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So, it looks like Comet’s sad demise is to end with the different arms being chopped up and flogged off to the rest of the UK retail electronics industry. After stabilising the business, administrators Deloitte’s are now looking at which profitable living chunks they can rip off the great sinking HMS Comet.
According to “sources involved in discussions”, Dixons is looking at snapping up “five or six” of the stores, but only in retail parks where there’s no overlap. To be fair, Dixons has already had a fair bit of profit out of Comet’s demise, poaching 3,000 of their (well-trained?) staff.
Maplins, that other great high-street juggernaut, is apparently also looking at some of the stores, and other sources say it’s made a bid for the online part of the Comet operation. Lesser-known e-commerce sites like Shop Direct and Appliances Direct are also said to be interested in Comet online, since apparently the brand name is valuable — to be fair, a household name would make consumer more confident with buying online.
Sadly, the outlook isn’t so good for Comet’s employees; Deloitte’s started to swing the axe, with 330 staff getting the boot last week — though all back-office staff, the sales worker bees seem to be safe for now. [The Register]
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Rest in peace, Comet. I only ever shopped there once. It was nice.
Good riddance. I never had a good experience shopping there.
I went there twice, once to check out the telly in person which we will order online. I hate it when they stalk you and act as if you’re a fly who got stuck in their web which has been empty for ages.
Another time was to ask if they have the laptop we saw online which they don’t. They sale people were surprised at the price of the deal I saw online and said it can’t be true. It was true and I’m using the laptop right now.
I think high street stores are showrooms for online purchases. The sales people don’t even know what deals they have on the company’s website and most of them are not very techie as they should be. They will say anything to make a sale.
I went there and was told that they couldn’t honour the price that was on the website. The guy said “Well you’ll have to either pay the full price here or order it online and wait for delivery.” He made it sound as though ordering online would be the MOST ARDUOUS TASK. He was an arse.
I went elsewhere and they lowered the price as much as they could to match the online price.
Another time I went there I was after a washing machine I think, whatever it was the guy had NO CLUE about it. He was in charge of that section. I walked out, I’m not going to spend my money with an idiot.
The last time I went there was last week to get a cheap printer in their “We’re too shit for life” sale. There was a member of staff talking to a customer about dogs. Yes, dogs. They both had Jack Russels. I clearly wanted his help with something, but he consistently ignored me until I butted into their conversation and asked a question about the printer. He turned around and said (I shit you not) “I’m actually with a customer at the moment, you’ll have to go to the front desk if you need help.”
In all honesty, I’m amazed they’ve lasted this long.
+1 for talking to dogs. Made me laugh
With such appalling customer service it’s not a surprise they’ll close.
It was always much more fun traipsing round the shops for electrical stuff; theres only really Currys left and a few department stores. Lets hope it keeps going.
It would be terrible if electrical stores disappeared from the high street like all the record shops.