The Comet That Stole Christmas (Comet)

Member Name: shewhoguards

Product:	Comet
Date:	10/05/08 (121 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Nice selection of ovens

Disadvantages: Can't use gift vouchers online, awful customer service

My mum loves me so she got me an oven for Christmas.

(Before you make faces, realise that until then I had been coping on a single oven without a grill. For someone who loves her kitchen, it was AWFUL).

As luck would have it, I had £100 of Comet vouchers burning a hole in my pocket, so we decided to put those towards it and go there.

The magic of the internet let me find the perfect oven - shiny and new, with a double oven AND a grill for just over £200. AND it had a web-only offer of 15% off on it. Win for us!

Except the website won't let us use the vouchers. We try for half an hour, then give up and call the helpline. No, they agree, you can't use the vouchers online. But you can order over the phone. The 15% off? No, I'm afraid that's web-only.

At this point we might already have given up and gone elsewhere but we have the vouchers so we go ahead and pay. We make sure to pay extra for my old oven to be picked up, as my car is tiny and would not be able to carry it to the dump.

The oven arrives the Saturday before Christmas (we paid extra for that). I get up early to let the nice delivery man in, he IS a nice man and it's quickly installed.

And then we hit a snag. His form doesn't say we've paid for the old one to be taken.

Panicking I call Mum. She agrees with me - we paid for it to be taken away.

So, I call the Comet helpline (nice man is still waiting). They don't have the payment noted. The lady who took the order isn't in right now. A manager? They would have to call me back on that. By the time of course, Mr Delivery Man would have left, I would have to reschedule a pickup and that would be after Christmas.

It's CHRISTMAS. I have family coming! I can't have an old oven filling my tiny kitchen!

The delivery man listens to me going round and round for half an hour before finally just calling his boss and getting permission to take the thing. Apparently this happens a lot. The fact this isn't a one star is due solely to him saving the situation.

In short, Comet have a lovely selection of ovens. But I won't be buying from them again.

Summary: You know where to come. Anywhere but there.