#Comet

[Max Norton]

Just been subjected to TERRIBLE, NEGLIGENT & RUDE Customer Service from the High Street retailer Comet - for the last 2 months!!!!! Absolutely disgusting customer service - they really do not give a damn about their customers - just take our money & shut the door in our face!

 

 

1. 17/10/2010 – Bought Plasma TV from Comet Swindon Orbital – 42” 616850 Panasonic TX-P42G20B - £699.99 + Service Plan for 3 years - £179.99 (Total with cable & connectors also required = £909.97)

 

Within 4 months:-

 

2. 10/02/2011 – TV would not turn on! (Stand by light – instead of being continuous – was flashing) TV completely dead – No images & no sound – Nothing!

 

3. 10/02/2011 – On the day of the fault - Rang the Customer Service Number we had been given to report the fault.

Comet said they would not replace the TV – although only 4 months old – Comet said they would repair the TV, it was a common fault with this model – Comet said they would send an engineer to us next Thursday – 17/02/2011.

 

We expressed our disappointment. They refused to be anymore helpful.

 

 

4. 15/02/2011 – We received a call from “Comet On Call Service” – they informed us they would now NOT be coming out on the 17/02/2011 as promised - as the part that was required to fix the TV, had not arrived.

After we complained & asked to speak to a manager – we were informed that we would be classed as a PRIORITY – the part would now come in Friday 18/02/2011 & the engineer would come out to us to fix on the 18/02/2011.

 

We expressed our disappointment. They refused to help anymore.

 

5. 15/02/2011 – We rang “Consumer Direct” who officially logged the complaint with “The Office of Fair Trading” – they advised us to ring the Comet Edge Store Card that we had used to buy the TV - & make them aware of the issue – We spoke to the Security Department who logged a “Purchase Dispute!

 

“Consumer Direct” – advised us of our Statutory Rights under the “Sales & Goods Act of 1979”

 

6. 18/02/2011 – “Comet On Call” rang me to say – The part required to fix the TV was still not in - & that they would come out on Tuesday 22/02/2011 – with the part to fix the TV (They said the part would now not be in until 22/02/2011.

 

I expressed that this was not satisfactory & that it was an unreasonable amount of time to have to wait. I asked to speak to a manager.

The lady on the end of the phone (Gerry) hung up the phone on me!

She was unhelpful & had no intention to help me or offer good customer service.

She did not seem to care that the Office of Fair Trading had been informed.

She did not seem to care that this was the only TV that we have in the house!

 

Jane (Manager) called me back – again not helpful – she could not wait to put the phone down, in fact she tried to put the phone down on me when I was still talking, & I had to ask her to please stay on the line to listen to what I had to say.

When I explained that we had had no TV for 8 days & found it unreasonable & unacceptable to wait another 4 days – She said that they would then send an engineer out to us with a part to fix the TV on Monday 21/02/2011.

 

I asked her to guarantee the following, which she did verbally on the phone to me:

She guaranteed the following:-

The part will be in on Monday 21/02/2011

The engineer will call us before 09:30am on Monday 21/02/2011 to arrange a time with us to come out that day to fix the TV.

The engineer would be able to fix the TV on Monday 21/02/2011

 

I told the manager that we had reported them to the Office of Fair Trading.

She did not care, as she did not bat an eyelid when I told her this & she did not apologize for the faulty TV or the situation.

I told her to make a note of my comments – as if the above did not happen on Monday 21/02/2011 – and our TV was not fixed – we would not hesitate to take the next steps as advised to us by “Consumer Direct”

She did not seem to care that they had been reported to The Office of Fair Trading.

 

18/02/2011 - I again called “Consumer Direct” (SE 375 3139 – Reference No for complaint)

She (Pauline)advised me to now send a letter to Comet – by recorded delivery – to keep a copy & to give them a deadline to respond to us.

 

 

7. 21/02/2011 Monday – Waited until 9.30am for our promised call from “Comet On Call” – NO Call from Comet.

 

8. 21/02/2011 Monday – We called Comet Head Office to complain. Explained the situation – expressed our complete disappointment – demanded a call from a Manager today – demanded the engineer to call before 6pm tonight to fix the TV.

 

9. 21/02/2011 Monday – We called “Comet On Call” phone number – as no positive resolve with the Head Office – the number we called could not help – just a generic phone number – could only promise a “call back” by phone within the next 4 hours!!

Could this fiasco of Customer Service get any worse!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

10. 21/02/2011 Monday 10.45am – Received a call from Dave the Comet Engineer, telling us that he will be with us hopefully between 1-3pm today!!!!

 

11. 21/02/2011 Monday Engineer called within the promised time – with the ordered new part – Dave put it in the TV – it was the WRONG Part!!!! .... The TV still would not work at all.

Chris Norton (My husband) told the engineer, that this was not acceptable – that we wanted the TV fixed today, as we had had no tv since we reported the fault on the 10/02/2011 – told him to sort it out. We had been patient and reasonable & expecting us to wait any longer for our TV to work was most definitely not reasonable or acceptable!

 

Engineer called his office – explained the situation – the Office arranged an “EXCHANGE” for us – Engineer called our local store of Comet & arranged for us to go in & exchange the TV for a new one.

 

12. 21/02/11 Monday Drove to Swindon Comet – half an hour drive for us – Staff in store helped us choose an alternative TV, as no comparable TV in the store – we settled for a cheaper TV and a part refund.

 

We only got to this point today – because we had the strength & the character to learn our consumer rights & stand up for ourselves.

Any person in the same position who was not as confident or strong – would still not have had a TV today!

 

 

Summary:

It is now Friday evening (18/02/2011) & we still have no idea when we will have a TV that will work. We bought this TV in good faith 4 months ago & it cost a lot of money – and now we have nothing. The product is not just faulty – it is completely dead & will not turn on!

 

They have now given us two dates for the engineer to call on us with the part to fix our TV – And they have subsequently cancelled both dates – this has mean’t that we have had to rearrange two days of work to stay in and wait for Comet to sort this!

Next Monday will be our third day of waiting for a phone call & waiting for an engineer to call on us.

 

How can we have any confidence that they will actually make the third date of the 21/02/2011 that they have now given us?

When are we going to be able to use our TV?

 

We have now lost the following work time :- Thursday 17th February, Friday 18th February & Monday 21st February – waiting in for calls & engineers!

We have also lost 2 weeks of our Sky Subscription as we have not had a TV to watch – that is approximately £35.00 worth of our monthly Sky Subscription.

 

We even forked out extra money for the Service Plan – but this has still not helped us – as looks like we will not have a TV for at least 2 weeks.

I would like to add that the Service Plan was also sold to us as a “Hard Sell Tactics” – “On the spot” offer only – We were told by the salesman that if we did not buy the plan there & then before we left the store – we could not buy the plan at a later date for the price they were offering on that day. (As a point of interest – the actual Store Manager was present at the sales table – when this hard sell was happening & reinforced the hard tactics of the salesman) We felt compelled to buy!

 

 

What a sorry state the Customer Service Industry has got into in the UK today, as a customer you simply get NO customer service at all!

They hold all the cards – and there is nothing you can do about the situation you are in because of a faulty product. No one wants to help!!

Even after taking out the extended care plan – you are not covered & you have no extra help.

The staff show an apparent & very obvious “Lack of care”, “Lack of responsibility”, “Lack of understanding”. “Lack of manners” & a complete “Faceless disregard” for their paying customers!!!!

 

I will add one more paragraph to this story – when we went into the Comet store today (21/02/2011) – 11 days after our TV broke down, & was unable to watch .

For the first time – we actually received some decent customer service from the staff within the store.

Whether it was because they knew we were coming & had been primed to be extra nice we will never know!

 

What we want to ask is “Why does the customer have to get so upset, distressed, angry & strong & speak up for themselves – before us the general public – the customers – Get any decent Customer Service?”

Edited April 15, 2011 by Max Norton

[spencer1959]

Simple! there are 1000's of us and only 1 of them.

They don't give a **** about us paragraph 1 i agree

Seems the louder you shout the more people are prepared to listen its always been the same - it will never change; unfortunately

[rebel11]

Hi max

 

Welcome to CAG

The guys will advise as soon as they are available.

 

Thereis a Comet Rep on site who can look into the matter for you - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/member.php?279608-Comet-Response

Your thread should be picked up.

 

In my signature you've got the OFT Guide on SOGA (9).