I used to like Comet

But hate the hard sell on warranties and the fact you just cant have a stroll around in peace and quiet to make your own mind up

and some 17 year old trying to tell you what to buy .......................... must be getting old !

If I remember correctly, in the 70s they were almost literally a warehouse. I believe they started out selling batteries in Hull in the 1930s and then expanded to sell other electrical goods. Their newspaper adverts were basically long price lists and you would go into a store and order the item at the counter, like a trade warehouse. They sold audio separates back in the day; I bought a Pioneer PL12D turntable from them but it was faulty and inevitably they insisted on repairing it not giving a replacement!

Ah yes those were the days, I remember going to a warehouse they had I think near Wembley on the North Circular, I bought a Marantz SD-320 cassette deck there. A few months later it went faulty and they insisted on repair but it came back worse than it went, they gave me a store credit to get something else. I found it was a much more enjoyable experience then, looking down the long list in the advert in the paper and then going to see if they had what you wanted on display and then ordering it, sometimes they had it in stock.

Nowadays I won't set foot in one, my BiL is a sales manager for a Comet store and he really is the epitome of bad CS, once he's got your money you can f-off is pretty much his attitude.

I did not say any of that was not true. My point is IF they can't then they will close I did not say they could compete online retailers. People don't care if they can touch there item or walk away with them that day Its called reviews and patience.

The more and more people come internet friendly the more stores will be affected and we will only be left with the more essential stores.

Yes - I'm not in the retail business, but I've long said that good service is a commodity that has to be paid for just like anything else.

Bad news for the staff but I share the common view of Comet. Fairly run down looking stores, no price advantage , staff that huddle in corners chattering amongst themselves and when you do attract the attention of one of them, almost non-existant product knowledge.

To be fair, their arch enemy Curry's is no better. Interesting too that whenever I have undertaken price comparisons between these two companies on an item, they are always priced identically.

In Nottingham Best Buy have just opened on the same retail park as Comet and Currys, the day before opening I went into Currys to have a look at TV's - easily the highest priced items in the store and could find no sales assistant to assist me, they were in the corner huddled together and outside smoking. Comet was as bad. The day before one of the worlds biggest electrical retailer opens they couldn't be arsed. Both will go to the wall, just a matter of time.

That will be Comet where the manager tried to sell a warranty to my mate on his LCD because "they suffer from screen burn"

Wont miss them.

If your mate doesn't want to invest in a warranty, he should definitely consider spending £100 on a Monster HDMI cable which will reduce the effects of screen burn and also enhance the picture with richer reds and deeper blacks.

Weird wording
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_Group
Sounds like they only have stores in the uk any how.

I think adam carolla explained this best, if they want to sell you a warranty, you don't want it If they mutter it under their breath or try to hide it as if they lost money on the service, then yea you probably need it

I may be unusual but I don't mind paying a few extra quid if it means avoiding ghastly places like Comet and their ravenous commission-hungry staff. Richer Sounds and John Lewis have had most of my custom recently.

John Lewis is pretty good, every time I'm over in the UK I go in there and browse through their electronics department (and other departments lol). I bought my Macbook Pro from there as the warranty was good (2 years free IIRC) and it's not as crazy to buy from as the Apple store. Was definitely cheaper than buying here in Ireland.

This is just a sign of the times, Focus went belly up last week, who'd have thought that. Keen prices on the internet plus overnight delivery makes shopping from home easy, certainly if you know the product and don't need to 'see' it.

A major problem for retailers though is staff attitude. Staff seem to be poorly trained in the UK compared to some other countries. Poor product knowledge and a poor attitude seem common place. Why drive to a store only to be greeted by staff who very often cannot answer your questions and where your often expected to pay over the odds prices.

In my local town, we have a nice indoor market, perhaps forty sellers in there, all moaning about how bad business is. Now this place opens about 09:00, shuts officially at 17:00 but more often than not the stalls have boarded up around 16:30 and they don't open on Sunday's. They miss out on hundreds of people who are on their way to work and later when on their way home plus missing the Sunday family shop so sometimes we can't just blame the internet for the demise of traditional retailers.

In ten years time the only retail outlets on our hight streets may be Starbucks, McD's and bars

Yes, it's sad but true.

Amazon now offers a same day delivery service. Regular customers can pay an annual fee and pay little, or nothing, for this service - depending on their post code.

One reason I still resort to visiting places like Argos, PC World or Comet is the ability to get something there and then. Sometimes when buying on impulse (or desperation, e.g. the kettle breaks) you just can't wait for next day delivery.

I find the service is pretty poor in PC World and Comet (to be fair, Comet around here seems to employ people who appear to like their job a little more than PC World where they're staring at their watch waiting to go home) but it still seems good in places like John Lewis - except they have a smaller range of electricals. Best Buy seems like it has a lot of potential, but it will still only be as good as the staff it employs.

We will all regret allowing these stores to close, but nobody can stop it happening as it's not exactly possible to suddenly go out and give money to these shops simply to keep them there!

That's what I like about normal shops too. I also like to be able to look at the products before buying and even try them out (important with stuff like laptops or TVs).

Good, innit ?

Although most prices are set nationally, I'd keep an eye out for 'managers specials'.

A Richer Sounds in Derby would be good as well.

I guess the problem (and it's not a recent one) is that you go to a shop, get to see the product, get good advice from a friendly sales person, and should then BUY IT THERE - and not go pulling out your iPhone to look up the price online, find it on Amazon for less and use one-click buy only to (effectively) give the staff member two fingers and help do him - and the shop - out of a job.

Now, PC World has at least wised up a little and now lets you get the online price in store, even if in theory you still need to go online to get a reservation code for them to enter at the till to give the lower price. Now, with any smartphone it is easy to do in the store, even if seems a bit stupid.

PC World online seems to attempt to compete with other online suppliers on more things than it once did. I actually found a small little Wi-Fi USB dongle £5 cheaper at PC World than any other online retailer, but only by reserving it (the in-store price was much higher).

I do have many, many horror stories of the bad service from high street retailers - but I would miss them if they all closed down and the only place you could buy anything was Tesco.