| Product: |
Comet.co.uk |
| Date: |
28/07/02 (1182 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Choice, Price Range, Service
Disadvantages: Cover!, No Cheques!, I live miles away from A large Comet
I was looking forward to this. As someone who has only had second hand cookers, fridges and freezers for the last few years, the idea of visiting the large Comet store in the Purley Way, South London to buy three gas hobs, three electric ovens, three fridge freezers and three automatic washing machines was undreamt of.
Even more reason to be excited was that this visit signified the near completion of a two year renovation project converting a dilapidated Victorian building in South London. After all the set-backs, pitfalls and what has sometimes seemed like an impossible nightmare the builders tell me we are getting up to speed and the three brand new flats will be ready for letting in six weeks time.
So I had three kitchens to furnish with white goods. I’m a small town girl so it has been a while since I’ve been inside such a huge shop as this. I was very glad to have my daughter with me as I felt as if I was up from the country…which I suppose I was!
Buying such a large amount of goods I had budgeted £3000 as my top figure so we decided to go for the bottom of the range for each item, in other words the cheapest. I also wanted them to be identical for maintenance purposes. Measurements weren’t a problem as my builder told me kitchen equipment was standard size, so it was price, brand name, design and availability that would determine my final choice.
Parking was free as it is for all the stores on the Purley Way trading estate. The Comet store was large, pleasantly air conditioned on such a hot and humid day in July and clean with plenty of space to browse each section in comfort. There was evidence of plenty of sales representatives for as and when we’d need one. We resisted the aisles packed with sexy looking laptops and the wide screen televisions to concentrate on the purpose of my visit.
It wasn’t until I began looking at what was on offer that I had my first shock. A Dyson w
ashing machine for over £800! Prices like these would seriously nause up my budget, as would the American ‘walk-in’ fridge/freezer for £1500! I had no idea such things even existed!
First stop fridge/freezer. What a bargain! Three Beko RC110 fridge/freezers for £299.67. That isn’t for each one dear reader, that was for the three of them. I think I’ve paid that much for a second hand one in the past, so I was obviously robbed.
Next the washing machines. I considered three 733360 Servis M3102A automatic washing machines for £599.85 to be a good buy.
Onto the gas hobs and electric ovens. The white enamel gas hobs I chose were 527387 Tricity TBG640 WH and cost a grand total of £269.85. Only got the ovens to choose now. A discussion with my daughter ensued as she was trying to persuade me I needed the double ovens with integral grill and I wasn’t too sure. The price difference was huge between that and the single electric oven with integral grill. In fact the difference was that three single ovens cost a total of £299.79 and three double ovens was £1200. She argued that future tenants wouldn’t be able to grill a Pizza and cook toast at the same time, but I said that the flats are likely to be let to young people with busy working lives and that a micro-oven and a toaster would be more useful to them than any oven at all.
Decision made and I chose the 626262 PROL EC6000 single ovens, convinced I’d made the right decision. We did a quick tot-up and were rather surprised to find the twelve items came to under £15000. Gasp! Visions of a sexy laptop with the remainder of my budget fleetingly entered my mind as I am that kinda girl! But I quickly gathered myself, resisting the temptation and then along came Keith, my salesperson for the next half an hour.
He was polite and efficient and had no actual selling to do as I had selected exactly what I wanted, so all he had to do was check av
ailability of all twelve items. This was done with no problems at all and I was delighted. Then a bit of hard sell kicked in.
I found myself being ardently told about the Comet dream of customer satisfaction, encouraging me to buy Accident and Breakdown Cover and Instant Replacement Cover. I kept my eye on his computer monitor as the amount came up on screen for Cover of one fridge/freezer. Now remember the price of one fridge? Ninety something pounds! The Cover was £79.00! Alright it was for three years and after four call outs by the Comet technicians there would be a no questions asked replacement with a brand new fridge. But multiply twelve items by £80 and that totals £960.
In my experience the only item that was most likely to go wrong was the washing machines. I privately considered having one total Cover for the washing machine and then as the flats have the same street address if all three broke down I may have had Cover for them all for the price of one. Then I thought that the machines would have individual codes like car engines, so just my luck would be the ones that weren’t covered would be those to go belly up!
Then, after all, these items were so cheap they almost seemed disposable and in an optimistic frame of mind concerning full letting capacity, they could be replaced from revenue. No thanks Keith. Is this where salespersons get their commission because I sensed a change in his manner once I had made it clear I didn’t want to pay for any Cover of any kind for anything and just stick with the Manufacturers one year guarantee?
I timidly asked for discount and Keith didn’t even make eye contact with that one and just continued tapping on the keyboard entering the postcode for delivery dates. It may have seemed like an enormous amount of money to me, but a top of the range sexy laptop cost more than that, and so did that American walk-in fridge/freezer. It was peanuts really wasn’t it? <
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I was possibly the only person in Comet that morning that didn’t want an ASAP delivery because the builders were still plastering and wouldn’t appreciate twelve large boxes landed on them. We agreed a delivery date to be arranged by myself ringing the Croydon Comet store nearer the time. I was impressed with the home delivery charge of £11.95. I’ve paid nearly that much for an InterFlora bunch of flowers for my Mum!
My sales receipt said £1481.11 and again I was surprised to read that cheques weren’t accepted. What is going on? I paid by other means and walked out of the store after half an hour well spent on a very pleasant, hassle free and enjoyable shopping experience.
My main concern was telephoning Comet in Purley Way Croydon and arranging the delivery date. I had a vision of my ovens, hobs, washers and fridges being left alone in a warehouse somewhere and never to be seen again. But no, all was well. I phoned the store one week later and the manager arranged delivery to suit my selected date, confirming I had my own qualified plumbers and electricians to install everything, that they could delivery it all boxed up and giving me a contact number to confirm delivery a couple of days prior. This has now been done and the kitchen equipment is waiting on the renovated premises and eager to be installed.
Overall my Comet experience was very satisfactory. I went in knowing exactly what I needed and I left having found everything I required and at half the cost of my estimated budget.
My next experience was even better. I didn’t tell you did I, that Ikea is right next door to Comet on the Purley Way Trading Estate? I’m going back there next week for blinds and curtains for twelve large sash windows and I just can’t wait to tell you all about my Ikea experience. I’m salivating at the thought!
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