Darty

The day after we got to Paris I needed to buy an electrical converter or something so I could plug in my 110-120V laptop into the 220-240V French electrical outlets. The day we arrived we noticed a  Darty, an electrical and electronic appliances store, across the street from the Monoprix, so obviously we went straight there.

The salesman in the laptops section was offering me a new power cable that included several connectors, one of which should fit into my laptop. It only cost 70 euros! But in another part of the store I saw a small transformer for 24 euros, which would convert the French 220-240V to the110-120V of my laptop. So I wanted the salesman to explain the difference. Oh no, that would not be possible, he could only explain the one he was offering, not the one that was somewhere else in the store. Not understanding what the problem was (maybe he was not allowed to walk away from his section), I offered to bring the transformer to him, but still, that would not work, he could only explain to me the one in his section. But I insisted, couldn't I bring it quickly and just show it to him? Just a quick peek? Still no, that would not be possible.

Fortunately I decided not to buy anything, and when I got back home I noticed my laptop power cord actually has an input range of 100-240V, which meant I didn't need an electrical converter or transformer after all, just a 7 euro plug adaptor that lets me plug my power cord into the French wall outlet.

We were surprised at the bad service and thought we had just been unlucky with our sales person, but later on we found out this was typical for Darty, and when we'd mention Darty among our recently-arrived friends, everyone would roll their eyes.

Among tourists, the French—especially Parisians, and especially Parisian waiters—have a reputation for being rude and a bit stuck up. That may have been true in the past and probably still happens occasionally, but it seems it's one of those clichés that people keep perpetuating and are on the lookout to confirm. However, it was not our experience at all the whole time we were in Paris. In fact, people were very nice to us and generally made us feel welcome, but even so I suppose there always are exceptions and Darty seems to be one of them. From then on we went to the Fnac store, another French retailer we discovered further down the same street.

Update: In 2016 Darty was purchased by Fnac. Following the takeover, Fnac and Darty merged and the group became Fnac Darty.