A say in the life of ....

You couldn't imagine that it is true , could you - but it is.
Believe me - almost every kind of company is more difficult or more unpleasant or more stupid to deal with than British ones.

For various reasons I have a Fwench mobile phone contract. (and a UK one!)

There is very little competition in France. They don't like it.

For a while I had one with orange. For the first 6 months they never delivered my telephone on my 12 month contract. It took hours of phone calls, apologies, broken promises - and the rest before finally someone with some authority seemed to appreciate the error and eventually a mobile phone was sent to me. - plus two months credit.
Why didn't I just sue them? - because there is no simple clams process in France and there is a risk of costs even for the smallest claim if you lose.

Anyway, now my orange contract is up so I have to get a new one if I want a new phone.
This is how they do it in France.
If you are an existing customer, then you can renew your contract but if you want a new phone then you have to pay full whack - about €600 depending on the model.

If you change provider then you get the benefits of a free or reduced price phone.
This is really true!! Orange forces you to move away from them if you want a new phone.
The other main provider - SFR does exactly the same thing. It is completely absurd and very Fwench.

Anyway, looks as if I will have to change provider. Let's hope not too much goes wrong this time