About a few months ago I was searching for a new laptop for my mum's birthday, I needed something quality and cheap, but mainly of all, I needed it fast, so buying it online was out of the question because even the sites I trust to give me fast delivery like eBuyer can let you down, so I was hunting around the typical computer shops like Curry's, PC World and even went into Toys 'R' Us to have a look, all the computers in my price range were really under powered and I wanted a laptop that give me a lot of bang for buck, so I wanted the highest specs for the cheapest price, which is hard to find in a typical high street retailer.

After about an hour of searching I stumbled into Comet, the last place I thought I'd find a deal because typically they rev up the price for everything. But this time I saw this Acer Aspire laptop for the perfect price, with outstanding specifications and I instantly looked around for an assistant, who I couldn't find, and may I mention this is a small store where everything is on the verge of being crammed in. I stood around for a little bit, thinking someone is bound to walk past or ask me if I needed some help, no such thing happened, an assistant did walk past, who I tried to ask but he seemed to be in a rush and told me to ask a different person. So I walk into the washing machine section and asked a person who was just chilling against a tumble dryer, he was very friendly and said he would find me the right person, after about 5 minutes wait, a teenager no older than 18 or 19 walk out from towards the cashier, I asked him if I could purchase the laptop and he went over to look at it with me and asked if I was sure I didn't want something a little bit more powerful and pointed at a £700 Sony Viao which had pretty much the same specs but with a bigger screen, I was a little shocked that he was trying to get me to buy a more expensive laptop when I said I already chosen what I wanted, but I suppose it was his job or he works of commission or something so I politely said "I want the Acer".

The next step involved him walking to a store computer and checked if it was available, he told me that there was only 1 left and I was lucky, I bet there was more than that, he just wanted me to think there was 1 left so I don't back out, but like I said, I was already buying it so why would I back out? He then tinkered with the computer a little more and this is the bit that really annoyed me.

He tried to sell me extended warranty for the laptop which was about £100 per extra year on top of the 1 year warranty that came free, I said no, because I knew I would never need it, I am quite technically savvy and could probably fix the issue myself and any repair over £100 in the first place would be un-recommended. The assistant kept asking me if I was sure, and gave me a sales speech on how I could drop it, brake it, my software could go wrong, my hard drive could fail, my this could corrupt and the other could die, but basically meant to sound scary to the average user, but I am no average computer user so I said no. He eventually gave in with the expression saying "well it's your loss, sir". I later found out that sales assistants earn commission from selling extended warranty so you can't blame the guy for making an extra pound or so.

I eventually bought the laptop after spending what felt like and probably was half an hour in store, but I was glad to get such a great deal, which I have to admit is rare for high street retailers like Comet, Currys or PC World.

I recently had to come back to the store because I was having a minor fault with the operating system, I could have fixed it myself, but decided since I have 3 months on my free warranty left I may as well see how far they can go to fix it. To no surprise another teenage looking guy, probably in his 20's this time stepped up the role of Comet technician, I explained the problem and honestly the guy looked clueless to what an operating system was never mind how to fix it. He basically had a little look and pretended (badly) that he knew what he was doing, the expert verdict was that if I want I could ask them to send it off to Acer to fix it or replace it if it's bad, I didn't want to wait for a month to get my laptop back so I just left them and fixed it myself a week later.

===Conclusion===

So the verdict of the Comet I went to in Chester, UK, is that although they are one of the top electrical goods retailers in the country, their customer service isn't that great, it took me 10 minutes to find an assistant, whom was set on selling me something more expensive after I said I wanted something cheap and with that kept insisting in offering me a warranty that costs almost the same as the laptop, and honestly wasn't that necessary to start with. When I did have to get some warranty funded help with my laptop, their "technical expert" was far from helpful. I did later find out that you can get the Acer extended warranty much cheaper on their website, and other manufactures probably offer the same. But even though the service was terrible, but the deal was outstanding, so if you looking for something it is worth a glance inside, but if you're set on buying something specific in there, be strong you can leave without buying anything you don't want if you stay persistent.