Comet, please repair my 2 day old washing machine!

webmasterpolo

There were no costs as such as we relied on family to help with the washing while our machine was out of action. There was no way I was going to be paying a laundrette (MSE style).

webmasterpolo

The 2nd draft, any feedback would be appreciated, I am posting it at lunch time.

Dear Samantha Gray

I do not accept your claim that the broken part did not affect the working of the machine, I have also contacted Bosch, the designers of the machine and they also confirm my argument that although the machine may technically work, it is not advisable to use it as the door is no longer properly secured.

Bosch have also confirmed that the manufacturers guarantee does cover this specific fault as it directly relates to the usability of the machine and is not cosmetic damage. Furthermore your own warranty will cover this damage as it is not cosmetic as it does affect the working of the machine.

The fact that the parts were not reallocated by the service manager after one of the many previous jobs was cancelled is another Comet error. The fourth engineer pointed out the parts should have been allocated, and they were not. If Comet’s policy was to not allocate the parts, then they should have been ordered immediately for the next job, but they were not. If this had been done this charade would have been rectified within a shorter period of time.

You are still claiming you think everything was done as quickly as possible "once we were aware of this matter". I reported the fault to you 2 days after buying the machine, but you didn't fix it for 53 days and 5 appointments, this is not as quickly as possible.

Your offer of £25 is entirely disproportionate to the disruption, stress and time I have spent on this matter especially when you consider the 5 appointments and 20 hours I spent waiting for your engineers to fix the machine, the estimated 3 hours of phone time at my expense and the additional inconvenience and expense of using alternative facilities for washing for a period of nearly 3 months

In light of the above, I would consider £75 full and final settlement of this matter.

I have made many purchases of large electrical items from Comet over the past year and I have been extremely happy with them. The service I received in the past has been agreeable and I have been quick to recommend you to friends and colleagues. This matter has completely changed my opinion for the worst and unless the conclusion is satisfactory, I will be ensuring my friends and colleagues are aware of this experience and are deterred from dealing with you in the future.

I am aware your service level is 3 days, and I await your reply.

Thank you for your time.

Regards,

carly

I think your letter is clear and to the point. Hopefully Comet will respond in an appropriate manner. good luck

stugib

Looks pretty good to me, my only suggestions:

webmasterpolo wrote:

Your offer of £25 is entirely disproportionate to the disruption, stress and time I have spent on this matter especially when you consider the 5 appointments and 20 hours I spent waiting for your engineers to fix the machine, the estimated 3 hours of phone time at my expense and the additional inconvenience and expense of using alternative facilities for washing for a period of nearly 3 months

At the risk of making your point more complicated, maybe you should concentrate on the amount of time and phone calls wasted because of them messing you around, rather than in total. You'd be expected to give up your time for the intial appointment and not be compensated for it, but you wasted a lot more time above this because of them.

As Mr J correctly pointed out, it would be a lot easier to claim for actual losses rather than 'disruption and stress'.

webmasterpolo wrote:

In light of the above, I would consider £75 full and final settlement of this matter.

Again, if you could quantify losses this would be easier to justify. At the moment this just sounds like a figure plucked out of the air and could be taken (by them) as you being a chancer. Maybe if you can't quantify it, it may be better to leave this open-ended and not mention a figure?

webmasterpolo

Thanks a lot for the replies.

The figure of £75 was a considered choice, as when I worked out how much I would charge them for my time if I was working for them, it's into hundreds and I don't think that is a realistic expectation, the £75 is triple their first offer, which was far too low and I feel if I don't state my expectation in my third letter I risk being offered another low sum and have to write a fourth.

In summary my first letter resulted in s*d off we did all we could, second letter was ok so we got a little confused here's £25. Hopefully the third letter with be OK it was all our fault and we value your custom heres £75.

I will certainly be posting the outcome. Any other feedback would be appreciated, I have been unable to get to the post office today so I post tomorrow.

-Web

webmasterpolo

Letters in the mail now, should have a reply in about a week.

wendiewoo

Makes me feel better to know others having problems with Comet, I gave away a yr old 340 pound cooke rthis week after it never workingf rom day one, wish Id fought harder ah well!!!!

webmasterpolo

Got a reply saying that they agree with their previous letter that everything was done asap and £25 is their final offer.

Just called and spoke to Samantha (author of letters) she refused to give me a direct answer when asked to explain how nearly 3 months is asap to repair a washing machine. She mereluy suggested I talk to TS as they will not be increasing their offer.

What a farce! I am furious, that's less than £1/hour they are offering for my time not the mention my out of pocket expenses.

I think I will contact TS and my solicitor and see if there are any other options open to me.

Any advice?

-Web

webmasterpolo

Solicitor says tough unless you have incurred financial lost the courts can't help, other than fuel for transporting the clothes around relatives houses there and huge amounts of my time there was no actual cost (that a court woudl accept)

I doubt TS will be much help either.

I won't be recommended Comet again.

-Web

trickytrolleys

can I just say that you were advised several times not to go down the repair route with a company as bad as comet but you were happy for it to continue so you really brought most of this on yourself - you read these boards, I dont know anyone who has a good word to say about them - i made the mistake of shopping there once -- NEVER AGAIN!!!