Very disappointing service

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keithabennett's review of Ashley Ann Kitchens - www.ashleyann.co.uk

“Very disappointing service”

★★☆☆☆

written by keithabennett on 11/10/2013

I spent £28,000 on a kitchen with Ashley Ann.

I was promised 'project management' - I didn't get it. We have doors that have to open the wrong way because there was an oversight on kitchen measurements meaning that if they were to open the right way they would hit the extractor hood!

Several doors had to be returned because they were poorly painted.

Ten months after installation the extractor fan doesn't extract properly, and we have a sink that doesn't hold water - kind of important to get these right.

Ashley Ann have been given the opportunity to put this right for me - they have resorted to the 'contractual' line rather than 'do the right thing' for me. So, in effect, "nothing to do with us we just 'supplied' the kitchen" is the response.

I understand that the company now design and install bathrooms - I need a new bathroom - but I won't be using Ashley Ann. I also have another property that needs a new kitchen - but I won't be using Ashley Ann.

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Ashleyann's Response to keithabennett's Review

Written on: 09/12/2013

Obviously we’re sorry that Mr Bennett wasn’t happy with the service we provided. However, we also feel that it’s important to clarify a number of points for the benefit of those reading the review, and therefore would respond as follows: Firstly, it’s important to state that Mr Bennett purchased the kitchen on a supply-only basis and therefore we weren’t involved in the installation or project management at all. He used his own installer and plumber, and therefore we clearly can’t be held responsible in any way for the incorrect fitting of the cooker hood and the sink waste assembly. In addition and despite the fact we weren’t involved in the installation, we did in fact take time to visit Mr Bennett and see if we could help. As part of this, we offered to get our own fitter to refit the cooker hood, at a reasonable cost, but this was rejected by Mr Bennett. And despite the fact that the waste assembly had not been installed as per the manufacturer’s instructions, we were happy to replace it with a new one at our cost. With regards to the finish on some of the doors, we accept that this was not perfect and were happy to replace them, with the issue of some doors being hung the wrong way discussed with Mr Bennett on site and he expressed satisfaction with the outcome. We also need to point out that the kitchen was supplied in November 2012, and therefore feel it is a little unfair to express dissatisfaction with our service nearly a year later. Finally, we believe our track record on matters of customer service is excellent and indeed exceptional within our industry. That isn’t to say we get things right 100% of the time, but certainly we put huge emphasis on customer service – a measure of which is that complaints to us are relatively rare.

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Keithabennett's reply to Ashleyann's Comment

Written on: 09/12/2013

Thanks for the reply. It’s good to know that you have taken the time to respond. I did email your Directors on 11th October this year to let them know what my experience had been like – and to date I have not received so much as an acknowledgement of my email to them. So it’s good to know that someone cared enough in Ashley Ann to reply, even if it did take you almost 9 weeks to do so.

However, I’m afraid that it’s ‘necessary for me to clarify a number of points for the benefit of those reading’ your response. There are more than a few inaccuracies in your response:

Project management: When I decided to purchase a kitchen from Ashley Ann via your employee I was assured that she would provide full project management even though we were purchasing the kitchen on a supply only basis. It was an agreement that we made with her and the basis upon which we proceeded with our order. Why else would I refer to project management if it had not been offered and agreed? Are you telling me that on the occasions when they did actually visit our property it was just for a ‘chat’ or was she actually monitoring progress with the installation of the kitchen and attempting to take the necessary actions to ensure it was delivered on-time? I believe that’s called project management…isn’t it?

Installer: ‘My’ installer was ‘your’ installer – he was recommended by MC – we were told that if we contracted with him directly it would be cheaper, so we did. I didn’t know any kitchen installers so I looked to Ashley Ann for advice – I trusted your ‘duty of care’. It was interesting, and somewhat amusing, to note that later in your response you actually confirm (unintentionally) that ‘my’ fitter was in fact ‘our’ (your) fitter.

Cooker hood: after having consulted with Rangemaster I eventually found out what the problem with my extractor hood was – an incorrect roofing vent had been used for the extractor pipe. I found this out myself – I had to take half a day off work to stay in for a Rangemaster engineer to visit us. They were brilliant. You say in your response that “we offered to get our own fitter to refit the cooker hood, at a reasonable cost, but this was rejected”. ‘Your’ fitter being ‘my’ fitter, of course. Now, first of all, your manager didn’t even talk about ‘reasonable costs’ and, more importantly, why would I have wanted your / my / the fitter to refit the cooker hood? That wasn’t the problem! I explained to your manager that what was necessary to put it right for me (in line with Rangemaster’s expert’s comments) was £160. This would pay for the supply of a vent that was fit for purpose and the installation of the vent by a roofer – not your / my / the fitter – wouldn’t want a fitter on a roof would we? That wouldn’t be safe. Fitness for purpose, remember? For the benefit of those reading this reply (if you have not lost the will to live yet) I had spent £28,000 on a kitchen. I had used a fitter recommended by Ashley Ann as their ‘best fitter’. I expected, not unreasonably, for everything in my kitchen to work. I had a problem with the cooker hood – it wasn’t extracting…the windows were steaming up. If a customer had spent £28,000 with me and it cost £160 to put something right for that customer I would happily pay the £160 – but Ashley Ann’s manager refused to do this. Instead he chose to take the ‘small print / contractual’ line. If the fitter was your best fitter – you could have just paid me the money and settled it with him later…surely that would have been the right thing to do?

Waste assembly – there were no manufacturer’s instructions with the waste assembly kit! That was the problem – and your team didn’t know how to solve the problem for quite some time. One of the responses I received from your team was that the ‘sales manager’ in the supplier company concerned was on holiday for three weeks and I would have to wait until he got back to solve my problem. Then I had to chase Ashley Ann not once, but twice, to find out what was happening.

Doors: the kitchen doors had to be hung the wrong way because your design plan was inaccurate. You did design the kitchen didn’t you – or did I just imagine that like I imagined the project management? And I expressed satisfaction on-site did I? First of all to whom did I express satisfaction? A project manager? My / your / the installer? Secondly, you made a fairly significant error in your design plan – my resulting choice was doors that would hit the cooker hood when opened (no thanks) or doors that were hung the wrong way – I had no real choice. But I had to make the decision because you messed up. ‘Satisfaction’ is not a word that I would use to describe how I felt - and I believe I’m the best judge of that.

Timing of feedback: my apologies I had no idea that there was a cut-off date for providing feedback. When is the cut-off point incidentally? You had better let your Directors know when it is – because they haven’t fed back to me yet – and that’s two months since I emailed them. The ongoing saga of trying to get things fixed in our kitchen dragged on for many, many months – check your files and you’ll see when I notified you of problems. Check your files again and you’ll see that you didn’t get back to me to check ‘satisfaction’. The waste assembly problem took quite literally months, end to end, to solve…I decided to leave feedback on this and several other sites because I’m not happy – you didn’t do what mattered to me. You could have and you didn’t. If I want to leave feedback about a company’s service I’ll do it when I like, thank you very much - I believe it’s my prerogative.

Complaints: this is not a good measure to use to determine the health of your service delivery – if you actually listen to customers before, during and after the supply (or indeed installation) of a kitchen – you’ll find that their questions give you clues as to where you need to improve your service. Curiously enough I don’t believe I have ever said: I wish to complain…’ but I have said a lot of things like ‘my doors aren’t painted properly’, ‘my cooker hood doesn’t work properly’, ‘my sink doesn’t hold water’, ‘what is happening with my replacement parts?’ etc etc etc. By the time it does get to a complaint, it’s too late, the damage has been done. Low complaint levels is therefore not a good indicator of the health of your service delivery.

It’s a pity that I have had to leave my original feedback in the first place – Ashley Ann had the opportunity to put things right for me but didn’t. No-one has actually said ‘we’re sorry’ to me. Although you have announced that ‘Obviously we’re sorry that [name removed] wasn’t happy with the service we provided’ to those reading my review. Ashley Ann have chosen to take the contractual line rather than doing what matters to a customer (ie no quibble, just fix it).

Has it cost more than £160 to have this dialogue? Most certainly. Am I still a disappointed customer? Yes, even more so. Why? Because your response to my review is full of inaccuracies and misleading information.

Wouldn’t it have been cheaper to pay the £160? Yes. Would you have placated an otherwise disgruntled customer? Yes. Did you make more than £160 profit on an order of £28,000? Yes, I think so. Could you have afforded to pay £160? Of course you could. How much did not paying the £160 cost you? Quite a lot I would imagine.

Have you learned anything here? I hope so.

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