More high street (well retail park) gloom. Loss making Comet group with £40million pension fund defecit sold for £2.
I've bought very few things from Comet over the past couple of years... they've never really inspired me to shop there. Also they've continued to be the most pushy re selling extra insurance cover at the tills.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Wed 9 Nov 11 at 08:19
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Asteroid for sale. Last chance to buy until 2028.
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When I need (or have the urge) to buy electricals, I have a choice of driving to a retail park, leaving my pristine Lancer among the hoi polloi in their car park, then scurrying back to my hidey hole on the moor,
Alternatively, I can make a few left clicks without leaving the relative comfort of my 18th century quintessential Cornish country cottage,
Which option do I choose?
Difficult one that.
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Agree with Dog..
Except no Cornish estate..
The only difference is when you want to see one in the flesh..
(It's like car buying...)
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I quite liked to be able to buy online (at reduced price compared to 'in store') then go over and collect. Saved having to make sure someone was in for the delivery, and of course no delivery charge.
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>> Try John Lewis
Means having to go into Reading - not ideal. Comet was in an easily accessible retail park.
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Perhaps CGN meant John Lewis home delivery? I imagine they have a home delivery service - just a thought.
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>> Perhaps CGN meant John Lewis home delivery? I imagine they have a home delivery service
>> - just a thought.
Mrs F sees something at the weekend and wants it now - options:
1. Go to the shop and buy it full price.
2. Buy it online at reduced price and go to the shop a bit later to collect.
3. Buy it online at reduced price, pay for delivery (possibly), wait a few days, hope you're in for the delivery.
2 please :)
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>>>Buy it online at reduced price and go to the shop a bit later to collect.
Yes and that's the situation when I've used Comet recently... as in needing a washing machine back home and fitted within an hour.
I'm sure I detect a detached look from the sales folks when you have pre-ordered online then refuse the breakdown insurance and ask them to trolley the item to your car... they are reduced almost to warehouse operatives.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Wed 9 Nov 11 at 09:42
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I have a new Comet opened up from me, about 3 miles away. Its well stocked, pleasant with helpfull staff. Nicoles new Nikon cost £2.50 more than from Amazon.
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Best Buy is existing from UK market closing their 11 stores by end of this year.
Comet was sold to a private equity firm for just £2. Their current owner Kesa will also provide £50m to new owner towards settling pension fund. However, Comet will continue to operate in UK for at least 18 months (few non-performing stores will be closed though).
I can understand why Best Buy failed - their just 11 stores couldn't compete with DSG's Currys/PCWorld. Best Buy's price was also not that competitive (in spite of what they wanted to make people believe).
But Comet - they should not have done that bad.
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2058494/Carphone-warehouse-closes-Best-Buy-stores-More-1-000-jobs-threat.html
www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/nov/09/comet-sold-for-2-pounds-kesa?newsfeed=true
PS: Mods please merge the threads.
Last edited by: movilogo on Wed 9 Nov 11 at 09:44
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White goods sales fall fast in recessions.. Most people opt to run existing whatevers for longer...
Lots of secondhand newish whitegoods for sale in local classifieds if you HAVE to buy. Lots of distressed sales as well.
Glass palaces are not cheap to run.
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>> Glass palaces are not cheap to run.
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Maybe the motor trade should take notice.
Local main dealer had small showroom, large yard across the road........now has showroom at least 10x area, 3 x height (fuel bills!), workshop at least 10 x size, paved forecourt taking say 200 cars rather than 50 in the old yard...............2 Previous franchises (different manufacturer which is a much bigger company) on the same site failed.
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I tend to use Amazon for almost everything these days, my details are registered with them, I opt for their 'free' delivery, so it's all soooooo simple, I even ordered some new nozzles for my Panasonic oral 5ex irrigator last week after checking out prices on ebay etc.,
Of course, Woman & shops were made for each other, and long may they both live, but if I never have to visit a shop again, I wont lose any sleep over it.
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Ive found Tesco Direct pretty solid for larger items, good prices, reliable service and not likely to go under despite current conditions.
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>> Ive found Tesco Direct pretty solid for larger items, good prices, reliable service and not
>> likely to go under despite current conditions.
>>
I suspect Tesco Direct and the other supermarket instore equivalents were the final nail in the coffin, why go to Currys/Comet/BB to look at a new TV, whilst some sales weasel tries to sell you a monsterously* overpriced HDMI cable, when you can look at 'em in your local supermarket whilst buying spuds.
*deliberate spelling.
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Amazon for me.
Their service is superb in my experience. We have spent around a grand there since returning to the UK.
Example: I bought a set of Panasonic headphones from them. I found them difficult to use, dropping off station and with fiddly controls. They were not actually faulty.
I returned them to Amazon (what a straightforward system, with their paying the return postage, too) and the credit was in my bank in a very few days.
I them splashed out on a new pair of Sennheiser 'phones. Ordered quite late on Friday night and in my hands by the following Monday afternoon. FREE delivery!
You can't whack it!
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>> I them splashed out on a new pair of Sennheiser 'phones. Ordered quite late on
>> Friday night and in my hands by the following Monday afternoon. FREE delivery!
>> You can't whack it!
>>
I got a pair of them, the cheapo ones at around £20. Better sound than the expensive set they replaced.
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Well, I'm an exception Dog, I hate shops and do all my shopping online.
I supose it's not really the shops I hate, just the people in them really.
Pat
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>>I supose it's not really the shops I hate, just the people in them really<<
Ah! - you be almost Cornish my ansome :)
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>>
>> I can understand why Best Buy failed - their just 11 stores couldn't compete with
>> DSG's Currys/PCWorld. Best Buy's price was also not that competitive (in spite of what they
>> wanted to make people believe).
>>
I never understood why BB bothered with the UK in the first place, DSGi and Comet weren't exactly making money hand over fist, so how was a third entrant with no USP (as you say they weren't cheap) going to make money? Had they not heard of Amazon???
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I know why Best Buy failed, they are singularly (here, but specially in the US) the worse shopping experience available. My visit to a Best Buy in the the states, to buy an Ipod, reduced me to rage and apoplexy.
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BB gave lots of time to DSGi to ramp up their mega stores in nearby places where BB opened their stores. So they were somewhat defeated even before they started.
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Not just DSGI/Amazon they had to compete with but also good local independent stores (they still exist!) and places like Richersounds.
I know for so many people including myself if we need a TV the first place we go is Richersounds, is often £100 or cheaper than DSGI or John Lewis.
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"Comet sold for £2"
Do you imagine they sold the extended warranty with it? :-)
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Found Comet competitive for a couple of laptops recently (SWMBO and B junior) both needed replacements). Pushed both warranty and 'discounted' MS Office + Norton package. In one case my decline was accepted with equanimity but the other one, a young guy definitely go a bit sniffy.
Apparently I'm running all sorts of risks viruses, fraud, id theft, pox* etc just relying on MS essentials.
* Ok maybe I made the last one up.
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I read recently that Richer Sounds has been losing money for quite a while and the owner hasn't been able to take any dividends for a couple of years.
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Richer sounds is NOT the place to go for TVs.
End of lines, models never sold in the UK, misdescribed, are just some of the issues I frequently see there.
Stick to Richer sounds for HiFi only.
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We bought our last Sony TV at Richer three years ago. It was a model retailing elsewhere for £30 more..
Touch wood, it's been perfect...
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A good place to buy TV's and some other things is the Argos clearance warehouse at Corby Northants, don't know if there are others scattered about, and i have no idea if you can reserve anything or look online at their stock.
My daughter picked up a 40 or 42" Toshiba (picture is excellent), a 30"ish of some sort for the bedroom and some sort of surround sound system for £500 the lot.
They do have Panasonics now and again, if so required.
They are doubtless end of ranges but at those prices who cares.
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As Zero says, most TVs in Richer Sounds are likely to be end of line. And if they do have a current model TV on sale for cheaper than say John Lewis, then go to John Lewis and get them to price match it. Has to be on sale in a real store and not an online deal for them to price match. Then you get the same TV at the same price with a free 5 year warranty from JLP.
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>> Richer sounds is NOT the place to go for TVs.
>>
>> End of lines,
End of lines was Richer's original MO. Misdescription of HD capabilities is endemic in TV retailing.
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They may be end of line, but the TV were bought downstairs, with the warranty Curry's were selling twice the price!
Ironically don't use Richersounds for HIFI any more, they were good for low end stuff, bbut now they have gone up market and as I have found with the problem of the overheating Cambridge amp, you can get far better value buying second hand Japanese stuff or end of line models from Superfi.
Not that surprised Richersounds are not making money, the HIFI market has been dead for a long time and it is the lower end market which has completely died.
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Comet = overpriced.
Staff = miserable spotty boys who are clueless about electrical stuff.
Range = limited as my dad discovered recently when he went to buy a cable to link a turntable to his hi-fi. 'nah mate, we don't sell them 'ere. Try B & Q next door'.
He did and found what he was looking for in Britain's largest DIY outlet!
You couldn't make it up!
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>>>don't use Richersounds for HIFI any more, they were good for low end stuff, bbut now they have gone up market... Not that surprised Richersounds are not making money, the HIFI market has been dead for a long time and it is the lower end market which has completely died.
Hmm... hardly up market but I'm uneasy that around 50% of their hi-fi items are from their own in-house brands.
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As as I've found the quality is not up to the jap stuff. Using that cheap £40 second hand Yamaha now with my mid 90's Rotel pre amp being used as the pre amp (you can bypass the Yamaha's source switch) and its working brilliantly.
Their budget amp is now over £100 and it is not a patch on the cheap stuff Cambridge audio used to make.
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Not been near Comet for 20 years or so. When kids were about 9 or 10 they both had identical stereo systems (cheap admittedly - sort of "own brand" but with a Japanese sounding name). Just 2 months out of year's warranty, one "lost" its LCD display and then could not be switched on. One month later exactly same happened to the other. Went back to shop and explained, suggesting (very politely) that maybe it was a faulty batch and could they have a look at them. Suggestion turned down flatly and was told it would cost £20 to have them examined, then repair cost which was predicted to be more than cost of each of systems. Wrote (very polite) letter to HQ asking them to reconsider. No response. Wrote another letter, slightly stroppy, suggesting "built in obsolescence" (sp??) that was only noticed because we bought 2 at same time. Got reply saying "don't be ridiculous" in almost those words. Wrote back saying I didn't like their attitude and lack of customer service and pointing out that we had, over a few years, spent quite a lot of money at our local Comet - cooker, Tv, various other things also and thought they might at least have a look and see what was wrong with the stereo things.
Got letter back which again said, "out of warranty, bad luck, nothing wrong with our products etc" final letter from me saying that unless they agreed to at least have a look, I would never use Comet again, there are plenty of other retailers I could use. Another "out of warranty etc" reply. Never been in a Comet store since!! Long time to hold a grudge, but made easier by the fact that their store in local town, and another in local shopping centre closed down a few years later. Don't even know where nearest Comet is now.
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I witnessed an unseemly argument in a Comet over a laptop on which the screen had 'just cracked overnight'.
That was more to do with a dishonest customer than poor customer service, but it illustrates the retailers' difficulty in sorting the genuine complaints from the speculative ones.
Assuming the retailer wants to do that.
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Cracked screens are a tricky one, 99% it is down to user error/accidental damage but in some circumstances a manufacturing fault can cause a screen to crack.
Happened to me once, picked up a customers laptop and by the time I got it home the screen had cracked. I had to replace it at my expense, was honest to the customer and told him what had happened.
I am still convinced it was nothing I did which caused it to crack though.
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We used to have a large currys, large comet and large pc world all on the same retail park only seperated by argos and a few sofa stores.
BB announced that they were taking over the old MFI store across the road, so curry's doubled the size of their store and moved the pc world store in under the same roof - it really is huge (I cant begin to imagine what the overheads are).
Anyway, here we are 6 months later and the comet store has shut, and BB will follow suit - looks like DSG might have struck it lucky here
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I doubt it, DSGi really cannot afford to be playing that game, they are on borrowed time them selves.
I would be amazed if it is still around in three years time.
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Always liked Comet, no probs. As for Curry's..................Pah!!
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It's not just other electrical retailers they're up against - Tesco finished Woolies off, and they sell pretty much everything that Comet do.
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Woolies finshed Woolies off. No-one else had any responsibility.
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Wilcos go from strength to strength - just opened a huge store in Norwich, selling a selection of goods very similar to the Woolies of old . What finished Woolies off was years of inept management.
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>>What finished Woolies off was years of inept management<<
Bit like Italy then :(
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no - far worse than that.
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>> >>What finished Woolies off was years of inept management<<
>>
Was offered a job as a trainee manager by Woolies when i was 17, couldn't take it as i was literally blackmailed by my then employer, strange how things in life works out.
Probably a good thing, they'd have gone bust far quicker if i'd been there..;)
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Wilco's head office & main distribution depot is a very short distance from our location. They are major employers in the area and yet, strangely their local store, whilst reasonably large, is not what I would call a "flagship" operation.
Last edited by: Roger on Thu 10 Nov 11 at 12:52
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We've got an Asda distribution warehouse in town. Their nearest shop's fifteen miles away.
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Is that Cribbs Mikey? From what I've seen Comet and Currys/Dixons were struggling as soon as John Lewis opened at the Mall just over the road. Best Buy coming into the mix just meant even fewer shoppers per shop; I assume Comet cut their losses and ran.
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I've always liked Comet I have found their staff, helpfull and I don't need their "knowledge" as I've already done my research on the product I am buying.
DSG, on the other hand I have always found their staff, Rude, Not Interested, and don't even get me started on PC World the 1st and last time I took my PC in there it cost me a round trip of 50 miles for nothing more than a re-format. Its at this point I decided to learn about PC's and sort out issues myself.
The only reason I get my electronic Stuff from Comet is becasue A) Going back some years ago now my sister used to work for Woolworths (Kingfisher group) so we got staff discount.....and now B) I cant wait to get my "new toy" and want it there and then as apposed to waiting in for it to be delivered C) and I've always found the staff helpfull and that counts for a lot in my book.
Last edited by: Redviper on Wed 9 Nov 11 at 23:22
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>>used to work for Woolworths (Kingfisher group)
We had a First Stop discount store for a short while, that sold Kingfisher group items at a massively reduced price.
I recall buying 5L containers of 'diesel' antifreeze at a knock-down price. It was ethylene glycol, the stuff you put in any engine (unless anyone here can tell me diesels use different anti-freeze?).
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Bought a Sony TV & DVD player 14 months ago - £100 less than John Lewis and then I got almost £50 off thru a former employer's scheme.
2 months ago bought a new laptop from Comet, best price around for that model and got £55 off through the same scheme.
All work well and no issues.................except BUYING / picking up the product - took 30-45 minutes on both occasions as they screwed up the input at the tills - fortunately on both occasions there were very few people buying anything.............maybe that is Comet's problem...........big stores and few punters.
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>> Is that Cribbs Mikey? From what I've seen Comet and Currys/Dixons were struggling as soon
>> as John Lewis opened at the Mall just over the road. Best Buy coming into
>> the mix just meant even fewer shoppers per shop; I assume Comet cut their losses
>> and ran.
>>
Yep, that's the one. Forgot to add the new tesco home type outfit across the road to.
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>> I know why Best Buy failed, they are singularly (here, but specially in the US)
>> the worse shopping experience available.
That, and after the first rush of "ooh look, BB are coming to the UK" chatter in the press ahead of their arrival, I never heard a thing from them. No marketing or advertising, no publicity at all. Seemed a very half-hearted venture at best.
SWMBO works for John Lewis, and I work for a big electronics manufacturer, so staff purchases cover most of our requirements these days.
Last edited by: DP on Thu 10 Nov 11 at 12:24
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Comet sold for £2. - Cliff Pope
