Contacting France Telecom's English helpline

I HAD an email yesterday from a reader of the site asking if I could help with tracking down the telephone number for the English-language service offered by France Telecom.

After a search around the internet I was able to find a Contact Us page that provided details of the freephone number you can call in France, as well as the numbers you can use if you are outside the country.

The freephone number is 0800 364 775 and staff are able to help with advice on billing, getting a telephone line to your property and answer questions on signing up for an internet connection.

If you are in the UK, or another country, and need to call France Telecom then you can contact the English language service on + 33 1 55 78 60 56. So calling from the UK you would begin with 0033.

France Telecom's English-language helpline is open Monday to Friday, between 9am and 5pm.

Please feel free to leave any comments or advice to others about the service below.

Related article: Number change for France Telecom's English language helpline

Comments

[Jane Martin]

I have tried for four weeks to contact French Telecom/orange using the English helpline number. My new provider informed FT that I would be changing providers from January 09 in December 08, and FT informed my telephone company, but it appears that FT did not bother to notify Orange (part of FT), and they are now trying to charge me for two months service. The line was disconnected by the time I returned from UK on Jan 4th, as arranged so I could not use phone or internet even if I wanted to. I learnt from my old phone supplier that FT had contacted them on 24th December. When I found out in February, I decided to contact FT/Orange again as I don't see why I should pay for a service that was not active. I am really annoyed that whatever time I phone, and however often during the day, all I get is a message telling me to call back later! I am now going to ask a French speaking friend to telephone for me as I just don't know what else to do. I certainly wouldn't go back to FT!

[simon sweet]

0800 364 775 is the number to call @ they were very helpful 16E per month + 55E one off connection charge and you can have the service turned on and off for when you are there and only pay 16E pm + calls.

[Craig McGinty]

Hi Simon,
Many thanks for that, and I'm not sure if you are highlighting the Ligne Résidence Secondaire? If so there is an article here:
http://www.thisfrenchlife.com/thisfrenchlife/2008/04/france-telecom.html
All the best,
Craig

[Gina J]

My local office in Gueret could not be more helpful, but you have to be reasonably adept in French.(It's the country, it's not the UK, which is a clue, anyway it's polite). I go in, I talk to the people, things get sorted. Initially I used the office in La Souterraine, now closed sadly. Our house had a live connection which the previous owner had omitted to close, owing lots. FT reopened it for us with a different number. We visited at 10am and the line was open at 3pm. I would always visit rather than deal over the phone, even though my French is good.Gueret office report that they try their best to help with customers who don't speak much French, but in that case there are often problems even face to face.

[Craig McGinty]

Hi GinaJ, must admit that heading to the local office, armed to the teeth with past bills, is most probably the best way to get things sorted out.
All the best, Craig

[Phil W]

I finally got through but the support was not great. As my problem is likely to be technical he could not transfer me as I cannot speak French. Instead, I was given the www.1013.fr website which translates into english. From here you can e-mail the technicians and hopefully they will come back to me.

[Linda Bonner]

Just tried to get through to the English speaking help line again (0033155786056) from the UK and there is now a recorded message saying the number has been changed and is now 0800 3006470075. As this is an 0800 number you cannot dial it from the UK!

[Craig McGinty]

Hi Linda,
Thanks for that, I'll try and check up to see what has happened.
All the best, Craig

[Val Maclachlan]

I have spent the last 3 months calling France Telecom on all their different numbers , to report a dead land line. They have sent me round in circles, making me call yet more numbers (from neighbours and phone booths),cutting me off and simply not sorting the problem out. No one seemed to want to take responsibilty.I then sent e-mails, letters etc. Still no help. Until I found your page, rang 00 33 800 364 775 at 8 am from the UK. Fantastic! They were efficient, helpful, sourced the problem & organised an engineer.The English helpline is brilliant! Now lets hope the engineer turns up. I have learnt a lesson though. If your phone+broadband work, leave them. Don't get sucked into any changes/deals. I went from perfect seperate internet & phone to the internet-phone deal. Thats when the problems started.I had to unravel this to get back to the old system. Instead of saving money, it has cost me paying for a dead landline for months. Thanks for that number...I feel I'm finally getting somewhere. Does anyone have ideas on how to save money on international calls on a non-France Telecom deal??

[Craig McGinty]

Hi Val, many thanks for your message and I hope other readers are able to pick up some tips. As for saving money on international calls, seeing you have broadband why not try Skype?
http://www.skype.com/
All the best, Craig

[Peter Warne]

I needed to report a fault on my France Telecom fixed line in our French house. My French is OK but, in anticipation of struggling to understand in French on the phone, I called the English-speaking number (0800 364775), prefixing 0033 as I called from UK. I called at 10:45 UK time and a recorded messge advised me of a "less than 6 mins wait". Within 5 mins I got through to a very pleasant agent who accessed all my details quickly and also checked the line whilst I waited. He confirmed severe interference on the line and also that an engineer would call to fix within 2 days, explaining that the fault would be outside the house and so access to the house would be unnecessary. He also offered to confirm the repair by text to my French mobile. So far so good.........seems a good service to me.

[Alison King]

Hi all
we are moving to France and have just used the English speaking helpline. Answered very quickly and dealt with our request very efficiently. We have an appointment with an engineer next Tuesday to install our landline.
As regards telephone calls try www.voipstunt.com The restriction i find with skype is that you need to sit in front of the PC. With Voipstunt you can route the call through your landline. There is a small charge - think it is about 0.1euro per call for most areas world wide.It certainly covers all of Europe, USA and Canada and Australia. I put 10 euros on my account and this was about 6 months ago and i still have about 3 euros left! And yes I do use the telephone lots! Hope this helps.
Alison

[sue]

I have rung the english speaking line to be told that it is now an 0800 number - which one cannot ring from the UK. I have spent time on the site trying to find another number to ring with no joy - has anyone a number I can ring from the UK so that I can arrange for the internet to be back on when we go in July.

[Renan Duval]

I work at the english helpline.
On the 0800 number, you have two services : the commercial (billing,sales, subscriptions, etc.) and the technical service.

The technical service is only about the broadband connection, we can't handle everything else.
People call us about landline problems, but we can't do anything. And don't listen to the commercials who tell you that we can !

[Samo]

Hello,

I work too for the commercial department of France Telecom. It is certain that any request or bills complain or any other subject (apart the technical part) is welcome.

The technical choice (option 2) is there to offer assistance on your Internet or give you the opportunity to bring a technician to your home (or even remotely) to help you configure your hardware.

We are now a dozen of consultants in business side, and also technical, so be sure you will not wait too long ...

good luck

[Derek]

hi,already have a France Telocom line which we had suspended when we left after last visit in April. Have been trying for several days to get it reconnected but am going round in circles. Tried 0033800364775 to be told by a helpful young man that that number was for Orange and not FT. Help !!

[Alex Smith]

I have used the FT English helpline previously and found them helpful but it took a little while to connect.
Phoned them this week and a message says the number has changed to 0800 364 775 (the old freephone number from france.
I then dialled 0033 800 364 775 from England and got through almost immediately and a very well spoken assistant arranged to reconnect my phone and broadband for my summer visit to my residence secondaire.

[Norman Evans]

I appreciate comments from people wish to help however I have tried to contact FT on several numbers over several days. The 0800 number does not work. Their French number does not work. I think the best way will be to fly down and sort it out. It will be quicker.

[Gareth]

Best advice I can give people is to get some french lessons and use the French service. Combined with a good dose of babelfish and a little preparation its amazing what you can achieve...

With regards the comments about the quality of service, can't say its been any worst than the UK. Obviously we lived in the sticks in the UK. For newcomers to rural life (living a good 10 miles from a town) then obviously you may notice a difference in service as lines get chopped accidentally by farmers each year etc... best advice is to expect it.

[Geoff Ellis]

Hi
I have found the English speaking helpline very helpful too.
I am in the process of having broadband installed by Orange, and they now have a contract free service which I am told, (and hope!) allows me to return the Livebox at the end of my final stay of the year , cancel the service and then take out a new deal next year. Of course I use the service for second homes that allows me to put my line into suspension too.
I am also taking a great new gizmo with me that allows me to take my local UK number with me and make totally free phone calls not only to the UK, France, Us, Oz etc, but lets my UK friends call me at a UK rate too! It’s something which the company I use supplies, and I also benefit from totally free calls to France from the UK, which is a terrific help when contacting people there.
I’d be interested in hearing whether anybody else has signed up for this new Orange Internet service?

[Matthew Weait]

I'm beginning to despair!
If you phone the English help service from the UK, you are directed to the 0800 number, and that seems not to operate.
HAs anyone got any advice, a number, anything! My phone in France has been broken for more than 6 months now ...
Cheers, and thanks in advance
Matthew

[Craig McGinty]

Hi Matthew,
Not sure what numbers you've tried, but have you had any luck calling from the UK with: 00 33 800 364 775
There is also an online error report service, more here:
http://www.thisfrenchlife.com/thisfrenchlife/2009/04/france-telecom-online-error-report-in-english.html
Hope this helps,
Craig

[Janet Hoskyns]

We are having a dreadful time with our phoneline since Easter 09. First the line did not function at all and now it does function but we have no internet connections. SFR our ISP has been and done a technical check on all the equipment and it is fine. The problem is with the line and France Telecom. My husband is at present in France (Charente) and I am in England. We are paying for both the line rental (FT) and the internet provision (SFR) and have had more or less no service since the end of May and intermittent service prior to that. Does anyone know how I can ring FT or SFR from UK? I have tried in vain to contact them but can only doso by email.
ANy suggestions gratefully received.

[Allison Hewlett]

The 0800 number doesn't connect when using my UK mobile phone from France. As my French landline isn't working - hence needing to reach FT - this is rather useless and frutrating. At the moment I can not make contact with FT by any means on the phone to fix my phone problem!

[Craig McGinty]

Hi Allison, do you know anyone else near to you so that you can use their landline, it is a free call from such. Otherwise you may have to head to your nearest France Telecom office.
All the best, Craig

[Sue Green]

We ditched France Telecom & Orange & now have broadband with UK Telecom Ltd,
We pay one fee for the phone, broadband, free calls to France & UK & FREE English helpline.
The bill can be paid in euros or sterling.

[Val Mack]

The freephone number is a lifesaver! Just remember to dial 0033 then 800.....from the UK. At least they give you customer service, which certainly isn't always the case! Why are Sagem Liveboxes so unreliable though? I have to collect my second replacement.

[Judy]

We have a second home in Averyon which we only use for 2 fortnights a year. I believe you can cease the fixed line when you are not there, to save money. Is this the case, as I cannot find any way of doing on the FT website? Has anyone else done this, and how did they arrange it?

[Craig McGinty]

Hi Judy,
You are looking for a Ligne Résidence Secondaire, I've written a little here:
http://www.thisfrenchlife.com/thisfrenchlife/2008/04/france-telecom.html
Hope this helps,
Craig

[simon sibthorp]

The free phone number for France Telecom 0800364775 does not work

[Toni]

I have been trying to get hold of France telecom for weeks and I have lost count of how many hours I have spent on the phone waiting to speak to a human, but today at 10.30am I got through to a helpfull man.
We sold our house in France in September and I wrote to all the utilities and cancelled our accounts, only France telecom kept sending me bills which are not mine they are the new occupants bills. Anyway he gave me a postal address and said to send out another letter in English or French and send it by international signed for post only: Orange Internet/phone services, Unit 11,, Bordeaux, Cedex 9, France.
I will do this today and fingers crossed my line will be cancelled.
Hope this helps anyone else out there.

[George Morgan-Harris]

Does anyone have an e-mail address for FT?

I am trying to re-connect my French landline, with broadband internet...have spoken with FT, loads of promises..but nothing!!!

[Bob Lee]

I think that France Telecom coupled with Orange .fr is a total disgrace. They are holding up all hope of progress in this the 21st century. The help line is ignorant and altogether hell to deal with. I wish and hope that we can find an alternative server. I am sick of giving them huge fees for an appalling sevice. In England the charges are approximately one quarter of those thieved from the hapless French people. I may decide to quit this onece beautiful country because I can not stand the general acceptance of incompetance that pervades the whole of the business world and the happy go lucky but high charging tradespeople.

[Gene]

Does anyone know the email address of tech support for French Telecom Internet. I am in the USA (west coast) and never seem to be able to call them. All I want to know is what kinds of wireless modems are compatible with their wireless ADSL system. Thanks.