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 the number is 09 69 36 39 00.

Comments

[matthew]

France Telecom is a complete nightmare,helpline is useless even after cancelling my account they are still taking my money.AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE

[Tim]

I have had trouble with France Telecom for the last 4 years. First of all, we signed up to them, they billed us line rental and broadband for 9 months and we had no line installed by them, just a dead end cable up a pole half a mile from the house. It took another 6 months to get our money back. Eventually they did install a line 1 year after that. Now we have an automatique prelevement set up, which never gets paid - so each month we have to manually pay by credit card. The bank says the problem is with France Telecom. The next problem we had was the 'Free International Calls' to all countries in the EU, which includes Poland, when we received our bill we were charged over 100 Euros in one month for calls to Poland at a completely rip-off rate like half a Euro per minute, when we phoned France Telecom to find out why they had billed us for this, Poland mysteriously was not on their list of countries in the EU. Use France Telecom AT YOUR PERIL.

[Ian]

Having read the comments above I would have sought a different provider. I have just spent 3 days trying to contact French Telecom English helpline and still trying. Can anything be done about this problem?

[Bronwen]

Two years ago we took out a phone broadband package with FT which we were billed for, for 6 months with no line and no connection. When I went to the local FT office (and spoke with a guy who just about spoke english) he assured us that there will be no costs involved as he could prove there was no active line there.Lo and behold, I then get bill after bill threatening court action for unpaid bills. I ended up paying them despite trying to dispute them thru the english speaking line, as I didnt want a black mark by my name in France.
I am now in the process of moving to France with 2 internet businesses I own and need the reassurance that they will connect the line for internet access but it seems to be an ongoing problem in the village.
Has anyone any advice? Thanks.

[Craig McGinty]

Hi Bronwen, I don't think it is possible to offer 'reassurance' as such, because like most countries whilst the technology is there it seems to be the admin system that falls over!
All I would suggest is to try and have a back-up plan, this could be short periods of mobile access or even using some one else's connection whilst your account is being processed.
It might also be worth asking about the business accounts ISPs offer as these allegedly offer better service.

[Bronwen]

Thanks Craig. Thats really useful. Will let you know how I get on!

[Janet]

I sympathise with you all. We ordered a phone line and broadband on 23rd May. Finally got the phone connected on 5th September! but still no internet access. Meanwhile they have taken the money each month for a service which we haven't had. I have lost count of the e-mails that I have sent as well as visiting our local shop and my daughter(who speaks fluent french)has made numerous phonecalls. Once you have signed up you can''t cancel or they send you threatening letters. I was going to cancel the Direct debit but was advised not too so we can't get out of the agreement until it expires. I have never been able to get through to the english speaking line and am quite appalled by the service. I'm know e-mailing every day and hope that they might get so annoyed that they'll do something. By the way you can get calls from UK to France for 1p a minute. 3p is quite expensive. Use Telediscount ( google it).

[Danny]

I have used France Telecom for over 2 years now and have found every thing Ok.I can only complain about the time it takes to get through to the freephone English line,but when i get through things get sorted fast.I moved house in Jan 2008, and phoned the Freephone line and had my phone and internet transferred in 3 days.

Last month the bank srewed my Direct debit up and i was cut off.Phoned Freephone paid with catre banqueaire and was back on in 2 hours.I have found its not a good idea to go into one of the shops, as they are useless and seem to be on commision or something,maybe just useless.I have found all the people on the Freephone number to be friendly and helpfull,so just keep trying to get through on that, as its the only one that is going to get you anywhere, unless your French is perfect.

As for coming here to run an Internet based buisines, be aware that some Vilages and Hamlets have no ADSL, if you must have access ask at the Marie, and dont expect that it is available everywhere,

Also some are so far from the Exchange your speed will be limited.Its not the UK its France and things are different,after all thats why we are here.

Want a Gauranteed Fast connection,then live in a City and get Fibre,as anywhere else is hit and miss at the moment.

[John]

Seems to be luck of the draw with France Telecom....I have been trying to get through to the English help line for several weeks 'please call back later' is the response. I have tried other avenues without success. My phone and i/net line stopped working in May 2008, an overhead line fault seems to be the problem and despite one visit in August where the technician decided his ladder was too short and despite a promise that he would return, he has never been seen again.After all this time I just want to cancel my dealings with FT as the customer service is non existant and I am still paying rental on a non working line.

Has anyone any ideas on how to resolve my problem and does FT chiefs know or care how bad their service is??

[Danny]

Interesting comment the last post made about
"Do FT chiefs know or care how bad their service is?"
After my last dealing with the English Line i received an email questionair about the service.
Sounds good but Why the Hell send it in French.
I will Reply but it will Take me a bit longer to do so.

[Simone Hawes]

Just want to say that I have a second home in France and due to mobile not working very well in the area decided to get a land line. This was installed in August 08, so far no problem.They arrived on time and were extremely helpful. The first bill arrived shortly after to my address in France and my neighbour posted it on to me in England. However another bill arrived and my neighbour sent it on but there was a delay and although I paid the bill as soon as I received it,I was cut off over the christmas period. I rang the english helpline and was told the operators were all busy on numerous occasions. I am pleased to say I rang back and waited no more than 10 minutes to be put through after it asked me to hold. I spoke to an extremely helpful lady whose English was perfect.She explained I would need a new number(which I found rather strange)however she explained it well and I had to pay to be re-connected. She has arranged for my bills to be on line as well as sent to my address in England. I have paid the remains of the last bills line rental via english credit card and will now pay via direct debit. Much easier, I hope. Just want to say please persevere with the English line and when you do get through they are more than helpful.

[Charlie Brammer]

Can you help?
I want a broadband connection in my apartment in the alps. At present I have a france telecon fixed line and use dial up. I certainly don't fancy going through the endless calls to the france telecom english speaking line to try and get it sorted out. Is there any other way!!!!!!

[Craig McGinty]

Thanks for the comments, it does look as though you struck gold there Simon, and if you already have dial-up access Charlie then you will be able to subscribe to broadband online.
Or the other option is to head to your nearest France Telecom shop armed with copies of your most recent bills.
All the best, Craig

[Tom Monroe]

Hello, my wife and I are moving to France for 9 months beginning in June. We will be living in a small village near Clermont-Ferrand (30km away). Her family has a home there, which does not have phone service. I was wondering if there is a way to get high speed internet service without the phone line. We live in the U.S. now and many of the satellite and mobile phone carriers have internet services that don't require a land line. It's important for me to have internet access as my consulting work will be sent via e-mail from the the U.S. and the U.K. I know this is an oxymoron in France, but I need the easiest short term solution. Any advice?

[Craig McGinty]

Hi Tony, it is possible to get satellite internet service such as:

http://www.nordnet.com/vues/nordnetfr/satellite/index.php

And mobile internet is often described as Cle 3G but coverage might not be too strong outside of the bigger cities.

One of the things to keep an eye on with these services is the limit many have on the amount of data you can transfer in a month.

Go over the limit and your bill can soon mount up.

All the best, Craig

[Peter Wynn]

I was going to try contactacting FT English helpline but judging by the comments here thought I would have a better chance of a sensible answer by trying here first!I have a holiday home in the Lot which has a land line connection. For the last 3 or 4 times I have paid my bill online by credit card through the FT website following the links as shown on the back of the bill 'onglet fixe' and 'reglez votre facture'. However when I tried to do so with my current bill and went to the website I can't for the life of me see these links anywhere, despite them being still printed on the bill. I'm not particularly computer literate but can usually navigate my way to most things but this has got me stumped!Any tips?
Many thanks
Peter

[Peter Wynn]

Please ignore my plea for help shown above. I managed to get my head round the FT website and found what I was looking for. Bill now paid!
Thanks for the space anyway

[Ron Bravington]

Hi, I have just noticed that since 2nd Feb 2009 my calls to UK landlines suddenly have a charge against them. But I have a contract that provides for unlimited calls to Europe landlines. I called the English speaking helpline (0800 364775) today. The first 2 attempts gave me a message along the lines of "Can't deal with your call at present, please call later". However on my 3rd attempt I got a different message "please hold, your call will be answered shortly". After 3 or 4 of these a very helpful gentleman answered and assured me that it will be corrected automatically and not to worry.

So,as long as it is, I think that is a result. Having read the comments on here beforehand I was not very hopeful. And I was calling between 12.30 amd 13.00. Pretty good for France.

[Craig McGinty]

Think you've done well there Ron, maybe that's the secret get them when their guard is down over lunch ;-)
Craig

[Linda White]

We didin't pay our bill on time, and had our telephone disconnected. After over an hour trying to find a non-freephone number for France Telecom so that we could pay the bill and get reconnected, I gave up. In desperation I Googled a search phrase and came up with this site and the number to call. I called at 9.45 am, got through immediately, and spoke to a very pleasant guy who spoke better English than my French. Good enough for me! I was able to pay the bill by card, and get reconnected immediately (with a different number). He pulled the details up immediately, organised email invoices, gave me a payment reference and even our new number. He even attempted, in true British fashion, to sell me extra services like Internet connection, etc. An excellent service, many thanks!

[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