Comets not caring for the Sale Of Goods Act

bewilderd

Okay.....
to skim over this and provide only the facts (as i've been through this story 6 or so times today)
Nov 05 i bought a Hoover washer/dryer from Comets. About July it stopped heating up, when i spoke to Comets over the phone they told me to speak to Hoover for repairs. I did this, and they came out - the guy looked at it, came back in a few days and fixed the problem. Two months pass and the samething, so on the Hoover come out again and fix it. Now its out of its 12 months manufacturer guarantee, i called Hoover who said i should speak to Comets and that they should never have came out to fix the problem. Comets by all rights & responsibilities when they buy the stock. I call Comets and they say theres nothing they'll do that won't cost me. My complaint (well other then wet clothes) is why should i have to keep buying extended insurance (because someone at Comets said a may be able to do this in retrospect) from Comets, just because i seem to have been sold a bit of a lemon.
I call Comets back after looking up my consumer rights, but all they seem to say is....

"All we are reasponsible for is our 6 year agreement. Any MAJOR comonents will be replaced & charged for, you can then apply for this item to be refunded. You have to pay a call out charge too of course.From your description it doesn't sound like your fault is with a mjor component."

"Sorry are you not bound by the sale of goods act ?"
Just the 6 year rule i just mentioned.

"Thats rubbish, the product should last longer than 15 months before its not fit for the purpose i bought it for, actually it was only 5 months before the item first brokedown"

Sorry its out of the intial 12 manufacturer, we don't provide any free repair or return of an item at all.

so........ whats my next step then? I am right aren't I? (after 6 or 7 phone calls of people telling you you're not, you start to doubt yourself)

plane_boy2000

Small claims court I am afraid - Comet are not helpful and are unlikley to budge unless forced. I would argue that the item is not fit for purpose based on you having a reasonable expectation that it should last a few years.

Next time buy from John Lewis who would have given you a 2 year warranty and not charged for delivery. Buy their own brand and you get 3 years warranty.

kay74

had same prob with comet. Took washing machine back after 6 days under sale of goods. They tried every flannel in book to try and get me to take it back, but angry person in shop with wet machine not good for sales! was still getting threatening letters from them after 2 months. They do seem to be a bit of a nightmare. Good luck with them.

soolin

Similar problems here with Comet. They completely insisted that their own terms outweigh any other legal rights I thought I had..and when i stood and argued with them I was told that I would be physically removed from the store as I was distressing the staff! (I am a 5ft 5 blonde female and was not raising my voice nor using any bad language as I had a young child with me).

Several other groups I read automatically refer to bad customer service as 'the comet style of managing' now as the shop seems to be so widely complained about.

It was like talking to a brick wall, if I phoned they told me I was not got to be listened to and used to hang up on me!

moonrakerz

I had a very similar problem years ago with a Hoover WM. It went wrong about 4 times in warranty, repaired by Hoover. Then died again when 15 months old. I phoned the supplier - who immediately sent out a brand new machine.

11 out of 10 for John Lewis !!!

I have never bought a Hoover appliance since !

the_other_mce

I had a similar problem with a fifteen month old LCD TV (cost 1500 pounds) that had stopped working. After a few weeks of stalemate arguing about the Sale of Goods Act etc I agreed to pay the £35 charge to get an engineer out. He had to organise for the TV to be taken away. After about three days we received a telephone call advising us that the TV had a 'major component fault' and would we like to go to our nearest Comet and choose a new replacement!!! I was really pleased with Comets service and with hindsight Comet have no way of knowing whether the fault is a dodgy fuse or something the customer has done themselves so the £35 charge seems reasonable to me.

Lakeuk

the_other_mce wrote:

Comet have no way of knowing whether the fault is a dodgy fuse or something the customer has done themselves so the £35 charge seems reasonable to me.

Did you get the £35 refunded?

the_other_mce

Lakeuk wrote:

Did you get the £35 refunded?

Hi - no we didn't get the £35 refunded but we did get to choose a brand new replacement up to the same value as we had paid for the old one. As we had used it for 15 months I felt this was quite fair. Also we managed to get a better spec. TV by the same manufacturer for less money (as prices had dropped quite a bit) with the difference being refunded onto our card!!!

SuperNashwan

If Comet won't budge the next step could be seeing if Trading Standards will be prepared to intervene (although AFAIK they can't do any more than you to force a resolution) or write a letter before action to Comet's registered address outlining your claim, with a deadline. Then off to the Small Claims Court if they ignore that.