As described in the post “Getting paid in France,” I had some trouble getting reimbursed for a conference. The situation is still ongoing.
As part of this conference registration, I had received a discount for becoming a member of IEEE. This is common, and universities always refund such a fee as long as it reduces their total bill. ENSAM promised to do the same.
However, when the money came (after the year of waiting described previously), it was short. ENSAM had failed to reimburse me for the IEEE membership fee. I contacted the secretary, and nothing happened for a long time. Eventually, I contacted the secretary again, and she told me there was nothing she could do and referred me to the finance office in Paris. I wrote them an email in French, explaining the situation. After months with no response, I wrote an angry English email. This time I got a reply from somebody saying it had been escalated and that she would handle the matter. I never heard back so I wrote her another email a month later and got no response. It’s been 7 months now.
There is good work going on at ENSAM, but they are a joke on the international stage if they can’t even pay their bills. It’s no wonder France isn’t competitive. I would be very careful about accepting any position at ENSAM.
Fromage