Wickes installation: Yay or Nay?

greggi

Hi there, this is one of my first real posts on here despite being a regular lurker!

Me and my partner are currently getting our new house refurbished and are in the process of deciding whether or not we should have Wickes fit the kitchen we're looking at. The kitchen should come to no more than £3500 for the cabinets, fascias, doors etc whereas the installation will add £2500+ to the cost, this also includes electrics, plumbing etc. The kitchen is a 12 cabinet Tiverton and we're needing other tradesmen for other jobs in the house so it seems silly to me to pay over the odds for another set of tradesmen despite the Wickes 2 year guarantee on all the work. Nearly everybody has said that we should get it fitted independently but I thought I'd ask because there seems to be plenty of level headed and experienced folks on here.

We're making the most of the 0% interest free for 3 years offer and sale that lasts till Thursday so we need to be making the decision pretty sharpish becasue I think the final 'sit down' is tomorrow evening! All this started on a chance visit to Wickes on Saturday and I've been non-stop since then...

Thanks in advance, Gregg

Meepster

Hi Gregg

you don't need to rush into a decision. The sale will be extended. Also, have you asked them for further discount? You should be able to get another 5 or 10% off the price. Or if you do want to go ahead, just talk to the salesperson and mention the sale extension that you KNOW will be happening, saying you might wait until the extension ends, as they always have good TLPs (time limited promotions). You might be able to get even more off if the salesperson needs the sales THIS week (It's period end for them COB on Saturday I think)

The Tiverton has ALWAYS been my favourite Wickes kitchen, I used to sell them for fun. Nice door with nice matching accessories.

As for the installation - Don't bother. You will save yourself a LOT by getting a local installer. Although their prices aren't as inflated as they used to be, they are still excessive...

If you need any other advice, lemme know...

greggi

Thanks mwilletts, I had a feeling you'd be the first to reply I've been reading a lot of your informative posts on here.

I was under the impression that the offer was the time limited promotion! I'm not sure I want to gamble the promotion for a better one thats all! Will the finance option come round again? It's just that whilst we can afford the kitchen up front (no installation) it would mean putting other jobs on the back burner for a few months while our funds accumulated again. We've heard very few people recommend the installation over independent fitting so I think it's a no brainer. Oh and what does COB stand for?

The Tiverton caught our eye in the store because it was quite a muted oak, just the right side of modern/traditional and was very reasonably priced. We're switching the handles to the Pembroke because we don't really like the blocky brushed ones! My OH didn't like the Calgary handles unfortunately! Worktop wise we've gone for the Bahlia Granite laminate which looks quite durable for a soft gloss finish with a few textured pock holes - I'd love to be able to afford the Earthstone/ Silestone, the smooth finish is unbelievable!

Meepster

Wickes have 4 sales per year. Each sales last about a month. The sale is then extended for another month (or so). The 4 months there isn't a sale on, they have spend and save, which isn't much use.

Towards the end of the "sale" they tend to put on Interest Free Credit. This is one of the best times to haggle the price of the kitchen down, as if you say you want to pay it off in full, instead of taking the IFC, Wickes will actually lose less money, as IFC costs THEM money.

Towards the end of the "sale extension", the items that are half price (usually appliances on page two of the brochure) they will be giving them away free for a few days, so if you are having one of these appliances, it could save you £200 to £300; sometimes they have a different offer, but it's always something FREE. This has been the same for the last 3 1/2 years. They haven't deviated from this offer, as everyone else does it. IFC is usually (but not always) offered again right at the end of the extension.

They sometimes also offer an extra 10% off, but that is usually on the winter sale, although they did once do it on the summer sale. (Winter and Summer are always the best sales, as this is when they sell the most, historically)

Sometimes it is a bit of a minefield and you can miss out on some TLP's, but generally if you ask them to extend an offer, if you only missed it by a couple of days, they will do it.

COB = close of business

Hope that helps?

Meepster

greggi wrote: »

Thanks mwilletts, I had a feeling you'd be the first to reply I've been reading a lot of your informative posts on here.

I do try not to disappoint

greggi

Actually we're getting a dishwasher thrown in for free and there are some other 10% discounts in there too so I think it's getting pretty close to the lowest price!

Thanks for your swift replies! Very helpful!

As I said in my last post I'd love to able to afford the earthstone/ silestone worktop but we're looking at a laminate top with Wickes. I've read the recent worktops thread but have you any other thoughts on choosing a worktop? I don't want gloss but some of the textured worktops in Wickes are a little overkill for us.

Meepster

Well, just make sure you ask for further discount. If you don't ask you don't get!

As for the worktops. Well, it all depends on what finish you are going for. As you mention, don't touch gloss worktops, they are a pain. The textured ones are certainly more hardwearing than the gloss, but not so against the matt worktops. I know what you mean about Silestone, it is nice stuff and designed to last forever, but it isn't cheap.

I have textured laminate worktops in my kitchen, they are a black/grey mix and don't show up scratches much, unless you actually look for them...

Canucklehead

Good afternoon: if andrew-b is around this pm he could share his 'Wickes experience' with you;)

Canucklehead

andrew-b

Urm don't remind me lol! My experience was when the work was contracted out by wickes via multiassistance (a management company who subcontracted the work out to local companies - taking a large cut of the pie for doing very little!) and we had no end of problems..by the time the faults were sorted it was several months after the initial installation..though i ended up fixing a leak myself as i just didn't want them in the house again! My experience is not one i would like to repeat! Fortunately as mwilletts has since pointed out Wickes no longer use multiassitance - though i daresay i could still have ended up with the same contractors unless wickes do much more vetting of them! Anyway i would never use any similar installation service ever again regardless of the cost!

Was happy with the wickes kitchen though so don't be put off about ordering. Tiverton rings a bell..i think we considered that range but discounted it as being beyond what we could afford at the time and went for a cheaper oak (canterbury). We did actually buy some appliances from Wickes (not generally recommended on price) as there was a good deal at the time..basically it worked out that we got our £750 oven for nothing!

Andy

greggi

Will do! Thanks again mwilletts!

Canucklehead: Yeah I read his Wickes experience on a couple of threads! They seemed to use a different company back then so the installation service was a bit of a shambles. Claire xx seems to swear by their new service though I'm curious about the cost vs hiring tradesmen yourself. The customer service has been brilliant so I've no doubt they'd do a great job installing everything but I can't help think the price is still expensive.

greggi

Ah! There you are!

I've got a quote coming tonight on mybuilder regarding kitchen fitting etc. Here's hoping it's competitive!

Claire said that the free appliance can be deducted if you don't want it, which seems very odd to me. I intend on buying all the appliances elsewhere using my moneysaving skills and Which subscription.