Wickes Kitchens and Installations Warnings

What a story I have for you today!

I bought a kitchen from wickes in hampshire for £7400 which included install for £2150

Here is the letter I gave to the Area Manager for Wickes


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Please find the following complaint with regards to my kitchen order and installation provided by Wickes.

When we placed this order we were assured that it would only take that week to install the kitchen and that we would be without a workable kitchen and that was fine.

The Monday was here and my wife had to take the kids to school and on her return they had just decided to open the front door and help themselves and start to do the removal of the kitchen. My wife left a note on the door saying that she would only be 10 minutes. Does that give them the right to just come in?

The person that come and did the install had visited a couple of weeks before and had said that he would be here from the 18th until it was finished. The person come back on the 18th and started to install the kitchen and at this time he asked us who was getting rid of the old kitchen and the packaging from the new kitchen and we said that we was under the impression that Wickes would be doing that as the week before we had Wickes bathroom who also installed a new bathroom for us and removed the old stuff. At the end of the day they had noticed that there was not the correct amount of side top to be able to install one of the kitchens sides and Wickes ordered it to be delivered on the Friday which was fine, We was also told that they needed some other parts that was not in the first delivery.

We also asked him at this time to make sure that ALL of the old kitchen and the packaging was removed asap as on the Wednesday we was having some outside building work being done. My wife reminded him on the Tuesday and at this time we had a skip delivered to our house for the builders and he asked my wife if they could use it and my wife explained that it was for rubble from the ground and that he could not use it. However a couple of hours later he asked the builder if he could use it. I find that rude and disrespectful after asking us and was told no and the reason why. The same day when I returned back from work I noticed that one of the 300 units was a little lighter at the top of the unit and asked if we could get that changed and one of the installers said “you have to get Wickes back to install it then” I’m sorry that’s no way to talk to your customer.

On the Wednesday they had finished most of the cabinets and told my wife that one of the magic corners would not fit due to a down pipe which was not noticed by the designer or installer before and only noticed now. So they took back the magic corner and we spoke to ***** the designer at Fareham Wickes and he reordered it for me, The installer then told my wife that they would not be back now until Monday as they didn’t have the rest of the kitchen to finished it off. So we had no choice but to wait for Wickes to bring the rest of the order on Friday. At this point the rubbish is STILL outside and the builders have to move it to start their work. The rain has kicked in and now we have loads of wet cardboard and the front of the house is a mess with kitchen units. He also told my wife that they would collected the rubbish on Wednesday night or Thursday. They also told my wife that she could use the bottom units now as they had installed them all and we noticed when we opened one of the corners the unit hit the other side unit as it was not installed correctly.

The order come at 7 am on the Friday and we has expected more then what has been delivered as we was under the impression that they needed a lot of stuff to finish it. The driver told us that this happens a lot. My wife then phoned him at 8am and told him that we didn’t have the fly over for the fan and he said he already had it. He also said that he would not be coming on the Friday as he is on annual leave as he said he won’t be back at work until Monday but doubt he would be with us on the Monday and it would be the Tuesday, My wife also explained to him that we didn’t have a hob to cook on over the weekend and he said “the best he can do is come on late Monday or Tuesday”.

At this point we are still under the impression that NOTHING can be done as they have no way to finish it off. However about 11am I had a phone call about the magic corner and was told they could only bring it on the 2nd of November and I told the person on the phone that we needed it for Tuesday. She passed me onto the customer services and they were dealing with it.

I later checked what products we had and noticed that they installers had lied to us. We had EVERYTHING part from some tape and a 3m work top so that they could have finished off the other units, breakfast bar kickboard and the cornice and pelmet on the Thursday and then added the work top on the Friday. I expect they had a better offer and forced us to wait until Tuesday which is just unfair and not what we had expected from your fitters.

I spoke to a manager about 4pm and he said he was dealing with it now and that he will speak to the area manager on the Monday and get back to us about this. He also told us that as we cannot use the kitchen to cook food that Wickes would pay for our food over the weekend. As it is now Sunday we are still left with units outside and cardboard in the back garden.

We had a couple of Quotes about the kitchen and most of them was about £1350 to £2000 to be installed and the cost of another company kitchen was less then Wickes but in the end we decided to use Wickes for peace of mind and paid the extra as a premium so that this would go fine. However this is not the case as you can see in this letter. The guy lied to us time after time, the workmanship seems to be poor and the quality of the breakfast bar joining seems to be poorly done.

Over the past week I had spoken to ***** your designer and he kept telling us that we need to speak to the installers, I’m sorry we paid Wickes and not your subcontractors and when I tried to speak to a manager on the Friday I was just fobbed off for a couple of times and only when I said I would go to my credit card someone got back to me.

The job is still not finished and I just hope that it does get done and we don’t have to wait weeks for this to be sorted. I decided to contact you before the end of the install because I’m worried that this will not be finished and that someone can look into this as soon as possible. I hope that once it has been sorted that someone can come out and speak to us about this.

I paid £2500 for your fitters to FIT this kitchen and not to have to wait longer. If they had been here all week and it took longer than I see that as not an issue but to force us to wait another week is just wrong and not very good. I worked out that I paid Wickes an extra £1750 to buy and install this kitchen for peace of mind. Do you really think that what we got is good service?

I spoke to someone at Wickes in ******* on Saturday and they said “I can’t say why the guy had to leave but they should retire” That excuse does not wash with me. I am left at this time with damaged unit fronts and a unfinished kitchen.

I am really angry about this. I had had to waste time and money phoning your 0845/0870 number to try and get this sorted. In all I spent over 3 hours on the phone. I wish that this is checked out and investigated. This is no way to treat your customers who spent over ten thousand pounds with your company!

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Here are the updates after this point!




Update Monday 25th October 2010

The rubbish has been collected in the morning and in the afternoon the they installed the final worktop and put the hob in it.

Update Tuesday 26th October 2010

The installed has finished off the rest of the kitchen and there is a few bits that need fixing and waiting for cupboards and kickboards, They told us at this time that they will be back next Monday 1st November 2010 to put the tiles on the wall, We also spoke about my contact with the area manager and it seemed at that point it was not their fault and was Wickes Fareham, As he had told them ages ago that he was not working that Friday (not sure about the Thursday) My impression was that while installing a new kitchen they have to run about adding missing parts from previous installs.

Update Wednesday 27th October 2010

Spoken to Area Manager and he will be contacting Wickes to make sure that the other parts are sent to us and that we will speak once the kitchen is completed about our issues etc.

Update Friday 29th October 2010

Area manager contact me back and said that the items we need will be with us next week.

Update Saturday 30th October 2010
One of the 3 doors is now with us. Nothing else yet.

Update Monday 1st November 2010

The installers are with us at 8.30 and started to do the wall tiles. They asked my wife if we have the “glue” We were told we would provide the tiles and you would do the rest. (Like the bathroom But different installer) so they finished about 1pm and left for the day. However on my return I noticed the work that they had done and I was shocked!! I was that angry I was about to take the tiles off the wall but in the end needed to take pictures of the mess.

We have builders at the back off the house doing some extra work for us and I had to ask them to look at it and give their thoughts. He said that the job was not done right and that it looks awful in places. The window tiles on the window seal was not laid evenly. The tiles on the corners was really poorly laid, they had laid the tiles cut showing at the corners. The tiles on the window seal was coming out 4/7 mm over the tiles on the wall, When the power sockets are placed on the wall there will be missing tile behind it as it was cut to short.

I had no choice but to call the area manager and ask that someone from Wickes to come out ASAP and it was arranged that he would be with us at 9am on the 2nd of November 2010

Here are a few off the pictures how they left our kitchen after day 3 and told us that day that they are no longer coming back until the following monday!! no working hob..

s1115.photobucket.com/alb…ad/

The person from wickes area manager come out and said the tiles was 85% ok and 15% bad, well check out the pictures for yourself using the above link. He also said there was install errors or bowing from the work sides and needed replacing etc. plus loads of other minor stuff needed sorting.

I also remembered when they started that they needed to turn off the gas and called me as when they switched it back on the boiler didnt light. However i told them it will in 10 minutes. I noticed today that i think they capped the gas at the back off one of the units as before it was a pipe with a on/off thingy.

They called back today and offered us 2 things.

1/
We keep the kitchen how it is now. They will not request that we pay for the install of the tiles (£230)
The kitchen sides not to be replaced and a £180 refund.
Plus a good will off £300 and then we get the rest sorted ourselfs.

2/
They come and fix it all and how it should be and we get £0! Plus ill be waiting an extra 2 weeks!!!!

So.. I was told I would be refunded the £120 for the food but now I get nothing.

What a shoody job!! I told them to come and fix it like they should have and ill contact watchdog and wickes management.

any thing else I need to do?