Comet: less fiery tail, more tired snail

System

Makro is the same, a few months ago i wanted something out of the Makro mail. I phoned up on the day it was due to be on sale to see if it had been put out onto the shelves yet. (my local store is notoriously half soaked about putting things out on the shelves on the day they are on sale) and it had sold out - they had only had 6 delivered and said they werent due another delivery. I was spitting feathers. They must have sold them within an hour of the store opening.

Wirenth

OK, I'm wondering why Martin didn't start an 'I wanna laptop' thread.

To be quite blunt, NOT VERY MSE! (you muppet!)

One of the best places to look for computing equipment is the Dell Website and their Outlet site. The outlet site contains items that people have sent back - changed their minds, wrong spec, etc. But it is all checked and has a years warranty on it when resold - it just can't be sold as new, which is why it is cheaper. The main site also contains a lot of decent, reasonably priced equipment. And I've never had an issue with any of their stuff...

shays_mum

Timmo def. agree about lidl useless is an understatement where they are concerned

Ricey

Start of soapbox speel:

I know Martin Lewis has previously advised against blanket boycotts of individual companies - the don't cut off your nose to spite your face principle - but the time to make a stand has come.

Argos, Sky, Comet, and many, many more take us all for mugs. They take us for granted. Boycotts, supported by consumer web-sites such as this one, can make positive change.

If we continue to buy from these massive companies after a dispute with them then their Directors will never feel the pinch of consumer power. They will continue to flout the rules of honest, consumer-driven business practice, knowing that we will return, wimpering, the first time they make a conciliatory offer.

Boycott every high street retailer that mistreats you! Write to them and explain your stance. No exceptions! Fight back in the only way you can, support companies that offer reliable and honest service (more often than not, in my experience, local independents), even if they charge a slightly higher price.

Give some teeth to the consumer revolution!

End of speel (phew!)

simco

dear martin and any other dissatisfied Comet customers.

Comet is going from a commision based reward scheme for its staff, to a target based one. If we, and I am just a lowly sales assistant, hit our weekly sales target, then we get a percentage of our weekly wage as a bonus. This can only be of benefit to you as a customer. This means, that when my colleauges or I sell you a product, we are TRYING ( I stress trying. As hard as we try people will still buy Ipods. Apples after sales care is terrible) to advise you of the best one in the range. Instead of trying to sell you the one that will put the most amount of money in my pay check.

This is in direct comparison to the other company whose name starts with C.

We try our best to ensure that every part of the Comet machine works. Especially at this busy time of the year. Unfortunatley we will fail some of our customers, be it with late deliveries, or faulty products that we HAVE to get an engineer to look at first.

I would just like to address that last point. On a large number of products like TV's, fridges, and yes the dreaded Ipod, we have to let a qualified engineer look at the product before we can repair or replace it. I Know Martin will correct me if I am wrong, but I have been lead to belive that any manufacturer or retailer has the right to inspect any product, to confirm a fault.

I think the link below shows the retailers reponsibilities to the consumer. http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/cgi-bin/bglitem.cgi?file=BADV073-1011.txt

One last word about the Ipod. DO NOT BUY THEM, THEIR AFTER SERVICE CARE IS RUBBISH. This is going to sound callous, but it will save you and us, any disagreements.
If your Ipod goes Bang or just stops working, either ring the number in the instructions, or go on to the Apple website. Do not come into store, and expect it to be changed there and then. IT WILL NOT HAPPEN. We have to do the long process described below, or we get it in the neck.

When you have managed to contact Apple through either of these methods, they will do a diagnostic on the phone or online to confirm the fault. Once this is done they will send out a parcel to you, you send the Ipod to them, they look at it, and then decide whether to repair it or give you a new one.

I hope everyone has a great Christmas and a happy New Year.

P.S Any unwanted presents bought for Christmas, can be returned to Comet up to the 18th of Jan. The presents must be in the original packaging and unused. And please dont ALL bring back your faulty goods back on Boxing Day. There will be a few sore heads.

mhendo

Comet are great for mis-advertising computer products. I have bought a second laptop from them at a massive discount, due to them detailing the item with a higher spec than it really has.

I know others that have lucked out too - if you're unsure of a retailer's quoted specs, then just check the spec out on the manufacturer's web-site.

In Jan 05, I bought myself a Sony Vaio A217S from them, as they were selling it cheaper than any other online retailer.They were over-stating the spec for both the graphics & the built-in memory card reader - after calling them once I received the laptop, and emailing them a copy of the web-site pages (as they claimed they didn't have a record of them any more!), I got a further 10% off the price I paid.

I've just bought a laptop for someone else, again from Comet. This time, it was a cheaper laptop, an Acer 3003WLMi. Well, I spotted they had over-spec'd it at 128MB graphics, when it only has 64MB. I justified why particular models wouldn't be suitable as a replacement (due to aspects being lower spec than the Acer 3003WLMi), and pointed out the Fujitsu A1650G 3400+ would be a suitable replacment which meets the specification of laptop I purchased from them, as advertised (although the processor was faster, and hard drive larger!).

Well, they accepted my proposal to replace the £479 Acer laptop with the Fujitsu one for an additional £50 (as I was getting a faster processor which was also 64-bit & bigger hard-drive). I put across my case, saying they are abiliged to offer goods at the spec they sold to me (as described on the web-site), subject top it not costing them to much to provide/upgrade to the spec they advertised as (else, it would simply be a full refund).

So, end result I've bought a laptop normally sold at £699.99, for just £529. Not bad, a £170 saving, all for spotting mistakes in Comet's advertising.


For your info, this advertising error is still present on their web-site!!! There are other laptops mis-spec'd on there too, such as the Acer 5003.