Pass the Parcel Comet way (Comet.co.uk)

Member Name: szema

Product:	Comet.co.uk
Date:	08/08/02 (216 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: quick if in stock, lots of choices

Disadvantages: inefficient customer service, Customer Service Centre cannot make refund transactions physically, Depend on the communication between Customer Service Centre and the host store (the host store is not disclosed to customer)

Well, this is all about the way they operate as I found out when I tried to get my refund for my CANCELLED order.

Note: 'Staff' means a customer service operator at comet call centre.

Thurs 24/7/02
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Fine day. Amazingly, comet was the only online company that sold Proline st44 microchef microwave at that time, and it was the same model as my broken one. So I placed my order, and was given many delivery choices, well it seems so at the first instance. It all boiled down to whether you wanted it deliver in the morning or in the afternoon, so next Mon morning was the closest day you could get, as for the second choice, I went for the Tue morning.

Thurs 24/7/02 Later
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As I thought I was done with the microwave, I found one pretty much with the same functions in town. I bought it, and called comet to cancel the order. I knew I was asking for trouble for changing my mind, but I thought since I'd just given the order, it should be easy to cancel. Afterall, this assumption applied to numerous other online companies which I had purchased from in the past.

BlarBlar... press 5, blarblar... press 1, "your call is important to us..." blarblarblar... wait. To be fair at least it didn't take too long to get to a human, (or am I getting too used to these recorded voices, most don't even sound sexy). Staff told me she would send EMAIL to host store to cancel the order. As I didn't received their confirmation for cancelling the order, I called again on Saturday, Staff said she would send another EMAIL to cancel the order and will asked the host store to contact me to confirm.

Mon 29/7/02
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Yes you've guessed right, the microwave arrived on Mon morning! The delivery guy said that he'd take it back, he also told me that this was typical. So I thought I'd better check that they were going to refund it to me.



Staff (seemed distracted by another matter and wanted to end the call quickly), assured that it was being refunded to me and that it could take UP TO 10 days to show up in my account.

So I waited, and on the following Monday, Staff said that she would send another EMAIL to the host store to resolve the problem, as that was the third email, she as allow to put 'urgent' in the subject line! Amusing.

Thurs 7/8/02 -- Two weeks from ordering
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After many one-way emails sent from the call centre to the host store, no one from the host store seemed to have notice that 'You've got mail' in their Inbox, or they might have forgotten to turn their computer on. All Staff told me they cannot call the host store physically to talk to a human there; they cannot refund the purchased physically as they don't have the facility there; they cannot pass my call to their supervisor as "there is no one who will tell you anything different", and emailing is ALL they can do.

At least today, Staff said she would log this as a complain which should be read by the internet division director, well so she said. I'm still waiting for the refund.




BTY, I found out later that...

Quotation from comet website :
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How long should it take for my refund to show up?

When the refund is processed in the store the refund is automatically sent to be credited to your card. The refund should be credited within a few days, any delays are caused by internal banking processes.
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Nothing to do with my bank! Honest! All the transactions has shown up within less than 2 days, including a recent refund of a pair of shoes!



UPDATE:

29/08/02
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Aggrrr!! Please kill comet... waiting waitin
g...


To cut the story short, it was finally refunded after over a whole month, with 7 phone calls (exc. the first one for refund), plus a letter to the managing director of comet, Mr. Cissell, sent on 29/08/02.

I had a bit of difficulty finding comet's head office address. Anyway, the letter basically consisted of a table dating my phones calls and what the staff promised. And a brief sentence asking him to tell the relevant department to sort it out. I did not know whether it was the power of Cissell, or the staff at last thought it was about time to do something in reality (not virtual reality), I got my refund on the grand day 01/09/02!!
I am a happy bunny now. Plus I have learned not to buy on impulse and change my mind afterwards! Good lesson for me!

Regards,

Sze xxx

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