Reasonable time to repair at Comet ??

[Sarah1965]

Hi All,

Any advice would be much appreciated -

 

On 14th July my laptop was taken in for repair at the comet service centre, I still don't have it back on today the 7th September, can someone please advise me on what a reasonable time to repair is. I have phoned every week since it went in requesting information about what is happening, every week I get the reply " we are waiting for the part" " we have had to order another part" " the part is here and we are fixing it "...........nearly 2 months !! How many parts do they need ? I'm actually quite concerned about how much work and parts are needed for my laptop. What follows is what has been occurring this week .....

 

Phoned service centre on Tuesday 30th August - Sorry for the delay I was told but this last part is here now, we will fix it tomorrow, phone you on Thursday to make arrangements for delivery back home on Friday. NOTHING

 

Obviously I'm fed up and believe that they have had plenty of time to fix the laptop so I decide to phone complaints department on Saturday 3rd september. I spoke to "Jordan" a very nice polite gentleman who understood and appreciated my frustration, he agreed that it was an unreasonable amount of time and he couldn't understand why it hadn't been escalated and deemed a "right off". He explained to me that he would put in place an investigation/escalation into the problem but because the department that would be dealing with it only work monday to friday and that it would take 2-3 days to go through those channels, and so not to expect a phone call from them until Wednesday ( today).

 

No phone call received up to 3pm today so I again phoned up the complaints department, explained everything to the young lady on end of the phone. She said no record of any escalation however " the part is due in tomorrow so it will be fixed " .......

I explained again that for 2 months I have been told about several parts coming in and being ordered etc etc and I still don't have my laptop back. I also informed her as I had told Jordan, that my daughter is off to university on Monday and she needs her laptop, again she tried to fob me off with "its getting fixed tomorrow". I then stated that this is not good enough and I wanted to speak to a manager. Angelina the line manager came on to the phone to me. Went through everything with her about what has happened and how I must have the laptop back before Monday, she explained about it getting fixed tomorrow and again I explained how I've been getting told that every week for 2 months and that I have completely lost faith in them all and I don't believe for one minute that it will be fixed tomorrow and back at my house by monday. I also told her that I'm paying for an internet service that I have no access to. She also said no records of the escalation done by Jordan and that she would deal with him when he was next at work. She has stated that she personally will put in the escalation/investigation into whats happened and will speak to service centre tomorrow, if they cannot guarantee the repair of the laptop tomorrow she will put in a request for a replacement for me. I've contacted consumer direct and they've advised me to get paperwork etc to do with my total product cover to see if there is any clause about "reasonable time" but nothing on the documents about this, is there anywhere that I would be able to find this. I really think the amount of 'labour' and at least '8 parts' cannot be cost effective and would have thought that a replacement would be so much easier and cheaper for them.

 

My daughter has just received a phone call ( they had her number to sort out delivery) and has been told there will be an investigation. Obviously her being only 18 said ok and left it at that though she has text me to let me know........... I have phoned complaints department again and asked to speak to Angelina, she was there and I told her that my daughter had received this phone call. Angelina has not escalated yet so it then became apparent that good old Jordan had in fact escalated the problem. So now Angelina is going to try and sort out things and make sure only one investigation is going on and is going to update my contact information so that they are only ringing me. However ........ I dont care about investigations ! I want my bloody laptop back !!!!!!!!!!!! How can I get through to these people ???????

 

My daughter cannot go to university without a laptop, she needs that more than she needs water ( according to her anyway) basically I'm going to have to buy her a new laptop, will I be entitled to sue Comet/ get compensation for all the extra costs involved ( new laptop and 2 months worth of inaccessible internet costs) because this must constitute as an unreasonable length of time ?

 

Rant over, any advice would be really appreciated. Thanks

 

Sarah

 

p.s. Would be interesting to hear what the comet rep on here thinks about this.

[rebel11]

Hi Sarah

 

Welcome to CAG

 

That is outrageous. Write a Formal Letter of Complaint , mark it as such. Explain what has happened with as much detail as possible, explain what you want him to do. Explain that your daughter needs it urgently for University Send it to:-

 

Bob Darke, Managing Director

bob.darke@comet.co.uk

 

Here are some tips:- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1242161/How--write-letter-complaint.html

 

Have a read of 10, 12 and 13 in my signature.

[Sarah1965]

Edited September 8, 2011 by Sarah1965
posted twice by accident

[Sarah1965]

Hi rebel11,

 

Thanks for your advice, very helpful. Emailed Bob immediatly on getting his email address but no response as yet. No phone calls from Comet today either

 

Sarah

[Sarah1965]

UPDATE : No phone calls or emails received from anyone today up to 16.30 so phoned comet complaints dept up again and asked to speak to Angelina. Angelina not there at present time but will get her to ring back. Angelina phoned me back at 5pm. Basically I have 2 options -

 

1) They are waiting for ANOTHER part and it will definetly be fixed but not in time for next week.

 

or 2) I accept it as a " write off " and I can get a new computer - which is obviously the option I'm going to take as I'm a bit concerned about how many new parts and soldering has gone on in old laptop, however because it has to go through the "proper channels" and get authorisation from the insurance company, I'm not going to get the reference number to get a new laptop until next week.

 

I just don't get it, how come when they know they have to give me a new laptop and theres no getting away from it, why isn't there somebody who can just say "yes, pop down to your local branch now and pick your new laptop up, they are expecting you" ? What sort of customer service is that ? I've explained about my daughter and university but theyr'e not bothered at the end of the day - they said they will send the letter for replacement to her, well I'm sorry but I just have no faith that this letter will ever get to her. I dont know what to do now, so far comet have been useless and unreliable so is this going to continue and am I going to still be chasing them all the time about this ? should I just go ahead and buy my daughter a new laptop and then sue Comet ?

 

Sarah

[rebel11]

Hi Sarah

 

I think ring Comet Head Office, explain everthing. Explain everything thats gone on and that your considering taking legal action. Ask to speak to the MD, they'll

put you through to the secretary. Tell them you want a Laptop tomorrow plus compensation for all the chasing.

 

Head Office:

 

Comet Group plc

Comet House

Three Rivers Court

Rickmansworth,

Hertfordshire,

WD3 1FX, United Kingdom.

 

Tel: +44 (0)1923 710000

 

Take legal action as a last resort.

[Sarah1965]

UPDATE ;

 

Received this email today from Comets Managing Directors office : -

 

 

This is to confirm receipt of your emails addressed to us.

 

We endeavour to respond within 3 working days, however, if this is not possible due to further investigations being required, you will be contacted with an update on the situation.

 

In the meantime, please be assured the matter is being addressed and accept our apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.

 

Regards

 

Managing Directors Office

 

So no-one is actually bothered about the issue of my daughter needing her laptop for monday, "we endeavour to respond in 3 working days" !!!! I want them to endeavour to get me my laptop now !! I don't think its actually registering in any of their brains what I am saying or writing..........I need the laptop for Monday !!

 

Rebel, I phoned the number you gave me for managing directors office and as you will probably guess I wasn't put through to him, explained everything to the young man on the end of the line and would you believe it he sits next to Angelina (who is dealing with my problem in complaints) and " she is an excellent worker who will do her best to sort me out". I repeated to him that I want my laptop now and I want someone high up to give me the say so now to get it. Apparently "not even the managing director can do that, it all has to go through the proper channels via the insurance department" !!! So the managing directors office number is actually the call centre too, but thanks again for your advice and help. I'm afraid I blew my top after speaking to the robot in the call centre again and went on to facebook and had a good old rant and advised all my friends and family to NEVER buy their electrical items from Comet as the customer service there is diabolical.

 

Still no help or advice from the Comet rep on here I've noticed............

 

Sarah

[rebel11]

Hi sarah,

 

What they will send is a Voucher, I know it's a major inconveniance. I think you should still chase compensation. Lets see what happens Mon/Tues.

Comets have no concept of Customer Service, lots of pretty stores dotted around the country, full of nice stock, thats about the sum parts of Comets. No Customer Service when things go wrong. Thats my personal opinion.

[patrickq1]

hi sarah use comet own forum page to voice your complaint you will be amazed just how quickly they will respond to adverse comments, i think you will be pleasently supprised that you will get an e mail asking you to go to your local branch and pick a laptop that pleases you ...worked for me

patrickq1

[Sarah1965]

Hi Patrickq1,

 

Thanks for that tip. Do you have a link to the forum as I've looked on the comet website but can't find anything about their forum. Cheers

 

Sarah

[patrickq1]

hi sarah rebel just contacted me , they have removed the forum lol, but not to worry here is a reveiw site well four reveiw sites that comet monitor daily so they can judge the feed back of how well they are doing , so voice your complaint on all four sites ive pasted it below good luck

patrickq1

http://www.comet.co.uk/static/sitepages/comet_reviews/comet_reviews.html?&cm_mmc=Email-_-email25thfeb-_-ratecomet-_-ratecomet

[Sarah1965]

Cheers for that Patrick

 

Sarah