Not a shining star (Comet.co.uk)

Name: The Operator

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Product:	Comet.co.uk
Date:	12/05/01 (124 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: They're everywhere

Disadvantages: Thery're everywhere. Like foot and mouth

I'm sure Comet has its fans. I bet people have bought stuff from them over the years and had totally trouble free service from them. Frankly, nothing on earth would drag me into this appalling excuse for a retailer now after my most recent experience.

We have had a long and stormy relationship. For a long time, they were the only place around here where you could get white goods at competitive prices and I think they took advantage of this. Early on we had no complaints. We had the odd 'fridge and washing machine from them back in the 80s which performed well enough.

Then it all started. The washing machine died so we went to the local Comet in Crayford, Kent and ordered a brand new Ariston. I took a day off work for delivery and no-one turned up. Phone calls to the shop yielded nothing. Finally after much pressure the manager said he would deliver it himself. Which he did. I opened up the box when I got back from work (my wife took delivery) and found that the drum had sheared away from its mountings. More calls and a new one came a few days later which worked. However, within a couple of years it had turned into a heap of rust. Later trips to the store to speak to the manager revealed that nearly all the staff had been replaced.
I put it down to experience and bought a 'phone. Which broke. It was replaced; that one broke but I couldn't be bothered so we put up with it.
We bought a dishwasher. For somereason, the one we got delivered was not the one we ordered but a much higher spec. We didn't complain but phoned another branch and asked what would happen if it broke down and they found out we had something naughty. When they checked the model number it turned out that Comet didn't even stock it!

We redecorated our kitchen. Comet had deals on cookers so we got one. It had a small chip in the enamel when it arrived so I said no, I bought a perfect one so that's what I want delivered and I had it re
placed - they did offer cash but no, I was sticking up for my rights, I wanted what I paid for. It was one of their own make cookers, made in Italy. None of the piezo igniters work any more but it still cooks to a degree, albeit unevenly.

Then the fridge died in the middle of a heatwave. Guess who were the only people to be able to deliver within a day? I ordered a "Bloomberg" (Comet's own again) frost free fridge/freezer. For some reason, I took out the extended warranty. It's the only time I've ever done it but some wierd prescience made me do it. It turned out to be one of the best decisions I've made. I think it was two years later, one day after the extended warranty ran out that it started to overheat. As it was a weekend we came to some kind of arrangement regarding the insurance policy and a repairman was duly despatched on the Monday. Interestingly, the repairman told me that frost-free freezers come at a price. They generally only work well for about two years and are basically a con. He fixed it but had to come back almost a year to the day later to redo the repair as it went again. Luckily it has been good for a couple of years but we must be due a visit soon.

There have been other little niggles; the head office were poor in their customer relations. They would never give an inch. I'm always reasonable but I do believe passionately in the cutomer's rights and would hope to have my side of the story respected. I've given up standing in the middle of the shop and telling people not to buy anything (oh, yes!) but they could not be budged into any form of apology or indeed compensation for hassle endured as a result of their shoddy service.
Every time you buy anything it's always the same mantra of 'would you like our extended warranty blah blah', and the staff always appear ill informed and lazy and as I found out recently, quite willing to lie.

We had been looking at digit
al 'phones. There were a few I was interested in, especially the double packs of one base unit answerphone plus another handset.
Crayford has a new retail park and Comet and Currys are bang slap next door to each other. This can be fun.
The young lad in Currys could not have been more helpful. He was running back and forth to the stores but was not getting anywhere. The computer was letting him down and he really did his best against the odds. In the end, I went next door to Comet. A couple of salesmen appeared and asked what I was after and I told them. I was told in no uncertain terms that one set I was after didn't exist to which I asked why then did Currys sell it and also that there was no demand for digital phones so their range wasn't very big. They also disputed a price challenge between the two stores by another customer. I felt as though I was wasting their time and told them so. If one customer wants an item, that is demand in my books. If they can't even be bothered to try and meet that demand then they had lost my custom.
Two weeks later in full page ads in the national press, Comet were pushing their range of you've guessed, digital 'phones.

One of the various repair men we've had over the years told me that apparently in Italy, there are huge factories knocking out cheap and tacky white goods, sticking any kind of label on you want and supplying our domestic market through the high street retailers. They are made on the cheap and are expected to be obsolete within a couple of years.
Put this together with the extended warranty scam and you've got a licence to print money.
These people are dishonest, they tell lies and they are not interested in you, just your money. Steer clear.

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