The Comet in administration thread

[Obelix 11]

I have used bell wire for speaker cable, and mains flex, and expensive pure copper stuff and all sorts. I've certainly spend more than £1 a metre, and that was 15 years ago. Cable makes a difference if the signal is analogue.

 

Digital connections - such as HDMI - either work or do not work.

 

All big chains make their money with these add ons. B&Q is the same - reasonably priced if you want bags of cement or large pieces of wood, but way, way more expensive than your local, friendly, helpful hardware shop if you want a hinge and a couple of screws.

 

I once took part in a proper double blinded study using some exceedingly good hifi kit to see what people thought of different cables types and what the perception actually was. The idea was to see if their expensive cable was actually worth the money.

 

The cables tested were all 10m of

 

26awg bell wire.

3A mains flex

2.5sqmm twin and earth

A "standard" multistrand loudspeaker cable, which they called CableA, and probably about 3sqmm

A better litz wire style, that was exactly the same as CableA and each strand was indivudually lacquered for skin effect.

Their expensive cable, which was CableA, but with a silver plate and then lacquered.

 

Test music samples were Mozarts Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, Europes Final Coundown, Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights, and a news recording from Radio 4 of the Berlin Wall.

 

We were given a booth, which had the speakers mounted in the walls, and we couldn't see the backs of them. We had a console to allow us to play and rewind the samples, from what was a large reel to reel recorder using 15ips tapes. When we wanted to swap the cables, we pushed a lever to pick the one that was wanted and they then played another track on a third speaker so we couldnt hear them swapping the cables in the backs of the test speakers.

 

The critera given was very simple. "Which cables sound best for each track"

 

It was abundandtly clear which were the bell wire and the 3A speaker cables and we were later told that no-one picked them. More interestingly was the twin and earth - about 20% of the selections picked that as the best.

 

The remaining 80% picked one of the stranded cables and the report concluded that people picked these with "a preference that was no better than random" meaning that there was really no difference at all, for all but the Kate Bush sample. In that case, bearing in mind that there was a lot of high frequencies, then there was a small bias to the individually stranded cables, but there was no preference better than random towards the sliver plated cables.

 

The conclusion was that you'd be best off with a simple individual lacquer cable, at about 60p a yard (it was about 20 years back) and unless you had the very best hifi system going, you might just as well use twin and earth if you had any lying about.

[CHEZZFAYE 10]

my grandparents bought a dryer from comet on the 29th it was supposed to be delivered today and guess what its a no show. my mums been to the store and they have some in stock but we cant collect but it says on the website

I have fully paid/ part paid for Goods which have not been delivered as yet. Will I still receive my Goods? Provided your order has been paid for in full and the item is currently in stock at one of the distribution centres or is already in process of being delivered by the Home Delivery Platforms, it is intended that existing orders/deliveries will be delivered and installed as normal.

 

Where the item for an existing order is not currently in stock, this delivery cannot now be made.

 

New orders or payments for home delivery are not being accepted at this time.

 

as far as im concerned it should arrive but just incase does anyone know what we could say to them tomorrow, when we try again

[Andy 10]

There is nothing you can say to them. The company is in Administration and staff in stores won't be authorised to release stock. Unfortunately when a firm is placed in Administration the Administrators don't have to honour existing orders.

 

Assuming it's in stock at a distribution centre (not a store) then it will be delivered.

 

You could try calling Comet's helpline on 0844 800 95 95 and asking whether your order will be fulfilled.

 

If the worse comes to the worse, how did your grandparents pay for the dryer? They will be able to claim a refund from their card company if they paid by credit card.

[Andy 10]

If you've got gift vouchers which were bought by a member of the public, you can now use them: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20228579 Be quick!

 

Unfortunately those vouchers bought by companies (I assume this includes those used by the likes of Direct Line to settle insurance claims) remain suspended for the time being.

[LeMaquis 10]

Citizens Advice consumer helpline is 08454 04 05 06 if you have no luck contacting Comet.

[Andy 10]

Citizens Advice consumer helpline is 08454 04 05 06 if you have no luck contacting Comet.

 

They won't be able to help. The simple facts are as posted above. Your best hope is that the item is in stock and will be delivered shortly, but if not your second best hope is the credit card company.

 

Even if you attempted to take Comet to court and won, you would still be an unsecured creditor so wouldn't automatically get any money back.

[CHEZZFAYE 10]

There is nothing you can say to them. The company is in Administration and staff in stores won't be authorised to release stock. Unfortunately when a firm is placed in Administration the Administrators don't have to honour existing orders.

 

Assuming it's in stock at a distribution centre (not a store) then it will be delivered.

 

You could try calling Comet's helpline on 0844 800 95 95 and asking whether your order will be fulfilled.

 

If the worse comes to the worse, how did your grandparents pay for the dryer? They will be able to claim a refund from their card company if they paid by credit card.

thanks for that, they paid in cash

[CHEZZFAYE 10]

They won't be able to help. The simple facts are as posted above. Your best hope is that the item is in stock and will be delivered shortly, but if not your second best hope is the credit card company.

 

Even if you attempted to take Comet to court and won, you would still be an unsecured creditor so wouldn't automatically get any money back.

i had a horrible feeling someone would say that, thats £250 down the drain

[Andy 10]

thanks for that, they paid in cash

 

That is unfortunate - I'd call the helpline tomorrow and see if they know whether the item is scheduled for delivery. It may just be that the delivery is delayed because of what's happened.

[cv65user 10]

when you say bought from comet. are u saying from the internet or from store.

 

if from internet its effectively a different business so no

if from store then i am not sure.

[CHEZZFAYE 10]

from store i went to get one so they decided 2 as well, i picked mine up from store they took up the free delivery option

[Total Chaos 10]

For anyone in future, in this day and age, pay by credit card for every thing online,instore,at least until the credit card companies change there tems and conditions (watch this space)