Grattan Sophie Computer Desk

Looks nice in the picture, and since we couldn't find a girl's desk/dressing table anywhere else, we bought this thing. What a mistake...

Firstly, at £96.89, the Grattan Sophie Computer Desk is expensive for a bit of furniture for a girl's bedroom. When we first opened the box, it looked just like an IKEA flat pack kit but...

1) Assembly instructions were terrible! We have built a lot of IKEA stuff and have never had any problems, but these instructions were unbelievably bad.

2) On locating some of the predrilled screw/receptacle holes, it was clear that they'd drilled a couple of lines in the wrong place. At first we thought we must be interpreting the instructions wrongly, but no. In other places, some holes had been drilled a second time just a couple of millimetres to one side of the wrongly placed holes - the result being large holes that split-out as soon as the screws entered them.

3) Some of the supplied screws were malformed so they were no use at all. Luckily, I had plenty of alternative screws in my garage, and wood glue to fill those double-drilled holes.

4) The draw runners are awful. The supplied screws are too large for the holes in the metal runners (which aren't countersunk sufficiently) meaning that the screwheads clash as the drawers are closed. I had to drill out some holes to lower the screwheads sufficiently just so the drawers would close!

5) The paintwork is incredibly low quality. It was flaking off in our hands as we assembled the desk - and this is supposed to be suitable for children!

This desk represents the worst of cheap Chinese made rubbish. It also indicates that Grattan must have very slack quality control, and as a result we will never buy anything from Grattan again.