I bought a tv from Comet a couple of weeks ago, and left it in its packaging for a couple of days, whilst I was selling my previous tv.
After I'd set up the new tv, all seemed fine, until I started to get an intermitant flickering picture with HDMI sources. I first went into Comet to ask what the prodedure for returning it was, and was told that either an engineer could come to my house and test it, or that I could return the tv to the store, where someone would test it. If it was seen to be faulty, the tv would be written off, and a replacement or refund could be issued.
I took the tv back to the store (18 miles away from where I live), and was then told by a lady at the customer service desk that they would have to get an engineer out to the store, and that the soonest he/she would be able to come was 4 days later. I asked to speak to the manager, and he very smugly recited the company's policy on returning tvs. I agreed to have the engineer visit the day 4 days later to test the tv, but stated that I didn't want it repaired, as I would prefer a new, non faulty tv.
The following day, I phoned up Comet's customer service telephone line and spoke to a lady, and told her my circumstances, and that I felt that it would be more appropriate for me to be offered an exchange, than have to wait 4 days for an engineer to write the tv off. The lady spoke to her supervisor, and informed me that as the tv was under 28 days old, that I could go to the store and ask for an exchange. I asked for the lady's name and she said that it was Alison, and that her supervisor was called Jane.
I went back to the store and again spoke to the manager, who again, smugly quoted repair guarantee return policy. I asked him to speak with the Alison or Jane at the customer service department, who had told me to return to the store for an exchange. The manager phoned the customer service department, who then denied saying anything about me being able to return to the store for an exchange.
I phoned the cutomer service line again, and was told that there was no such person as Jane, and I ended up speaking to someone called Alison, who definitly wasn't the person I spoke to an hour previously. The new Alison, quoted the return policy to me in much the same way as the manager.
All in all, I feel that Comet's customer service so far, has been poor. I await to find out whether Comet's engineer will successfully spot or diagnose the intermediate flickering screen problem with the tv, and whether I will be offered a refund or exchange on a faulty tv.
It should really be a lot easier to return faulty products to Comet. I will not be using them again, and would recommend that anyone thinking of using Comet themselves, uses an alternative retailer. When I buy high value items in future, I will certainly be asking the retailer what their return policies are. They quite clearly don't want to advertise the fact that you will be inconvenianced by having to wait for an engineer's evaluation prior to being able to return an item.
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Thanks Fiver29 & jesperado77.
I sent an email to trading standards this morning, so I'll see what their advise is.
Fiver29 22.06.2009 11:09
I would get in touch with Trading Standards, because as far as I remember Alison/Jane were correct, if it develops a fault within 28 days you can demand a replacement.
Advantages: Cheap online price looked like good value for money Disadvantages: Poor product reliability and safety and arrogant lack of concern from Comet
dismayed 13.11.2007 (13.11.2007)
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Review of comet.co.uk
Jun 22nd, 2009
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