French Frustration!

No matter where you live and no matter how idyllic that place may seem there are inevitably some things, however minor, which can become irksome.  I love France and the only way that I could return permanently to England is in the metaphorical box.  More correctly in my case a funerary urn as there is a very precious, spiritual place where I wish my mortal remains to be scattered.

Despite my love of this country and its people I occasionally despair of the way things work, or more often, do not work here.  French bureaucracy and red tape is legendary as is equally the general level and concept of customer service.

Bureaucracy for example;  When we exchanged our UK driving licences for French ones it was fairly straightforward as we had researched and found out exactly what documents were needed by the authorities.  At the sous-prefecture the lady behind the desk was polite and helpful, paperwork completed quickly, then came the fee.  We were told that it was €52 each, a cheque was acceptable so one was duly completed for the total of €104.  Oh no, that was not right said the fonctionnaire, it has to be two cheques, each for €52!  One cheque destroyed and the requested two duly completed and handed over in exchange for temporary licences.

On the recent May Day public holiday I needed to book a flight to and from Stansted for a few days.  Not a problem as RyanAir operates from our local airport at Bergerac, flights for which are booked online.  One significant difference between French and UK public holidays is that ,unlike Britain, here it is genuinely a holiday wherein shops, banks, businesses and public offices are closed for the day, it is impossible even to buy a carton of milk.  Having become accustomed to national habits such as this we obviously plan ahead.

Having logged on to the RyanAir website, chosen destination and dates, completed all required information, it was just a simple matter of completing the process with bank card details and clicking on the 'Purchase' button.  So far so good, a box appeared onscreen asking for my patience as the transaction might take up to one minute.

Time passed, after about a minute another onscreen box appeared stating that the transaction had been declined.  What?  My bank account held more than sufficient funds for the transaction, perhaps there was an error in my completed details that may have caused the rejection.  Nothing for it but to go through the whole booking process again.  The 'Purchase' button was duly clicked again, a slightly nervous wait ensued before more information appeared onscreen again - 'Transaction Declined'.

By this time minor panic was setting in, I tried to remain calm and not let the digital world upset my demeanour so the whole process was repeated slowly and deliberately.  Unfortunately hope did not triumph above stark reality as yet again my offer to do business with RyanAir was further thwarted.

Not to be outdone a further attempt was made but this time using both my wife's laptop and bank card.  Great idea in theory - however fortune was not with me rresulting  in a further declination.  By now I was becoming more than frustrated and grumpy not to mention puzzled as to why I had been unable to book a flight.

The following day a further attempt to secure a passage to England was made using my laptop and bank card, my heart was in my mouth as the details were completed, the 'Purchase' button pressed.  Waiting the requested time was similar to to being a victim in the dentist's waiting room, nerves were jangling, fingers drumming, suddenly a notice appeared saying 'Transaction Completed'.  With this great news I can assure you that I was considerably more relieved than Lady Smith ever was at Mafeking!

So what was the problem?  RyanAir's response to an enquiring email was couched in the terms of 'Well, it wasn't our fault'.  The next obvious step was to speak with the French bank which has the privilege of holding our accounts.  Their response was that the Wednesday was a public holiday, therefore why should the bank be working including their computer system.  There really is no logical answer to that  response apart from that I should have known better than to darn well ask!