I found out this weekend whilst visiting real Brits, not franglais, that I’d have difficulties doing so 
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Going back to blighty tomorrow for a refresher course and to see my parents and friends. I understand if you don’t use it you lose it.
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Well we manage to understand you Monsieur, so there is hope… 
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I was expecting an Amazon FR package yesterday but got an Amazon email to say it will be late, and will arrive on the 6th Nov, and if not, I could get my money back. But I found that my package was at an Amazon facility just an hour or so away.
Conflicting info.
Used Amazon Chat, in English, transferred to an Amazon English language chatter - didn’t know it existed. Didn’t know either that I need a 6-digit security code (received) that I must show to the driver on delivery. Haven’t needed one before.
Package due in the next couple of hours! All is well.
They tend to do that for high-value items or those that are in demand as stolen goods - typically phones, laptops or other electronics.
Keeps their delivery bods honest and avoids stuff being “left with a neighbour”.
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I think that’s now gone up to €35. I look on my ‘saved for later’ or a wish list. Sometimes makes it a goer.
The one area of Amz I am VERY leary of is their ‘Warehouse’ electronic items.
Repeated experience has shown that some of these gizmos, having been returned, have been ‘checked’ by being plugged in and turned on. If the thing lights up, they bung it back on sale from the Warehouse.
The fact that in use it doesn’t work in some vital way doesn’t appear with such a cursory ‘check’. I once returned 3x Samsung Galaxy tablets, one after the other, all from the Warehouse.
Now I know.
I had to return a duff L/T to UK last week. DHL Eu35 , Colissimo Eu25. I was surprised - thought it would be t’other way round.
It’s a bit ironic. The genuine Braun item, as so much stuff now, is most probably made in China. But then there’s a whole industry in the far east producing low grade copies.
The g/f came back from Singapore with a watch for me - ‘Dunhill’ and for her son - ‘Rolex’. She did say that she had bought them on the street from a bloke who opened his raincoat showing the inside with lined watches pinned all over
“You want copy-watch?”. They did actually keep time. Battery powered watch movements are cheap and do work, thus the £2.99 watches with £XX petrol
I’ve bought batteries for my camera purporting to be Duracell, complete with authentic-looking script on them, to find they are just small plastic boxes with enough chemical inside to light up a charger ‘on’ indicator but not take any charge.
An old friend of mine who’s a globe trotting contemporary art curator has a vintage Rolex inherited from his father and his ‘Singapore Rolex’ that he wears when travelling…
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The problem is that although no gt loss if nicked, the nicking might involve a bit of argy-bargy.
I used to work for an American who collected watches. He had the usual - Rolex, Patec Phillipe, Cartier et al - mostly 1920’/30’s. His daily work wear was a Rolex Submariner or somesuch. One morning he appeared at breakfast …
“Lew! Wrong watch!” He’d put on some Cartier tank worth well north of $10k - in 198X.
I walked into his office in London one day to hear him shouting down the phone at someone in NYC. “C’mon, man! I can’t spend $10,000 on a watch I haven’t seen!”
He offered me an RAF fighter pilot’s watch, the large ones they wore strapped round a thigh. His price was very cheap but it was a whole week’s wages for me … 
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A notional bouquet for AMZ.uk
After a comprehensive chat with an AMZ.uk person it was decided that, despite factory resets and all, the operating system in my Kindle Paperwhite was misbehaving in a terminal fashion. Ironically I was trying to read a neuro-physio-psycho book called ‘How Thought Happens’. The glitches were driving me crazy…
Only a new one would remedy the situation. Fair enough. I’d bought mine 2nd hand: it was many generations old.
This chat took some time. The AMZ person went off, delving/consulting for lengthy periods, from t to t. If the person I’m dealing with is doing their best, my policy is to cut them as much slack as they need and be polite about it.
The result was this “I am delighted for the warm and nice approach you gave me on the chat, it was indeed a pleasure helping you on your concern. … " She checked with her boss and "I can offer you a 15% discount for the next Kindle device that you are going to purchase and the good thing about this is that the discount won’t expire and you can use anytime you want. And it will apply to any other deal or offer”
AMZ Blk Fri started today. Kindle P/whites are reduced 15% and I found the 15% offered by the chatist also factored in on my invoice, so 30% off in tot. How nice!
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I got an office chair from Bureau Vallée who sell all sorts of office stuff. I was able to try the chairs and get help to choose one that suited me. I still find it comfortable. I don’t remember the price.
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…IKEA, ‘hospital corner’. “- ‘Renberget’. End of line. Last one” they said: “€59.99 > €41.99” Done.
Some months later “Office chair - Renberget - In stock - €45”. Bought another!
I sit on mine all day. Couple of extra cushions on the seat. The tilt mechanism is not up to much but the default working pos’n is fine. The up/down works well. The wheels are braked ‘on’ when it’s not being sat upon. When sitting, brakes are ‘off’ and one can scoot about on a hard floor.
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A couple of sellers in the Kindle covers/cases dept. 
Translation:
“NormanTheKittenStrangler”
“DennisWhoShallHenceforwardBeKnownAsDennis”
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Nah, it just means that they’ve subcontracted delivery to some dodgy courier from Finland…
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My old Samsung android phone is not supported anymore and always needs charging, so ordered a new quite expensive one via Amazon FR. It arrived (from Budapest!) but the box had been unsealed and Japanese or the Chinese language had already been selected. Managed to change the language to English and found that France was not able to be selected as a region – France was not on the list of countries - though some other EU countries were. I assume I’ve got one not meant for the French market. Sounds fishy to me! And I suspect the internal specs might differ if this one is for the Asian market.
I have a refund approved by Amazon FR and will make arrangements at La Poste to return it.
Have I done the right thing?
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Returning it? - Yes.
Buying it in the first place - given that you bought it from Amazon France I don’t think it unreasonable to expect it will work in France when it arrives. Bit dodgy that the box was open - did you inadvertently buy an “open box” (i.e. customer return) or refurbished unit.
The problem with customer returns is that sometimes unscrupulous customers will “swap” the item before return and then it is not checked properly before being sent back out - there’s an (in)famous case where this completely destroyed a small business.
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I’d suggest buying a reconditioned phone on backmarket.fr which will be much cheaper. With most popular phones you’ll have a choice of lots of s/h models.
I’ve bought several phones and other things from them, they’ve been around for years and are very reliable
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I would suggest getting the battery changed in your current phone unless new one has features you need.
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My new phone was new but came with Chinese on it. Wasn’t a problem as hubby knows what to do and we wiped to put Lineage OS on it, I saved probably 150e. I wouldn’t do it without him and in your situation I’d say you’ve definitely done the right thing returning it.