Internet Shopping with lots of free hassle (Comet.co.uk)

Name: Bazza1603

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Product:	Comet.co.uk
Date:	27/05/01 (149 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Not sure of any

Disadvantages: Cannot see what your buying, Rubblish customer service

About two weeks ago we had a problem with our gas cooker and decided it was safer to buy a new one rather than getting ours repaired. As it decided to break about 8pm in the evening I decided I would hunt around the Internet looking for the best deal instead on hunting around in the shops in my dinner hour or after a hard day at work.

I tried every major shop I could think of, plus new companies like pricerunner.co.uk and Kelkoo.co.uk that I had heard of. As we planning to move early next year and hopefully get a place with a fitted kitchen we wanted the cooker to be reasonably priced so I can keep my pennies to pay for my wedding!

I came across a cooker in Comet.co.uk made by the British company New World that suited us. I am one of these people that like to support British companies wherever possible so this was a factor in buying it. But the price of £199.95 plus a standard delivery charge of £11.95 was the deciding factor.

The comet website in very easy to use and navigate around .The layout of the site makes it very quick to move around. The only draw back is that when I was registering with the site it kept crashing and I had problems when I had to start again and it wouldn’t let me let me register my address again. When you order your items you wanted to buy it gives you a choice of two delivery times which included Saturday and Sunday in both morning and afternoons. This was very handy for us, as we both work from 9 to 5 and it’s a shame to waste a days holiday waiting for a deliveryman that may never turn up.

I ordered this cooker at about 9.45 in the evening and when I went into work the next morning there was an email confirming the delivery date of Sunday between 0800 and 1200. This surprised me as the email had been sent at 0630 in the morning. This is one the first companies Ive had an email back like this so quick.

Delivery was excellent and within the time that was promised. However the dr
iver had been ringing the daytime number that we gave on the order form which was infact a daytime work number. This could have caused problems because he was ringing to confirm there was someone in and because he drove passed my house anyway he called on the off chance.

This is where our problems started. We had my friend who is a British gasman by trade to come and install the cooker which is fairly easy as you only need to make two connections gas tight. We paid him and were busy putting the pieces together on the oven when we found there was only one oven shelf. With his knowledge he said he had never come across an oven of this specification before so they must be a shelf missing. With one shelf you would never be able to cook a Sunday dinner in it.

So off we went to a comet store near to us to see if we could get a spare there and then perhaps out of a display model. We got there and were told “Yes you have to watch with this model as it only comes with one shelf “ straight away. They gave us a telephone number so we could order a spare.

As it was a bank holiday we had to wait until the Tuesday to order the part and I forgot to take the model number with me, so I had to order it when I got in from work at 18.30. The price of the spare part was £25.00 including postage and packing and was delivered the next day at 1300. Wow! How was that for service? I was now quite happy again and went home for a lovely tea made in the oven. After getting home I found it was the wrong one and they did not have any other shelves which matched my cooker. By this time I was starting to get a bit upset at having a cooker which was basically useless. They offered to contact the maker of the cooker and get in contact with me but this would take a further week and a half.

My next move was to contact New World directly, but they offer out the contract for spare parts to a company called HRPC whom specialise in parts for heating and d
omestic appliances. (www.hrpc.co.uk). I spoke with them and they promised me the right shelf for this model at the price of £20.50 including postage and packing. The shelf arrived 2 days later and this time was correct. The gentleman I spoke to there said this was a best selling product for them, so Im not the only one to fall over buying a cooker.

I cannot blame Comet directly, but I feel there should be more information on the website telling you about the cookers specification especially when Comet staff pointed this out to people who visit the shop.

This is where Internet shopping falls down, you cannot see what you’re buying until it’s delivered. Internet shopping is meant to take away the hassle of shopping but this has been far more hassle that actually going into a shop and buying it

What I am upset about with Comet is that I emailed them a complaint about the lack of information on their website and have had no reply after nearly two weeks.

This was the first time Ive ever bought anything on the internet, other that bits and bobs for my computer. This will be the last, from now on I will continue to use Comet as I have done for years and that’s to take a fifteen minute drive to their shop. This has taught me not to be such a lazy so and so!!

Summary: