| Product: |
Comet.co.uk |
| Date: |
22/10/00 (176 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Great product range, and prices.
Disadvantages: Poor communications within the company, resulting in me waiting absolutely ages for a product
Yes I have to really put my opinion across well now as I feel Comet have the most incompetent staff around, and yet they have the best prices and the biggest product range. So I am pleased about Comet? Could I recommend them to you? Well, let me tell you a little story...
Around a week ago I decided I was going to purchase an MP3 player. So, I went to Shopsmart.com and searched for one, found the model I was after (A Samsung Yepp 64mb, but it was £165 apparently. So, I went to Comet's online store and I was pleased to see that the same model was a whole 10% cheaper than the price I had been given. So I read all the details of delivery etc and ordered online for £148.95 + £3.99 postage and packaging. I was very pleased because I could actually choose what time and day I could have the MP3 player delivered. I got a few emails confirming my purchase and the time of delivery. The customer service seemed quite good to me.
This is when it all went sour; so, when that day arrived and the time of delivery passed I was quite annoyed that they hadn’t stuck to their original time. I did get a phone call confirming that they WOULD NOT be delivering my MP3 player today because they had run out of stock, they also told me that they'd ring back to arrange another time. They never phoned back. But, because I needed they MP3 player before the weekend I decided to do something about it. At this point in time my patience was running a little dry.
I phoned up their customer services department trying desperately to find out which day the item would be delivered, but everybody I spoke to passed me onto another department (this happened 3 times, and I ended up in the same place talking to the same people over and over again). The telephone people weren't all that helpful, but they were very polite and I guess they tried their best.
Finally, I got to speak to someone who told me that stock had indeed run out, and t
hat the new delivery would be on Monday. I explained that I needed the item before this new delivery time and I suggested that I might be able to pick it up myself at a local branch to me - providing it was in stock. I asked if I could collect the MP3yer from Milton Keynes' new branch, and after several minutes I was told that this would be fine, that they had one left and would be able to have it ready by the time I got there (I was told to speak to a particular member of staff so they would know what was going on).
I arrived at the store and showed asked to speak to the staff member I'd been told to. I showed my receipt, which had been sent to me, but this person said that someone else knew about it. So, after waiting for at least 5 minutes I finally got to speak with someone who knew what I was talking about. I had to explain the situation about 3 times, and had to wait a further 15 minutes for them to find my MP3. At last they found it. Great I thought! Now I can go home! Err, no. They hadn't been given the correct authorisation or something, and their 'computer' wouldn't let them give me it. They said I could look around the store, or play on the new Playstation2 (which incidentally was awful; Ridge Racer 5 is pathetic!) whilst they sorted everything out.
I think it must have been about half an hour later that they managed to find out all the information they needed, and were awaiting fax from another department confirming that I could take my MP3 away.
A total of 1 hour was wasted here due to Comet's staffs' inability to communicate with each other properly; when I asked why this had taken so long they claimed that it was the people I had spoken to on the phone had made a cock-up of the situation and that they had given the wrong info to the MK branch.
I have to say that it probably wasn't the fault of the MK staff as they were fairly helpful, but hadn't been give
n the right authorisation, resulting in me waiting 1 hour for no fault of my own. I wasn't that pleased, but I didn't make a big thing about it, as I'm sure they tried their best. As for Comet, is it a good place to shop? Well, this branch in Milton Keynes (Buckinghamshire) is very modern and has probably the best range of products and lowest prices in the country, and it is a nice place to shop unless you had the problem like I did. And, the MP3 I purchased worked and I am pleased with it. So I have to say that if you buy online - wait for your goods unless you were in a situation like mine. If you buy in store then I'm sure this will be a much better shopping experience, as it really is the leading electronic retailer in the country.
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