Update. Many thanks for all the support & advice. Following on from my post at 13.22 yesterday an installation team were shortly thereafter in touch with me & visited yesterday tea time. As I understand it there were problems with the original installation rather than the hob itself. They spent a couple of hours here tracing & remedying the problem, checked it all out etc & left around 8.30 with everything back in working order and gas back on. As mentioned earlier I had emailed Hugh Harvey (& others in the management team) & this intervention seems to have been as a result of that rather than action taken by the local comet management - so can I just say to those who suggested that, good call. Can I also reiterate my thanks for your support - and perhaps I should also offer my thankks to the Senior management at Comet for their intervention?

Update. Shortly after posting the above, I received a call from their head office. A very nice lady, advising they'd get smeone out today to assess the situation - not necesarilly to fix it, just to assess it & then see what can be done. At least It's a step in the right direction.

Many thanks for the support & constructive suggestions. I'm effectively in day 2 of 10 now without heat or hot water. The temperature in the house is about 15C. We're restricted as to the kind of meals we can have (eg try frying chips or boiling an egg without a hob), & there will also be a hygiene problem if we can't bath or shower (except in cold water). Late yesterday afternoon I emailed 4 members of the Comet senior management team - no response. I IM'd the comet representative mentioned above - no response. I'm now checking for contact sites for the media - not that I think the Nationals will be interested unless one of us actually dies - but local family, buy in local shop from national chain, it may be worthy of a paragraph. I am tempted to get my own engineer in - comet did say they would refund the installation fee if we did - but it sounds very much like a cop out on thier part & I do wonder if all the run around & the passing from pillar to post & the indifference I've been getting from Comet is in fact an official policy designed to shift problems & responsibility away from themselves. To give you an idea of what I mean, compare the difference in response from the 2 organisations so far involved, Transco & Comet:- Comet have been paid, & have either delivered a faulty product or installed it incorrectly. Ths I reported to them, their response was that they could do absolutley nothing until Transco had been out to assess the situation. It was Comet who gave me Transco's number & demanded they be called in first. Transco answered the phone call on the first ring (it had taken me 8 minutes to get to speak to someone at Comet). Transco had an engineer at our house within 35 minutes of the call ending. Comet are quoting 10 days. Transco confirm the gas leak is from the hob itself or the connecting pipework - but say they are forbidden from unscrewing or taking apart the hob/cooker to get at the problem. This makes sense - if only because the way things are panning out with comet I could see them saying 'oh no your warranty's invalid if anyone has messed with the installation'. It's also worth pointing out that Transco have done this free of charge whereas Comet of course have been paid up front for product, delivery & installation. As its Comet's policy to get them in first they must know what the likely outcome is. Transco responded immediately. Comet have bounced me from pillar to post and tried to wash their hands of responsibility. I have emailed 4 members of their senior management - all have ignored me. I have spoken with their 'help' line they have passed me to a local branch. I have spoken with the local branch, moved upline to the manager (she's not available right now but I can get her to call back, there's a 4 hour maximum response policy for managers (to be fair she rang within an hour)) who told me it was in the hands of their transport section - who she cant put me in touch with & who say they haven't an engineer for 10 days. To my mind this is an emergency & rescheduling some appointments or even them hiring in a local contractor to fix their own mistake would be the logical response. Their suggestion that they refund the installation fee & we arrange our own competent engineer is tempting - but let me think that through, I pay someone to install something, they cock it up, and are willing to give me the money back to get someone in to do it properly. Put another way, they are happy to accept money for an advertised service but if the service doesnt go smoothly they will try & wriggle out of all responsibility, put the onus on the recipient, and wash their hands of the problem. Hmmm, no doubt that's a policy that works for them, but ethical? Responsible? Reasonable? Sorry, I'm ranting, I'm cold, starting to smell & annoyed. Another 8 days to go - & that's providing Comet turn up when they say and actually do a good job - did I mention the gas engineer had to borrow some of my tools to get the installation done? Hmm, it wasn't the best of starts was it?

Hi, I just wanted to relate my experience today with Comets after care service. After speaking with several of their people & emailing comet (& a realistic comet email address seems to take an awful lot of finding) I'm left bewildered & amazed at their indifference. Below is the email I've remitted (I've omitted some reference numbers & my address from this copy & paste). Comet buyers beware. On 27th December we bought a variety of goods from your store. These included a gas hob which was installed & fitted by yourselves. Over the next few days we occasionally smelt gas around the hob & attempted to report it to Comet on Monday 10th January. However 'excessively high volume of telephone enquiries' at Comets end meant we didnt get through until this morning, Tuesday 11th. We advised the situation, Comet advised that we must ring Transco & not them. If Transco reported the hob/connection faulty then we should phone Comet back. Transco had an engineer to us within 35 minutes of speaking with them. He confirmed a gas leak to be emanating from the hob but couldn't clarify whether or not it was the hob itself or if it was the connection that had not been fitted correctly. He advised there was no accesible isolation switch on the hob & that he would therefore need to cap the meter outside - this he did. Capping the meter means we now have no gas - which means we have no hot water (for showers etc), no heating & no hob facilities. We rang Comet back to advise. I have spoken with several people now at Comet, the most recent being xxxxxx & later his manager xxxxxxxxxx. Both say that the very earliest they can get an engineer to either uninstall or reinstall the unit - and therefore allow us to have heating, hot water etc is in 10 days time, Thursday 20th January - somewhere between 8.00 in the morning & 6.00 pm at night. I have explained & reiterated that this means we will have no hot water for personal hygiene, no heating (temperatures during the day currentl circa 6C & on a night in the minuses) & limited cooking facilities. they remain adamant that the best they can do is get someone to us in 10 days time. They have said they can deliver a replacement hob to us on Thursday of this week - but that they have no one to install or uninstall it at that time. They have also suggested we could arrange our own engineer - but this seems very much like trying to wash their hands of responsibility. This is a hob provided by & installed by comet. The work done is described by Transco as being 'Immediately Dangerous'. Comet though say 'we are very busy at the moment. 10 days time is the best we can do. I appreciate it may be inconvenient not to be able to have a shower for 10 days or to have heat for 10 days but thats the way it is.' Just as an aside, the receipt from Comet was stapled by them to a leaflet which includes the following statement:- 'Extra Help If you're having trouble getting your new product set up or it isn't working properly, don't worry, Call us on 0844 800 95 95 for help. We're great at repairing things.....' Frankly this is a disgraceful example of customer service