Sometimes we have to ignore the ‘big picture’ (global catastrophes and so on) and worry about the little problems instead. For example, how is it possible that every week I need to change lightbulbs when each one comes with a ‘two year guarantee’ and cost many times what an ‘old-fashioned’ lightbulb cost?
Certainly electrical and plumbing items in France seem very prone to falling to bits as soon as you actually start using them, and it’s not just lightbulbs that are the problem.
For example, just this week I replaced two more light switches in our house, having already replaced at least ten over the course of the last few years – and the whole place was completely rewired only about seven years ago. Who ever heard of designing light switches so they fall apart if you use them too often?
Just as annoying are the plumbing problems that occur with startling frequency. I’ve complained about our many leaks before (see our video about them here) – they started when the water board decided to drive bulldozers all over our existing pipes.
Every year since we’ve had leaks in the same place, which we usually find out about when the neighbours point out that the ditches outside our house are overflowing.
Sometimes they are more exciting, like last years leak shown in the photo. We were thinking how pretty it looked until we remembered we were paying for the water.
The good news is we now have insurance against the significant cost of keeping the local river topped up with fresh water.
The bad news is that the insurance company decide how much compensation to pay by looking at the previous years bill – so if you have major leaks every year the insurance is pretty much pointless. Still, we are quite used to paying pointless bills so mustn’t complain.
Another example is the lovely toilets we had fitted at great expense when renovating the property. When they started leaking a couple of years later it was only a washer that needed to be replaced – but meanwhile the manufacturers had stopped making them and the washers no longer existed. We had to throw out two perfectly good toilets and buy new ones just because the washers were no longer available!
Or perhaps I should mention the fitted shower that we bought. It looked very nice in the shop, but forgot to mention that it was ‘self-assembly’. The challenge was that the shower had to be screwed together from behind – that is, completely made before being installed. Not so much of a challenge you might think – until you remember that a shower tray needs to be fitted to the drainage pipes below. So the shower tray needs to be in the right place to start with, you can’t just plonk it in place afterwards.
The only possible conclusion is that they had made a shower that looked attractive in the shop, where it wasn’t connected to the water supply, but nobody had ever actually thought about installing it in a real bathroom to see how it would all work together.
I won’t even start on the problems we had when the water board decided that increasing the water pressure for a couple of days was a good idea – and every house in the street had their boilers, valves and hot water tanks give way under the strain.
I know that English plumbers and electricians in France often ‘import’ their parts from the UK, for the simple reason that they cost much less and last much longer. But meanwhile, if anyone knows where in France I can buy lightbulbs that actually do last two years or taps with washers that aren’t made of soluble rubber I’d love to hear about it!
How very strange! I have lived in France, village and town for 37 years and have never had any of these problems. When we moved into our house in Aquitaine we replaced all the old fashioned light bulbs with low power, six years later we have never had a failure. Never changed a tap washer. I did have problems with my internet connection but changing supplier sorted that.
Ha ha, I suppose it”s good to hear that we’ve just been very unlucky!!
We have had to replace loads of switches, sockets etc, but it’s just a question of paying through the nose to get decent quality. (Legrand seems to be okay.) Likewise bathroom fittings, go for a well known make, like grohe, then check ebay.de. I think there must be competition laws here, you never see the kind of discounts you get in the UK, but you can get good quality at a price. We have also found that because the artisans here only pay 5% vat, for some jobs there is little difference between buying things and installing them ourselves or getting a builder to buy the materials and do the same job. What I find very odd is the lack of quality control on fruit and veg in the big supermarkets. It happens in the UK too, but mouldy rotten things are far more prevalent on the shelves here.
So glad to hear that someone else has experienced the same problems. I thought it was us. During our renovation we bought everything french and we have a leak or breakage from taps, showers, pipes, every few months… it is a nightmare and as for the stupid electric sockets – I have a battle to get a plug into them and then have to hold onto it as I unplug so it doesn’t come off the wall! We have replaced two toilet seats after only 18 months, so I have replaced it with one that has a 5 year guarantee… somehow I don’t see it lasting. Our old style ‘french bought’ lightbulbs used to pop every few weeks – we have now bought long life ones from UK!
Ah yes, toilet seats and plug sockets, I forgot about those. But we have also got through a fair few of both of them!
We went through a phase of buying top-quality things but soon decided that being more expensive didn’t mean things lasted longer, so now I just buy what seems a reasonable price and resign myself to replacing things quite often!
As far as electric stuff goes, Germany is the best place pricewise. I wanted a timer for the staircase lamps, because customers don’t always understand to switch them off. Local Bricomarché asked 72 euros for “Hager” branded switch for the distribution box. Google found me exactly the same part number on ebay.de for 20 e + 6e postage.
Sounds like a great idea, thanks Chris. My German is non-existent which might slow things down slightly!
I think you have to avoid buying from DIY outlets. I have found specialist suppliers, and proper builders merchants. They will advise on the best things for the job. We are lucky in Norfolk in that we have some very old fashioned firms that have survived, and it is just so good to go to places that do not know the first thing about marketing, but have the stock and the knowledge.
I am totally familiar with the problems especially light bulbs. The cheap low energy lamps are just no good, when you compare them with a quality branded low energy lamp which not only lasts considerably longer but it does not go dim after a period. I purchased all my lamps, light fittings and many other elec items from http://www.ukelectricalsupplies.com. Put together a decent order and they are happy to deliver to France.They cannot supply french switches, sockets or cable but everything else is no problem.
Language not a problem…try Google translate.