News - Comet electrical stores heading into administration

[Smudger]

Compare John Lewis with Currys/Comet. Similar prices, but which would you rather buy from?

[Phage]

Compare John Lewis with Currys/Comet. Similar prices, but which would you rather buy from?

IMHO people buying the same gadgets are interested in

1) Price
2) Customer service / ease of RMA
10) Buying experience

Comet and DSG are doomed.

John Lewis/Waitrose have concentrated on 2 and 10 without hitting 1 too hard.

[Saracen]

John Lewis/Waitrose have concentrated on 2 and 10 without hitting 1 too hard.

JL and Waitrose price-match with major competitors on a large number of items. But they aren't box-shifters and aren't typically (and probably can't) match box-shifters on price.

So it depends what you want. Personally, I'd buy in JL/Waitrose over a box-shifter any day, unless the price difference was very large. And that attitude is partly why I haven't used Comet in, oh, 20-ish years.

[Geoff I]

Yes, they gave people jobs, but they didn't train them to provide anything like decent CS, only how to sell extra warranties. The impression I get whenever I go in one of these stores is that the staff really aren't that bothered, and they know less than I do, but try and cover it with b*lls**t...

Yes there is a big word Training and just a shame they were bugged by senior management to sell that useless warranty after you get manufacturers warranty with products and not caring for the customers needs, when the manufacturers refuse to supply you with products you know the game is up, but that also has to be down to management.

I am not sure how many stores Comet had but surely they could of done the sums and closed the stores that were not profitable, but maybe they knew the outcome many months ago.

[Geoff I]

As hash as this might sound, its about efficency and the bigger picture.

One of the reasons our quality of life has improved so much over the last 200 years is exactly because of such efficencies. It is simply not viable to pay people, who know nothing about the products to read the label under them. That is the thing, not that we are getting sub-par services online, often it's the opposite, amazon are normally cheaper and better.

It's only because of the changes that we can all have Fridges, Freezers Washing Machines TV and heck pretty much anything comet sells!

If we start getting all protectionist, saying we can't afford to let anyone loose their jobs, even when the industry is obsolete, we end up with a Pol Pot esk situation!

I have to admit I buy small stuff after careful research and normally Amazon is at the top of the list of suppliers, but when it comes to bigger items like washing machines I like to see what I am buying it must be a touchy touchy feel thing, but who do we have left oh yes that currys now I do not like that lot they do give you the abusive sell sell of extended warrantys.

And as for Pol Pot well the goverment springs to mind.

[GoNz0]

bit of a shame as they were useful for short notice need it now items, any big/expensive items i would get price matched from JL, both stores staff are pig ignorant and don't seem to give a toss but JL offer a better warranty.

I can see why as we have a big store on the Ikea retail park and a few miles away they have a comet that's been there as long as i can remember, its a dive, staff are really useless in there and i have no idea why they keep it open.

the only time i was spoken to was a young girl who tried to sell me a warranty for a point and shoot camera that took offence when i told her this was a cheap thing to toss about and not my expensive DSLR.

[JimmyBoy]

I still enjoyed walking round the big comet stores and seeing in person a big tv I've been looking at online or a fridge, I'll miss that but when I bought a dishwasher from comet a few years back I found the cocky staff member who served me to be quite annoying!

[Lucio]

Electronic products are ideally suited to online sales, you're better off reading reviews and gathering similar expert knowledge, than looking at the product yourself (unless you have non-standard requirements or personal preference). As such, it's hardly surprising then that operations maintaining large, out of town retail sites are struggling.

[The Hand]

I must admit the last time I bought anything in Comet was in 2006, which was a TEAC stereo a few months after I bought a Samsung flat screen TV with some vouchers, drastically reducing the price.
The last time I actually went into a Comet store was about Xmas 2009 to look at a Sony Vaio laptop... and within 5 seconds of stopping to look at it, a sales assistant had pounced on me and started going for the "hard sell" approach, which to be honest, just put me off buying it. Luckily, I received a call in the middle the of it all and I made my excuses and left. Comet obviously encouraged this kind of pushy approach, which still ironically puts me off going in today even if there is a firesale going on.

[Percy1983]

I actually bought a freezer there just under a year ago, that was after looking online at many and finding the cheapest was actually click and collect with a store 5 minutes away.

I never go there to browse.

[crossy]

Hmm, from the comments here I must be in a very small minority that had's consistently good service from my local Comet (less than 10 minutes walk away). Also, last time I went to my local John Lewis the staff member concerned was pretty damned snooty - gave the impression that I'd be better off heading down the local Brighthouse. Hopefully that's just my bad luck, and other sales folks are more accommodating - not that I'd noticed that Lewis' were particularly cheap so maybe my focus on price had annoyed that particular sales droid.

[davidcrofter]

I honestly think we are our own downfall by paying the cheapest prices, at least Comet gave 6000 people jobs, now all them jobs will go and we have less places to go shopping and looking at the product to make sure it is adaptable for what we want.

Just a big shame I wish all of the staff well and lets hope they get jobs in the near future.

They also paid their taxes which is something that the likes of Amazon seem not to do very well ...

[davidcrofter]

Hmm, from the comments here I must be in a very small minority that had's consistently good service from my local Comet (less than 10 minutes walk away). Also, last time I went to my local John Lewis the staff member concerned was pretty damned snooty - gave the impression that I'd be better off heading down the local Brighthouse. Hopefully that's just my bad luck, and other sales folks are more accommodating - not that I'd noticed that Lewis' were particularly cheap so maybe my focus on price had annoyed that particular sales droid.

I have only been in the Glasgow John Lewis once - I went to get some smart tops/polo shirts for my summer holiday ... to say I was shocked at the prices they were charging for their gear was an understatement and I would have needed a loan just to get 5 or 6 tops @£70/80 a pop.

Having said that I buy quite a bit of my TV's online from them due to the price match and 5yr warranty ... hopefully got a new one coming today.