Advice required as Comet fail to provide agreed service

ritesh

After some advice and whether I should pursue Comet for failure to provide service.
I bought a hoover vacuum cleaner from Comet together with their3 yr ExtraCare Service plan in May 2010. In December 2011 I went back to Comet to inform them that the unit had developed two faults; cracked hose and intermittently cutting out during operation (despite cleaning all filters).
Comet advised for me to contact Hoover as they are their nominated repairer. However, ExtraCare Service Plan specifically states that Comet will remedy all issues. Nevertheless I contacted Hoover in early December and they stated that someone will call back in 48hrs. This never happened. So I called Comet who advised again that I need to go back to Hoover, and so I did. This went on for a while with no call back from Hoover. In the end I sent a letter of complaint to Comet on 20th December to advise them they had broken contractual agreement of failing to repair my cleaner and for miss-selling a warranty (Comet boast a guaranteed fast no hassle service to have to have you back up and running. This I did not receive). On 23rd December I had a call from Hoover arranging to replace the faulty cleaner. However, I had already bought a new cleaner from elsewhere due to the lack of response from either Comet or Hoover so explained to Hoover and to inform them that al letter of complaint has been sent to Comet.
Am I within my rights to now pursue the cost of the original Hoover and Extracare warranty plan as Comet have miss-sold me a warranty plan and breach of contract?

bris

Very difficult as they have now replaced the hoover, they have done what it says on the tin, although you are not happy with the timescale involved. Does it say in the warranties T&C's what the timescale will be. You may have jumped the gun a bit because at no time were you told the Hoover was not going to be fixed, and tbh considering this all happened at some time in Dec to 23rd Dec then 3 weeks is not considered that bad for a remedy.

ritesh

Thanks Bris.

No, they did not replace the hoover as I had already purchased a new one due to no responses to my calls from Comet's nominated repairer and Comet's unwillingness to intervene. This led me to believe I was "left high and dry".

They do not specify a time frame but the service plan agreement states "If something should go wrong, we'll get you up and running in no time. In fact, you are guaranteed a fast, no-hassle repair service from Comet's nationwide team of specialist engineers." This suggests immediate remedy with good communication.

Curiously the phone call from Hoover came 3 days after I had sent my complaint letter to Comet. Unfortunately by then already purchased a new cleaner

ritesh

Finally got a result!

After much dialogue with Comet's complaint division they finally agreed to refund cost of cleaner (back on credit card) and refund cost of extracare warranty plan.

Never again will I subject myself to the tyranny of such an organisation!

Best of luck to all others who have issues with Comet.

arcon5

That's a good result and very surprising - well done.

Just to add though..

from a legal perspective by offering a replacement they are fulfilling their obligations, so you are unlikely to have a case to recover the costs. If they refund, they can make a deduction that represents the use you have had (7 months).

ritesh

True arcon5 however, my gripe was the false advertising of the guarantee they were supposed to provide with the Extracare plan. There was nothing extracare about it.

So whilst they might be seen to be filling their obligations they failed to honour the stated guarantee.

I think the total refund was due to them being caught in their own lies. They stated I had only called Hoover twice and then went on to say that it is not in Hoover's interest to lie. I called Hoover immediately and they confirmed that i had called them 5 times. Comet later confimed this, apologised and offered immediate total refund.

arcon5

ritesh wrote: »

True arcon5 however, my gripe was the false advertising of the guarantee they were supposed to provide with the Extracare plan. There was nothing extracare about it.

So whilst they might be seen to be filling their obligations they failed to honour the stated guarantee.

I think the total refund was due to them being caught in their own lies. They stated I had only called Hoover twice and then went on to say that it is not in Hoover's interest to lie. I called Hoover immediately and they confirmed that i had called them 5 times. Comet later confimed this, apologised and offered immediate total refund.

I agree with you. The service was shabby.

But I wouldn't be surprised if the contract for the Extracare plan already covers them in cases like this. Comet aren't particularly well known for their excellent aftercare, in fact far from.

Although saying that, they clearly saw the errors of their way and did the right thing in the end.