I’m surprised they lasted this long, shite service and uncompetitive prices – a sure fire combination for eventual demise.

The few times I have bought anything off Comet these last few years they always amused me by offering their ‘Extra care warranty’ for “Peace of mind use”.
I have only ever bought a couple of PC cables or Telephone fitting for less than a tenner and the wanted half of the price of the item for a warranty…. Fair enough for a TV or Fridge or whatever but they had obviously been told to push this, but it was a bit pathetic really.

The really sad thing is that we will all be shopping in either a chain supermarket (Tesco’s, Sainsbury’s, Wall Mart, etc) or on-line (Amazon Tesco’s, Sainsbury’s, Wall Mart, etc) in the not to distant future.

Limited choice and so-so customer service driven by the monopolistic market they/we have created. 🙁

I bet *DSG have already been on the phone to the administrators!

They will cherry pick the best locations and the profitable stores. They will pay a ridiculously low price and the creditors will be left high and dry. DSG will then run those stores as Comet, just so that the general public think there is competition in the sector.

*Although from memory when Best Buy went bang late last year, I don’t remember anybody stepping in to cherry pick their stores!

From a selfish point of view, I’ll be getting myself down their in the next day or so, to see if I can pick up a bargain from the dishwasher department.

the problem with the whole “extended warranty” thing is that people dont get that all products come with a 12 month warranty anyway!!

also having previously worked for a big electrical retailer where too much focus was placed on selling and pushing extended warrantys its a flawed business plan, the warranty plans as soo profitable that the business bosses focuses on them as it makes the business look healthy then when the price point and quality of the products is no longer there they wonder what went wrong!!

EWs are basicly a bet that your device will break down within the stated time. Sometimes it is cheaper just to save your money and accept that you’ll be buying yet another one sooner than you’d want to thanks to the mad policy of planned obsolescence and products designed to fail.

I’ve made good with two extended warranties from Comet and DSG group.
Our local Comet was refurbished & is much more modern than the Currys/Dixons – actually a decent retail shop but the always seem to be overstaffed to me.

I bought a TV from them about 6 months ago, all very polite staff etc.

Got it about £100 cheaper than I could get it online.

EWs are basicly a bet that your device will break down within the stated time. Sometimes it is cheaper just to save your money and accept that you’ll be buying yet another one sooner than you’d want to thanks to the mad policy of planned obsolescence and products designed to fail.

I was offered an EW on a washing machine (can’t remember if it was Comet of Currys) where the price of the EW was £10 less than the cost of machine itself. Didn’t have to think too hard about turning that offer down, although I had to sit through the sales pitch from the poor guy trying to somehow make paying for two machines but only receiving one seem like value and peace of mind.

At the time I preferred Richer Sounds’ EW – £10. And if you at the end the warrantee term if you hadn’t had to claim you can ask for your £10 back.

With regard to EW’s we always self insure (with one “free” warranty exception I quoted above) we buy from John Lewis, so they provide an extended warranty anyway. We take the view that the machine will not breakdown and if it does we’ll pay for the repair or if the machine seems like it getting towards the end of it’s life we’ll buy another.

I’m pretty incompetent at DIY but I changed the pump on our washing machine, researched it online (huge numbers of machines use the same pump I discovered) ordered it (£25) it took 30 mins to fit most of that time getting the machine out and back into the space under the work surface.

There could be another model in play here, that of the “pre-pack administration” which allows a company to fold without paying its debts, its assets then bought by a pre-determined new company (often the same people!).This allows the company to unburden itself of nasty debt, loss making divisions etc Highly dubious practice?

That above is what was reckoned on R4 this morning, that someone will step in to take it over (it was only taken over a few months back for £2 already)

As per thread on the Nexus 7 / Playbook / i-pad Mini; I have a credit balance with Comet over a repayment taken after the balance was cleared, but it is small enough and sufficient hassle to try to get back that I’ve left it on the card until i make a new purchase. Which i thought would be the N-7 except they are £20 more than the other stores. no issue, they price match. So I had a great visit just a couple of hours ago.

“I’d like a Nexus 7 please, but I want you to price match it against PC World” (literally two doors down)
“We can’t do that”
“Why?”
“Because what we’re selling is different to them”
“How?”
“because ours has 2 years free warranty”
“But it’s £20 more expensive”
“That’s because you get 2 years warranty”
“So it’s not free then?”
“Well it is, because the cost is bundled in with the price of the tablet, so you don’t pay for the extra warranty”
“Apart from the £20 extra that you’re charging”
“erm”
“Can i have it without the warranty?”
“No”
“So you’re forcing me to have a warranty I don’t want and charging me £20 extra for it”
“Erm”
“I’ll go next door thanks”

So in short – does my credit balance make me a creditor and likely to lose it if they go under. Might be forced to buy something just to make sure I get it back.

I have to say that the story about what happens when retailers are sold to venture capitalists is very true. I used to work for Hombase, and Sainsburys sold us off to pay for their own store expansion plans as they could get a lot of money for us as we had always done well in the marketplace.

A few months after the sale we noticed that there was a lot of “stack em high, sell em cheap” offers coming in, stuff that didn’t really fit in what we normally did. It was a struggle to get any work on the stores done and staff levels dropped.

Thankfully they lost their nerve about making a huge profit and sold us to Home Retail group – who own/is Argos. Being owned by a retailing group is much better as they understand what needs to be done to keep sales high and customers coming in.

I eventually left but I will still be buying a kitchen from them next year.

Homebase did ok when the banks went pop as they own a lot of their estate and don’t owe much money. A lot of the big chains who opened stores rapidly are in a lot of debt.

We knew MFI were going to go to the wall a year before they did as we looked at their stores and offers and saw they were desperate. I tried warning people off them, especially when it came to buying a kitchen or bathroom off them but no-one believes you when you have a Homebase shirt on! They did eventually and a lot of people lost a lot of money they had paid upfront.

My wife also works in retail and we often walk into shops and think “this place won’t be here long”. We just get that feeling because of the state of the store, or maybe it’s the stock they have in, or stock levels. Most people wouldn’t notice.

My wife also works in retail and we often walk into shops and think “this place won’t be here long”. We just get that feeling because of the state of the store, or maybe it’s the stock they have in, or stock levels. Most people wouldn’t notice.

Agree. If you’ve worked in retail you ‘know’. Habitat was precarious for years.

Come on then Robdob, who’s next then?!

Habitat was precarious for years.

That was a great loss, one of the few places which did solid wood furniture. Even John Lewis furniture is all veneer over chip board.

Surely you can’t be saying “this place won’t be here long” for years?

Comet: amazed it lasted that long.

Typically dreadful lazy customer service from a company that forgot the most important thing-the customer.

Last purchased from there in 2000; bought a VCR from them badged as being HQ picture. It wasn’t, it was dreadful. They totally refused to replace/refund, stating “you’re wrong” on the customer helpline. AFAIK, the customer was always right, and you looked after them!

Sad for those that lost their jobs though. Never nice to see.

footflaps when I worked there it was known as shabitat!

The thing that annoyed me about Comet was that if you stood in the store with your phone out an assistant would make a bee line for you (even from across the other side of the store) and ask you if you needed any help. I imagine they thought I was checking prices on line or something (when on three occasions I was texting a friend). It became a game after that!!

Best spend my gift vouchers quick 😯

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/protect/2012/09/comet-named-easiest-for-haggling

OpCapita bought Comet for £2, 9 months ago, someone might be able to haggle it down to £1.

As mentioned earlier, drawing up my list of stuff to purchase when they need to sell the stock off..

Apparently they’ll go into liquidation on Tuesday, according to an email I received, regarding the spending of vouchers, gift cards, etc.

As mentioned earlier, drawing up my list of stuff to purchase when they need to sell the stock off..

Don’t expect it to be bargain-bargain cheap as there will be buy-fever, people grabbing something/anything. Plus what will you do for warranty?

theres a different game being played when venture capital gets involved – theres a lot of money to be made from a company going belly up.

What also kills a lot of these big chains is being bought by people who’ve had to borrow the money to buy them, so the day they are bought the are immediately in debt and from then on are saddled with servicing that debt.

Eh? PE is based on high debt to equity ratios. Even in a straight trade sale (which is still tricky, given the amount sitting in VC funds waiting to be invested) beyond a certain size of deal no-one pays cash, it’s all financed.

No business “deserves” to go under.

Sadly Comet have failed to adapt to a changing market and have missed lots of opportunities. Hopefully the administrators will be able to wield the axe where necessary (upper level management/board failings) and put in a new team who can make sense of the rather disjointed product set and incoherent branding. Get the impression that over the last few years they have lost direction as a company and don’t actually know who they are anymore and who their target market is.

So many missed opportunities – upsells, customer data management to run targeted promotions, package deals etc.

Pricing was always miles out, indicating that even with the added cost factor of bricks & mortar, they were massively out of touch with competitor pricing. Should have been constantly reviewing & then using their buying power to renegotiate with the suppliers. Then have an “added value” proposition of proper experts (or even semi-experts) rather than the sub-retail teenage boys manning the shop floor. Contrast with CDG and their bright, enthusiastic and pretty knowledgeable staff, and you’ll see that there is no reason to shop at Comet as it stands.

None of it is unrecoverable though if the right rescue team is dropped in. Hope they make it work.

Plus what will you do for warranty?

Warranty will be with the manufacturer. So buy LG, they are great.

One thing that I am happy about….Fopps was saved.

Sad days when Borders went

Sad days when Borders went

Borders were pretty much responsible for initiating the mess (pre-Amazon) that UK bookshops are in. Was all a bit ironic really.

LG told me to deal with the point of purchase.

All I know is that in my whole life I have never set foot in a Comet store.

LG told me to deal with the point of purchase.

Your reputation precedes you, Mr H.

Besides, they will not say that if the retailer has gone spectacularly and publicly bust, will they?

My TV started going to standby at random. LG asked if I was in the following day as DPD would pick it up. They brought the latest model in return. No arguement, no messing. Brilliant.

footflaps when I worked there it was known as shabitat!

I’ve got a lot of their solid oak stuff and it’s superbly made – mind you wasn’t cheap, but will last a lifetime.

As I was near anyway, I went into Comet today , to be honest wanting to see if there were any pre Christmas bargains to be had . I was very surprised to see the store very very busy, the tills had people paying for things and not a ‘SALE’ sign in sight.

ditto landcruiser!

It was like that in Habitat and Woolies when they first announced they were going. Buy-fever takes over. People have to leave with something.

I think the whole model of out of town retail parks (not including supermarkets) is looking a bit ropey to be honest. I don’t see the attraction of spending Sunday morning in a big cold carpark full of big cold shops with a limited product range, no customer toilets, fairly obvious price fixing, dreadful overpriced “cafes” and all the soul of John Major’s orthopedic footbeds.

I particularly liked the fact that prior to Borders brief existence you couldn’t actually buy a DVD to play on your shiny new telly, or books to put on your self assembly shelves…

I worked for them +20 years ago in their HO which was then still in Hull.

I’d forgotten that. My dad bought a lot of our home electronics from there 20-30 odd years ago.