A Lesson in French Capitalism

As many of you know, I made Paris my permanent home in early November. Thus far, it has been fantastic. The people are great, the city is awesome, and I've encountered only minimal amounts of the legendary French bureaucracy. Until today, that is.

A little backstory here. My wife wanted an everyday coat for Christmas. Paris is a shopper's dream (even for someone like me who hates to shop), so I was able to find a nice coat at NAFNAF (a mid-scale ladies' boutique) for 170 Euros on Tuesday (I know, Last Minute Louie, right?). As I was checking out, the sales girl alerted me to the fact that if I bought another item, I'd get 20% off the whole purchase, making the coat 136 Euros. So I gave my wife the coat for Christmas and I was off by one size.

We went to take the coat back and exchange it for the right size today. I walked in and brought the coat I bought to the counter where another sales girl told me to go get the right size and she'd exchange it. In the meantime, my wife found a coat she liked better for the same price. We brought it to the counter and the girl said no problem. As she was working the register, her manager came up and asked what she was doing. She explained the exchange and her manager frowned. The manager took over and explained to me that since the coat was purchased during a pre-Christmas sale, I would have to pay 34 Euros more for the new coat since it is obviously post-Christmas.

I was dumbstruck. I explained that the two coats were almost identical and were both priced at 170 Euros. She made it clear she wouldn't budge. So I took a shot in the dark and asked for a refund on the original coat, knowing that American retail policy is usually No Refunds - Store Credit Only. She didn't bat an eye. Of course I could have a refund.

Again I was dumbstruck. Just to clarify, I asked her if she wanted to let 136 Euros walk out the door rather than just exchange two items of equal value. She was quite adamant that she did. By now I'd lost my patience. When she went to refund me the 136 Euros, I asked her why I wasn't getting back 170, since the coat had obviously appreciated in value since Tuesday. I explained to her that the pre-Christmas sale was over. American sarcasm is not appreciated by the French.

After getting our money back, we walked across the street to Etam where my wife found a coat she liked even better for less money.

The thing that bothers me most about socialism is not the lack of reward for achievement, but the lack of punishment for incompetence. In an American store, she'd have been fired on the spot. Not here. She'll probably get a raise for pissing off another American.

Unfortunately, I don't think America is too far behind anymore. After electing a socialist President who wants nothing more than to "level the playing field", can capitalism truly survive? Accountability is dead.

After the past 16 years, I've come to expect nothing less than wholesale buffoonery from the office of the President. Unfortunately, I still expect better from a retail clerk.

 

you purchased something on sale, and want to exchange it with another similar but DIFFERENT coat that is not on sale but has the same msrp as the on sale item that you purchased did, and they wouldn't let you return it.... and you think that you were treated badly bc you were in France?

durrr, maybe i am drunk but i think you just described the retail policy anywhere in in world, including America.

all for french bashing though. carry on.

 
Best Response

I asked myself the same thing over and over. Was I being a jerk, or was there something I just didn't get? I keep coming back to the fact that the two coats were almost identical, were on racks 3 feet away from each other in the store, both qualified for the same discount on Tuesday, and both were the exact same price.

To add to my confusion, the sales girl was more than happy to refund every penny and lose my business, when she could have conceivably said, "Sorry, store credit only" and kept the business in-house. There's no way an American store manager would have allowed that money to walk out the door and across the street to the competition.

Despite all their weird economic foibles, the French were the only developed nation to post growth in their GNP last quarter. I'm hesitant to bash the economic policies of a country where the personal savings rate is never below 10%, especially coming from a country where the personal savings rate is rarely above 1% anymore.

 

It's funny how are you relating the story to Obama, how does this relate to Obama? It seems that you are intelligent, how come you draw a conclusion like this based on your experience at a french retailer??

Obama is not yet the president, so just slow down .... wait until he gets inaugurated

why you are not blaming Bush who has become the most socialist president ever??

Bush : Our economy is depending on decisive action from the government," Bush said. "The sooner we address the problem, the sooner we can get back on the path of growth and job creation."

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/news/0809/gallery.week_that_broke_w…

"Eighty-two percent of Americans are happy with the way President-elect Obama is handling his transition. Even 61 percent of Republicans like him"

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/12/25/schneider-obamas-honeym…

 

If anything it was a slam on the American people for electing him. I was simply making the point that America is slipping into socialism (well, when you elect a socialist as President, you're no longer "slipping" - you're already a goner).

Bush isn't a socialist as much as he's a fascist. Or would be if he had the mental capacity to understand fascism. I blame Bush for a great many things, not the least of which are his policies that rang the death knell of the Constitution. I personally place the blame for the current financial crisis more on Clinton's shoulders than Bush's, however. When you grow up in a blue-blood family from Maine, it doesn't occur to you to lend money to deadbeats. But when you grow up in a trailer park in Arkansas after your dad walks out on you, it seems like a perfectly reasonable thing to do.

82% of Americans are happy with Obama's transition so far? I would guess that that percentage is roughly equivalent to how many Americans thought an Adjustable Rate Mortgage with no money down, living on credit cards, pulling the equity out of their homes every six months, and then electing someone promising handouts was a good idea.

 

If our country were serious about fixing the problem and not just passing it off on future generations, we would reinstate the gold standard.

Many Americans would starve and many would suffer, some for a long time, but eventually the ship would right itself. Most of all, the government must immediately cease and desist, but we all know that isn't going to happen (especially now that one of the Chicago ilk is about to thrust his snout into the trough).

Less government is always the answer.

 

well somebody else already answered that you wanted a different coat that was not on sale. so the store didnt have to sell it to you, maybe they had a smaller inventory for that other item and felt they could sell out at the higher price u know? and u mentioned yourself that the store doesnt have to resort to the pathetic "store credit only" policies that u.s. stores have.

now for something original: in french quebec i went to buy some ski equipment last year at a regular sports chain. meaning theyre big enough that they dont have to do anything original. yet when i was choosing my equipment the store clerk helped me to get an awesome discount. like there were models from 2008 and the same model from 2007 that was at a larger discount. there was also a pair of boots(just 1 pair) that was at 85% discount and he just said "there is a small chance it will fit but we have to try" and it did. and then i wanted a lower end model for my bindings and the sales clerk just said "these cheap bindings wouldnt go with these boots, so i'll just sell you the other model that we have in the back for the same price as the cheaper model".

basically not only were they extra nice but in amerika sales people dont even have the intellect to set you up with all these deals. also i remember coming in for some wax and a salesperson directing me "take this one instead, it's on sale blabla" even though it didnt say anywhere that it's on sale (but i went to check it out and got my 15% off).

 

I'm a bit confused here. Did you end up paying 136 or 170 Euros for the original coat?

If you paid 136 it would only make sense that you could exchange the coat for 136 Euros or 136 Euros worth of merchandise. I've never heard of anyone getting back more than what they paid for the item.

If they allowed that then I would just stock up on sale merchandise and return it a month later (when it's back at regular price) for a 20% profit.

 

I bought Coat A for 170 Euros - 20% so it came out to 136. Coat B was also 170 Euros - 20% on Tuesday when I bought coat A; it was a storewide sale. So it made no sense to me that they wouldn't exchange the two on the day after Christmas, since that day Coat A was selling for 170 and so was Coat B thanks to the sale being over. In other words, they were both on sale for 136 on Tuesday, and both were back to their regular price of 170 on Friday. It wasn't like I was asking to make a profit.

Time for a gross generalization here. The French have a desperate need to be right, even when they are demonstrably wrong. Logic does not enter the equation. It would be better (in the French mind) for a store owner to go bankrupt than to admit that the store policies that drove him to bankruptcy were ill conceived.

C'est la vie!

 

The reason NAFNAF reimbursed you in full as opposed to store credit was because they are legally bound to do so. This is a form of consumer protection, something France is pretty fond of. Sales are illegal outside of well-defined times (ie. les soldes) so that's why she simply couldn't give you a different coat at pre-christmas prices. I'm sorry that happened but you ended up getting a nicer coat for cheaper so who cares what happens to the retail clerk. I simply can't stand American retail clerks breathing down my neck all the time and asking me if I need any help but I'm perfectly fine with them keeping their jobs.

 
GoodBread:
The reason NAFNAF reimbursed you in full as opposed to store credit was because they are legally bound to do so. This is a form of consumer protection, something France is pretty fond of. Sales are illegal outside of well-defined times (ie. les soldes) so that's why she simply couldn't give you a different coat at pre-christmas prices. I'm sorry that happened but you ended up getting a nicer coat for cheaper so who cares what happens to the retail clerk. I simply can't stand American retail clerks breathing down my neck all the time and asking me if I need any help but I'm perfectly fine with them keeping their jobs.

I stand corrected. Though I was peripherally aware of les soldes, since I'm not much of a shopper the only notice I ever took was of the half naked French chicks plastered all over the Metro stations during the lingerie sale. Again, I'm not slamming the French system because, even though I'm astounded that it actually works, it does work. They've managed to take a system that has failed in almost every other circumstance (socialism) and found a way to make it work, for the most part.

 

Edmundo,

You my friend, are running into what I thought I had run away from 20 years ago. Unfortunately, the diseased socialist ideology you are witnessing has pervasively funneled its way under the ocean and washed up on America's shores. To nit-pick as to "how" and "why" is futile. All I can tell you is that if you plan on living in Europe for the long-term, you will encounter many more such episodes.

ST2008,

Obama is a socialist. Take it from someone who grew up in a socialist system. There are no poll numbers or satisfaction statistics that can cover up what the Democrats have been doing to this country for a long time. I have no reason to lie to you. I suggest doing some objective research for yourself and leaving your personal values out of the equation.

Best, d.

 

thedude is right here. Your logic to exchange the coat for another one that is not on sale anymore does not make sense, because otherwise you could artificially extend any sale by doing this, i.e. purchasing a random item and exchanging it for something else (after the sale is over) while claiming that the second item was on sale when you made your original purchase.

 

Strangely enough, France doesn't consider itself socialist at all. They have only had one socialist president since 1958. The French political spectrum is simply skewed towards the left compared to the U.S. one because of Socialist and Communist victories from roughly 1870 to the early 50s. If anyone thinks Obama is a socialist, they should have a look at Segolene Royal's platform in the 2007 elections. Some of the suggestions are terrifying.

 
GoodBread:
Strangely enough, France doesn't consider itself socialist at all. They have only had one socialist president since 1958. The French political spectrum is simply skewed towards the left compared to the U.S. one because of Socialist and Communist victories from roughly 1870 to the early 50s. If anyone thinks Obama is a socialist, they should have a look at Segolene Royal's platform in the 2007 elections. Some of the suggestions are terrifying.

The French Socialist party is high comedy as of late. I thought James Carville and Mary Matalin had an uphill battle for peace on the homefront. I can't believe what I've read about Royal and Hollande lately!

 

Oh, This happens EVERYWHERE, It's happened to me in the US, in Canada, in Italy,,, You can't generalise like that. Employees are retards in sometimes. They don't give a hoot. They work 9-to-5, punch out, and get their pay check....

Lot's of losers in this world.

 

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