MSE News: Comet in administration

CoolHotCold

wealdroam wrote: »

My understanding is that at the time of purchase, one buys the product together with a manufacturer's twelve month warranty.

Yes of course warranties come with their own terms, but it would certainly be interesting if for example Indesit were to say "sorry we cannot provide the warranty service that you have paid for because Comet have gone bust".

Have you ever seen or heard of that happening?

Well there lies the problem, some Companies buy out the support/repair so if anything goes wrong its the retailer who sorts it with either in house repair staff or a 3rd party, this absolves the manufacturer of any liability for repairing the item. And if this is the case with Comet, the manufacture won't repair it as they sold it as a discount to Comet for them to deal with the aftersales support.

Unless it explicitly states online that it's a manufacturers warranty when purchased or on the advertising in store, any warranty is assumed to be through the retailer.

jackomdj

indigomm wrote: »

I went to Comet this morning to spend a gift card I had. Turned up shortly after 9am to find a notice on the door stating that they wouldn't be opening until 1pm today. Would have been nice if they had communicated that on their website!

I wanted to go watch a film anyway, so stopped by on the way home at about 2pm. Then when in there, trying to find something to buy they suddenly (with 5 minutes to go) announced that they were going to close at 3pm! Again no communication anywhere at all about that :-(

The staff said that they would be open over the weekend. Perhaps they closed early to mark down stock?

It would be nice if they put the customer first and communicated what was happening. As others have pointed out, their customer service has always been atrocious; In retrospect I'm surprised they lasted this long.

Unfortunately for the staff who are possibly about to lose their jobs they are probably being told, without much notice, to do certain things. Quite possibly so announcements can be made to all staff at a given time so they don't hear about their futures by colleagues at another store.

I hope they do manage to recover but if they don't the staff involved probably have other things on their minds today than giving good customer service.

AliceBanned

I bought a cooker from them ten months ago. One of the rings has been constantly faulty and they finally agreed to let me exchange it. I chose a more expensive model (Stoves) and paid the extra £240 on my debit card. They said they would do the refit for free as I bought it less than a year ago.

am I now likely to be stuck with the faulty one? It is still under its original warranty. I think i bought it in Jan 2012.

I'd appreciate any help. They are meant to deliver my cooker on 10th november. Thanks

CoolHotCold

Oh dear.

Apparently Deloitte has been called in already today instead of next week.


Looks like Comet is already in Administration.

Witch_Hazel

indigomm wrote: »

I went to Comet this morning to spend a gift card I had. Turned up shortly after 9am to find a notice on the door stating that they wouldn't be opening until 1pm today. Would have been nice if they had communicated that on their website!

I wanted to go watch a film anyway, so stopped by on the way home at about 2pm. Then when in there, trying to find something to buy they suddenly (with 5 minutes to go) announced that they were going to close at 3pm! Again no communication anywhere at all about that :-(

The staff said that they would be open over the weekend. Perhaps they closed early to mark down stock?

It would be nice if they put the customer first and communicated what was happening. As others have pointed out, their customer service has always been atrocious; In retrospect I'm surprised they lasted this long.

My local Comet has signs saying sale starts tomorrow. Shutters been down most of the day here.

custardy

bazboli wrote: »

i have a comet store card and have a direct debit set up each month to pay for whats on my card. do i still have to pay this or do i cancel my direct debit ????

CoolHotCold

Witch_Hazel wrote: »

My local Comet has signs saying sale starts tomorrow. Shutters been down most of the day here.

>.>

<.<


Comet always have sale signs up, it's like the DFS of electrical retailers.


But no, it certianly looks like the administrators are publicly saying they are operating as usual looking for a buyer etc etc, but in practical terms they are liquidating the stock for the best return on investors.

indigomm

jackomdj wrote: »

Unfortunately for the staff who are possibly about to lose their jobs they are probably being told, without much notice, to do certain things. Quite possibly so announcements can be made to all staff at a given time so they don't hear about their futures by colleagues at another store.

I hope they do manage to recover but if they don't the staff involved probably have other things on their minds today than giving good customer service.

I'm absolutely not blaming the staff on the ground. They seem to know as much as customers do, which is frustrating for everyone. As usual, failure at the top to disseminate information is aggravating customers.

All stores were closed until 1pm today, and they all displayed an identical notice. That was obviously a decision taken centrally and probably overnight or at the latest first thing this morning. Why wasn't that information put up on the website too? It would have saved me (and many others in the car park) wasting our time driving there this morning.

Unixman

Dropped off a lens with Comet a couple of days ago since the zoom ring was jamming - it is still under manufacturer's warranty and Comet said that it would need to be sent away to the manufacturer (Canon). Phoned Canon up asap when Comet went Tango Uniform who basically said "get it back and we will sort it out". Problem is now that I don't know where the lens is - still with Comet? Have they sent it off? How do I get the damn thing back?

GooliesOfFire

bazboli wrote: »

i have a comet store card and have a direct debit set up each month to pay for whats on my card. do i still have to pay this or do i cancel my direct debit ????

I very much doubt that Comet is your lender