Wickes Kitchen - 'warp' speed !

bosey

I had a 'denver' kitchen delivered in october of last year; pretty nice for a wickes kitchen I have to say! smokey blue/grey doors and nice thick white decor panels.

Unfortunately, when it came to putting it together I found door after door was warped - in fact, every single door was warped about 5mm from centre line to top & bottom! After ringing c/s (0870 grrr) they said i should hang some of the doors "to straighten them out" (!), wait six weeks and call again to arrange a site visit.

In the mean-time I spoke to a carpenter who knew a little about formica/kitchen units etc. and he told me that they had been badly manufactured, with a thin 'balancer' on the back (this meant that the front surface would pull the door without the resistance of the back).

Anyhoo, after 2 or 3 calls to arrange a site visit with no luck I was suddenly told that 'yes, there is a manufacturing fault with these doors' great! and I would get some replacements 'sometime mid febuary' - 5 months after i bought the kitchen!

I was obviously not too amused and although I don't have an 'ASBO' & don't look for broken paving stones, i did think that some compensation was in order. the final result was, yes; i am intitled to a 'goodwill gesture' from wickes but only after somecalm and polite persuasion and explaining that I could not sell my 800 pound/month house until the kitchen was complete (the truth).

So for anyone else in the same boat; yes wickes is run by kids who are in the main totally disinterested in c/s but they have held their hands up and if you push you may at least get something for your trouble

Bossyboots

This is where we have always found it useful to take interest free loans or only pay a deposit for this sort of thing.

We had a problem with Sharps Bedrooms and withheld payment until they agreed in writing a deduction of the costs.

With Simply Kitchens we refused to sign the credit agreement until the work was completed to our satisfaction. They tried to get the finance company to pay out anyway as the work was completed but when I pointed out to said finance company that I was the customer, not the kitchen company and I was not authorising them to release the money they backed off. It was nearly a year later before they got their money and that was with the local manager turning up one night on our doorstep with our compensation and the form to sign!

On both occasions we argued that although the work was physically completed, we considered that we had agreed a price based on an expected standard of work and we had not received that. Therefore they were in breach of performance of the contract and on that basis we were entitled to withhold payment until new terms were negotiated. Sharps, although initially saying they did not give monetary compensation but would offer us goods, were finally persuaded on quoting the relevant section of the Sale of Goods Act at them, to reduce the cost of the bedroom. As we owed them the balance of payment, we simply sent a cheque for the new agreed figure.

bosey

yes, very slick indeed! i shall keep that sound approach in mind. i think that at this stage, if i dropped any bombs the new doors would have arrived before any conclusion had been arrived at.