AVOID STRESS! DO NOT BUY! Absolute nightmare, start to end.

Wren Kitchens - www.wrenkitchens.com
★★★★☆
4.3
86.0% of users recommend this
  • Value For Money

Reece389's review of Wren Kitchens - www.wrenkitchens.com

“AVOID STRESS! DO NOT BUY! Absolute nightmare, start to...”

★★☆☆☆

written by Reece389 on 11/10/2017

We shopped around. We looked at various options with different companies and after two meetings with a designer at Wren's Great Western Road branch in Glasgow we finally settled on a plan and design that we loved - and even though it worked out more expensive than some of the others we had looked at, we were certain it would be worth paying the extra for the seemingly better quality build and finish.

The first hitch was delivery. We were told that it would be delivered on a date to suit us once we had organised a fitter . This was not the case. It was delivered almost a week before we needed it - at Wren's convenience, entirely filling the downstairs of our home - blocking our hallway, living room and downstairs bedroom. The downstairs bedroom is occupied by our disabled son who suffers from cerebral palsy. He had to be moved to stay with relatives until he was able to access his living quarters again. Designer was well aware of the date we had arranged the fitting to start - Monday 15th May. At NO POINT were we advised not to arrange a fitter - in fact we were told to let them know once we had organised a fitter and they would arrange delivery as close to fitting date as possible.

On the 15th of May our fitter arrived and unpacked some of the boxes to begin the fitting. Immediately we found 3 out of 5 of the doors we had opened were damaged, either chipped or had grains of dirt/wood/sand underneath the gloss finish leaving lumps. The wrong lights had been sent - instead of 2 packs of flush bright under unit lights we had a flush bright and a non flush warm light. We needed 3 packs of plinth lights. Only 2 were sent. I called customer services and spoke to a lady, reporting the issues and she asked me if we had opened and examined all the boxes on delivery. We hadn't of course, we trusted that everything would arrive in perfect condition! She then told me that we should have examined the goods when they arrived and we were only allowed to make ONE 'phone call to report any problems, if we had any problems when the rest of the boxes were opened we would only be allowed one more telephone call to discuss the issues. Not customer friendly in the slightest!! I advised her that no one had told us this. In fact quite the opposite, we had been told we should call customer services if we had any problems at all and they would be happy to help. In reality they weren't happy to help. At all.
The following day we discovered the drawers we had been sent were gloss instead of matt effect and one of the drawer fronts was badly damaged. The glass sent for the hob splash back was too large and unusable so we had to order a specially made piece from elsewhere so that I could use the hob safely - at our own expense.. More chipped doors came to light. The under oven door was completely the wrong size - it had been designed around a double oven despite me being clear at the design stage that I was only going to have a single. And the door for the corner wall unit would not open or close once it was assembled. We called the store to ask for advice and were told to proceed with the fitting, that there had been numerous problems with these corner unit doors and it was all down to the hinges, new hinges would be sent. New hinges came and the door was still wedged. We spoke to the designer as did our fitter, we spoke to customer services - someone said the wrong size door had been sent, someone said the fitter had hung the cupboard wrong, someone said the cupboards either side were wrong for that type of unit and on and on and on.... and eventually the result was that more hinges would be sent. The hinges came. The door wouldn't budge. 4 sets of hinges later, The designer said he would send a Wren fitter to check it and now our week with our fitter was over. The damaged doors were left without handles, 2 gaping holes left where doors should be, lights were missing, we couldn't put on skirting boards until the footplates were in place and they couldn't be put in until the missing lights arrived. We had imagined that at the end of that week we would have our dream kitchen and what we actually had was an unfinished mess, bits missing and no one to finish it when the pieces finally arrived.
More weeks passed. The missing and damaged door parts and lights arrived in bits and bobs. But still the corner unit was a mystery to everyone. It was the door, it was the hinge, it was the fitter......There must have been in excess of 50 calls and emails sent to various people to try and resolve this and EVENTUALLY after my husband kicking up a fuss, a Wren surveyor came out to look at it and said he could see no problem at all with the fitting of the cupboard. The fitter had not made a mistake and hinges were fine. He couldn't figure out why, when assembled, the door would not open and shut. He took pictures and said he would go back and speak to Wren specialists and get back to us on the matter, which he did two days later. And said it had been fitted incorrectly. There were NO INSTRUCTIONS on how to fit this unit on the plan we were provided with by Wren but apparently it is hung quite differently from a 'normal' wall unit. It has to be set forward of the two units which attach either side and it hadn't been as this was never communicated to us or our fitter in any way, shape or form. With the result that the unit would have to be taken down, adjusted and re-hung.

FINALLY on Friday, FIVE MONTHS after it was started, another fitter came to finish our kitchen. We have had to pay him of course, on top of what we have already paid the first fitter who has long since moved on to his other commitments. Now that the unit has been adjusted - along with the two either side - the cornice and plinths around those 3 units no longer fit so it is STILL unfinished. We called to order a new length of cornice and have been charged over £77! £50 for the part and £27 for delivery. We have paid for parts we couldn't use. We have waited weeks for missing parts to arrive. We have been living with a half finished kitchen for MONTHS. We have had to pay extra on labour and parts thanks to the defects and delays - £180 On Friday alone, and we have had enough. We are not complainers, ever, but the stress and inconvenience this whole experience has caused has been immeasurable. I wish I had listened to the online reviews before we signed up and committed ourselves to months of upset and a busted budget. Bear in mind we are in possession of a useless piece of glass costing over £80, still unopened in its wrapping - which Wren have refused to refund us for. That we would not have been £100 out of pocket to a second fitter if the kitchen had arrived complete and undamaged. And that we went ahead and fitted the corner unit on the advice of Wren staff which resulted in the cornice/plinth needing to be replaced, so to then charge us £77 for this item is surely unfair?!

I outlined the above in an email to customer services. Ironically and somewhat appropriately their response went straight to my junk folder! They point towards the 'terms and conditions' and say we should not have arranged a fitter until after the kitchen had been delivered and checked and any faults/missing parts reported and replaced. During this time the downstairs of our home would have been completely unusable, so my son would have had to go and stay with relatives for weeks rather than days - cheers Wren - very understanding of you! They refer to a "one time resolution" and say ALL issues should have been reported in one go, as per 'terms and conditions'. They do not make refunds for wrong/unrequired items their designers put on the plan, so if the designer makes a mistake the customer pays for it. Its in the 'terms and conditions' that you accept this when you sign up.I should also point out that if you do find an issue with any part of your kitchen you have to wait for it to be manufactured and delivered from their factory in England - our doors and drawers took over 3 weeks at a time.
Never ever again and I would never recommend this company to anyone. It has amazed me since our problems began how many other people I have come across who have had similar issues! Do not be fooled by the fancy showrooms and promises of customer satisfaction because once they have your money they don't give a hoot about your kitchen or your satisfaction.
Go to B&Q. I wish we had!

  • Value For Money

Wrenkitchens's Comment

Written on: 19/10/2017

Hi,

Sorry to hear this. If you'd like to confirm your order details, I'll look into this for you.

Regards,
Adam

Reply to this comment

Ltat's Comment

Written on: 25/10/2017

Hello,

I'm very sorry, I have only just seen your reply.
The order number is 25988342, order ref;  S2379308/1.

It is very nice of you to offer to help with this. We feel that given the circumstances we have been very unfairly treated. We could not ask someone to care for our son indefinitely between delivery of the kitchen and arranging a fitter, he has brain damage and is physically disabled and simply would not understand this - and the designer was well aware of our home circumstances when we made the purchase. We were told to give a fitting date and the delivery would be made to suit, which is exactly what we did. We would not have fitted the corner unit without being told to - and we did check first and were told to go ahead. And it is not our fault the glass job splash back ordered was completely wrong so it seems unbelieveable that we are the ones out of pocket for the mistake. We are still waiting for someone to come and fit the cornice and plinth to the adjusted unit so almost 6 months on the kitchen is still unfinished.

I wish I could have left a better review, but I had to be honest.

I am happy to forward the reply I have from customer services if this would help.

Thank you again,

Reply to this comment

Ltat's Comment

Written on: 03/11/2017

NO RESPONSE TO THIS, 9 DAYS ON. OR TO MY OTHER REVIEW ON TRUST PILOT WHICH WAS RESPONDED TO BY THE SAME PERSON. LIP SERVICE.

Reply to this comment
Was this review helpful? 1 0