Comet Collapse.
 

I got an e-mail from our corporate discount scheme today about Comet.


Seems they are on the brink of collapse.

Re: Comet Collapse.
 

Yep it's been all over the bbc news this morning

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20164228

Re: Comet Collapse.
 

It's been on the cards for a while sadly. Our local Comet has looked like it's been in the middle of a clearance sale for ages.

Re: Comet Collapse.
 

They were bought for £2 a couple of years back so not really much of a surprise. I look at this as their own fault for buying out the competition without improving on anything over the years, it's much like the whole GAME debacle.

Re: Comet Collapse.
 

I noticed the same when I went into my local store a couple of weeks ago, ended up going to the Pc Ŵorld/Currys superstore instead.

Re: Comet Collapse.
 

l remember us buying a washing machine from them and we asked for it to be plumbed in and then 2 days later after it was plumbed in we had a flood in the kitchen due to their incompetence and yet they refused to pay any compensation even though it was quite clearly their fault.

Re: Comet Collapse.
 

Not much of a step up there lol. ;)

Re: Comet Collapse.
 

I have never bought anything from Comet but I did check out the Comet store in Kettering some 20 odd years ago.

Sadly it looked just as you describe. :(

So their demise is no big surprise to me. The only surprise is they lasted for so long.

Re: Comet Collapse.
 

Good Riddance..... rubbish store is rubbish. :td:

very unpleasant for the employees,though.

Re: Comet Collapse.
 

O2 will be happy as they will not have to offer staff discounts

Re: Comet Collapse.
 

So that pretty much leaves the Dixons group with the entire UK electronics market to itself? That's got to be bad news for the consumer.

Re: Comet Collapse.
 

There have been unsolicited bids to OpCapita for the company caused ironically by rising sales which has caused the suppliers to get a bit twitchy and insist on payment up front for stock so i doubt that comet will disappear just be a lot smaller and part of another group

Re: Comet Collapse.
 

most of these stores are in out of town shopping centres not the high street. Just being doubly pedantic lol

Re: Comet Collapse.
 

Comet, Dixons, Currys. Get rid of them all.

Stopped shopping there many years ago.

Re: Comet Collapse.
 

the one near me looks like a charity shop



Message on comet website:

"Sorry comet.co.uk is currently unavailable please try again later"

Re: Comet Collapse.
 

Not really, Supermarkets like Tesco have been steadily eroding the market of the box shifting, but non specialist electronics store. You also have increased presence of more specialist retailers like Richer Sounds that certainly in Sound and Vision have far excelled the Comet / Currys and Supermarkets. And of course retailers with perceived quality like John Lewis have also been moving into the market.

I find it interesting that where for a while the Dixons group were opening separate PC world stores to their Currys chain, the majority of them now seem to be combined PC World / Currys outlets. They seem to at least be trying to evolve.

Comet stagnated and couldn't update themselves to compete with either modern box shifting retail or internet, yet were too bloated to be seen as specialist. Staff are unfortunately the losers as management failed to manage.

Re: Comet Collapse.
 

its interesting how many people on the net seem to be taking pleasure in a british firm folding and around 6500 people now faced with unemployment in one go....

Re: Comet Collapse.
 

We went in Currys the other week with a shopping list - we needed a new combi microwave, cordless vac and a Freesat PVR. The in-store prices of all three items were just ridiculous. We came home and got a Dyson Digital Slim from an independent retailer via Amazon, an Echostar PVR from another independent store and the microwave from the co-op online.

DSG may have the last large, dedicated chain of electrical stores but it only has anything resembling a monopoly if you're unable or unwilling to buy your goods online.

Re: Comet Collapse.
 

Sorry am I really the only person that thinks it is bad news that ANY business closes, how ever you rate them. Less taxes paid, unemployment benefit increased. All in all it brings no good to anyone. Have to say its not a store I use a lot If its a "box" I want tend to use Argos - as I have to drive pass one & the price normally is not that far off. If a "planned" purchase then go to local independent for white goods when ever possible.

Re: Comet Collapse.
 

My friend's husband works for Comet, so the possibility of him losing his job is not good news.

Re: Comet Collapse.
 

http://storage.comet.co.uk/www/splash/html/splash.html

Comet website now announces sale coming soon, also informs the visitor that Comet is indeed in Aministration and lists the Administrators.

Re: Comet Collapse.
 

What annoys me is that gift vouchers are worth SFA, surely thats theft?

Do what I do, I give gift vouchers that are reckonised in every shop in the UK, they are called Sterling.

Re: Comet Collapse.
 

They have reinstated the non corporate gift vouchers

Re: Comet Collapse.
 

Called into a local Comet store this lunchtime, certainly no firesale at this moment.
Most things on view still at high prices, compared to Argos couple of shops away.

Re: Comet Collapse.
 

I am off to a store today as i am after a new laptop or possibly an iMac.

Re: Comet Collapse.
 

Sale is in store only so you are not going to get scammed by out of stock online purchase.

Phil let us know if its worth having a look

Re: Comet Collapse.
 

Will do.

Re: Comet Collapse.
 

I was in the Stirling branch yesterday. Large items tend to be 10% off marked price, peripherals and small appliances are usually 20% off. They are only accepting returns in accordance with statutory rights (I.e. you can't take it back if you decide you don't like the colour). Actually they are trying to get people to use the manufacturer's warranty rather than return it to the store if the item is broken, which is sensible considering the stores will be closing in a couple of months, however they're still legally obliged to deal with it if you take it to them.

I got a Sony camcorder for about £250.

Re: Comet Collapse.
 

Not if they close all stores.

The main thing is that many electrial products can have upto 6 years MFG warrenty but they don't shout about it, IIRC it was on watchdog or similar program.

Re: Comet Collapse.
 

What price were air fryers?

Re: Comet Collapse.
 

well yes, that's kind of implicit in the whole notion of taking it back to them. You can't do that if they're not there. ;)

Re: Comet Collapse.
 

You can probably get a better deal elsewhere as the reductions are not that great and some manufacturers are not allowing them to sell their goods and are asking for them back according to the staff member I heard speaking to a customer on Friday, I got my item cheaper in Currys even after the discount applied in Comet.

Re: Comet Collapse.
 

Well i visited a store this afternoon and the prices were not all that low on most things.
However i bought a laptop and saved around £75 compared with other retailers selling the same one.
My daughter bought a TV too.

Re: Comet Collapse.
 

Why you say that? There is still Dixons group and supermarkets are doing well as well. Of course supermarkers cant compete with Dixons for customer service and the type or ranges and upto date tech but there are still other places to shop if needed

Dixons is offering some of these employees a chance to work in the Dixons group over the xmas period. 2000 people i believe

From what i have heard the sale will only be 10% off everything

Re: Comet Collapse.
 

i will miss the competion as it leaves to few stores competing for our money as many online stores are now taking over with either very competitive prices or deals that cannot be matched on the high street.

Re: Comet Collapse.
 

went past my comet yesterday and it was closed, as was the distribution centre.

Re: Comet Collapse.
 

apparently there has been a few bids

http://news.sky.com/story/1015410/co...nline-retailer

Re: Comet Collapse.
 

I heard that some of head office and the HDN are closing down as well

Re: Comet Collapse.
 

I visited the Stirling branch again yesterday. It was still open but it was almost totally bare.

Re: Comet Collapse.
 

Not be long before all the stores are empty and have the closed sign on them forever

Re: Comet Collapse.
 

Re: Comet Collapse.
 

Sorry for the staff just before Christmas, but, good riddance!

When I was young and rich about 20 years ago I walked into a Comet store with my copy of Home Cinema Choice in hand and declared I wanted to spend a lot of money on the biggest tv they had. Now thinking that spending 2k on a tv would alight their attention and I'd have staff jumping up to help me, I was wrong.

When I went and asked the staff members in the tv section (they were all together watching tv...) if I could have the remotes for the tvs I wanted to look at (they were all locked away) the response I got was "buy the tvs, then you get the remotes."

There's nothing like British customer service.:)

Re: Comet Collapse.
 

Reminds me of my experience in a local small hifi/home cinema shop. About 14 years ago, I was looking for a home cinema system. I had scrimped and saved for months and had around £900.

Now, I do genuinely believe that we should support our local businesses where possible so I went to a local home cinema shop. When he discovered I only had £900 he looked at me like I was something he might have stepped in, and said "well you might get something for that". He was right, I did. Not there though. I went up Tottenham Court Road, bought a Pioneer VSX-808, 5 good (ish) speakers (didn't get a sub as I didn't want to offend my neighbours) and all the right cables. A set up that's still giving good service

Re: Comet Collapse.
 

A tad misleading those figures .The payments will be made up of redundancy payments part funded by NI contributions (not sure what the% is) and holiday pay and notice if none given .Any holiday pay and notice payed will be taxed