conceive get out of cellphone contracts here in the US was risky ? Sorry . It ’s make nothing on what American - in - ParisLeonora Epstein went throughtrying to break up with Orange . This is her story . Quelle horreur !
concisely after arrive in France a year and a one-half ago , I decided to scrap my shit pay- as - you - go phone for a nerveless , glazed new iPhone . Setting up my plan at the Orange boutique , I was surprised by how smoothly it pass away . ( This never fall out in France . ) The hombre who set me up press me to get a 2 - yr contract because it was cheaper per month . I was hesitating at first because I explain to him that I was n’t sure I would be in France for that integral metre . No problem , he explained . Just send the troupe substantiation that you ’re leaving the country and you’re able to get out of the declaration for free . So what counts as proof , I asked him . My visa ? Yes , dead , he order . Send a transcript of your pass visa .
So , as my going from France nears , I go to the Orange boutique explain I postulate to cancel my contract bridge . The guy there says I actually have to do it over the phone . I demand him again about the process of sending the visa photocopy and he assures me that yes , the visa thing should be fine . So I call and get an argumentation with the most flagitious woman on the planet . ( It should be noted that my French is fairly damn good , but it is always potential that I miss the slightest particular in version , but the followers is what I recall through my seething furor . )
“ Your expired visa is not a valid justicatif , ” she secernate me .
“ What do you imply ? This is what I was told double . ”
“ Well they were wrong . That does n’t count . You demand a cogent evidence of USA residence , mean a rental with your name on it , or a deed to a house with your name on it . This is absolutely what it must be . ”
“ Well , um , that ’s going to be a trouble because I ’m stay with my sister for a while . Can she drop a line a letter ? ”
“ Non non , ça va pas . ”
“ I do n’t infer what I ’m supposed to do . ”
“ Well if you ’re going to be enrolled in school day and have paperwork for that … ”
“ No . What about some sort of piece of work contract bridge ? ”
“ No , we do n’t accept this any more . ”
“ I imply - I seriously do n’t understand why the visa does n’t work when this is what a representative of your companionship told me TWICE . I would n’t have taken this contract if I knew it was going to be like this . ”
“ I recite you , madame , this is not valid validation . ”
“ YES , IT IS ! The substantiation , madame , is that I am American and I can no longer legally reside in your country therefore I must leave . ”
“ Sorry … ”
“ Well then what do you advise me to do ? ”
“ What you will have to do - where are you move to ? ”
“ California . ”
“ Yes , well then what you will have to do is to go to the United States and once you are there , go to the Mairie de Californie ( aka the “ city hall of California ” ) and get them to pen you a letter say you live there . Then send that to us . ”
“ Um … I do n’t in reality think that that survive . hold back do you mean LA metropolis hall ? I have a number one wood ’s license from New York … ”
“ No . ”
“ OK , but what you ’re asking for is n’t , like , workaday in the US as far as I acknowledge . And also , I am NOT going to pass on the res publica with my account still active . That seems pathetic to me . Anyhow … do you infer that I will be close my French cant account ? Therefore the defrayal will not go through ? ”
“ Ah yes , well in this case can you pass on a middleman in France ? ” ( hour angle . As if I am go to depart Orange the telephone number of a friend in Paris so they can take guardianship of any more paperwork and financial burden . )
“ No . looking . I ’m American . I do n’t have family here . There ’s no one . ”
“ Well all I can tell you is to go to the mairie de California for your justicatif once you are there . ”
Sheesh . So at this point , I am LIVID . I run back out to the Orange dress shop and found the same man , and excuse to him my problem .
“ They said that ? Really ? ” he demand .
“ Yeah . ”
“ Well , that ’s crazy . It is proof . And whatever . If you ’re closing your bank business relationship , it does n’t matter . ”
reliable , he had a full stop , but this is not the way I like to provide things . Especially if I ever need to hail back to France , I do n’t want any record of a debt or anything . In my opinion , if this find in the States at least an elision would be made ( after much shouting , of trend ) on the soil that on two ( well three in reality ) separate occasions Orange employee had given me delusive info . And just because “ these masses are not specialists in outside clients ” ( what the adult female on the earphone told me ) is not an satisfactory answer . You ca n’t lie to client and then expect them to know the accuracy . So anyhow , this is what happen :
My boyfriend ( bless his heart ) typed up a one - page letter which referenced some 3 or 4 laws ( it was really quite telling ) , which said that French law permit you to scrub a mobile declaration without a fee if you have to go forth the country . ” So we sent that off with a transcript of my visa and a copy of my plane ticket . 10 days later a letter from Orange : “ Your pièce justicatif is not valid . give thanks you and please continue to delight your speech sound service until November 27 , 2011 . ” Ahhh ! So fellow calls and talks to some guy at Orange who explain something more or less different . I still ca n’t cancel my declaration while I ’m in France . It needs to be done once I am in the US , at which point I send them a bill or bank news report or something with my address on it and my letter to invalidate the contract bridge . But it must be sent FROM the US . Then supposedly , ( take on this is accepted ! ) my account statement will be closed 10 twenty-four hours after receiving the letter .
So , large . Screw you , Orange . I ’m just so happy to pay up for what will likely be an special month of your dirt servicing while I ’m in the US .
Leonora Epstein is a free lance writer who has lived in Paris since 2009 . Her writing has appeared on The Frisky , DailyCandy , Cosmopolitan.com , New York Press and others . you may find out more about her atleonoraepstein.com .
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