big companies -- so they are saving lots of money and giving worse and worse service. The joys of being a private company rather than a public service...

I hope the camera will be unpacked soon!

[bazfaz]

We asked in the mairie about the restaurant right here in the village. The secretary pulled a face. Lunch is served to a couple of local old men and occasionally to workmen on a local job. The woman who runs it is apparently picky about serving food to new customers. It serves no food in the evening. So it looks like we'll be going to Cazals on Saturday night. It is less than 4 kms away. There are three restaurants there and we like one very much.

[bjd]

Well, Baz, it obviously is automatic since the guy dealt with it while your wife was talking to him. It's not automatic when you get some incompetent dolt.

Interestingly, this evening I had a call from Sofres to participate in a current events survey. The main thing they asked me about was the slew of suicides at France Telecom. Given your experience, it should be the customers who are killing themselves rather than the FT workers.

Glad to hear that you are enjoying your new house.

[bazfaz]

Someone told me that the suicides were among FT engineers who were surplus to requirements and were posted to call centres (like the one Mrs Faz dealt with). I do not know what truth there is in that. The same person said that there were suicides in FT, certainly, but the figures were in line with the French population generally.

[Deleted]

Actually, these waves of suicides have always occurred, with an upswing in large companies that are restructuring. A few years ago it was Peugeot and before that it was at EDF. It generally concerns people who have been doing the same job for 10 or 20 years and who are suddenly transferred to a different position with little or no preparation.

France is reputedly one of the more guilty countries for this sort of thing, because French corporate culture does not have any tradition of consulting the workers before making big changes, unlike Germany.

At France Telecom, many of the suicides are attributed to people who entered the company as a public service job and who were then ordered to sell extra products to customers, even if they didn't need them. One of the people who committed suicide had managed to sell high speed internet packages to old people who didn't even have a computer because he was under pressure to create more profit for the company or face professional sanctions.

[bazfaz]

Today's France Telecom saga. Telephone and internet not working this morning. Some time after breakfast telephone service was restored so Mrs Faz could ring up and ask why the internet had been taken away from us. Because, she was told, it had been mistakenly connected using the previous ownerx' account. How long will it take to get us back on-line? Up to 10 days, she was told. However by lunch time FT relented and put us back on-line.

[bjd]

I don't think FT posted engineers to call centres. Given that engineers at FT are pretty well paid, they would be really wasting their money and experienced people. They probably posted people who had worked at the FT shops or doing customer service things.

I hope it all works out, Bas. We had some trouble with accounts at Gaz de France -- didn't get any bills for months but they continued debiting the account.

What really pisses me off with the various "services" in France, is having to make those paying phone calls to get anywhere -- I mean, who calls the insurance company or the electricity company to have a chat? You only call because they have screwed up or you need information, and they charge you for the phone call!

[bazfaz]

France Telecom is behaving itself today. I think our problems are settled.

[lagatta]

Glad to hear that, bazfaz!

I suspect kerouac knows someone who might call the insurance company or electricity utility to have a chat.