Comet

[The Black Flash]

Ironically, I've always found that Comet was far less bad for service than Currys, which has never been anything other than abysmal in my experience.

[SPS]

And that leaves Curry's as the only UK wide major brand.
The high street was killed off by greedy land lords, poor car parking and retail parks. No it's the turn of retail parks but due to Internet retailing with no "bricks and mortar" overheads.

[JonRB]

Comet going into Administration?

Guess they should have bought an extended warranty on their business and shouldn't have wired their shops up with ridiculously expensive (and unnecessary) cables then.

[martin84]

As I said back on page one I'm really not surprised. Bennetts folded last year and Comet have been giving the impression of being close to death for a while. The whole game has moved on but Comet haven't.

[crankedup]

Went into a Comet store about a month ago, admittedly it was a mid-week day but the store was deserted other than sales staff. No I didn't buy the camera I was after, it was cheaper online.

[Mermaid]

crankedup said:

Went into a Comet store about a month ago, admittedly it was a mid-week day but the store was deserted other than sales staff. No I didn't buy the camera I was after, it was cheaper online.

So it was you that broke the Comet's back

[martin84]

When I went for my interview with them three years ago they had more sales staff wandering around than customers. That was a Saturday afternoon. Surprised they've lasted this long tbh, they must've been relying almost totally on their online sales for the last few years.

[crankedup]

Mermaid said:

crankedup said:

Went into a Comet store about a month ago, admittedly it was a mid-week day but the store was deserted other than sales staff. No I didn't buy the camera I was after, it was cheaper online.

So it was you that broke the Comet's back

Excellent, fully deserving of this

[JonRB]

Last time I bought something in Comet, which was admittedly a while ago, it was to buy a specific cooker hood my wife wanted. I established they had it stock, said I did not want the extended warranty, no I really didn't want the extended warranty, REALLY did not want the extended warranty, had the Manager called over, told him I did not want the extended warranty, threatened to walk out unless he let me buy it without the extended warranty, went to the checkout, told the checkout girl I wanted to pay by card, no I did not want to enter into a Credit Agreement to "buy now, pay later", no I did not want to enter into a Credit Agreement to "buy now, pay later", no I REALLY did not want to enter into a Credit Agreement to "buy now, pay later", called the Manager over, threatened to walk out if I could not simply buy it with a card, paid for it with a card, finally got my hands on the bloody thing and got it into the car.

Never shopped there since, never will again.

Friend had a similar experience over a telly. Plus the added fun of the "oh but you really need the £50 gold-plated HDMI cable". Funnily enough when he asked them how gold plated connectors and oxygen-free cable would affect a digital signal, and then proceeded to tear their bullst apart (he's an Electronics Engineer) they conceded that, ok, maybe he didn't need the £50 HDMI cable.

Is there any wonder people don't want to shop there?

[Art0ir]

JonRB said:

Last time I bought something in Comet, which was admittedly a while ago, it was to buy a specific cooker hood my wife wanted. I established they had it stock, said I did not want the extended warranty, no I really didn't want the extended warranty, REALLY did not want the extended warranty, had the Manager called over, told him I did not want did not want the extended warranty, threatened to walk out unless he let me buy it without the extended warranty, went to the checkout, told the checkout girl I wanted to pay by card, no I did not want to enter into a Credit Agreement to "buy now, pay later", no I did not want to enter into a Credit Agreement to "buy now, pay later", no I REALLY did not want to enter into a Credit Agreement to "buy now, pay later", called the Manager over, threatened to walk out if I could not simply buy it with a card, paid for it with a card, finally got my hands on the bloody thing and got it into the car.

Never shopped there since, never will again.

Friend had a similar experience over a telly. Plus the added fun of the "oh but you really need the £50 gold-plated HDMI cable". Funnily enough when he asked them how gold plated connectors and oxygen-free cable would affect a digital signal, and then proceeded to tear their bullst apart (he's an Electronics Engineer) they conceded that, ok, maybe he didn't need the £50 HDMI cable.

Is there any wonder people don't want to shop there?

Currys/PC World is the same. People's jobs count on it unfortunately. Don't meet your warranty/hdmi/stand/bracket/Norton/Office targets and you're gone.

[ReaperCushions]

So how will they get rid of the stock? Massive fire sales? Or off load it back to distribution / manufacturer?

[Mermaid]

ReaperCushions said:

So how will they get rid of the stock? Massive fire sales? Or off load it back to distribution / manufacturer?

Reservation of title on most high ticket items?

[miniman]

Art0ir said:

JonRB said:

Last time I bought something in Comet, which was admittedly a while ago, it was to buy a specific cooker hood my wife wanted. I established they had it stock, said I did not want the extended warranty, no I really didn't want the extended warranty, REALLY did not want the extended warranty, had the Manager called over, told him I did not want did not want the extended warranty, threatened to walk out unless he let me buy it without the extended warranty, went to the checkout, told the checkout girl I wanted to pay by card, no I did not want to enter into a Credit Agreement to "buy now, pay later", no I did not want to enter into a Credit Agreement to "buy now, pay later", no I REALLY did not want to enter into a Credit Agreement to "buy now, pay later", called the Manager over, threatened to walk out if I could not simply buy it with a card, paid for it with a card, finally got my hands on the bloody thing and got it into the car.

Never shopped there since, never will again.

Friend had a similar experience over a telly. Plus the added fun of the "oh but you really need the £50 gold-plated HDMI cable". Funnily enough when he asked them how gold plated connectors and oxygen-free cable would affect a digital signal, and then proceeded to tear their bullst apart (he's an Electronics Engineer) they conceded that, ok, maybe he didn't need the £50 HDMI cable.

Is there any wonder people don't want to shop there?

Currys/PC World is the same. People's jobs count on it unfortunately. Don't meet your warranty/hdmi/stand/bracket/Norton/Office targets and you're gone.

I wonder if any of their leadership team ever thought, you know what, we're really pissing people off trying to flog warranties they don't want, whilst John Lewis are giving away the warranty and people are flocking in to buy stuff.

[paranoid airbag]

The Don of Croy said:

Perhaps in a few years time high street retailers will charge admission to shops (refunded upon purchase)..?

This seems a likely option. Like many others on here, I've valued the ability to go into a shop and physically interact with something - to the point that I'd rather pay a small charge to make sure I'm buying what I want than take a risk on an expensive thing that may well turn out impressive on paper but rubbish IRL. Clearly, they can't do this until the old-fashioned stores have died away though. And they will need GOOD shop assistants.

[Mermaid]

miniman said:

I wonder if any of their leadership team ever thought, you know what, we're really pissing people off trying to flog warranties they don't want, whilst John Lewis are giving away the warranty and people are flocking in to buy stuff.

So obvious isn't it.

[Pints]

Mermaid said:

miniman said:

I wonder if any of their leadership team ever thought, you know what, we're really pissing people off trying to flog warranties they don't want, whilst John Lewis are giving away the warranty and people are flocking in to buy stuff.

So obvious isn't it.

The difference is who the shareholders are.

[Mermaid]

Pints said:

The difference is who the shareholders are.

If you want to keep something, share it

[Art0ir]

Pints said:

The difference is who the shareholders are.

This. The store managers are under the same if not more pressures unfortunately.

[z4chris99]

so I have a load of 5 yr warranties on products I have from comet.

what happens to those?

[Pints]

z4chris99 said:

so I have a load of 5 yr warranties on products I have from comet.

what happens to those?

You'll be saving on this.