News - Comet electrical stores heading into administration

[HEXUS]

6,500 jobs at risk. Shoppers urged to spend vouchers soon.

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[sherpa]

Feel sorry for all there staff, but glad I never bought my new tv from there last month now

[Phage]

Vale Comet I hardly knew ye.
Actually, that was the problem. They didn't invest in customer service and their online presence.

[dangel]

How to compete with online only boxshifters who have no retail presence to pay for?

It just surprises me they've lasted this long - same with DSG.

[Phage]

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.

[davidcrofter]

I was in our local comet last week and was the only person in the shop for a good 20 minutes - apart from about 5 staff floating about.

The problem that Comet had is that they were simply box shifters operating in retail premises - for instance the tv's were poorly set up and you could learn more in 5 minutes reading on the internet than the majority of their staff seemed to know about the relevant products.

Our high streets are fast becoming populated by charity shops and pound shops and I am not sure what that says about where we are heading ...

[crossy]

How to compete with online only boxshifters who have no retail presence to pay for? It just surprises me they've lasted this long - same with DSG.

Got to say that while I'm happy to buy electronics via online-only, (Scan, Amazon, eBuyer, etc), there's no way that I'd want to buy TV, washing machine, fridge, etc via online. Plus DSG and Comet also offer "value add" features like product installation (not a big deal if you're talking about a PC, but very nice if you've bought a dishwasher) and disposal of the old equipment, (again, not a big deal for an iPod, but great for a fridge).

In the absence of Comet and DSG (although I'd expect for them to do well with Comet's out of the way) what's the alternative? I can't see Amazon etc doing much more than taking your money for the product and arranging delivery.

In which case I'm going to miss Comet - although surely GAME was in the same situation earlier in the year, so maybe all hope is not lost.

Other thing I fail to understand is the slagging of Comet's computerisation - I always found their click and collect type service to be pretty good. And they also did some nice trade-in deals - e.g. traded in my old 128MB Samsung YEPP MP3 player for a very nice Sony MP4 one. Again, can't see Amazon et al doing trade-in deals, (youngest kid just got £60 off of an iPod Touch by trading in her old one at HMV - so there's another example of why I like "real" shops rather than "online" ones).

[TheAnimus]

Poor Customer Service.
Poor Availability.
Poor Prices.

Good riddence!

Why would you use them over amazon say, Amazon make doing a return easier, have people who are well trained to a consistent level available etc.

Why would you go to a store, look at a washing machine or freezer, only to then order it for delivery. Thats a tube fair I've spent, or fuel for my car, so I can look at it in person, rather than a photograph? How the hell am I going to know that I shouldn't buy the AEG because the brush motors wear quickly or some other thing I'll find out from a review on the internet.

If they solve those two, then I might even be willing to pay the same or more than I pay for an online firm.

[aeonf242]

I was in a Comet in Surrey last month to return something....about 7.30pm....
1 staff at customer service clearly doing paperwork before store closure....
4 staff talking and laughing to security guard (all ignoring me)
...10 minutes with only eye contact from the 1 staff at the customer service desk....eventually she said "are you being served?" to which I replied "no, I'm being ignored"..
.Probably not too good, but I was so frustrated...eventually left just before closing.
Not good customer service...Satff knowledge was rubbish...when looking for a TV the member of staff was reading the sticker on the side of the TV to me....couldn't answer a simple questions....
Sad day, but it's evolution...
(Having said that I was returning an unopened product I'd bought on ebuyer for £50 cheaper...so that's me bad)

[Nelly.]

They leave things too late, same with Woolworths. They should of just drop all the stores that didn't make a profit, hopefully that woudn't of been all of them lol.

[blueball]

I guess it depends on your store; my local store is very good and I'll be sad to see it go.

[shaithis]

Damn I bought a coffee machine from them less then a year ago.....fingers crossed it doesn't break anytime soon.

last thing I bought from them before that was a video cassette player 22 years ago!

[Smudger]

there's no way that I'd want to buy TV, washing machine, fridge, etc via online. Plus DSG and Comet also offer "value add" features like product installation (not a big deal if you're talking about a PC, but very nice if you've bought a dishwasher) and disposal of the old equipment, (again, not a big deal for an iPod, but great for a fridge).

In the absence of Comet and DSG (although I'd expect for them to do well with Comet's out of the way) what's the alternative? I can't see Amazon etc doing much more than taking your money for the product and arranging delivery.

The wife and I went to Currys a couple of years ago, asking to buy a certain washing machine which was showing on their website. When we got there, it was £120 more expensive. We asked if they'd match the online price (on their own website), they said no, we'd have to buy online. So we went and bought from Appliances Direct, who delivered and took the old one away for an extra tenner. Plus, they were another £50 cheaper that Currys' best online price. That's why we'd never buy from DSG/Comet...

[Geoff I]

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.

[Smudger]

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...

[TheAnimus]

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.

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!