Komplett close some operations across Europe

The_Conductor

From The Register:

Online computer components retailer Komplett ASA has pulled the plug on several of its European websites.

The Norway-based firm today shut down a number of its operations across Europe, including its British, French and German websites.

The channel outfit, which has 16 internet shops in 10 countries, posted the following statement at Komplett.co.uk:

As of 24 June 2008, Komplett.co.uk has closed down its UK operations. We regret to inform you that it is no longer possible for UK customers to make any purchases from Komplett.co.uk anymore.

We value the customers who bought products from us in the past. Therefore – for the time being, our UK customer service will remain available for enquiries and warranty questions on products bought from Komplett.co.uk. You can contact our customer service department by sending an e-mail to: service@komplett.co.uk. We will do our utmost to answer any e-mail within 2 working days.

The firm’s German, French and Austrian websites have also closed and are carrying similar statements about Komplett's demise.

It is not clear at this stage whether the company plans to close its remaining websites in Ireland, Holland, Belgium, Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

No one at Komplett, including the firm's CEO Ole Vinje, could be immediately reached for comment at time of writing. ®

Tails142

That's crazy - I use Komplett for most of my online electronics purchases, would make me think twice about using them again if they're just going to shut up shop like that.

dubmick

jaysus, I hope the Irish site doesn't close.

Basq

Mad stuff though can't say I've bought a single thing from them - never make large enough purchases to justify the €12 delivery or whatever!

Would be terrible if it's closed though we'd still have Pixmania (although people's views of Pixmania are patchy).

Mountjoy Mugger

Didn't they just recently appoint an Irish area manager?

dubmick

I've bought lots of stuff from them and usually found that they are cheaper than others including postage

Edit to add: A customer service bloke told me they are arranging a free collection point in Santry

mickoneill30

That's a pity. Hope the Irish site doesn't close. I've bought a few things from them and always had great service.

skywalker

Id be sorry to see them go if they do close, but to be fair they've been getting slightly less competitive in small increments for ages now. While its still one of the sites Id check when making a tech purchase I dont buy from them nearly as much as I once did.

Onikage

Seems like they just eliminated the less profitable outfits, at least I hope so. They are pretty competitive in terms of Irish businesses despite the high shipping costs. And I like the weekly deal section, just wish dabs did one!

Tragedy

Used to use them for everything, first they introduced really high shipping costs and then the price slowly started to increase compared to UK shops - and that was before the weak sterling. Not used them in 3-4 years now I'd say.

I wonder if Per Anders Tveit still works for them? He was awesome.

justsomebloke

Tragedy wrote: »

Used to use them for everything, first they introduced really high shipping costs and then the price slowly started to increase compared to UK shops - and that was before the weak sterling. Not used them in 3-4 years now I'd say.

I'd say these though are the same reasons that keeping the Irish website open may still be a viable option.

yoyo

How is this a bargain alert? I don't see any mention of a closing sale, also hope Irish Komplett stays, they've always been a top notch service imo

Nick

WellyJ

Do you people not realise that there is an actual Komplett forum right here on boards?

With a very helpful Komplett rep (McKomplett)

Who has already confirmed today that this does not affect the .ie site whatsoever.

bk

basquille wrote: »

Mad stuff though can't say I've bought a single thing from them - never make large enough purchases to justify the €12 delivery or whatever!

Would be terrible if it's closed though we'd still have Pixmania (although people's views of Pixmania are patchy).

dabs.ie are also pretty good and €5 delivery on small orders.

jpfahy

Please nooooooooo, not back to PC World, Noooooooooo

HungryJoey

What a pity. I hope it doesn't follow on over here in Ireland. I've ordered thousands off them in the past and still make it my main place to look when ordering hardware.

I like their site, it is very clear and well layed out. They have a good range of producs of all kinds and keep it up to date with no crap lying about it. One thing I hate about elara.ie is how much stuff they have remaining on the site that hasn't been sold or had in stock for years.

I don't see why people are complaining about delivery charges, I don't find them that high compared to dabs, elara or pixmania - especially considering everything comes from mainland europe.

Service wise I always find to be superb from komplett, very professional & fast delivery times. When dealing with them for returns there has never been any hassle.

Of course you always get the village idiot blowing off steam over at the komplett forum, but you can't really do much about that when a courior has lost your 50" LCD. :rolleyes:

I can see why they have maybe shut their operations in the UK. I know a fair few people accross the waters and I don't know any of them that would use komplett. OCuk seems to be their main port of call.

I just hope their prices on products dont raise any higher and if anything, they drop a little - to secure its future in Ireland IMO. Oh and I'm sure the komplett team go bananas everytime a rumor goes around about newegg.com coming to europe !

Kur4mA

Pretty sure they're just killing off the less profitable areas of their business.

godtabh

has any checked over on consumer interaction on whats going on? Are they in trouble or something?

stevenmu

I don't think they're in any trouble, last time I looked at the interaction forum they were discussing opening a depot here (as mentioned above).

The markets mentioned above are all ones with strong homegrown competitors (certainly UK, France, Germany, don't know of any in Austria). It would be quite difficult for them to build a brand in markets like that where all other things equal most people would prefer to buy from a local site. My guess is they are just reorganising to focus on more profitable markets.

dead air

mickoneill30 wrote: »

That's a pity. Hope the Irish site doesn't close. I've bought a few things from them and always had great service.

My thoughts too.

I've been pricing up components for my new PC on komplett but I'm not in a position to order it until next month. A damn shame.

HungryJoey

dead air wrote: »

My thoughts too.

I've been pricing up components for my new PC on komplett but I'm not in a position to order it until next month. A damn shame.

Komplett have said that its recent closures will not affect the irish site. You should be still safe to order.

They have simply closed down the less profitible market areas. They are also in the process of opening a center in santry. It is being discussed at the komplett forum in Commercial Interaction. Here: http://boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=242

Komplett-Tech: Ryan

Komplett.ie is certainly not closing.

As posted earlier in another thread by our new Country Manager:

"Aaron McKenna here, I'm the Country Manager for Komplett Ireland.

First of all, I'd like to say that McKomplett has been filling you all in with very accurate info.

Secondly, just to reassure you about our operations in Ireland - we are currently in the process of investing a lot of money into Ireland. We are establishing an office, a pick-up point and a workforce here in the coming months; and we have some ambitious targets for the next few years in Ireland after several years of sustained very good performance and growth.

The reason for shutting down those markets for now is that they were a drain on our focus and our resources - we were scatter shooting relatively small amounts of resources into major, saturated, markets and not seeing much return on investment compared to, for example, Holland and Ireland, where the market conditions are much different.

The Irish operation is and will continue to receive large investment, and you will be seeing very tangible improvements by the end of this year and going forward"

A statement from our General Manager can be found at this link:
http://channel.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=14004

Thanks,
McKomplett

Aries

bk wrote: »

dabs.ie are also pretty good and €5 delivery on small orders.

Have you ever tried to return goods to Dabs - their customer service is ZERO! - you cannot contact them by phone!

Denisoftus

Aries wrote: »

Have you ever tried to return goods to Dabs - their customer service is ZERO! - you cannot contact them by phone!

I have returned my Video Card, which I have used for 6 month and it was hanging in Windows intermittenly. In a week I have recieved a brand new one and 512RAM version (I had 256 version).
So customer suppomer was pretty good to me.

bk

Aries wrote: »

Have you ever tried to return goods to Dabs - their customer service is ZERO! - you cannot contact them by phone!

Yes, returned a TV tuner card, no problems.

Gadgetman496

McKomplett wrote: »

Komplett.ie is certainly not closing.

As posted earlier in another thread by our new Country Manager:

"Aaron McKenna here, I'm the Country Manager for Komplett Ireland.

First of all, I'd like to say that McKomplett has been filling you all in with very accurate info.

Secondly, just to reassure you about our operations in Ireland - we are currently in the process of investing a lot of money into Ireland. We are establishing an office, a pick-up point and a workforce here in the coming months; and we have some ambitious targets for the next few years in Ireland after several years of sustained very good performance and growth.

The reason for shutting down those markets for now is that they were a drain on our focus and our resources - we were scatter shooting relatively small amounts of resources into major, saturated, markets and not seeing much return on investment compared to, for example, Holland and Ireland, where the market conditions are much different.

The Irish operation is and will continue to receive large investment, and you will be seeing very tangible improvements by the end of this year and going forward"

A statement from our General Manager can be found at this link:
http://channel.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=14004

Thanks,
McKomplett

Has Komplett been bought out by BT or is that just a rumour?



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bogman

No worries here, got a gps recently from Komplett, it was faulty from new, it was ordered around the time this post came out so I was fairly worried, to make it worse the unit was faulty & had to be returned, the replacement gps arrived this morning, nice one komplett

Fighting Irish

WellyJ wrote: »

Do you people not realise that there is an actual Komplett forum right here on boards?

With a very helpful Komplett rep (McKomplett)

Who has already confirmed today that this does not affect the .ie site whatsoever.

I find it hard to keep track when theres 11ty brazilian sub forums on boards, these days even if you know a sub forum exists its a pain even looking for it