B&Q kitchen - take to Ombudsman

aecb

As many others seem to have had on these forums, we've been having problems with B&Q. We ordered and had installed a kitchen with them, but have had a series of problems which have taken almost 9 months to resolve (although, thankfully, we are happy with the final result in terms of the look of our kitchen).

Problems have included it taking 6 weeks, not 2, to install the kitchen initially (albeit we could cook in it after 2, but some cupboards, tiling etc weren't done till well after 2) for a combination of reasons, such as B&Q sending the wrong products (e.g. bathroom tiles, not the kitchen ones we had ordered!). We have struggled to get them to agree to remedial work, although this has now been done to our satisfaction, albeit it has taken far longer than we would have liked!

However, all of this has caused us considerable inconvenience and used up a lot of our time. My wife has spent over 10 hours of time on the phone to B&Q on working days (she can tell as she has to log off for time spent on personal calls), along with probably the same again from home and over her lunch break. We have written three letters and countless e-mails to them. My wife has also had to take six days off work to be at home for the remedial work.

It's slightly laughable that B&Q make a 'service promise' on their website relating to their quality of service.

We complained and received an initial compensation offer, which only just covered items that we were paid for at the start but had not been done (i.e. there was no compensation for inconvenience, our time, etc). which we rejected and said we would take this case to the Furniture Ombudsman. They then came back with an approximately doubled offer, which we are currently considering, although this is well below what we asked for (and believe that we are entitled to). Our kitchen, including installation, was one of their more expensive ones and into five figures. The element of compensation that does not directly relate to products/services not provided is well under 5% of the total cost of the kitchen.

The crux of my question is whether we should take our case to the Furniture Ombudsman and whether anyone has experience of them and, in particular, how they value people's time and inconvenience. I've looked through many other posts relating to the FO on this forum, but they generally relate to faulty goods (typically sofas or beds) and, whilst it seems they usually deal well with these claims, I was just wondering if anyone has any idea about how they might value claims relating to people's time and inconvenience. We feel we deserve much more than B&Q are offering so my initial inclination was to go to the FO, particularly since it's free - however, this has taken so long to resolve anyway that I don't want to spend another 3+ months waiting to hear from the FO only to find that they are agreeing with the amount B&Q are offering!

Thanks in advance for any responses (and sorry for the slightly ranting post!).

fthl

Can't speak for the FO, but legally:

you'll need to give us the amounts they've offered, and your claim. From what you have put above I think you are entitled to very little for inconvenience (an extra four weeks is not severe inconvenience - at least in the eyes of the court, and I'd guess the FO follow similar logic) maybe £3-350 for the days off providing your mrs took annual leave. Courts will tend to give you 50-60 a day for lost annual leave. Add in a bit of randomness and the cost of a few calls and stamps and you have a claim between £300 and £400.

With most ADR like this there is always the risk you could get less, and based on FOS turn arounds I'd be surprised if you got an answer in 3 months. I'd guess that it will be nearer 6.

The total cost of the kitchen is irrelevant. It my effect whether you have a claim, but it won't effect the amount of a claim.

BandQ_Company_Representative

Dear aecb

I am sorry you have felt it necessary to post your dissatisfaction on this forum and we would like to apologise for any inconvenience you and your family may have experienced during the installation of your kitchen. We install a vast number of kitchens and bathrooms and the majority of these are finished without any problems and we sincerely regret that your experience was not as you expected. Without being able to look at your account and understand the issues and the offer that has been made to you I am unable to evaluate your particular case. Perhaps you would be kind enough to contact me directly with your details to enable me to take another look at this for you?

It seems from your posting that all the work necessary to complete your kitchen has now been carried out and you are happy with your kitchen, which I am pleased to hear. I do, however, accept that the installation took longer than you expected and our proposed settlement with you should include an element of recompense for this along with some recognition for the additional days you and your wife took off from work and any other incidental expenses incurred for phone calls etc.

I would also re-iterate that B&Q would participate fully in any assessment carried out by the Furniture Ombudsman and we would comply in full with any determination following such an assessment as is required by our terms of participation in the Furniture Ombudsman process.

I would be very happy to discuss how our offer has been arrived at and re-examine your case if you could get in touch by private message.


Kind regards

Vicki McDonald
B&Q Customer Services

Former_MSE_Andrea

Just a note to say the rep has permission to post.

Andrea

Oopsadaisy

The power of t'internet!!!!!!