Comet - Poor service: what are my rights?

xanthein

Hi all,

I purchased a cooker and washing machine from Comet in August this year, and recieved a poor service from them.

I wrote to them asking for refunds of certain bits, but have only had a small amount back so far.

I am having a hard time knowing what to do next. If I post the whole story, can someone on here please help?


Many thanks
Alan

NotQuiteNorbert

I don't think anyone can promise anything, but if you provide more information, I'm sure people will be able to advise better.

xanthein

Cool. Here goes:-

This is the letter I sent to Comet, which explains my situation:-

"I purchased a gas cooker and washing machine from the Cribbs Causeway Comet branch in Bristol on the 20th of August 2009. On this day their server crashed; consequently an immediate delivery date could not be specified. For the inconvenience I was refunded the £20 delivery charge, which at the time I was very grateful for. The staff stated my delivery order would be placed on the system the following day as a repair engineer had it in hand. I was informed I would receive a telephone call very soon after from the delivery department to arrange a date.
Unfortunately I did not receive any phone calls from Comet by 28th of August. To ascertain why I rung the delivery department, and found to my dismay the items were awaiting customer collection. After calling the Cribbs Causeway store I discovered my delivery order had been neglected, and was not present on their system. Calling the Comet delivery department for the second time, I was given a delivery date of 2nd of September, only 3 days before my house move. Unfortunately, this was because the earliest gas cooker connection slot (which I had paid the extra £89.95 for) was not available until then. Since the delivery date was so close to the house move, plans that my partner and myself had made for the moving day were now in jeopardy.
The delivery men were very professional and helpful, although they initially refused to install the cooker because my existing splash back was timber and could catch fire. This was something we were not advised about in the Cribbs causeway store. I removed the splash back whilst the delivery men waited, but in the process some of the brand new wall tiles cracked and one came entirely off the wall. As you can imagine, this ruined our newly decorated kitchen, much to the dismay and distress of my partner and myself.
Please may I have your comments on these following issues by post: -


· Not asked by sales assistant on circumstance of existing splash back
· Delivery order not placed on system once server was working
· Goods mistakenly awaiting my collection
· No contact to confirm a delivery date
Had I know delivery would have taken almost 2 weeks, I would have made alternative arrangements for gas cooker connection. I think the £89.95 I paid for this should be refunded, as I feel I have badly mis-spent this money. I am self-employed and would also appreciate a refund of a minimum of £122 to cover the cost of my wasted time and costs incurred for the re-instatement of my kitchen d!cor, telephone calls, etc. etc.
Finally, please be advised that I do not normally write letters of complaint (indeed, writing this has taken me time I can ill-afford to waste), but hope that you will understand my situation.
Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. Please find the enclosed stamped addressed envelope in which I hope to find your reply".


I expected a written reply, although my expectations weren't terribly high. Soon after posting the letter I received a phone call from Comet from someone at the Customer Services department. To summarise:-
- I wasn’t expecting a phone call from they, which caught me off guard
- He explained that they would offer me £30 in recompense
- They didn’t have to do any else with my problems, as “they had delivered on the date they had given”
- He said they had no system for compensating my loss of earnings etc
- When I asked about the regulations concerning “splashbacks”, he said I should have been asked if the cooker to be was near a window or 1.6(?) metres near kitchen units (?) [he was quietly spoken, so it was difficult to understand him at times]
- As it turned out I was not asked about these two things when I purchased the cooker and washing machine, something that he was very surprised to hear
- He said however, that the Comet sales employees did not have to ask about the area behind the cooker – i.e. what was there and of what material
- The person I spoke to was polite but unhelpful, and “talked” me into accepting there wasn’t anything else that could be done.
- I know little about my consumer rights, so I felt as if I didn’t have a leg to stand on.



A couple of days ago I received a letter from Comet with the cheque for £30. The wording they used was “this payment is made without prejudice and in full and final settlement”. Very clever of them.



I feel really hacked off, as I felt that I should have been refunded at least the £89.95, as it was their fault for cocking up the delivery order.

I plan to write a letter back to them, and I really need to know what to say.

Am I been fobbed off by Comet?

Can I quote a particular “act” in the letter.

Any help would be very gratefully accepted



Many thanks
Alan

withabix

Is this a wind up?

Take your £30 and don't shop at Comet. That'll teach them.

Vader123

Its not comets problem your "splash back " was wrong, they can't foresee and check every circumstance. That was your responsilbity to check.

They are not liable for that, nor the broken tiles. What should have happened is they refused installation and refunded the cost.

Their only mess up was the delivery, and it sounds like you got £30.

I would move on.

Vader

Purpledaisy_2

I think you've done well getting free delivery and £30 to be honest.

You damaged the tile removing the splashback, you can hardly expect Comet to pay, they didn't build the kitchen! As if they quiz every customer on the materials they have in their kitchen?

You paid the £90 for them to fit the cooker which they did - greedy ?

Much...

Tozer

You enclosed a stamped addressed envelope for their reply.....? Brilliant.

Esqui

I have to reiterate the posts above. Installing a gas cooker is subject to a lot of regulations, you'd have a whole barrage of questions to answer if they asked them all.

The installer refused to install a cooker which doesn't meet safety regulations, and you broke your tiles whilst removing it. If the sales person had asked you about your splashback, would you not have got a cooker?

Butlers1982

one of the funniest posts ive seen for a LONG time.

McKneff

OP, if you post on a thread again, can you leave the font size alone.

it was very difficult to read, i only got quarter the way through it and my eyes hurt.

xanthein

Many thanks for the replies.

If everything had gone according to plan, I would have had the goods delivered in a week, and at that point the kitchen was yet to be decorated. If anything, I would have had more time to get the existing splashback off, even if meant the delivery men had come back another day.

I can understand that Comet aren't liable for my own actions, but surely it wouldn't take too much for the sales person to ask if there is a splashback there already, and what material it is made of?

I certainly won't shop at Comet again.


PS - Sorry for the font changes!