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Letters: Bin collection fees have soared in France - for fewer pick-ups
Readers say the fees mean putting the rubbish out only once every six weeks
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'Real French treasures are now hard to find at flea markets'
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'French healthcare is baffling and complex... but it works'
Columnist Nick Inman recently had the misfortune to be ill, but the fortune, as he sees it, for this to happen in France
Lidl unhelpful
Three weeks after I bought a Ponceuse a Bande at Lidl, Valognes, in 2016, the motor stopped, for no obvious reason.
I took it back to Lidl and was advised to phone the number in the guarantee. A French friend telephoned regularly for three weeks, with no reply.
After many letters and no help from Lidl, I contacted themediator who was amazed at Lidl’s response. He investigated my complaint and, on 10 June 2018, I finally received the €44.99 I paid two years’ earlier.
But Lidl still refused to reimburse the postage €15.65 which I am in the process of reporting to the mediator.
Lidl’s argument is that because I did not take the sander back within 30 days the guarantee was invalid – so what is the point of a manufacturer’s three-year guarantee?
Carol Read, Normandy