PCR Tech and IT retail, distribution and vendor news
Comet on Call was launched across two thirds of the country last week and is expected to be nationwide by the end of June. It will be offered to all Comet customers, but also marketed as a stand-alone service to all PC users.
Stuart Lacey, the head of Comet on Call, spoke exclusively to PC Retail about the move. “Comet’s vision is to be Britain’s most trusted electrical retailer,” he said. “For this reason we want to have ownership of the post-sales support for computers, as we already do for brown and white goods.”
“We also identified tech support as a market opportunity in its own right and we’re considering extending the support to mobile phones, MP3 players, satnav devices and digital cameras.”
Lacey conceded that the launch is in direct competition with DSG’s Tech Guys, but it will also be competing with Geek Squad (a US brand apparently already launched in the UK with the cooperation of Carphone Warehouse) and with independent techies.
In fact, with its prices apparently being close to those of Tech Guys, Comet on Call is hoping to differentiate itself with a more personal, trustworthy level of support – the traditional strength of the independent.
“We will have better staff and better training,” claimed Lacey. “We will offer on-site and remote support. One offering we have that is not available through Tech Guys is for our phone support people to be able to remotely log in to a customer’s PC.”
Comet on Call is currently only available to two thirds of the country, mainly in Scotland and the north of England, but will be rolled out to the rest of the country by the end of June. This will be accompanied by an extensive above-the-line advertising campaign, designed primarily to attract people who aren’t Comet customers to use the service regardless.