European double sockets

I worked for an upmarket kitchen company that sold English,German and French kitchens, the customers were told they could not have a French kitchen during July and August, if we started a kitchen in July and anything was damaged or missing it would not be available until September, so it was easier to put the jobs off for a couple of months.


One job I phoned the office to get to speak to the French manufacturer to tell them that we needed a oak back panel to replace the beech panel they had fitted in a oak tambour unit, their comment was “Oh! You English are do fussy,we don’t have these problems with the Germans!”.


Another job I phoned the office to say that the wicker baskets didn’t fit in the island unit they had made, their comment was “Oh! Yes we know they don’t fit, but it was Friday afternoon and we didn’t have time to fo anything about it”.


Then there was the job that needed a mantelpiece to go over an existing Aga, they looked at the design and said “We can’t make that its English”. So a mantelpiece was made in Bolton and shipped to France on a return trip so they could paint and distress it along with the rest of the kitchen so that all matched. When the mantelpiece arrived back in England it obviously had been painted and distressed by a different person to the rest of the kitchen, so I ended up having to refinish it using acid catalyst paint, distressing fluid and an air brush running off a can containing a mixture of compressed air and propane along with a selection of abrasive papers. All completely unnecessary work that only had to be done because they would not go with the flow and do what should have been a straightforward job.


As regards August, it’s a complete nonstarter trying to get anything done by the French until September.


Andy B.

I worked for an upmarket kitchen company that sold English,German and French kitchens, the customers were told they could not have a French kitchen during July and August, if we started a kitchen in July and anything was damaged or missing it would not be available until September, so it was easier to put the jobs off for a couple of months.


One job I phoned the office to get to speak to the French manufacturer to tell them that we needed a oak back panel to replace the beech panel they had fitted in a oak tambour unit, their comment was “Oh! You English are do fussy,we don’t have these problems with the Germans!”.


Another job I phoned the office to say that the wicker baskets didn’t fit in the island unit they had made, their comment was “Oh! Yes we know they don’t fit, but it was Friday afternoon and we didn’t have time to fo anything about it”.


Then there was the job that needed a mantelpiece to go over an existing Aga, they looked at the design and said “We can’t make that its English”. So a mantelpiece was made in Bolton and shipped to France on a return trip so they could paint and distress it along with the rest of the kitchen so that all matched. When the mantelpiece arrived back in England it obviously had been painted and distressed by a different person to the rest of the kitchen, so I ended up having to refinish it using acid catalyst paint, distressing fluid and an air brush running off a can containing a mixture of compressed air and propane along with a selection of abrasive papers. All completely unnecessary work that only had to be done because they would not go with the flow and do what should have been a straightforward job.


As regards August, it’s a complete nonstarter trying to get anything done by the French until September.


Andy B.