Comet - just awful.

takethatandparty

If there is one shop that I will NEVER set foot in again (once they've sorted my problem out), it's Comet. Where do I start? Basically it's the most ridiculous minute problem about a faulty TV remote that has spiralled out of control because they have eejits working for them who don't care about the company they work for.

Maybe it's because Comet treat their staff as bad as their customers? Here's what's happened:


1. In October 2010 I purchased a Ferguson tv with DVD player from Comet in Manchester. When I got out of the shop I realised that they had sold me one without a DVD player. I went back in store and waited probably 20-25minutes for them to find the tv I asked for and exchange for the other.

2. In June 2011 the batteries started draining on the remote control. I would put new batteries in and they would drain after an hour (even Duracell Plus etc) until eventually the controller stopped working altogether (spent a fortune on batteries).

3. I rang the Comet customer service number and spoke to an operator (who was actually helpful and really nice - but the only one who has been), telling him my issue. He told me to go into my nearest Comet and they would be able to give me a straight swop

4. The next day I get a train to Comet Perry Bar in Birmingham (now living in Birmingham) and ask if they will exchange the remote as it is still in warranty. The man laughs - is really rude - and says that he wouldn't open a new box to give me a remote! He disputes that I was ever told that I could have an exhange from the customer service people and said they were 'wrong' to do so. I ask him if he will ring customer services and he refuses. I ring customer services from my mobile and he refuses to speak with them. He then realises that the TV was discontinued and says that they will need to send it off for repair. I agree but ask if they can post the remote back to me as it is difficult for me to get to Perry Barr - my nearest store . He says 'I can but it's not my fault if it comes back to you smashed to pieces', when I ask him why it'll be smashed he is very dismissive. I found him to be a loose cannon, very patronising and asked for the remote back and leave the store.

5. I ring customer services and put a complaint in about the manager. Lady says I should have been allowed an exchange if they had one in stock and that the call-centre lad was right to tell me this - but he should have known it was discontinued. She suggests I put a complaint in about the rude store manager and gives me an email address

6. July - I email my complaint and ask how I can get my remote repaired when I didn't feel comfortable going back in the store and that it is a trek to get there. I receive a reply apologising for the 'poor customer service' and that they are looking into it.

7. I never hear from customer service again and they don't tell me what I can do.

8. August - I'm visiting family in Hull and my dad said he will return the remote to the Hull store and see if he has any luck there. He takes the remote to the store and there is a spare identical remote behind the counter. The store assistant swaps my remote with the one they had lurking behind the counter . Only they didn't test it first and when I get back to Birmingham - this one doesn't work either! (obviously why it had been returned and was therefore 'lying around').

9. September - I had sort of given in and gotten used to not having the electronic programme guide and having to change channels on the TV set itself when the digital switchover happened and I lost all my channels and can't re-tune without the remote. I found another Birmingham store, Selly Oak and took the train there to try to return the remote again. The girl posted it off and said it would be 7-10 days. Fourteen days later and I hadn't heard anything from comet!

10. TODAY - I ring the comet helpline and tell them it's been two weeks. They said there has been a delay sending the remote off and they are ordering parts so it will be at least ANOTHER 14 days. I've explained everything I've been through and the girl on the phone just kept giving me spiel about the inner workings of the company and blah blah blah. I don't care! I just want to watch my TV!!!!! I told her that if they didn't give me a temporary replacement so I could watch TV (which I'm willing to travel to selly oak to pick up) that I would NEVER use them again and the girl just accepted this and said she knows I won't use them again. At one point she put me on hold and spoke to the Selly Oak store and even though it is 'at their discretion' they are refusing to supply a temporary remote! Nice. She then put me on hold again whilst she spoke to the big customer services boss who also 'at his discretion' told her that I just had to wait for the repair. They wonder why I'm angry. I was polite but firm with the girl and told her that I wanted to sort this this evening but she said 'bye' and hung up on me without sorting the problem.

I just want to borrow a tempoary remote.

I've bought fridges, freezer, cooker etc from them in the past - do they not care that they have not only lost me as a customer but my entire family?

Comet have the worst customer service I have ever experienced! I've spent money on train fares and phone calls to them and been so stressed by this that I should have just gone out an bought a replacement remote but it's gone too far now. I mean, what the hell are warrantys for?!?!? I'm spending another weekend in without a TV and watching the one DVD on repeat that I can actually get to play without the remote.

I've probably typed way too much here but I'm so angry with them

COMET I HATE YOU!

marmitepotato

I would have gone out and brought myself a 'one size fits all' remote and saved myself the hassel. Good luck with Comet.

vyle

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Here vyle goes into rant mode. Constructive advice will resume shortly:

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takethatandparty wrote: »

1. In October 2010 I purchased a Ferguson tv with DVD player

That's your problem right there. Two golden rules of buying a TV:

1: Never buy a combined unit -- they are nearly always awful in every way, from having a cheap and nasty panel, poor sound and high failure rate, to being more expensive than buying a better TV and a decent dvd player separately.

2: If you MUST buy one, buy a decent brand. Ferguson are (I think...probably still are) owned by thomson, who use the worst chinese factories to spew out junk you'd consider overpriced at a car boot sale.

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End of rant

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Are you sure the remote is faulty, and not the TV itself? Have you tried the drained batteries in other appliances, or tried your faulty remote on a TV in the shop? An easy way to check if the remote IS working at all, is to point it at a camera that's recording and see if the IR transmitter flashes.

Also, check if the remote they gave you has a serial number. If they just gave you a random remote, that can be a bad idea, because some manufactueres will pair remotes and other accessories with a particular TV and if you do send the lot off to be repaired, that could cause a bit of a problem when your remote and TV don't match. That's one reason why I can understand why the original manager would't just swap them around. It'd mean that they wouldn't get a refund for faulty goods from the manufacturer (technically not your problem, but the SOGA does state that retailers can pick resolutions that aren't too costly).

And if you were to have a "temporary" remote there is no guarantee it'd work anyway, especially with off brand stuff like ferguson.

He says 'I can but it's not my fault if it comes back to you smashed to pieces', when I ask him why it'll be smashed he is very dismissive.

I presume it's because they'd send it out in a jiffy bag through parcelforce or royal mail, who, being outside contractors, cannot be relied upon not to screw everything up. As you've asked for them to do this, they would do so under the proviso that you don't kick up a fuss if it gets broken, when you had asked for this method and been warned of the possible pitfalls.

Worded very badly, but as one who works in retail, I can understand why he said that, even if it was done very unprofessionally.

As the TV is still under guarantee, I'd return the whole lot, not just the remote.Being it's really a Thomson, you'd probably get an equivalent spec replacement rather than a repair.

As for being a customer your whole life, companies don't care. Especially not now when profit margins are so tight. Whenever someone mentions the loyalty line, it's usually when they want the company to spend money to sort something out.

The thought process goes:

1 -- how much profit have we made off of you recently? (not much)

2 -- how much is this going to cost. (more than it's worth)

3 -- how much profit does this leave us with? (we're losing money)

4 -- If we do this, how much profit will we make from them in the future? (probably nothing)

5 -- they're going to take the !!!! in all future transactions because we "did it before," aren't they? (Oh absolutely)

6 -- let's cut our losses.

TLDR - buy better TVs from better retailers, like John lewis, richer sounds, hughes (i think they're okay) or a local you trust not to go bankrupt during the warranty period.

takethatandparty

Answers to the questions/queries above

1) Yes it is definitely the remote that is faulty. They tested it in the store and I also tested it, if you film a remote whilst pressing down the buttons you can see a white light on the film if the led is working and has power.

2) I used all sorts of batteries in the remote, at first I was going through a packet of around 20 bulk-buy batteries every couple of days as they went from draining every day to lasting around twenty minutes to not working at all. I even tried expensive Duracell Ultra Power where you can squeeze the ends and see how much power is left. Even though it said they had full power they wouldn't power the remote. Spent quite a lot of money on batteries actually.

3) I really wanted an evening watching TV tonight as can't cope being in with the radio again and just bought a ONE FOR ALL remote from Tesco for £14.99. Guess what, none of the codes work! Arghh. Which is exactly why I didn't bother wasting my money on one in the first place. Now £14.99 down and fed up after spending two hours trying to programme it. The TV does respond to the remote (i.e. on off) but I can't really do anything with it like re-tune it - which I can't watch without re-tuning it because I lost all my channels in the switchover!

4) Couldn't afford an expensive tv at the time as I had just moved house and my last TV blew up so I needed something quick. Didn't expect the Ferguson to last forever but not being able to use it after eight months is out of order.

A TV isn't exactly a luxury these days is it, everyone has one. It's so annoying how Comet think it's acceptable for someone to sit in a flat for weeks on end without a TV. I live on my own in a strange city and don't have anyone I can borrow a tv off or go to their house and watch it. I've spent so much money on batteries and train travel to the stores and now this new controller that I should have just bought a new TV - The warranty means nothing. And to top it all off I keep getting letters from Comet telling me my warranty is about to run out and I should buy insurance off them, yeah right! They kept my remote in that store in Selly Oak for over a week before they even posted it off for repair, so out of order.

I'm so down about the whole thing (Imagine living on your own, no tv and no-ones house to go to) that I'm going to go out tomorrow and buy a new TV. Can't really afford it but this whole thing is causing me so much stress and upset that I don't see an alternative. And yes, I have spent lots of money at Comet before so I am a good customer (I kitted my kitchen out with Comet white goods) but I will never shop there again.

vyle

Just a thought - get a digi box. surely the tv has a scart socket and a physical input select button? They're about £20 and will have a remote of their own..... probably better at the moment than buying a new tv.

brettcta

marmitepotato wrote: »

I would have gone out and brought myself a 'one size fits all' remote and saved myself the hassel. Good luck with Comet.

where would you bring a 'one size fits' all from? and where would you take it?

vyle

brettcta wrote: »

where would you bring a 'one size fits' all from? and where would you take it?

From the shop to their house, I presume :P.

brettcta

marmite potato makes no mention of buying it though, only bringing it

George_Michael

brettcta wrote: »

where would you bring a 'one size fits' all from? and where would you take it?

Maybe from the same shop that sells capital letters.
If you buy a few of these then you could put one at the beginning of your sentences.

greektony

my suggestion if you want some entertainment in the evening is to buy an xbox/ps3

naughtynee

OMG,, Comet have really gone far below the belt now!!

I have an outstanding repair for my fridge freeze been going on now since November 2010,,All i needed was a new shelf and keep getting sent the wrong part, my home now looks like the parts warehouse as all the wrong parts have never been collected, even after having two sevice guys come out and record what parts i need so apparently the same mistakes dont happen again:rotfl:i am very confused and still waiting!!!:(
But if that wasnt enough :rotfl: My 42inch plasma stopped working the begining of august kids six week hoildays (its two years old)With in a week service team came out and by magic he turnt tv on and it worked!!:rotfl:Only for him to leave and it go again:( same fault as last year after only having it a year!! with in a week a tech guy came out had a look couldnt fix it, didnt have the right parts,,, had to wait for parts to be orderd and come in. Couple of weeks past no comnunication with comet untill i contacted then, whom said it would have to now come in for repair waited another week for it to be collected,, theY checked it over before taking it for any visable faults ie scratches,missing parts,, found scratches that the last tech guy made with his !!!!!!!g screw driver:mad::mad: anyway took the tv for repair on 3rd of sept 2011! To cut my very long story shorter it is now 1st october 2011 i have had very little comunication with comet apart from when i call them to be asked to be patient:mad:!! iv rang them today and im still on hold on the phone 135 mins and 29 sec later listening to all their dribble they give every other custermer,, iv herd Phil talking to a Mr Garna about his cooker,, Chris talking to Mr Clark About his washing machine then putting Mr Clark on hold while he then phones for an estimated date of repair,,Oh n Chris found his friend on the other end at the repair centre and had a nice little chatt about the weather and the overtime he is doing:mad: And poor Mr Brook that gave all his personal detail to Phill!! and yes Im still on hold 143mins 13 seconds,,oh Mrs Harron is speaking to Jane now at the specalist team and Mrs Harrons not happy!! Think im gunna hang up now!! any one with any advice for me would be much appreciated as i think i am slightley going crazy may have to book myself into see a doctor if im told to be patient again!!! WHAT TO DO?? PLEASE HELP!!!:D