Aaaaaargh! Comet!!!!

glowy69

mishkanorman wrote:

you are both aggressive and quite stroppy in your replies which I personally find rude, all I was saying is that you may feel you know your rights, the law, gospel truth or what ever you want to call it but the bloke only posted to try and appease the situation and you all are posting to him like he is "Mr comet"

Whilst you are pointing out consumer rights you seem to forget that the sales assistant also has rights and what I was trying to say is dont go in all guns blazing, just remember that person is there to earn a wage, they cant change the company policy or go against what their manager has told them to do. Even if they thought you were 100% right and knew the law inside out doesnt mean they can do anything about it if they are told to take the item in for inspection. the law may be the law but you are still dealing with human beings, mocking them for the misfortune of working for a bad company is hardly fair.

.
mishka

I appreciate you sticking up for me/the company :j , you are right in saying that even if I new the customer is right I cant go against what Im told, I am there to earn a wage, although in the 6 years ive been there it had opened my eyes a lot, customers think they are god and have the right to do what they want, I only called the original poster an 'idiot' because of the misinformation he keeps posting, the reason we are cheap is because we are crap? Out of line methinks. I know customers have their rights, but believe me when I say that the company is trying to create a better reputation and move in a different direction to the DSG group. The company is massive and from what I can see has a good rep. but its people like the ones on here that will not open their eyes and are so blinkered that refuse to listen to the other side of a story. I deal with this a lot a work. Oh, just to point out that I have had a considerable number of letters in the last year complimenting our store and how well we deal,serve,treat our customers, we are not all cowboys

glowy69

gregg1 wrote:

yeah I think I remember another company doing a re-name/re-brand some time ago and then claiming that the warranties issued by the original company were no longer valid. I can't rememer whether they were successfully prosecuted but I know there was a big hoo-ha about it at the time.

The are still under the DSG group so there wont be any problems with warranties and the like, the reason dixons have moved online is because they were recently voted as one of the 5 worst retailers in the UK.

smcaul

glowy69 wrote:

Are you being serious? you actually think that only the products we sell have them leaflets in, I will quote you a leaflet from a hoover vacuum, If this piece of equiment is missing parts or develops a fault DO NOT take it back to the retailer you bought it from, note: retailer, not COMET. Oh an the court thing? they never get there because nine times out of ten the customer is wrong, not the other way around, you dont work there so you are assuming and its customers like you which put me off retail work. A lot of customers are excellent people to talk to, they listen and treat me like a human person. You seem to think that the customer is always right? Almost as untrue as regassing a plasma tv.

You are talking complete piffle I am afraid. If you buy a Hoover from John lewis it does not come with the leaflet in - I know exactly what I am talking about thank you, In my job I have much more exposure to the Logistics of Comet etc then you as a sales advisor does - I know exactly what extras get added into the packaging for certain customers (read customers as being Comet, Dixons etc - not consumers). I approach everyu situation I get into with an open mind - what gets my back up is sales advisors that are poorly trained in the letter of the law - Your figure of 9 out of 10 customers may well be correct -but that is not the question I asked - I asked how many go to court - very, very few, that is because Comet back down not the customer - why do Comet back down, because they know they are wrong and would loose if it went to court, that would set case history and Comet would loose hand over fist because of it. As I said, go ask your legal department how many cases they let get to court.

smcaul

For got to add, that no matter what it says on a piece of paper that has been added to packaging - I would have every right under UK law to take that item back to the store of purchase and get a replacement or refund if the item was faulty or incomplete, as keeps being pointed out to you - my contract is with the store not the manufacturer.

smcaul

glowy69 wrote:

customers think they are god and have the right to do what they want, I only called the original poster an 'idiot' because of the misinformation he keeps posting, the reason we are cheap is because we are crap? Out of line methinks. I know customers have their rights, but believe me when I say that the company is trying to create a better reputation and move in a different direction to the DSG group. The company is massive and from what I can see has a good rep. but its people like the ones on here that will not open their eyes and are so blinkered that refuse to listen to the other side of a story. I deal with this a lot a work. Oh, just to point out that I have had a considerable number of letters in the last year complimenting our store and how well we deal,serve,treat our customers, we are not all cowboys

I do not post mis-information as you have suggested - Due to the incompetance of Comet I have had to spend a massive amount of my time researching my rights as a consumer, I therefore post what I know to be correct - I do not enter into arguments/discussions un less I am 100% sure of my facts. Comet is crap - that is my oppinion and I am entitled to it - Not once did I say you are crap - yet you personalised everything by refering to me as an idiot. Comet does not have a good rep. I have purchased from them on numerous occasions, but after having 4 major problems I will never buy from them again - Comet's loss not mine - give someone good service they will tell 1 person, give them bad and they will tell 10. I have spent much of my working life as a contract manager dealing with likes of Comet at senior manager levels, I am fully aware of how to enter in to difficult negeoiations without inflaming situations, but Comet's T & C's are wrong - plain and simple.

zorber

danio wrote:

The contract is between the PURCHASER and the SELLER... NOT the purchaser and the Manufacturer

Sometimes, the shopkeeper may say its not his problem and you should contact the manufacturer. This is wrong. You have a contract of sale with the shopkeeper. He has his own contract with his supplier, its up to him to claim for faults under his contract.


Quote taken from HERE

Yes but at the same time whilst he is the seller and ultimately resposible. He is not an expert in a particular line so needs the experts opion as to what the fault is and what needs doing to recify it this may be easily rectified at the time.
The occurs now as most retailers 10 years ago had their own repair palces but now it is not economical to run repair shops.
Trading Standards admit them selves that is a very grey area and are not happy with the law being so wishy washy.
the point is the shop may not be set up to repair the goods, which after a resonable amount of time is the first course of action, the manufacturer is set up to repair their own goods and have experts who know how to resolve a fault quickly. This is often the quickest and easiest route hence why manufacturers encourage it. This policy is manufacture driven and not retailer driven.

smcaul

And I don't mind a shop getting the oppinion of the manfuacturer as long as I am not inconvienced in any way. But that is not what happens. I recently had to send a faulty Router away, it was a 3com one, and was 18 months old - it came with a 5 year warranty, now all they did was receive the faulty one and sent out a refurbished one - nice and simple no hassle none of Comets lark of we will send an engineer in a week or so, or bring it to us and we will send it to our repair shop for them to look at, and all this taking 28 days, why should I be without a product for that length of time if the item is under a year old!! My Router only took just over a week to sort out - other items I have purchased such as a light from John Lewis, it went faulty after 9 months - The dimmer blew on it - no messing about, just replaced it, 3 months later the same thing happened, again I called them, they said they no longer stocked that item so we could have a refund or a replacement - we found one we liked on the internet and they came an picked the faulty one up and brought the new one with them - this was the local store not on-line. If JL can do it why can't Comet?????

glowy69

smcaul wrote:

And I don't mind a shop getting the oppinion of the manfuacturer as long as I am not inconvienced in any way. But that is not what happens. I recently had to send a faulty Router away, it was a 3com one, and was 18 months old - it came with a 5 year warranty, now all they did was receive the faulty one and sent out a refurbished one - nice and simple no hassle none of Comets lark of we will send an engineer in a week or so, or bring it to us and we will send it to our repair shop for them to look at, and all this taking 28 days, why should I be without a product for that length of time if the item is under a year old!! My Router only took just over a week to sort out - other items I have purchased such as a light from John Lewis, it went faulty after 9 months - The dimmer blew on it - no messing about, just replaced it, 3 months later the same thing happened, again I called them, they said they no longer stocked that item so we could have a refund or a replacement - we found one we liked on the internet and they came an picked the faulty one up and brought the new one with them - this was the local store not on-line. If JL can do it why can't Comet?????

The john lewis situation is different, they are not just electrical, they have other items to fall back on,its down to cost at the end of the day. The same way asda can keep swapping ther tvs though they are now having to use engineers to confirm fault because 50 percent of the time there IS NO FAULT. what you are failing to understand and keep blowing out of proportion is that we do not insist on an engineer for every single item, just major domestic appliances, if you purchased a router from us and it was faulty it would be exchanged, If its a washer then I think it only fair for an engineer to check it out first you canot compare that to a light, its down to cost implication, you people seem to think that everything should be exchanged just because its faulty. Do you do that with your car? If it broke down after 4 months you'd drive right back to the sales store and demand a new one? No you would contact the appropriatebreakdown service and they would FIX IT.

glowy69

zorber wrote:

Yes but at the same time whilst he is the seller and ultimately resposible. He is not an expert in a particular line so needs the experts opion as to what the fault is and what needs doing to recify it this may be easily rectified at the time.
The occurs now as most retailers 10 years ago had their own repair palces but now it is not economical to run repair shops.
Trading Standards admit them selves that is a very grey area and are not happy with the law being so wishy washy.
the point is the shop may not be set up to repair the goods, which after a resonable amount of time is the first course of action, the manufacturer is set up to repair their own goods and have experts who know how to resolve a fault quickly. This is often the quickest and easiest route hence why manufacturers encourage it. This policy is manufacture driven and not retailer driven.

Theres some voice of reason I can hear. :beer: 10 years ago this wasnt a problem, now because of all these watchdog programmes, radio stations, things have got way out of control, we very rarely get screamers where I work, as everything is explained to them when they purchase the product. If they dont like it they dont buy it.

stugib

glowy69 wrote:

I will quote you a leaflet from a hoover vacuum, If this piece of equiment is missing parts or develops a fault DO NOT take it back to the retailer you bought it from, note: retailer, not COMET.

glowy,

Do you understand the difference between:
- statuatory rights,
- retailer's terms and conditions,
- manufacturer's guarantees?

If you do, which do you consider takes precedence?

In your example, it may be Comet's preferred option for the consumer to contact Hoover. It may be Hoover's preferred option for the consumer to contact Hoover. And in the case of products developing faults, it may even end up being the consumer's least hassle route to getting a replacement.

BUT these are just the retailer's and manufacturer's options given to the consumer. These don't override or take away any statuatory rights. If the vacuum cleaner is missing parts it is not fit for purpose. Sure, you can suggest their quickest option would be to call Hoover because the customer support systems are in place for that purpose, and sometimes some of us are too quick to resort to the law as a first resort rather than last resort, but in this case the consumer is clearly entitled to reject the goods and demand a refund. It's when we hear blatant disregard for the law that people start to get frustrated.

glowy69 wrote:

10 years ago this wasnt a problem, now because of all these watchdog programmes, radio stations, things have got way out of control

True, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing in some cases, but many people are starting to wake up to how retailers take consumers for mugs and think they can make up the rules as they go along.

Would you recommend we go direct to the Comet store manager then, who clearly should understand the law better and has the power to make decisions?