Wickes Fitted Kitchen - Selling Concern

Carpetman

My 86 year old Father-in-Law has been to Wickes and likes their kitchens so he requested a saleman to visit him to give a price for doing a new kitchen.

The salesman arrived at the alotted time and took all the details down, a couple of days later he received a "Wickes Price Primer", which excluded certain items and then used the semi legal phrase 'inter alia' instead of being clear that they could add other things to the final bill. The "Wickes Price Primer" is valid until 25th Feb.

Also it stated that the actual installation cost could only be confirmed after a visit by a member of the home installation team - in other words the outside self employed contractor.

As there were a few things to be questioned my F-I-L rang the Salesman who promptly told him he could know £700 (10%) off the bill if he agreed to the job on Saturday and arranged immediate 100% payment. A new "Wickes Price Primer" hasn't yet been recieved.

Saturday came (yesterday) and my F-I-L phoned to say that he was minded to accept the offer, but would only pay 50% deposit and he wanted the final installation price before he could agree to it. The Salesman reminded him that the offer closed yesterday and that they would not arrange for the home installation team visit until he had paid the full amount.

UNFORTUNATELY I wasn't around and he caved in.

Now I'm not saying that there will be a problem, but it has a whiff of sharp practice about it on Wickes behalf.

Anyone with any experience of them?

He's agreed to have the kitchen, but still doesn't know the final price, surely there should be some comeback if the installation cost escalates far above that shown in the "Wickes Price Primer"?

As he is paying 100% he has no leverage if anything goes wrong?

Should Wickes be required to provide insurance for the money in case of them going belly-up between banking the money and the installation taking place?

Even at this late stage is there anything that can be done?

Sorry its long.

Carpetman

premkit

the price prime is a estimated indication of extra costs, electrics and gas etc, the fitter would go through all costs that your FIL will need to have the kitchen fitted. you dont have to have them done by the fitter you can get them done by others, although it is less hassle for all concerned if the fitter does all.
you have the wallet so you dictate what you want. if the cost is higher than the price primer then complain to the customer service manager he will cave in to the price you were issued.

ormus

dont take any notice of the "quote is only valid for another 24 hrs etc".
pure bullsh it.
and never pay the whole amount up front. stick to your terms of payment, if the salesman doesnt like it, tell him to do one.

coffeemonster*123

You ask if there's anything that can be done....providing you haven't taken delivery of the kitchen, just go in store and request a refund. (or perhaps your FIL is happy with the terms he's agreed to?)

keystone

There should be a 7 day cancellation clause in the contract covered by doorstep selling regs. Make use of it. If he likes the kitchen go back to them for a "supply only" price and don't take no for an answer and bear in mind that there is between £ 1.5k and £ 2k built in to their price for installation. That would normally get topped up to include the exclusions once the Wickes fitter has visited.

Then find an independent fitter and ask him to quote for the installation in its entirety using the Wickes product which you will supply. Then ask him to quote again for supply and fit - he'll get better prices than you can but he'll want his mark up if he's supplying. Then you have a basleine from which to make a decision on whih way to go. Then get two additional independent quotes from other fitters for comparison purposes.

Cheers

Meepster

Wow, long time since I posted

You can cancel any Wickes order up to 24 hours before delivery without any problems, so don't worry about losing your money. They are also one of the better "sheds" for customer service, so should you have any problems, either during or after the installation, they will look after you.

As for the comment about sticking to your payment terms, or not at all, Wickes ALWAYS ask for full payment upfront, unless you are wanting to put it on a finance option (sometimes they offer buy now, pay in 9 months etc.) The reason they do this is because it is so easy to cancel your order. Simple.

Carpetman

Thanks Folks,
Glad I asked the question on here, from the answers I've got I don't feel so concerned.

I just didn't want to feel they were taking advantage of an elderly gentleman who was brought up to trust everyone.

Cheers
Carpetman

dacouch

http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/cpregs/oft979.pdf

For a practice to be unfair under these rules, they must
harm, or be likely to harm, the economic interests of the
average consumer. For example, when a shopper makes
a purchasing decision he or she would not have made had
he or she been given accurate information or not put under
unfair pressure to do so.

6. Limited time only
Falsely stating that a product will only be available for a very
limited time, or that it will only be available on particular
terms for a very limited time, in order to elicit an immediate
decision and deprive consumers of sufficient opportunity
or time to make an informed choice

hotpot1000

My friend ordered just a counter top from wickes,
before it arrived she received a package of paperwork re:the delivery

It stipulates how much area they would need to deliver the item into, that u should tell wickes if they have to drive more than 10m along an unadopted road to your house, etc, loads of 'red tape'.
PLus they send you an orange balloon and piece of ribbon with instructions to blow it up on the delivery date and attach to your property.

What kind of morons are delivering for wickes?