New Kitchen Installation

krystyna_2

Ordered a new kitchen from Avanti Kitchens and Bedrooms following an Ideal Home Exhibition. Price was agreed at £5050 for the furniture and equipment and £1080 for the installation which was to take two days.

I got a confirmation letter saying that they woudl only accept payment on the day of delivery in the form of a bankers draft, building society cheque or cash. Alternatively they would accept cheques or credit payments if presented 14 days prior to delivery of the furniture.

I spoke to them yesterday to sort out a final delivery date and asked if I could pay on the delivery date by use of a debit Visa card. They say that if I want to pay by debit Visa they will add a 2% charge and it must be presented two weeks in advance. I checked with my bank who said they had never heard of charging for using a debit card and didn't recommend that I accept. Avanti's response to this was to say that "fortunately, they didn't have to deal with my bank" and that the basis of their charge was the cost of the equipment they need to deal with debit payment cards.

I had various conversations with Avanti yesterday and at one point was told that they had updated their procedures and stopped the charge on debit cards, but later spoke to their Sales Director who said that the charges had not been dropped and he didn't know why I had been told that this was the case. He said that they had been put under pressure (I think he meant by me) and seemed to be implying that it was wrong of me to question the payment terms. In fact, they were all very cross with me.

After a day of hassle, argument and changing stories, I feel as if I don't want to let Avanti anywhere near my house and certainly not in my kitchen, but they say we have a contract now! I don't know what to do. Has anyone any suggestions?

Grateful for any advice out there. Thanks.

Krystyna

Feisty_Fairy

CANCEL and REPORT them to TRADING STANDARDS, im sure you should be able to back out. Go to citizens advice and ask them where you stand!

Good luck!

Feisty!

richardw

You aren't happy with them are you. So cancel and don't let them in your home. If they are giving you this kind of hassle imagine what else they could do.

thehairybuilder

WHOA
STOP STOP STOP !
Don`t let them anywhere near your house . As richard says , imagine the hassle and grief they will cause you once they start if this is the way they are treating you now . If you have not paid them then you hold all the aces and can cancell at anytime with absolutely no come back .

amanda40

I would not be happy paying that type of money until my kitchen was finished in full and all problems resolved - Cancel them!

crankup

Definitely walk away from this - thanks for the info on this shoddy outfit too!
Sounds like some high pressure selling akin to rogue double glazing installers...


Do a search on this site for kitchen fitting - there have been some good threads on this subject, like this one here:-
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=113677&highlight=kitchen+fitting

Bossyboots

I am at a loss to understand why anyone thinks the OP can just back out of this contract. Presumably a deposit has been paid and they will undoubtedly lose that if they do.

The company should have made payment terms clear at the point of order (and we do not know that they didn't) and the OP should have asked if the company did not mention it but it is for them to decide on acceptable payment methods and I have no doubt that the systems they have in place are largely dictated by customers who have failed to pay in the past.

However, like amanda40, my issue would be that full payment should not be made until the kitchen was completed and to my satisfaction. I suspect though that I am not the only one who has refused to make full payment because my kitchen was not fitted to my satisfaction (not from this company) and this is another reason why they want full payment up front.

zag2me

Why not just pay by cheque?

krystyna_2

Thanks all for your advice. In fact I had paid a deposit of £50. In a further conversation with the Operations Director, he told me that the Sales Director was agressive and that they tried to keep him away from the customers - must be handy for them having someone like that on board.

I was also told, the payment terms had been updated (again)_and there was now no 2% charge on a bankers card but payment by that method, or a personal cheque, must be cleared two weeks in advance. However, he would be willing to accept a building society cheque or a bankers draft on the day of delivery of the goods. I couldn't see how the latter two were any better than the use of a bankers card but the guy insisted that he couldn't be sure that the money would get to his firm's account. I asked him if he didn't trust the banking system and he agreed that that was basically the problem. In the end I said that since we couldn't agree I wanted to cancel and he actually agreed to refund my deposit. Have to wait now and see if he actually does.

Meanwhile think it would be better to go for a well known kitchen company and make sure I get all those details sorted out first.

Thanks again.

Krystyna

Bossyboots

Glad its worked out okay but sorry you won't get your kitchen just yet.

Please make sure you are able to retain a sum of money for payment on completion. Not having paid for our kitchen was the only leverage we had to get things put right.

Its one thing to pay for the goods on delivery but you should not have to pay for the installation until it is completed.