comet stole my cooker

harsey

hi there,
we've had a problem with comet removing our old cooker when we did not ask them to and cannot get it back

here is an email i sent to hugh harvey and toby lousada which i hope explains our problem

would be grateful for any advice

dear sir,
i am writing to you today to highlight my experience with comet this week.
i will explain my situation and i hope you can help me.
My name is Harvey Polglase, i am a 38 year old painter and decorator from Cornwall. My wife is called Lynsey and is 28. Last year Lynsey suffered a stroke, whilst 18 weeks pregnant, due to a blood clot in her brain which left her blind to the left and extremely weak on the left side, she suffers central nerve pain all day and night. In February she suffered a second 'minor' stroke and i quit my job to look after her and become her carer. Our unborn baby however was ok and was born in the trauma ward in march this year.
We were recently offered a council house with Penwith Housing Association, which we had been waiting for. We had been 'top of the list' for 6 months so were relieved when we finally got one.
As council houses had no cookers installed a grant was obtained through Social services with the Frank Buttle Trust. We moved into our new house mid september and was told it could take a couple of weeks for our new cooker to be delivered from COMET. We were quite happy with this as in the mean time my father in law's boss lent us his gas cooker so we could get on.
We received a letter from yourselves telling us that our gas cooker would arrive on monday 20th october between 8am and 6pm. And sure enough at approximately 9.30am your delivery men arrived with our new cooker. I started to move our old cooker out of the way but your men told me to leave it as they would sort it, so i returned to look after my wife who was not in a good way having a severe migraine. Your men called me to start the gas boiler to check it was working and showed me how to use the new cooker, asked me to sign the form saying the work was done and left at 10am. My wife however started having severe spasms in her right side and an ambulance was called at 10.20am and she was taken straight away to Royal Cornwall Hospital Treliske to the A&E ward where she was given a mri scan to asses what had happened..
I returned home later that night and when i walked into my kitchen i noticed something was a-mis.
My old cooker was not there!!!!! I could only think that the delivery must of mistakenly taken it with them , which i did not ask them to do and they did not say they would do,along with our roasting trays, lasagne dish and muffin trays which were inside..
So this morning i phone customer services and was told that is was probably too late and it was gone but the lady said she would contact the delivery depot and look into it. she called back later and said it was a little strange and did i pay the £7.50 to remove our old one. i told them i did not and she told me she would look into it and phone me back in half an hour..... With no phone call fro more than an hour i called again and finally spoke to a guy called dean who also said he would look into it for me and call me back in half an hour, he called back and spoke to my mother in law as i was taking care of my baby, and she was told he would phone back in half an hour to speak to me.. An hour later i rang again asking to speak to dean, the lady said he was talking on the phone but would get him to ring me as soon as he finished... another hour later i rang AGAIN and finally got hold of him to be told he had informed his supervisor 'Tess' ( i think) and she would look into and ring me back before the end of the day, i ask if it would definitely be today and he assured me it would.. I RECIEVED NO CALL.
My disabled wife is obviously distressed as the cooker was a loan from her fathers boss and all our cooking bits have gone. i hope you will be able to sort out this mess and find the cooker which your men removed from my house or compensate us in some way...
i await your reply

uktyler

I don't think Comet need to know your life history, a short letter with the relevant information would do.

Nothing was stolen, it was a mistake.

harsey

ahh ok
thanks very much

nuttyp

i agree it was a mistake, but obviously the circumstances running up to it do bare some relevance, hopefully someone at comet will after reading the letter will show some compassion. It would appear to be more distressing to some people than others, and obviously it is to you. I wish both you and your family well, it was a mistake but as its not your cooker to dispose of your right to be concerned.

Mistakes to do happen, and previously i was grateful for my old appliances to be removed. Im sure that comet will sort something out for you, remember to send your letter recorded delivery, at least you can be certain it will get there. Good luck.

maninthestreet

I agree with uktyler - Comet do not need to know anything about your background - why do you feel it is important to tell them the age of your wife and yourself, and even your occupation? I sympathise with your situation in relation to your wife's medical condition, but none of this is in anyway relevant to your missing cooker that Comet has taken away by mistake.

uktim29

Why is this happening all the time now? Someones made a mistake, and then it's "X has stolen from me" etc etc.

cheapscate

Welcome to MSE, Harsey. I hope that Comet sort this situation out for you - I am sure that anyone who reads your letter will feel compassion enough to resolve the problem ASAP - unless, of course, UKtyler or UKtim work there!
(by the way I think some of the background detail is relevant, as to why the OP was not in a position to oversee what was going on.)

uktyler

cheapscate wrote: »

unless, of course, UKtyler or UKtim work there!

Comet do not need to know the whole life story of the OP, a short letter with relevant points will do the trick. An essay is not required.

I believe the OP should get the cooker back, with an apology, and maybe some vouchers, however comet only need relevant information.

I hope the OP's letter does not state, 'stolen from me' as I doubt this will help.

cheapscate

uktyler wrote: »

Comet do not need to know the whole life story of the OP, a short letter with relevant points will do the trick.

Have you typed Comet into the vent board thread search? I think you will find that they can be somewhat unreasonable/unhelpful......



I believe the OP should get the cooker back, with an apology, and maybe some vouchers.

OMG!!! you are suggesting COMPENSATION!!!!!!

uktim29

cheapscate wrote: »

Welcome to MSE, Harsey. I hope that Comet sort this situation out for you - I am sure that anyone who reads your letter will feel compassion enough to resolve the problem ASAP - unless, of course, UKtyler or UKtim work there!

I don't know what work background you have Cheapscate nor am I sure of UKtylers but I've had 13 years experience of dealing with complaints. I know what the person reading it will think, UKtyler also seems to have a pretty good idea.

If it's the first time you've read a letter like that just printed on a forum then of course you might feel compassion but the people who will actually read the op's letter will read 50/100 a day. They'll start noticing patterns, they'll know some people will try and use emotion to pull strings, at the end of the day it doesn't work.

Uktyler got it spot on stating to keep the letter short and relevant. The first thing I noticed was I was over 2 paragraphs into it and still didn't know what the problem was. As I said, the reader will have read that sort of background 50 times already the same day. I'll be honest here as well, the background situation always contains a disabled person/child being ill or hospital, they're always the same. Now the reader is going to know some of them won't be true and some exaggerations. Thats not having a go at the op it's just being honest, you see it so many times on letters posted in this forum. It won't hold any weight and will have the opposite effect.

It wasn't a good letter of complaint, now the op knows and can make it more effective. Your post didn't really deal with this or help at all.

LinasPilibaitisisbatman

At the end of the day the entire back story is irrelevent

A mistake was made, the OP didnt notice when he inspected the kitchen, if he had opened his eyes he would have resolved it there and then

Ultimately comet may not be even to blame - maybe the housing agency said to remove the old cooker is applicable

Overall the OP is entitled to the return of the cooker or a suitable replacement

Telling us about his personal life doesnt change that

His cooker was also not stolen, if you ask me the OP seems to be trying a bit of emotional blackmail for extra cash