While you can use your credit card to buy practically anything in France, cell phone service is not one of them. They will only give you a wireless contract if you have a bank account. Well, having just moved to France a few days before, we didn't have a bank account. But we did have an appointment at the bank to set up an account a couple of days later, so we would have to wait a couple of days more to get our cell phones. Disappointed but not discouraged, we remained wireless-less. A couple of days later, we did manage to set up a checking account at the Credit Lyonnais, one of the many banks here. They are probably best known as the sponsor of the Maillot Jaune, the Yellow Jersey, which is worn by the race leader in bicycling's premiere event, the Tour de France. We only chose them because they have a special arrangement with NYU to make it slightly less impossible to open a checking account. Normally, you would provide every type of documentation you could think of, including a proof of address, which would generally be, and here's the Catch-22, a phone statement! However, the opening of the account went rather smoothly, as we were able to use our lease as our proof of address. The nice man at the bank explained that the bank does not issue starter checks, but printed up a form called a RIB (pronounced reeb) that is widely accepted as proof of banking account. Armed with our RIB, we marched off down the street to Bernard at Orange to get our cell phones. Bernard, however, informed us that while a RIB is one of the required documents to set up our cell phone accounts, they also require a physical check or ATM card. Skip ahead 2 more weeks, with multiple calls and drop-ins at the bank to see when and if we would ever get either a bank card or a checkbook. Every contact revealed a different arrival date for these elusive objects, but we did manage to find out in the process that it takes about a week before the account is validated because it has to be presented to and approved by the Central Bank of France. Only then can the local bank go ahead and order checks and bank cards.
Finally the day arrived when our daily call to the bank branch hit paydirt. Our ATM cards had arrived (the checkbook had yet to come)! We picked up our cards, but discovered that our PIN numbers would be sent to us in the mail and, of course, we had not received them yet. With some trepidation, we arrived at the Orange store near our apartment and to our relief confirmed that we did not need the PIN numbers for our cards to set up accounts. In our multiple previous visits to the Orange store, Cathy had picked out a simple but popular Nokia phone. I had found a small flip-phone that suited me. Of course, now that we were actually ready to buy the phones, the flip-phone had been sold out and discontinued. Crestfallen but determined, I chose another phone, only to be told that while they had it displayed, they no longer carried that model either. The rep tried to sell me on a much more expensive flip-phone, but by that point my intuition was tingling and I had the feeling we just needed to get out of there. So we left and walked two doors down and stumbled on a practically unmarked independent cellphone retailer. We went in to find a small crowd at the counter and one of the three Algerian fellows behind the counter yelling angrily into a (landline) phone. He would pause momentarily to answer somebody’s question and then would continue his tirade into the receiver. Looking around, it was immediately apparent that as opposed to the immaculate and structured Orange store next door (think any newer Verizon Wireless or SprintPCS store in the US), this place was a dump. It was dingy, there were no displays, and the whole place was badly in need of a paint job. We were standing there taking all of this in, when the guy stopped yelling suddenly, looked at Cathy and said (in French, of course) “If you’ll wait just two minutes, you’ll get the best deal in town!” Turns out he was right. After emphatically slamming down the phone he had been screaming into a few minutes later, he handed me a sleek Samsung flip-phone (without knowing I was looking for a flip-phone) with a hi-res color screen, infrared port, the works. He handed Cathy a more compact and nicer Nokia than she had chosen at Orange and informed us that it was tri-band, which meant that it would work in the States as well. We couldn’t believe it when he quoted us a price of 20€ each for our cool new phones. Soon we were getting into the details of setting up the same plans that we had selected at Orange, when it occurred to me to ask Cathy to ask if there were better plans available (all of the wireless companies have pretty much the same coverage area). Our guy's answer? "Bien sûr", "But of course". Could he have told us this 20 minutes ago when we brought up the Orange plans? Sure, but the French do not offer unsolicited information because they assume you already know it and do not want to risk offending you by telling you something you already knew. So you have to ask questions, a lot of very specific, detailed questions that you wouldn't normally think to ask. Doing so actually serves a beneficial, dual purpose: You get the information you need and you strengthen your relationship with the proprietor, which is also very important. You give the proprietor a chance to show off his expertise and solve a problem for you. The French LOVE to solve problems for others. Then they bend over backwards to help you. But I digress (again). Half an hour later we walked out of the place with great phones and the best subscriptions available and overall a memorable experience.
No comments:
Post a Comment