Hooking up a SCART cable, claiming it's just a cheap HDMI cable, in order to get customers to part with money is fraud. If Comet, or any other retailer for that matter, is doing this in more than one instance, I can't see any reason why it shouldn't be taking further.
Yes, there's no point reporting fraudulent and misleading selling practices because its in the interests of consumers to get screwed over . I forgot Krazeh was a bought and paid for subsidiary of business interests in general
Oh my giddy aunt. Did any of you actually read what I wrote properly? You may want to re-read the first line of my post. Here i'll quote it for clarity - I never said anything about not reporting fraudulent practices if you have proof it's an ongoing problem but do you have that proof? If all you've got is one incident which Comet have said to you was an isolated event which shouldn't have happened then what do you expect to happen if you take it further? Oh, and streetuk having a sales person tell you that you'll need a better HDMI cable if you have a bigger TV isn't the same thing as hooking up one TV with a scart cable and one with a HDMI cable and then using them as a quality comparison between cheap and expensive HDMI cables.
Generally it's tough for a single consumer to prove ongoing problems. Organisations such as Consumer Direct, Trading Standards, the BBC, etc. are much better at proving such things. If you saw a murder in the street, would you wait to see whether it was an ongoing problem, see if it happened again, or would you report it? I'd do the latter and that's what I'd advise with fraud too.
Do you really think any of them would do anything if he did report it further? Even if they did manage to contact Comet they'll just get the same response streetuk has already had from them and chances are they'll just leave it at that. If he's that bothered then he'll need to put some legwork in before reporting it further if he really wants any hope of further action being taken. And do we seriously have to resort to the ridiculous analogies?
For all we know, this may be the second or third or thirtieth such report. Perhaps it's a widespread practice. Maybe it's a one-off but maybe not. By the way, if you're going down the ridiculous route of saying "Don't report crime, it may never happen again" then yes, I'll keep with the analogies.
If a consumer watchdog exposed them and made the public more conscious of the issue (if it is widespread which it is bound to be), the misleading practices, especially the outright fraud of putting a scart cable in place of a hdmi cable, would stop considerably. So reporting it in that sense would be beneficial.
I never said anything like that. He saw something, he reported it to Comet, they responded to apologise, explain the point of the display and advise that the store would be taking remedial action. So the 'crime' has already been reported and dealt with. Well if it's that widespread then it wouldn't be tricky to gather some further evidence to show that the complaint wasn't based on an isolated incident that the company has already apologised for and stated they'll be taking remedial action to ensure it doesn't occur again would it?
Has it, though? We know that Comet have 'apologised' but we're still looking at one individual's experience. We don't have the bigger picture - we don't know if this is restricted to one store or if it's widespread (mal)practice. We don't know whether the store is still doing it, conning other people into buying a £60 HDMI cable from the demonstration of the difference between it and a £20 cable that isn't even HDMI. Again, this is where national organisations like Consumer Direct and the BBC come in. They may be sitting on a number of cases, looking for just one more to tip the balance and run a feature on this or to launch a full investigation. There's precisely zero reason not to tell those organisations what has happened... none unless you're wanting to run the same scam yourself. Even if this is a one-off, what's the worst that could happen - they'll say "thanks for the info" and that'll be the end of it.
That'd hardly be difficult to find out for yourself, it doesn't need a national organisation to check. I don't necessarily disagree with sending them a "FYI" with a copy of what was sent to Comet and the response but the implication I took was that he should make a formal complaint to them about it which is what I don't see the point in doing unless you have evidence that it's more than an isolated incident.
Okay, how would an individual check whether this is a widespread problem? People report consumer problems to these organisations but their reports aren't published, so how would you check whether other people have reported these issues? Fine, good. Since when is it the consumer's responsibility to gather such evidence? That's what ConsumerDirect is there for, that's what the BBC does with its Watchdog programme and Rogue Traders. People report things to them, they build up a casefile on the trader / retailer / supplier, and they make TV programmes or take them to court or whatever's appropriate.
You don't need to check whether other people have reported these issues. Return to the same store in a few weeks and see if it's still happening, or visit another nearby comet (or other high street retailer) store to see if it's happening there, or ask family/friends if they'd mind popping into a store near them to check it out. All simple ways to try and gather a little evidence that what Comet's head office and the store manager said were lies and that it wasn't an isolated incident. It's always been the consumer's responsibility to gather appropriate evidence for any complaint they wish to make. These organisations are there to ensure that companies comply with the law, not to chase up every single person's reported gripe with a company (well maybe not so much Watchdog and Rogue Traders which are more interested in what they think will make the best TV but certainly Trading Standards are). Especially gripes that have been raised with the company in question and had a response stating that remedial action is going to be taken.
I'd agree with going in, looking for more evidence, etc. if you were going to take them to court yourself but nobody here is advocating that. Reporting the incident to ConsumerDirect and/or the BBC's Watchdog programme is all we're talking about here. There's enough evidence in the original post here to warrant reporting the incident, I feel.
You missed the 'Anyone with commonsense' part- anyone able to think for themselves wouldn't trust an in-store demo like that, especially if they can see which cables are being used to try and trick them ( as stated in the OP ).
@ streetuk and first post. I've just got to share my personal experience on this subject. I worked for a short time as a salesman in a similar store in sweden (one of the biggest). I was pretty shocked by how useless the company was when it comes to educating the personnel. When I first started I recieved no information on the different products, only info on selling add on insurances and credit cards ( the things with most profit). First day I witnessed how a slightly mentally disabled kid walks in and asks for a Laptop with good graphics to play the latest games. The kid said he was prepared to spend quite a lot, but the salesman shows him a cheaper computer and told him it was really good for all the latest games. I later checked the spec of this PC and saw that it was pure crap when it comes to the games this kid wanted to play. It turned out that this cheap PC had a speciall bonus on it that ment that for every one of these PCs that a salesman sold, he got a 30$ bonus on his paycheck. Another salesman tried to sell a D-link wireless usb dongle as an IR keyboard reciever despite me stopping him. Regarding the cable scam, I might not be a deliberate scam but more a case of uneducated personell that cant even tell on from off. Sadly a very common thing. But they indeed have their tricks to sell acessories. You naturally pay a higher price in a store with salesmen than on the net because of the cost of the personnel. But that higher price should give you a well educated personnel who gives you professional advice on what product that best suits you and your needs. Unfortunately that kind of personnel is very rare. I don't think Ill have to say that I quit that jobb.
Funny enough the daily mail has just made a report on this exact issue, seems its not just one store but many http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2022949/HDTV-cable--2-leads-work-just-100-ones.html
That's not a report on the exact issue raised by the OP. There's no mention in there at all about stores running scams the same as or similar to the one mentioned in the first post.
True, but it is relevant as such- given the number of drones who read the daily fail it can only help educate people about this kind of issue.
