Any members living in France / Continental Europe ?

electrokid · Post by **electrokid** » Thu May 20, 2010 12:51 pm

Hi folks / Bonjour / Hola,

My LHD headlamps arrived today purchased through Leboncoin.fr - the nasty rattling from the box told me and RM delivery guy that it was wise to mark the box "RETURNED : DAMAGED".

So now I still don't have LHD headlamps AND I have to faff around trying to get a refund via Western Union ! ! ho hum.

If anyone can help me with good translations into French for "you should have used bubblewrap" etc that would be appreciated.

And if anyone can help me with the purchase of LHD headlamps at reasonable ie: aftermarket price cost that would be great - thanks.

KevR · Post by **KevR** » Mon May 24, 2010 10:17 am

Probably the best place for new stuff in France is www.oscaro.com
They're listing Valeo headlights for BX at about 62 euros each at the moment.
I don't mind ordering a pair for delivery here and forwarding them to you next time I'm in UK. Otherwise might be able to find a pair in a breakers, although breakers aren't all that cheap here.

To make it clear you've refused the package because it wasn't properly packed, you need to say something along the lines of, "Le colis a été refusée, car l'emballage etait insuffisante et le contenu etait cassé."

That's probably badly spelled and ungrammatical but it should do the job.

electrokid · Post by **electrokid** » Mon May 24, 2010 11:27 am

Many thanks KevR - much appreciated.

I think part of my problem is expecting the same 'aftermarket' prices that are here in the UK - it's becoming clear to me that I need to oil the hinges on my wallet to make it easier to open

Thanks for the offer to buy then forward to me - much appreciated. Because of the price of the headlamps themselves I think that will work out about the same as the headlamps from a German guy on eBay at the moment - having previously thought they were too expensive I'm now beginning to think it's a reasonable deal. (wallet goes *creeeeak*

) and postage prices from France seem to have caught up with those from the US !

"Le colis a été refusée, car l'emballage etait insuffisante et le contenu etait cassé."

That's excellent - thank you - I'll use that in my next email to the seller who is still refusing to refund - if you have bought annything through Leboncoin.fr and have any advice that would be most helpful - thanks. I'm impressed that you've got accents over the 'e's - I don't know how to do that !

Cheers,
Brian.

DavidRutherford · Post by **DavidRutherford** » Mon May 24, 2010 11:46 am

There are a number of members here who live in france, and others who travel to france quite often. Could someone not buy a cheap pair from a french breakers and then either post or bring them back for you? If I were going to france at any point soon I'd offer...

Philip Chidlow · Post by **Philip Chidlow** » Mon May 24, 2010 12:08 pm

I'm off to France next week. If I can I'll pick up a pair. Phil

electrokid · Post by **electrokid** » Mon May 24, 2010 12:53 pm

Thank you David, and thank you Phil.

Phil - I'd like to take you up on your offer if it's not going to be a bother - and then if successful I can toddle over to Chelmsford and pick up the headlamps / chat about BXs / and make the neighbours think you are buying another one

KevR · Post by **KevR** » Mon May 24, 2010 1:43 pm

electrokid wrote:
"Le colis a été refusée, car l'emballage etait insuffisante et le contenu etait cassé."
That's excellent - thank you - I'll use that in my next email to the seller who is still refusing to refund - if you have bought annything through Leboncoin.fr and have any advice that would be most helpful - thanks. I'm impressed that you've got accents over the 'e's - I don't know how to do that !

Cheers,
Brian.

I've bought quite a few things from leboncoin - it's the same risk as you take with any small ad deal. At least with Ebay there's some kind of dispute resolution process you can follow. Other trouble here is that the French often have a very, very different idea of what constitutes 'good condition'. Have lost count of the times I've wasted time going to see cars that are advertised as, 'tout bon etat' which turn out to be absolute wrecks. Or tyres that are advertised as 'comme neuf' and turn out to have loads of tread but be so perished as to be lethal.
As for accents, I know the keyboard shorcuts, but only on a Mac - on a PC I try the same ones and it usually comes up with something like, "You are about to erase the hard drive, do you wish to continue? Y/N".

Dollywobbler · Post by **Dollywobbler** » Mon May 24, 2010 2:26 pm

To get é on a PC, you need to press and hold Alt, type 0233 on the numeral pad (not the numbers above the keyboard) and then release Alt. ë is Alt+235, which obviously every Citroën owner needs to know!

Linegeist · Post by **Linegeist** » Mon May 24, 2010 2:41 pm

Dollywobbler wrote: ë is Alt+235, which obviously every Citroën owner needs to know!

Ù .............. ????

Now ALT 137 gives me ë ..... that's what the ASCII table says too.

They're all here .....

Wooscary · Post by **Wooscary** » Mon May 24, 2010 2:44 pm

I like this site for any accents/symbols http://www.copypastecharacter.com/, just copy and paste them in to your text.

Linegeist · Post by **Linegeist** » Mon May 24, 2010 2:46 pm

Wooscary wrote:I like this site for any accents/symbols http://www.copypastecharacter.com/, just copy and paste them in to your text.

Try this www.copypastecharacter.com

electrokid · Post by **electrokid** » Mon May 24, 2010 4:37 pm

ß®îÌÍîåñ† many thanks guys

My Citröen thanks you also

Seeing the ñ reminded me of the time I was working in Barcelona - although English was usually sufficient I was trying to learn bits of the lingo and was chatting with the shift leader trying to ask his age in Spanish - I realised that you had to say ¿ how many years do you have ? and eventually I learnt enough words to say it. However I didn't realise that in Spanish the n and the ñ are completely different letters. "Quanto anos a tu" is very very wrong ...

años = years
anos = anus

At least with Ebay there's some kind of dispute resolution process you can follow.

True - though it still usually depends on the goodwill of the seller - so it's usually sorted nicely before eBay get involved and if they are not then eBay's system is often useless. Re Leboncoin.fr - I would probably guess I can wave bye-bye to my €60

As for accents, I know the keyboard shorcuts, but only on a Mac - on a PC I try the same ones and it usually comes up with something like, "You are about to erase the hard drive, do you wish to continue? Y/N".

Sadly I never got onto the MAC bandwagon - my 4 PCs run 98SE, Pro2K, XP and vista

Linegeist · Post by **Linegeist** » Mon May 24, 2010 5:48 pm

I love Barcelona - especially Los Caracoles off Las Ramblas. Perfect place to spend an Autumn weekend wandering around the seafront. $\:D/$

KevR · Post by **KevR** » Mon May 24, 2010 6:40 pm

electrokid wrote:...

años = years
anos = anus

I've been on Macs pretty much since I started in journalism in 1990. Hadn't touched a PC at all until about ten years ago, then had to get one to do some web stuff. Since then have had quite a few PCs but still don't like them!

Incidentally, to get an acute accent on any letter on a mac, you hit alt, plus e, then whatever letter you want it on. For an umlaut it's alt + u, and most of the other ones are equally simples... None of this ludicrous cut and pasting or having to remember numbers...

scarecrow · Post by **scarecrow** » Mon May 24, 2010 6:42 pm

Last time I went to Spain I nearly had a fight over half a pack of green Rizlas I was falsely accused of stealing. I think I must have aspergers as my opening gambit at a paella party was. "So what does everyone think of abortion?"

Then, the mad English bloke who's "farm" I was staying at decided that we'd eat seaweed rather than supermarket food. I even had to help gather it from a filthy beach near Denia. The 'organic farm' he purported to have, actually turned out to be a bit of a scrap yard and my days were spent trawling the skips on the local industrial estate with him in a knackered old 2CV that he loved so much that he shouted at you not to slam the door every time you got in or out of it . Breath.

And it rained.