Retailers with bad attitude
The biggest disappointments in the high streets are the electrical retailers.
They still purport to have sales when their prices are obviously not reduced and exactly the same. They also have badly trained staff, and deplorable after sales service.
For example, when Comet sells you an appliance, they give you a delivery date and then ring you up with a better delivery date, if you pay more.
Warranties
Also, they try to sell you extended warranties which can be over £100 pounds when you have just shelled out for an appliance of 300-500 pounds. The worse part is that the warranty does not take effect for 2 years because the appliances are usually guaranteed by the manufacture for this period.
Meanwhile they have your cash in their bank account earning interest for 2 years.
Comet in particular, has badly trained staff and they make no apologies for that.
A woeful tale
During the post Christmas frenzy, I decided to buy a new dishwasher.
I made a beeline for Comet. The manager of the branch told me that the model of appliance I had chosen was unavailable. Reluctantly, I picked another one and he asked one of his salespeople to complete the transaction. I tried to redeem a gift card for £200.
After swiping the card, the salesman told me that the gift card wasuseless. He suggested that I produce the receipt showing when and where the gift card was purchased.
I immediately rushed home and returned with the receipt. Meanwhile, my wife stayed with the salesman and he suggested to her that the person who had bought the gift card had already spent the £200.
On my return to the shop he continued to say that the gift card was worthless and he could not do anything with it.
I left the shop in disgust and waited until the following morning to complain to Comet HQ, Huddersfield. The Comet customer support people told me that the card had not been activated properly in the shop at point of sale . They rang the branch manager and asked him to sort out the card.
The manager rang me and still refused to resolve the problem. He suggested that I contact the people who had issued the card. After several phone calls, I decided to try and resolve the problem at another Comet shop.
I made a beeline for Comet. The manager of the branch told me that the model of appliance I had chosen was unavailable. Reluctantly, I picked another one and he asked one of his salespeople to complete the transaction. I tried to redeem a gift card for £200.
After swiping the card, the salesman told me that the gift card wasuseless. He suggested that I produce the receipt showing when and where the gift card was purchased.
I immediately rushed home and returned with the receipt. Meanwhile, my wife stayed with the salesman and he suggested to her that the person who had bought the gift card had already spent the £200.
On my return to the shop he continued to say that the gift card was worthless and he could not do anything with it.
I left the shop in disgust and waited until the following morning to complain to Comet HQ, Huddersfield. The Comet customer support people told me that the card had not been activated properly in the shop at point of sale . They rang the branch manager and asked him to sort out the card.
The manager rang me and still refused to resolve the problem. He suggested that I contact the people who had issued the card. After several phone calls, I decided to try and resolve the problem at another Comet shop.
At this branch the customer support people were more useful. The customer sales assistant took my card and receipt made several calls. About a dozen calls.
She also suggested that the card and the transaction on my receipt did not match.
Eventually after checking CCTV cameras at the time of the gift card purchase she was able to resolve the problem. She loaded the card with the elusive £200 and gave it to me. She still refused to acknowledge that a Comet staff member had messed up the transaction and not loaded the sum onto the card at point of sale.
I spent 3 hours with her as she stumbled from department to department but she never gave up. After all that she never apologised and refused to admit that they had messed up. However at this branch I was able to order my dishwasher and got the exact model I wanted.
The Comet ethos seems to be ‘we don’t care’. And you can see where their staff gets their bad attitude from.
High Street robbery
Hopefully, SOPA and PIPA will soon be dead in the water soon. However, they could be replaced with something as arcane and unlawful.
Manufacturers have every right to pursue criminals who steal their products, ip and infringe on their copyrights. But they should use existing laws to protect themselves and get redress.
A case in point is Microsoft’s accusation against high-street retailer Comet.
Comet are accused of pirating 94,000 Windows Vista and Windows XP recovery CDs and selling them to consumers.
Microsoft has filed a suit against Comet Group PLC, for manufacturing counterfeit discs at a factory in Hampshire and selling them through its UK retail outlets.
This smacks of a small business selling their customers stolen property at a car boot.
Comet has 248 stores across the UK.
I hope that Comet gets their just rewards.
