Yup. You read that right. The. Wrong. Kitchen.
At every point in proceedings, Frances has specified “High Gloss White”, but somehow we have ended up with “Matt White”.
Suffice to say, she’s not happy at the moment. Neither am I. Whilst it’s ok to look at (in my view), it’s not what we ordered, and that’s a Bad Thing(tm). Thankfully we haven’t paid yet, so whilst we’ve got a 80% complete kitchen, we’ve got 80% of the money still.
It’s not gone particularly smoothly either. We’re stuck with an extractor unit that’s too wide that we should have spotted, but also the designer should have spotted. We’ve got a few missing doors, and missing ’soft close’ bits, and some of the finishing is distinctly lacking in ’shine’ (matt or otherwise). That’s minor though compared to the wrong bloody doors.
All in all, it’s not good. Frances’ mum has been deployed to help calm nerves, but conveniently the designer/owner of the company we used is elsewhere, and not available - as he promised he would be. After the inauspicious start, especially when you read my musings on who to use, and how it’s turning out, I’m beginning to wish we’d just followed the cheapest option - as many folk recommended we do.
Stay tuned for more (or stay away from the site for the next week or so: We’re rather pre-occupied and “Kitchen stuff” may feature rather more than you might be able to tolerate. My site. My rules :-).
Update: We’re off down the pub.
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March 15th, 2006 at 9:21 pm
Keep the money, use it in the pub. Keep the kitchen until they do put it right.
Remember it takes about 5 years to get to court.
Just think, in five years you might move and do it all over again!!!!!!!
March 15th, 2006 at 10:31 pm
Hi Mavis,
Worry not. We’ve a long LONG list of issues that we’re not happy with - door finishing top amongst them. We fully intend to make sure we make our case that we’ve not received what we wanted: Hassle free and stress free installation/support especially. Until we’re satisfied, we’re not spending a penny more.
As you suggest, Solicitors and such like cost money - both for supplier and customer (we’re in the process of contacting ours: Just in case). It’d be altogether cheaper, and ultimately profitable for all concerned, if the issue is ‘made good’ to our satisfaction, even if it means having to re-order the doors we specifically asked for, and getting fitters out for a few hours.
Frances deserves all the credit for putting forward our case. I regret to say, I’m the conciliatory sort in situations of conflict, but Frances certainly isn’t. As I said before, I’m glad she’s on my side in all this!
We’ve a solid case, and we’re going to fight for it.
On the positive side, we did get our wood flooring earlier today ready to start acclimatising ahead of installation in a couple of weeks. Looks wonderful. Matches our fireplace beautifully. Fitters (who delivered the wood) were nice, helpful and friendly too. Good vibes abound. Plus, some good business progress in the last few days. It’s not all doom and gloom up here. Although that’s certainly the prevailing atmosphere as a result of the kitchen
March 21st, 2006 at 11:52 pm
[...] Sunday was my birthday, and I’m afraid to say that - whilst I was greatly cheered up by the efforts of Frances and her family, and an excellent concert - I was rather stressed by the ongoing kitchen woes which duly reached a head the next morning. So this evening, with things starting to at last look like they’re at last resolving and returning to normal, I cheered myself up by going through my old photos, and uploading many of them to my flickr pages. [...]
March 28th, 2006 at 10:22 pm
[...] With the kitchen now ‘complete’, we’re now looking forward to getting on with our lives after the unnecessary hassles we experienced due to the wrong damn kitchen being installed. [...]
March 31st, 2006 at 4:01 pm
[...] Update: We went with Dans La Cuisine. A review will follow in due course, but here’s my journal of house development woes. They (DLC) fitted us with the wrong doors, and we’re not happy in the slightest. It comes down to recollection of events, and they disagree with us. Please feel free to mention my name (Richard Leyton) as an example of a dissatisfied customer[...]
April 5th, 2006 at 9:36 am
Hi Richard
What is the finish specified on your order form from Dans La Cuisine ?
Does it state on your order that no product should be installed until the products are paid for ?
Did the same company who supplied your kitchen also install it ?
April 5th, 2006 at 10:25 am
Hi David,
Thanks for your comment.
Sadly the rub was the product type on the order was what they installed, but not what we had said. We made the assumption they both knew the product name of what we were after (they didn’t, it later seemed) and had transcribed what we wanted, without checking it in their catalogue ourselves. That was our principle, and rather costly, mistake. We assumed a few other things which weren’t written down regarding lights, finishing and so forth, and didn’t get that.
Rule: Check everything, specify everything, assume nothing. Obvious in hind-sight, and I thought I was careful like that, but it wasn’t the case this time around. Next time we do anything major, I’ll be drawing up a list of the precise specification we want, and ensuring it is handed over so there is not room for dispute. We did this for our electricians, plasters and plumbers (who were in before the kitchen) to good effect, But not the kitchen, because we fell for the sales patter. We can’t argue our side any further because there’s no document we can produce that says ‘high gloss’. Just the (wrong) specification on the contract I foolishly signed.
It did state payment before installation, but they didn’t call to insist on this, so only a deposit had been paid. They didn’t bring the T&C’s to my attention when I signed (which I’m sure is a breach of something or other) - I didn’t think there was a reverse side due to the large pad they were using: If I’d have seen the terms I wouldn’t have signed: There are a few clauses that unsettled me when we discovered them as they waved them in our face during our confrontation.
At the time of the dispute though we had a half finished kitchen that was causing more stress than it was worth to leave for the gloss on the doors. We resolved that we just wanted this man and his company out of our lives as quickly as possible, and have resolved to replace the doors at a later point ourselves as a background project. In the grand scheme of things, it’s not like the kitchen doesn’t work.
It was the same company doing the fitting that we could tell. There was some assumption we would pay fitters in cash, but as I have a principled objection to that whole thing (see http://www.leyton.org/diary/2006/03/02/dust-dust-everywhere/), on the basis it is tax avoidance on many levels, I refused, and simply paid a cheque in the shop last week.
Ah well. It’s all done now, and we’re slowly putting the sorry event behind us. We’re happy with the kitchen in so far as it’s not to our precise specification, but is almost there. We’ll fix the rest in due course, and live happy.
Buyer beware is always the caveat, and it applies here. However, hopefully anybody doing any research on the company can now ensure they don’t suffer the same problems as we did. The familiarity and keenness that the man demonstrated with solicitors and the legal process imply to me we’re not the first dissatisfied customer.
Are you looking to do a kitchen installation yourself? Would be interested to hear your thoughts on who you’re considering to use. Hopefully our whole experience is of some use!
April 5th, 2006 at 8:30 pm
Hi Richard
Your site was passed to me initially for my opinion. I asked the questions to ascertain your legal position.
Retailing kitchens is a difficult and complex business and it looks like a genuine error occurred between yourselves and the retailer. You appear to have settled which speaks volumes for the type of people you are as others would have used any excuse to milk the situation for what it was worth.
I own a kitchen business and would have been very upset had I made such an error. I also own a kitchen installation company and have been in the industry for many years so I am afraid that putting right errors is a very costly occupational hazard. The question of paying cash should not come into the equation but I am afraid the practice is rife in the industry. A practice that also allows the underworld to be involved in our industry for all of the wrong reasons.
Perhaps your retailer after some thought will put right their error. They should certainly consider doing so. If not high gloss doors are readily available and any decent retailer would be willing to assist. You would probably find that they would take your cooker hood in exchange should it prove difficult to resell.
Incidentally I am not familiar with nor associated in any way with your retailer.
April 10th, 2006 at 2:09 pm
[...] “Or whether to laugh or cry”, a cautionary tale by Richard Leyton (laughing, because we’ve done enough crying to date), and Sofa Workshop. [...]