Comet and Domestic & General Insurance

[alu1000]

I have a Hotpoint washing machine that is insured for breakdown with Domestic & General.

 

I have recently made a claim on my policy and contacted Dom&Gen on the 22nd March to reporting the fault.

 

I was told to telephone Comet who deals with engineer callouts on behalf of Dom&Gen.

When calling Comet I was told the first available appointment for an engineer to visit was the 4th April, almost two week wait.

 

When the engineer finally called he informed me that he did not have the parts needed for the machine,

and would not be able to complete the job until Friday 13th April.

 

He told me that they normally carry parts that commonly need replacing, but did not on this occasion.

He also said that Comet have laid off loads of engineers, and as such, they could not cope with the volume of work that they had.

 

I was contacted by Comet again on the 11th April and informed that the parts were unavailable and they had no future delivery date.

 

At this point I had been without a machine for 3 weeks.

I made a complaint to Dom&Gen, who have been more than competent in dealing with this issue as far as they can.

 

I was contacted by one of their complaints managers on the 12th April and offered a new replacement machine providing I pay the entire outstanding premium on the policy.

They offered to waive the delivery charge of the new machine, and even pushed the order for the new machine through so it was dealt with that day.

 

Due to the volume of washing we do on a daily basis I thought it would make financial common sense to pay extra to purchase a better machine with a larger capacity drum.

 

The machine that met my requirements was one that Comet did not keep in stock, and therefore had to be ordered

(Yes, unfortunately Comet also deal with replacement machines for Domestic & General).

 

I was told delivery would take a couple of days.

 

I was contacted by Comet on Monday 16th April, and told the machine would be delivered Friday 20th April.

I arranged to take a day off work to wait for the delivery.

 

However, I receive yet another call on the 18th April from Comet informing me that the machine had apparently become “damaged” and they cannot deliver another until the 26th April.

 

When I protested and asked to speak to someone more senior I was told that there was, apparently, no one more senior in that department to complain to.

And if I wanted a machine any quicker to pick one that was in stock, even though none of them met my needs.

 

I contacted Comet customer services who were absolutely no help.

then found an email address on this website for a Bob Dark,

management team at Comet and sent an email of complaint,

asking Comet to reimburse me for the five weeks cost of laundering my clothes and the loss of a day’s wages today, Friday 20th, when they were supposed to have delivered the machine.

 

I was contacted today by one of Comets customer service representatives’ basically saying

“sorry but there is nothing we can do and we will not pay you any compensation”.

 

My partner is a nurse so need uniforms washed daily on a high temperature.

I have no family near, so have been either using a laundrette at a cost of £7.50 a time, or travelling 15 miles to my parents for them to wash for me.

If I do actually get the machine next week will mean we have been without one for 5 weeks.

 

That’s 5 weeks of time, money petrol, and effort taking washing to the laundrette or family.

 

I know the insurance for the machine is with Domestic and General, but as I see it they have done all they can to resolve the situation. Ultimately the problem is with Comet.

 

What are my chances of getting any compensation from Comet for the cost of laundering, and days lost wages for the day they were supposed to have delivered the machine?

 

Thank you for any advice you can offer.

[dx100uk]

when did you purchase the machine please

 

dx

[alu1000]

Hi,

The machine is about 5 years old.

 

We took out the extended warranty with Domestic & General as we knew the machine would be used daily, and hence more likely to develope problems.

 

We have had repairs carried out under the warrenty in the past, but have always dealt direct with Domestic & General, and have never had a problem.

 

We have always had an engineer out in a few days, and always with the parts needed, therefore, the machine has been repaired straight away.

 

I think their relationship with Comet in dealing with repairs on their behalf is quite new.

 

It's been a complet farce from the first call we made to them on the 22nd March to be honest.

[dx100uk]

ok well outside SOGA really then.

 

so ok you've had your monies worth of the warranty .

 

sadly comet are very very poor on customer relations

 

as you've prob already read here

 

why not email the CEO?

 

dx

[GorgieBoy]

Hi alu ,

 

COMET have dealt with D&G for many years , unfortunately now as a Company COMET are falling apart from top to bottom .

 

This is the reason you are having so many problems with what should be a straight forward process .

 

I would escalate this with D&G and see what their response is as it is they who honour the policy that you have and not COMET .

Edited April 21, 2012 by GorgieBoy