Comet lives electricals but leaves them standing

Comet lives electricals but leaves them standing

As every landlord knows, modern tenants are picky. They demand luxuries like a watertight roof and a functioning washing machine. Because of this Jessica Brooks, who lets a flat in London, bought an insurance policy, reassuringly named "Fix it for me", when she purchased a washing machine from Comet.

After a while the machine grew sick, but happily it was five weeks before the policy was due to expire, so Brooks called on Comet to arrange a cure. Seven weeks later her tenants were still footing large bills at the local launderette. A technician had turned up and looked at the appliance, but couldn't decide whether it should be repaired or replaced. He took a few souvenir photos of it and left the scene.

Comet decided to attempt a repair so technician number two arrived. He too contemplated the machine and decided he could not begin surgery until the machine had been moved from the small room in which it lived to a spot downstairs. But health and safety forebade him to attempt this feat so he left.

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Brooks then started making daily calls to Comet, which insisted the case was closed. It also insisted she must move the machine herself, despite the fact she lived 600 miles away and her tenants were willing to help if a technician could advise on how to do it.

Brooks, unwilling to make a 1,200 mile round trip from her home to lug metal eventually found a relative who could oblige, but feared Comet was stalling so the insurance policy would expire before the repair was done. Sure enough, a call centre operative told her time was running out and so a technician was hastily booked. He arrived, contemplated, mentioned that the machine need never have been moved, and concluded that a repair was beyond him. He called head office to say as much and was apparently told he had been sent out on the wrong job.

And so the hilarity continued. Brooks was told that the machine was beyond economical repair, but the Beyond economical repair department would not ring her until she had received a letter from Comet stating as much and had taken it to the branch where she had bought the machine to be validated. And Brooks could not readily do that because that store was so far away. Meanwhile, the remaining days of her instance cover were slipping by …

Comet blames an "unfortunate set of circumstances". The first engineer, it says, explained to the tenants that the machine could not be repaired in situ and the second couldn't work on it because it hadn't been moved as allegedly requested. The third was incapacitated by a lack of parts, for which Comet apologises. But everyone, even electrical retailers, has an affection for the press so at the behest of the Guardian the shop has mustered a replacement machine and delivered it promptly along with £40 of gift vouchers to help Brooks buy and insure another Comet product.

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