i visited the comet store today and they refused point blank to issue any kind of replacement. so i have now emailed comet head office with the following.
Dear Mr Harvey,
Firstly I would like to make an official complaint in regards of your manager Mr. Hugh Lucas of the Purley way, Croydon Branch and secondly a clarification on your warranty procedure.
In regard to the manager I wish to make a formal complaint regarding his, attitude, rudeness, unhelpfulness and unwillingness to abide by sale of goods act 1979 and Comets own policy.
We purchased two items from the Comet store on May 12th and arranged for home delivery on the 21st May. A Built in electric oven and a glass based proline gas hob.
The items arrived as arranged and were put aside ready to be fitted into our brand new kitchen.
Due to delays with workman being unable to work as my daughter had chicken pox, the oven and hob was booked for fitting on Friday 29th June.
However when the Proline hob was unpacked it came to our notice that the glass based hob had a chip in one corner, and through examination looked like this occurred at the manufacturer level as the chip was smooth and polished.
Seeing this, we immediately repacked the unit and on Saturday 30th of June took it into the store for a replacement.
We had paid for a gas engineer to install this on the Friday and the kitchen has to be finalised by Monday 2nd July.
We explained the situation and that we would like it to be exchanged and would be quite happy to take a credit note to the nearest branch at Orpington that had a replacement in stock.
Upon speaking to a sales assistant at the help desk they then called over the manager a Mr Hugh Lucas. who then took one look at the unit and told us it could not be exchanged and said we would have to call an engineer number. This despite the fact comets terms clearly state the following.
Customer Help Desk team will test it and either send it away for repair or exchange it (subject to the guarantee).
I then told the manager that under the sale of goods act 1979 section 14 it clearly states the following
For the purposes of this Act, goods are of satisfactory quality if they meet the standard that a reasonable person would regard as satisfactory, taking account of any description of the goods, the price (if relevant) and all the other relevant circumstances.
(2B)For the purposes of this Act, the quality of goods includes their state and condition and the following (among others) are in appropriate cases aspects of the quality of goods—
(a)fitness for all the purposes for which goods of the kind in question are commonly supplied,
(b)appearance and finish,
(c)freedom from minor defects,
(d)safety, and
(e)durability.
Since the item was unused and around 30 days old, it was in fact not free of defects and was damaged and fell under the sale of goods act which states in simple clear terms the following
Satisfactory quality is defined as what a ‘reasonable person’ would regard as acceptable, and takes into account factors such as price paid, fitness for purpose specified, appearance and finish, freedom from minor blemishes, safety and durability. If it becomes apparent that an item is not of the quality you were led to expect, you were not aware of any such defect when you bought it, and you bought from a seller acting ‘in the course of a business’ (i.e. not an informal sale), you are quite within your rights to go back to the retailer, even after some months of use. If a product develops a fault within the first 6 months, the assumption will be that this defect was present at the time of purchase and you will not have to prove anything.
Again clearly in regard to the chipped hob this fell into that category and we were entitled to a replacement.
Again this was denied with him saying he had no power to exchange the item and could do nothing.
I then asked several times for head office number and area manager number which he refused to give instead quoting only the service desk number.
I then called the service desk and spoke to them and they passed my information to there supervisor (Linda Cleavdon) who agreed that the unit should be replaced. they then contacted the manager by phone and was heard telling the manager to go ahead with the replacement at which point he clearly stated he would not exchange it. His exact words were “I am not willing to do so”
When I questioned him about this he then stated he would not exchange or refund the unit.
I then asked him if it was a case of he couldn't or wouldn't exchange the item and stated that he would not.
Not only does this go against the terms and conditions stated above and listed by Comet but also breaks the sale of goods act and my rights as a customer.
After over an hour of deliberating the manger refused to agree on a single matter and refused to look at Comet terms and conditions and made it plain that he would do nothing to help resolve the matter.
After purchasing an item that cost £199 and a second item for £299 I would expect that at around 30 days if a fault was found and the situation explained I would receive at least some courtesy as a customer and a way to resolve the matter professionally.
Instead we were dismissed offhand with a total refusal to help in any way.
In regards to the second issue related to comet we at around the same time purchased a dishwasher from Comet auction site, again for the same purpose to be fitted into our new kitchen.
Again the unit was not unpacked until the day of fitting to ensure it stayed clean and damage free.
We were fully aware that at time of auction the item was listed has having a small 1 inch scratch on the top which we fully accepted.
However when unpacking the item to be installed by the plumber it revealed not just a small top scratch but a large scratch along the door and 2 very large and clearly visible dents in the front door of the dishwasher.
I immediately contacted Comet auctions about this stating that the item was not as described and had far more damage and felt we should be partially refunded.
This has been outright refused saying it had been beyond the 7 days. Again quoting the above sale of goods act ( and distance selling regulations ) this is clearly in breach of those.
So to sum up in the space of 1 month we have purchased 3 items from Comet exceeding £800 , one item being damaged, the second having for more damage for an auction item than was listed and in both cases Comet have refused to help in any way shape or form and dismissed us offhand.
I find this totally unacceptable in the way we have been treated as a customer and look forward to hear your views on the matter.
Yours Sincerely
D. Messenger
If i receive no reply like this any advice on what to do next?
