fourteen | profi le

l
e
Comet
ofi
Every issue SupportWorld talks to the teams who fi nd
themselves in the frontline when it comes to delivering
pr
outstanding service to customers. This month we speak to
Rob Gwatkin, service desk manager at Comet. If you would like
us to feature a profi le of your IT support team please
email info@supportworld.co.uk
F
ounded in 1933 by George
Hollingbery in Hull as Comet Battery
Stores Limited, Comet started life
as a two man business charging
batteries and accumulators for customer
wireless sets. The Company then moved in
to the radio rental business and by 1939 had
2,500 accounts with a small fl eet of vans. In
1968 they became pioneers of out-of-town
electrical retailing by opening the fi rst Comet
superstore in Hull. Today, with more than
250 stores across the UK, Comet is part of
KESA Electricals plc, a pan-European group
operating in 12 countries. All of the group’s
operating companies share a common trading
philosophy which is based on three principles:
best price, best choice, best service.
While many of us have either shopped at a
Comet store or seen their ‘We Live Electicals’
TV ads, most of us know little about their
Service Desk operations. Rob Gwatkin
explains exactly how Comet delivers IT
support from its call centre in Hull.
What types of customers do you support?
What are their technical abilities and what
common incidents do you receive?
We support every colleague in the company,
permanent temporary or contract. From store
sales assistants, warehouse, distribution &
delivery, service centres, call centres, head
offi ce right through to our MD. Technical ability
varies from colleague to colleague with some
colleagues only ever using a computer at work
right through to the hardened home techie.
Common incidents are wide ranging but
include store terminal failures, printer faults,
password resets for some older systems and
e-mail faults.
When you wake up, what is the fi rst thing
that pops into your mind?
What’s going to happen today then?
august.september | 2009 www.supportworld.co.uk
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