Bad customer experiences

Has anyone on here ever had a piss poor experience with the company Comet or any other company for that matter.

They have just managed to sell me a Samsung Blu-ray home cinema system, it was the last one the shelf with no box or remote control, they offered me another samsung remote and assured me the fucker would work and they would wrap it up well with it not having a box.

Got the bastard home, there is a button missing on the top, the remote doesn't bloody work (surprise surprise) and there's a chunk taken out of the back of one of the speakers.

I was probably a bit naive but trust me the bastards are going to pay for this tomorrow!

Rant over.

Local cable company over here UPC are the shittest.



In October They took 3 payments out in one month. It took a month to get the other 2 payments returned and in that time they actually cut me off. I got them to reconnect but then another problem as although it was connected the outer box was broken (i.e. the main cable box for the apartments) and it took them another week to sort out. Basically it took UPC almost 7 weeks to sort out a problem which they had created.



Then in February, just gone, my splitter box blew and it took UPC almost 2 weeks to send me another one. All I had was basic Dutch TV (NED1,2,3 RTL4,5,7,8, Net5, SBS6, Veronica, BBC1,2,World, ARD, ZDF, Animal Planet, Discovery Channel, Disney, Comedy Central) with no phone or internet connection (luckily someone in my apartment block has unsecured internet) and, of course, luckily I have Sky TV as well - phew!!!

You have consumer rights Aaron - don't let them fob you off with just anything.

You should also demand a discount if you are purchasing shop soiled goods.

Push them a bit and they will probably chuck in some Blu-ray DVD's to keep you sweet.

Worst recent customer experience was with BT. They overcharged me and it took forever to sort it out. After several phone calls to their contact centre located overseas I had to insist that they communicated with me by email because every time I phoned I got a different explanation and contradictory promises. It seems that they will say anything to get you off the phone.

I've also had problems with Sky in the past. Again largely by being lied to on the phone coupled with denials afterwards.

Comet are notorious for their crap service so I wish you luck Aaron and as Sluffy says insist on your rights.

In all seriousness, I wouldn't shop at Comet or Currys Digital under any circumstances. If I want to buy a big ticket electrical item I do my own research and then order it online.

I spent several an hour or so several evenings in a row working out what TV to buy. The one I went for was £2,200 in the Sony shop an just under £2,000 in the high street stores. I got it for £1,495 from Amazon including free white glove delivery and a free extended warranty.

The one differential you should benefit from in buying from a high street electrical store is quality advice and service, but it just isn't the case by and large.

Thanks for the advice, I will be returning tomorrow and will make sure I get my money back, won't be buying anything from there again.

As for Currys, I am surprised you mentioned them to be honest I haven't had any problems with them (so far), may have a look on amazon.

aaron, was thinking more of prices and lack of knowledgeable staff with regards to Currys Digital, rather than bad service. They used to be known as Dixons and one reason they rebranded I think is that they had a reputation for the staff not knowing their onions.

You're wise to check out Amazon though, you can check out actual customer reviews and get a real insight, I use that alongside the specs on the manufacturer's page.

Morrisons are absolute barstewards, and clearly don't value customer care.

My mum's had many a bottle of wine slip through the bottom of their dodgy carrier bags and smash on the pavement. They didn't wanna know!

aaron_bwfc wrote:Has anyone on here ever had a piss poor experience with the company Comet or any other company for that matter.

They have just managed to sell me a Samsung Blu-ray home cinema system, it was the last one the shelf with no box or remote control, they offered me another samsung remote and assured me the fucker would work and they would wrap it up well with it not having a box.

Got the bastard home, there is a button missing on the top, the remote doesn't bloody work (surprise surprise) and there's a chunk taken out of the back of one of the speakers.

I was probably a bit naive but trust me the bastards are going to pay for this tomorrow!

Rant over.

Aaron, whatever you do make sure you complain, and complain big. Go to the store and make a scene, keep calm but make it quite clear you aren't leaving until you get what was promised. Make sure you are speaking to the store manager.

If you don't get what you want make a point of writing his name down and inform him you will be contacting head office.

Regardless of whether you get what you want, write a strong letter to their head office. Make sure you mention trading standards somewhere in your letter and make it clear you expect compensation.

Hardly anyone complains to head office in writing so when they do get one they tend to take them seriously. So far, just this year, I have had a free bed from Dreams, £500 knocked off a £1250 tv by Currys, 6 months free broadband from Plusnet and £100 shopping vouchers from Asda.

It's got to the point where I complain for really minor things nowadays, and 95% of the time these companies are falling over themselves to compensate you.

I bought a Sony Bravia TV from Comet at Xmas. It was on display as it was the only one in stock. They knocked me £100 off the asking price. Touch wood, it worked out fine.

Traf recommended John Lewis at the Trafford Centre for good deals on TV's.

I got a cheap Blu-ray for the living room from Tesco was only 40 quid. Works great.

xmiles wrote:Worst recent customer experience was with BT. They overcharged me and it took forever to sort it out. After several phone calls to their contact centre located overseas I had to insist that they communicated with me by email because every time I phoned I got a different explanation and contradictory promises. It seems that they will say anything to get you off the phone.

I've also had problems with Sky in the past. Again largely by being lied to on the phone coupled with denials afterwards.

Comet are notorious for their crap service so I wish you luck Aaron and as Sluffy says insist on your rights.

Further to what xmiles says, whenever I make a complaint now I always insist they respond by letter or email - as its easy enough to say something not in writing and then backtrack later, whereas the written form they cannot backtrack. Most companies try to reuse and don't like doing it but one mentioned of trading standards, or whatever, and they comply.

Quent wrote:
Aaron, whatever you do make sure you complain, and complain big. Go to the store and make a scene, keep calm but make it quite clear you aren't leaving until you get what was promised. Make sure you are speaking to the store manager.

If you don't get what you want make a point of writing his name down and inform him you will be contacting head office.

Regardless of whether you get what you want, write a strong letter to their head office. Make sure you mention trading standards somewhere in your letter and make it clear you expect compensation.

Hardly anyone complains to head office in writing so when they do get one they tend to take them seriously. So far, just this year, I have had a free bed from Dreams, £500 knocked off a £1250 tv by Currys, 6 months free broadband from Plusnet and £100 shopping vouchers from Asda.

It's got to the point where I complain for really minor things nowadays, and 95% of the time these companies are falling over themselves to compensate you.

Glad you've had a good track record through this method but I used to work for a major retailer, and if anyone gave it the whole "I want your name, I'm going to trading standards, I am contacting head office" routine, we'd all laugh at them after they had left the store.

Retailers have rights too and you have to give them a fair opportunity to resolve the problem before trading standards will even look at a case. Going in the day you have discovered a problem and threatening trading standards, as aaron would be doing, is not something I would advise.

You might be surprised to find that many store managers have a thorough understanding of trading laws and empty threats make them less likely to be helpful than more likely.

Obviously this will vary from store to store.

largehat wrote:

Glad you've had a good track record through this method but I used to work for a major retailer, and if anyone gave it the whole "I want your name, I'm going to trading standards, I am contacting head office" routine, we'd all laugh at them after they had left the store.

Retailers have rights too and you have to give them a fair opportunity to resolve the problem before trading standards will even look at a case. Going in the day you have discovered a problem and threatening trading standards, as aaron would be doing, is not something I would advise.

You might be surprised to find that many store managers have a thorough understanding of trading laws and empty threats make them less likely to be helpful than more likely.

Obviously this will vary from store to store.

I probably didn't make myself clear. While it will sometimes work to complain in the store, most of my success has come from well worded letters to head office - I don't really know why it's worked so well because I'm no genius with the written word.

Spoke to the manager of the store this morning and he said he was the one who packed the items and thought we knew about the missing button and the chip of wood missing out of the speaker.

To be fair to him though he has told me to bring it in tonight and he will gladly try and resolve the situation.

I wasn't going to trading standards LH by the way I think someone else mentioned them, all I have done is contact them and see what reason they came back at me with as to why the product was badly packaged and why it had bits missing.

Aaron, have a good look at it before you take it back. If it has the Heath Robinson stamp then tell them you want a brand new one.

Aaron, hope you've sorted this by now, but I have always been wary of buying one-off ex-show items. Not certain, but I don't believe all the rules apply in some cases. Don't know if its the cash, or warranty, or possibly both. Just don't let him fob you off. Tell him the things you bought are 'Not fit for purpose', and get all your dosh back.

Took it back on friday night, the manager was helpful but you could tell he wanted to sort it out as quickly as possible so nothing came back on him.

He swapped the blu ray player with a brand new one, we got £200 knocked off what it should have been so everyone's a winner and the sound and picture is spot on.

Though I won't be buying anything from Comet again that's for sure.

aaron_bwfc wrote:
Though I won't be buying anything from Comet again that's for sure.

Why, have they banned you for being a moaning tw*t?

Ha, guessing that was you behind me in the queue on friday then when I took it back?