Comet service a disgrace

[peebeee]

Hi Katsayce,

 

I have a similar problem to you and I also am annoyed that I paid for an extended warranty from Comet to, I thought, ensure that in the event of a breakdown to my AEG washing machine it would be quickly repaired.

I was sadly disappointed and will never use Oncall again by the purchase of Comets breakdown insurance. Additionally, as you discovered, they have changed their telephone number to the revenue making (for them) telephone number commencing 0844 with all the usual delays of enter one for this and two for that and is your machine a Bosch, we are experiencing a large volume of enquiries and an agent will be with you as soon as possible etc etc just to produce revenue. They will never get my business again nor anyone elses that I can convince to do otherwise.

 

On the 14th of November 2011 an Oncall repair technician attended at my home and established that a printed circuit board needed replacing in my AEG Washer-Dryer and it would require a further visit which was arranged for the following Thursday.

 

I cant understand why these repair people cant anticipate from the questions a customer is asked when booking a repair about the fault together with the machines serial number, what the likely fault is going to be and carry an assortment of spares with them ?. I dont subscribe to the 'fob off' reply to that as being there is so many appliances on the market that we cannot carry all the parts or we would need a large HGV to carry the spares with us. Rubbish. They know what the common faults are and from the described symptoms when the initial call is booked could bring appropriate items with them from their own stores at the beginning of the day. I used to do that 40 years ago when I was a gas fitter on call. Granted the number of spare parts required nowadays are far more numerous than 40 years ago BUT it is still the same sort of anticipation. Unfortunately its not a repair technician taking the initial phone call. If it was they could ask the appropriate questions of the customer. Using that method they have got to get at least a certain percentage right which would increase their efficiency dramatically.

 

However, on the next attendance of an Oncall repair man to my home on the Thursday 17 Nov, he discovered that the part ordered was incorrect. As a result he consulted his computer and offered another visit ( number 3) for a week later on the 24th Nov and was the best he could do. I accepted that ( because I had to ) and on the day in question waited for the repair technician...and waited...and waited. He never turned up!. No explanatory phone call anytime during the day in question and no subsequent letter to explain why I had waited at home needlessly all day.

 

I waited a further 8 days for someone from Oncall to contact me with some explanation and a re-arranged repair date. During those 8 days I wrote 4 e-mails to their Customer Relations (enquiries@oncall.co.uk) explaining the situation and asking for someone to contact me. I received no e-mail replies from their Customer Relations, no phone contact and no letter.

 

Today (Friday 2nd Dec) I telephoned the revenue making Oncall phone number and began booking a repair call as though it was the first call out. Eventually the call centre girl indicated that the repair was an ongoing repair and the repair technician would be contacting me on the 4th Dec to arrange repair on that day !. That will be ( if it happens) the 4th visit to simply fit a printed circuit board to overcome the problem, if it does. You may detect a certain amount of cynicism but with the so far display of ineptness and unprofessionalism I am beginning to wonder if my washing machine will ever work.

 

Four visits to repair a simple fault is not what I would call competent nor quick and the contemptuous way they couldn’t be bothered to inform me the customer either on the day or afterwards that they would NOT be attending my home as arranged is disgraceful. Someone somewhere in the Oncall organisation is obtaining a salary on false pretences by pretending they are competent to manage a repair department.

 

When this repair is finally concluded I shall be making a complaint to Comet and asking them do they think that 22 days is an acceptable time to have to wait for repairs and that’s not to mention the cost to me of the 4 occasions that I have had to be at home awaiting the attendance of their repair man.

[rebel11]

Hi pee

 

Welcome to CAG

 

Write a Formal Letter of Complaint, mark it as such, explain whats happened, explain that you've been let down, explain .

 

Send it to:

 

Bob Darke, Managing Director

bob.darke@comet.co.uk

 

Some tips - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/ar...complaint.html

 

Further in in 10,12 and 13 in my signature.

[GorgieBoy]

Hi peebeee,

 

The main reasons for this terrible serviice is that COMET now operate with one national call centre for the UK (hence the the multi million pound phone costs racket).

 

Two regional service centres for the UK one at Harlow for the South and one at Skelmsdale for the North, that is where your parts are held or recieved to which ever the case. These parts are eventually sent to a field engineer who in most cases has not even seen the product in question regarding the repair.

 

This is why in many cases further parts are required after an engineer has visited.

 

COMET have recently closed 14 regional service centres in the UK where the engineers were based where parts where received and ordered from . This was on a local basis regarding customer service but they are no longer.

 

COMET will have you believe that the system in place now is an outstanding success and will come up with figures to back it up regarding first time repair , repair turnaround ect ,ect.

 

The problem you are having regarding the repair peebeee is more common than not and is certainly not an unfortunate one off situation.

[peebeee]

Hi Rebell11 and GorgieBoy, thanks for your replies.

 

Well visit number 4 occurred today- 4th Dec and the technician was dumbfounded ( as well as me). The part supplied was the wrong one again !.

 

The technician telephoned his manager and discussed the matter after which I was advised that I would be contacted within 30 mins.

 

I was contacted by the Manager within the time indicated and after apologising for the mistake went on to explain that he had discovered the correct part had been removed from the parts list allocated to my repair on the previous Saturday for some , to him, unknown reason. I dont know if that particular part he was referring to was the correct part or not. He has promised to urgently chase this up and come back to me and hopefully, IF the correct part is in stock, to arrange visit number 5 for this Wednesday 7th Dec 11.

 

This 'Fred Karno's Circus' certainly supports what you are saying GorgieBoy, if my experience is typical of other customers trying to get repairs carried out then I suspect Oncall isnt going to survive much longer. I can understand the need to try and cut costs by closing down some regional parts centres but the savings are only going to made if the remaining parts centres are in tune with the correct part ordered by the technician. I still think some basic parts should be carried by all technicians anyway which is bound to reduce some double visits. Any repeat visit by a technician means additional costs in time and transport to both COMET and me the customer in higher insurance premiums. How can 5 visits be cost effective particularly if these 'mistakes' are common. Is it surprising that COMET are struggling financially if a simple matter of a washing machine repair is causing so much logistical hassle ?. And thats not to mention the damage done to customer confidence of shopping in future at COMET.

 

This is my first experience of using COMET's repair 'service'. I think I shall have to give serious consideration as to where I spend my next £190 on an extended warranty.

[rebel11]

Comets could be an outstanding company, but when you actually look at what they have got, it's stock piled up high, in superstores, they must have some good employees, but they certainly need motivating, when I say motivating thats what I mean, not bullying.

[GorgieBoy]

Roll on Wednesday for the next instalment peebeee , ongoing since the 14 November it is not very good , you never know they may write off the machine or offer an exchange if things do not work out on the next visit as no white goods products are uplifted for further repair.

 

All white goods products are either repaired , exchanged , or written off in the customers home.

 

COMET have a prediagnosis system in place where the initial call is screened regarding the fault, an expert !! will determine what part or parts are required , then an engineer will call with the parts with his fingers crossed as it is him that gets it in the neck if things go wrong.

 

The engineers have managers to manage them and make decisions as in your case regarding the call back.

 

Going back to the regional service centre closures they did not only hold parts they repaired all brown goods products, audio products and pc/laptops this does not happen now as they are no longer there , neither are the skilled staff they once had.

 

Your Tv couldl end up hundreds of miles away for repair your laptop in Leeds.

 

COMET were nearly introducing next day service now if you get sorted out within 28 days you are doing well.

 

The field engineers that are left have a nigh impossible task due to allocated time slots per job and the many miles they have to travel in a day usually with a dozen or more calls and hoping that the part or parts they have got are the correct ones for the next job in question.

 

Looking forward to your next update peebeee ,

 

Good luck.

Edited December 5, 2011 by GorgieBoy

[peebeee]

The saga continues........ and its not good.

On Tuesday the 6th I was again contacted by the area manager who apologised for the situation and indicated that unfortunately the spare part that was required was not available to carry out the hoped for repair on the following day, Wed 7th Dec. He went on to say that in view of all the inconvenience he offered me the option of either awaiting for a spare part to become available or replace the existing washer with the same machine or something similar. I decided to opt for a repair because my machine is no longer available via Comet and neither were they able to offer anything with the same spec. Also I would lose 20 months on my extended warranty ( the value of which is questionable ) which would be cancelled if I went for an exchange machine. So with all the apologies and senior management interest I thought things were now moving !.

 

The following day Wed 7th I received a phone call from Oncall service centre and was advised that a repair had been arranged for the following Monday, 12th Dec.

 

I made appropriate arrangements and waited for the repair technician....and waited and waited. No one turned up, no explanatory phone call and so I am back to square one again. What is it about customer relations that Comet/Oncall just don’t understand ?. They clearly couldn’t care less as you would think that some responsible person in their hierarchy would have kept on top of this unless it is so common a state of affairs that its impossible to manage!. I shall be voting with my feet in future as will as many people who I can persuade not to purchase their extended warranties or even shop there if it can be avoided.

[kurvaface]

Did you send an email to the CEO ( With a link to this thread) ?

[GorgieBoy]

Hi peebeee,

 

The main reasons for this terrible serviice is that COMET now operate with one national call centre for the UK (hence the the multi million pound phone costs racket).

 

Two regional service centres for the UK one at Harlow for the South and one at Skelmsdale for the North, that is where your parts are held or recieved to which ever the case. These parts are eventually sent to a field engineer who in most cases has not even seen the product in question regarding the repair.

 

This is why in many cases further parts are required after an engineer has visited.

 

COMET have recently closed 14 regional service centres in the UK where the engineers were based where parts where received and ordered from . This was on a local basis regarding customer service but they are no longer.

 

COMET will have you believe that the system in place now is an outstanding success and will come up with figures to back it up regarding first time repair , repair turnaround ect ,ect.

 

The problem you are having regarding the repair peebeee is more common than not and is certainly not an unfortunate one off situation.

 

 

Back to square one , peebeee.

 

I am afraid you summed up this sorry affair yourself in one sentence .

 

" They clearly couldn’t care less as you would think that some responsible person in their hierarchy would have kept on top of this unless it is so common a state of affairs that its impossible to manage ! "

 

 

I think you hit the nail on the head peebeee.

[peebeee]

Did you send an email to the CEO ( With a link to this thread) ?

 

Hi Kurvaface,

The saga isnt finished yet so I will wait so that Mr Darke can have the benefit of seeing the whole sorry mess in its entirety.

 

I was contacted to day by Customer Services to be advised that the spare part was now available and would be fitted this coming Thursday 15th Dec.

Whilst the lady was on the phone I indicated that I had been telephoned the previous week advising me that a repair would be carried out on Mon 12th Dec but despite waiting in all day no one attended. She seemed a bit taken aback by that and indicated that she wasnt aware of the Monday the 12th arrangements. I thought that strange as I believe she was the same lady who contacted me last week because she had a distinctive accent. However that matters not, I await with bated breath to see if 1) they turn up, 2) they have the correct part and 3) it cures the washing machine problem.

[stuart.marsh]

Hi all, know exactly how you all feel, our Hoover washing machine broke down on 10th November (would not run through programe or spin if put on spin cycle), phoned On Call was asked to ensure that the filter, pump and waste were not blocked: this done no difference called On Call again was told would have to wait a week for an Engineer to come. He came one week later and found that the pump was u/s changed pump; machine spun he left tried to do a wash and still didn't work. another call to ON Call, they scheduled an Engineer to attend Sunday bewteen 8 and 5 stayed in all day no Engineer again phoned On Call only to be told that the Engineer had phoned in sick, Tuesday another Engineer came, still could not fix the machine as it needed a couple of parts (pressure switch & heater Stat). He also informed us that they had actually stopped all there Sunday visits, so obviously a blatent lies say Engineer coming on the Sunday. Waited two weeks for the parts to arrive and then a couple of days before the Engineer came back, came in and said what is it I'm here for?? fitted only the heater stat, he put machine on hot wash said would call in a couple of hours to if machine was ok, fair enough, youve guessed it the machine still didn't work and no phone call. spoke to ON Call yet again who said they would call the Engineer, he informed them that he was on another call and would give us a call, yep your'ver guessed it No Call. Again we had to call On Call only to be told the machine needed a new pressure switch and it would have to be ordered in. a week later still no call, so called complaints dept, who contacted the Field Service Manager this was Monday 12/12 by now he said part on order if not in by this Friday hewould recommend that they write off the machine and replace with new!!! Phoned this morning 09-00 tosee if part delivered was told not yet and they wopuld pass to the field team to get guidance as to a replacement machine was told ths could take up to 4 hours. 13-00 called On Call back to see what had occured, whilst on the phone my wife had a text saying part was now in (kel suprees) and they would come and fit it Wednesday 21st, despite my remonstations to get the part fitted Saturday they were adament that Wednesday it could only be, the only concession they made was that we could book a AM or PM visit. lets see what bull they come out with when the machine doesn't work this time. Unfortunatley I did lose my temper a bit and threatened to lock the Engineer in my place until the machine was repair to our satisfaction or they replaced it, still whats one extra for Xmas dinner. End of rant, but just makes me mad you pay out for an extended warranty for what. as a Maintenace Manager if I ran my department like these numpties run there department I would have been sacked ages ago.

 

Watch this space.

[peebeee]

As I have suggested previously Stuart, the unacceptable ‘service’ that Oncall is providing is a disgraceful shambles. I refuse to believe that Comet/Oncall management don’t know what an awful state of affairs their repair business is in.

Further to my saga, the engineer arrived this time as arranged on the 15th Dec and visit number 4. He had with him the appropriate configured power control board and commenced to fit it. Having fitted the board the machine was turned on to test it, nothing!. None of the programmes worked and a new error (E40 instead of E36) was now being displayed. Clearly the so called ‘configured’ board wasn’t configured , it apparently has to be configured electronically before delivery to the repair technician for fitting. The technician was mystified as to why the machine wasn’t working and being aware of the previous 2 un-configured parts that had been delivered for fitting, promptly examined the sealed box that the new part had come in and pointed out that it stated clearly on the box that the item was configured. Now either someone somewhere in the parts stores is incompetent re configuration procedures, or a member of the same parts store deliberately put an un-configured part into a box labelled as ‘configured’ or the item is a faulty returns item. Whatever the explanation is it seems obvious that Comet/Oncall need to get an urgent grip on the competency of their staff, the failed management of their parts system and if they want to continue in ‘denial’ that there is a widespread problem with their ‘service’ system then they only have to look at sites like this one and others to find a lot of disgruntled customers making complaints and who wont use Oncall again nor probably purchase items from Comet.

And my washing machine ?. Its working perfectly as I write. The technician was going to leave the machine as it was in its broken down state with a view to going away and seeking some advice. I asked him to refit the original Power board that he had just replaced and although reluctant, he did so. The machine was then turned on and it worked first time whereas previously I had to select a programme between 6 or 10 times to get it to work sometimes if I was lucky. The ‘fault’ appears to have been no more than a poor wiring connection somewhere which re-installation corrected !. The question is was it a loose wire connection or something more complicated that will fail again and cause a repeat of the last few months nightmare ?.

 

I am sending an e-mail to Comet CEO, Mr Darke, with a link to this thread. I will follow that up with a letter to try and ensure he has sight of my complaint. I will add to this thread in due course with any response received.

Edited December 17, 2011 by peebeee

[GorgieBoy]

Hi peebeee,

 

The main reasons for this terrible serviice is that COMET now operate with one national call centre for the UK (hence the the multi million pound phone costs racket).

 

Two regional service centres for the UK one at Harlow for the South and one at Skelmsdale for the North, that is where your parts are held or recieved to which ever the case. These parts are eventually sent to a field engineer who in most cases has not even seen the product in question regarding the repair.

 

This is why in many cases further parts are required after an engineer has visited.

 

COMET have recently closed 14 regional service centres in the UK where the engineers were based where parts where received and ordered from . This was on a local basis regarding customer service but they are no longer.

 

COMET will have you believe that the system in place now is an outstanding success and will come up with figures to back it up regarding first time repair , repair turnaround ect ,ect.

 

The problem you are having regarding the repair peebeee is more common than not and is certainly not an unfortunate one off situation.

 

 

 

Keep your fingers crossed peebeee , your machine seems to have been fixed by lady luck more than anything else at this present moment .

 

In a nutshell COMET no longer have enough knowledgeable support staff to support their UK field service Engineeers , as they have all been paid off.

 

Regarding your programmed pcb this would in the past have been carried out at local level by a skilled engineer who knew the field engineer by name and it would have been this guy that got his backside kicked if there was any problem.

 

but as I said these guys are no longer and a completely different service policy is in place .

 

There just is not enough support to the field engineers by people that really know what they are doing now I am afraid.

Edited December 17, 2011 by GorgieBoy

[stuart.marsh]

Hi

 

The saga continues, engineer now coming on Tuesday with pressure switch for my machine for what I am sure will be another failed attempt to fix it, if this fails then surely they will write off the machine, but knowing this show they will continue to repair just to prove a point. The machine must of already cost more in Engineers time than it's worth, not that the Engineers we have had attend are worth much, they certainly wouldn't get a job in my maintenace team. as I previously stated this Engineer will not be going anywhere until the problem is resolved one way or another.

[stuart.marsh]

Stardate 21/12, The On Call Engineer turned up with the pressure switch for our washing machine, fitted part and tried machine, yep you guessed it the machine still did not work.finally they agreed to write the machine off, we were told that Comet were no longer responsible & that it was now down to the warrenty company. We phone them up to expedite getting a replacement machine, they said that a letter would go out to our nearest Comet store to get a replacement machuine to the same value, when my wife asked whether as a show of good will we could choose a machine of a slightly higher value seeing as we had now waited 7 weeks for the machines repair or replacement. She was told quite rudely & with arrogance that she had no chance of a machine upgrade or to that matter any form of recompence for our troubles, when she stated that we were going to the Trading Standards as well as seeking leagal advise as to whether we could sue them for loss of earnings plus expenses for having to use the Launderette she was told do what you like, you can't put a price on compensation. She tried speaking to a Manager or Director, she was again rudely told you can't and they would only tell you the same if they would talk to you, What an arrogant bunch of B******s. Not only that when we pick up our replacement machine wee were asked if we would like to take out a warrently as the previous one died with the write off of our other machine.Not only that we have had to get rid of the non functioning machine ourselves.

 

So please whoever reads this if you must shop at Comet, please don't bother in taking out there extended warrenty, it's not worth the agro.

 

[rebel11]

Hi Stuart

 

You shouldn't hijack a thread.

 

Write a Formal Letter of Complaint, mark it as such, explain whats happened, explain that you've been let down, explain .

 

Send it to:

 

Bob Darke, Managing Director

bob.darke@comet.co.uk

 

Some tips - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/ar...complaint.html

 

Further in in 10,12 and 13 in my signature.

 

 

 

 

Stardate 21/12, The On Call Engineer turned up with the pressure switch for our washing machine, fitted part and tried machine, yep you guessed it the machine still did not work.finally they agreed to write the machine off, we were told that Comet were no longer responsible & that it was now down to the warrenty company. We phone them up to expedite getting a replacement machine, they said that a letter would go out to our nearest Comet store to get a replacement machuine to the same value, when my wife asked whether as a show of good will we could choose a machine of a slightly higher value seeing as we had now waited 7 weeks for the machines repair or replacement. She was told quite rudely & with arrogance that she had no chance of a machine upgrade or to that matter any form of recompence for our troubles, when she stated that we were going to the Trading Standards as well as seeking leagal advise as to whether we could sue them for loss of earnings plus expenses for having to use the Launderette she was told do what you like, you can't put a price on compensation. She tried speaking to a Manager or Director, she was again rudely told you can't and they would only tell you the same if they would talk to you, What an arrogant bunch of B******s. Not only that when we pick up our replacement machine wee were asked if we would like to take out a warrently as the previous one died with the write off of our other machine.Not only that we have had to get rid of the non functioning machine ourselves.

 

So please whoever reads this if you must shop at Comet, please don't bother in taking out there extended warrenty, it's not worth the agro.

 

[peebeee]

Having sent an e-mail of complaint to Bob Darke with a link to this thread, I have received a reply that the matter is being investigated.

 

I suspect that we the customers are dealing with a large proportion of demoralised Comet staff who are sick and tired of what seems to them to be a hopeless situation that they have no influence over. An attitude change has got to come from the top.

 

Ultimately of course the last word is in the customers hands and those same thoughtless Comet/OnCall Service Centre people who unprofessionally fail to understand why a customer is 'upset' are failing to realize who pays their wages and may well find that they are in a situation where they haven’t a job. Do they care ?. Well just look at the households on this site who are complaining about the lack of service and multiply that by the number of relatives , friends and work colleagues of us 'upset' people whom we will be strongly advising against purchasing repair warranties from Comet and you start to get a picture of people NOT buying either extended warranties from Comet or even a product in the first place. Bob Darke has only been in place since May this year having taken over from the previous CEO who left, no doubt, because the business is failing. This coming year Comet are going to struggle. Why is this fact not obvious to the short sighted people working for them who should be bending over backwards to keep their jobs ?. The first thing a sinking ship ( with £8.9m loss) does to stay afloat is to jettison items. As Gorgie Boy pointed out, Comet appear to have undertaken that exercise already. Who do the OnCall Service Centre staff think is going to be next for the ‘chop’ when the inevitable axe falls in the new year when this French owned companies Q3 and Q4 figures show no improvement and the Euro continues to struggle ?.

Oh, and if you were a potential investor would you invest large sums of cash in Comet after being made aware of such customer dissatisfaction as outlined on some sites such as this ?.

[stuart.marsh]

rebel11

 

Sorry didn't mean to hijack the theme just so angry with Comet needed to vent my anger somewhere. I will be doing the same with Mr Darke in the very near future.

[rebel11]

No probs, keep us informed. Like most companies who have poor customer service, they spend lots of money on 'sales', but very little on 'customer service'. Once they've got your money it's a quickie divorce, they don't want to know you. The matter takes ages to resolve. If in their ads they put, 'by the way our customer service is bad', you'd run a mile, but aleast it would be honest.

 

rebel11

 

Sorry didn't mean to hijack the theme just so angry with Comet needed to vent my anger somewhere. I will be doing the same with Mr Darke in the very near future.

[peebeee]

Well the final outcome is an e-mail from Bob Darke ( copy below) and one from Samantha Grey from Bob Darkes office apologising for all the inconvenience and domestic upset caused. Whether Mr Darke has ACTUALLY been made aware of the failings in his organisation I dont know. I wrote him a letter marked personel as well as an e-mail. Only they know how often OnCall are letting custoners down. Despite the apologies its put me off buying from Comet and I definately wont use OnCall again via an extended warranty simply because of the personal aggravation I've had from my wife over this as though I was in 'cahouts' with Bob Darke to cause her as much upset as I could, as if !.

 

Response (Cara Winstanley) 20/12/2011

 

Dear Mr B

 

I have sent a copy of your email to my office for them to complete a full investigation into the matter, of which we will endeavour to respond no later than 3 working days. If we are unable to give a complete response within this time we will contact you direct with an update on the situation. In the meantime if you need to discuss anything urgently our contact number is 01482 xxxxxx.

 

Thanks for taking the time to write

 

Bob Darke