Sainsbury Kitchen Appliances Online www.sainsburyskitchenappliances.co.uk Review

Overall Rating

Fast answer service on sales line.

Very poor experience allround.

In March 08 I ordered a cooker from Sainsbury kitchen appliances online. The web site said that it was in stock so i parted with my £400. 3 days later I was called by Sainsbury's to be told that the cooker was not in stock and that it would be within 2 weeks. After 3 weeks of no contact I telephoned Sainsbury's to see what the problem and delay was. I was told that someone would call me back within 24 hours with a delivery date (call back 1).
This did not happen so I called again and got the same response (call back 2). After 4 failed callbacks I was at breaking point but to my surprise Sainsburys called with a delivery date. A Saturday in May (2 months after the original order date) the weekend of the first May bank holiday.
I then stayed in for the whole of the day (a very hot one) to wait for my cooker to be delivered (due time between 12 and 4pm). At 3:15pm I was telephoned by Sainsburys to advise me that the van had broken down and that my cooker would not come today. After a further 3 phone calls before 6pm I finally got through to a manager who said he would arrange for a next day delivery. Finally at 8pm on the Saturday he did call back telling me that the van driver would call me between 8am and 9am the next morning (Sunday) to arrange a 1st delivery, he also said that on Tuesday (after the bank holiday) he would call me back to discuss some sort of compensation and to see if the delivery had taken place. Needless to say this didn't happen (call back 5). At 9.30 on Sunday I was called and thankfully by 11am I had my cooker.
The story doesn't quite end there as The cooker I ordered was an Electric one and my kitchen is only fitted for Gas. My electrician was reluctant to come and install a socket until the cooker had arrived so as to ensure that he out the correct fuses etc. So he came on the Thursday of that week.
We then proceeded to plug the cooker in and, it did not work.
I then rang Sainsburys with the news and they arranged for Hotpoint to call me back to arrange a swap.
To my surprise, Hotpoint rang within a day of the complaint. They advised that they had to send an engineer out to look at the cooker before a swap could take place.
On the 27th May the engineer visited and confirmed that the cooker was faulty.
In the mean time I had been promised status phone calls from Sainsburys. They did not happen.
Hotpoint were at first very helpful and a lady rang within a few days of the engineer submitting his report to arrange a date for a swap. We arranged one for the Monday 9th of June.
On 9th of June I was called by Hotpoint saying the item was not in stock and within 48 hours I would be called to re-arrange delivery.
It is now Friday 13th June (unlucky for me) and at the time of writing I have not been called to arrange a delivery.
I have however; called Sainsburys every hour on the hour to arrange a refund. On the 3rd phone call and the 3rd person today that I spoke to I stayed on the phone whilst they contacted Hotpoint.
The Sainsbury's operator then told me that I need to contact Hotpoint directly to obtain an 'UPLIFT NUMBER' then arrange a collection date and then re-contact Sainsbury's with this information so they can arrange a re-fund.
I then questioned the Operator as to why she could not arrange this, to which the reply was 'Hotpoint will only give this to you when you speak to them' so said that I would do what Hotpoint require and then call Sainsbury's back.
At the time of writing I am currently on hold to Hotpoint. I hope to finally get this sorted and I look forward to going shopping on Saturday to a shop where I can speak to someone who will sell me a cooker that works, deliver it at a convenient time of my choosing, fit and install it and check that it works not only before it leaves the shop but also when it is delivered.

I can't begin to express that dis-satisfaction that I have felt towards Sainsbury's not to mention how out of pocket I am by having to take various days off work and to telephone an 0870 number many many times.
I am also extremely unhappy with the level of service I have been offered by a major UK company.
Most annoyingly is the fact that I am still (nearly 4 months on) cooking for 3 on a portable cooker that rather limits our options.

I don't need to tell you what I think of Sainsbury's as you can well imagine and reading this site only makes me feel worse that I didn't read it before I ordered, as I would have never ordered it in the first place if I had.