Compensation for Magnet kitchen nightmare?

Freddie_Snowbits

Just had a look at your spog and the issues to me are as follows:

1 If you have any job done, get a quote for the work, detailed plan and payment schedule. i.e. you pay this when that is completed.

2 Seems some elements of your kitchen require modifications of units, to ensure a good fit to you wall features. This is normal in some kitchens that a cabinent or item is 'cut' to fit.

3 Most issues are cosmetic in nature, the gaps between the unit and wall are probablbly caused by placing the said kitchen in a place where the wall had already been tiled, the old kitchen ripped out and the newone put in. This is the result of going too cheap and cutting corners. No new kitchen would exactly meet the old one. No problem, it can easily be resolved by adding cosmetic features to the same, i.e. some form of splash back on the worktops easil hides items. facia boards cand hide other gaps. As for the worktop, it appears to be granite. Sorry that is a big mistake, looks nice, but do no drop the MILs glass of sherry on it as the glass will smash. Unfortunately due to the nature of this product, it is dificult to fit anywhere without problems.

4 Freddie cannott offer absolution for your problems, as you have decided to double up on posts and blogs, You already have answered most of yoru concerns and the compenstation route you have taken will not resolve the issues of your design I have noted. Any decent joiner would come along and fix these at extra cost, but if I was the fitters, sorry, you have got what you have paid for. But as Magnet appear to have completed the project to your satisfaction, what else do you want apart from the arrogance and greed of the fat compy cheek.

GaryD_2

Freddie_Snowbits wrote: »

Just had a look at your spog and the issues to me are as follows:

1 If you have any job done, get a quote for the work, detailed plan and payment schedule. i.e. you pay this when that is completed.

2 Seems some elements of your kitchen require modifications of units, to ensure a good fit to you wall features. This is normal in some kitchens that a cabinent or item is 'cut' to fit.

3 Most issues are cosmetic in nature, the gaps between the unit and wall are probablbly caused by placing the said kitchen in a place where the wall had already been tiled, the old kitchen ripped out and the newone put in. This is the result of going too cheap and cutting corners. No new kitchen would exactly meet the old one. No problem, it can easily be resolved by adding cosmetic features to the same, i.e. some form of splash back on the worktops easil hides items. facia boards cand hide other gaps. As for the worktop, it appears to be granite. Sorry that is a big mistake, looks nice, but do no drop the MILs glass of sherry on it as the glass will smash. Unfortunately due to the nature of this product, it is dificult to fit anywhere without problems.

4 Freddie cannott offer absolution for your problems, as you have decided to double up on posts and blogs, You already have answered most of yoru concerns and the compenstation route you have taken will not resolve the issues of your design I have noted. Any decent joiner would come along and fix these at extra cost, but if I was the fitters, sorry, you have got what you have paid for. But as Magnet appear to have completed the project to your satisfaction, what else do you want apart from the arrogance and greed of the fat compy cheek.

Thanks (I think) for the reply. In response...

1. My wife liked the kitchen more than any other we'd seen. They insist on payment up-front. They then have you over a barrel... not a lot you can do there apart from walk away. My point is that others should know about this and realise that it doesn't exactly make them want to resolve issues when they happen, as they have had the full payment at that point.

2. Wasn't an issue. We replaced a kitchen that was properly fitted (which we had installed 10 years ago) with one that was clearly not. The issue was the fitter clearly wasn't able to do the job properly, and he was a "Magnet Approved" fitter that they supplied as a part of the contract. We know and accept that cabinets need to be adjusted, they just weren't adjusted or installed properly.

3. None of these were actually issues. The gap between the worktop and tiles was about 2mm and was closed up with sealant (now looks fine). That wasn't the problem. And the worktop is laminate, not granite (if you had read the page with the list of problems on it states that). The problem was that there should not have been any gaps elsewhere as it was poorly fitted. Even Magnet's own manager said the installation was "a disgrace".

4. Not sure I asked for absolution(?), but the doubling-up was intentional as in one forum I was advising about the problems we'd had, and in another asking for advice on compensation. No offence to anyone intended, and sorry if it's been a problem for some of you.

Thanks
Gary

GaryD_2

libsmum wrote: »

You have had 3 months+ of hassle, how long did they quote to fit the kitchen originally ? If you haggled and debated for months and months you might end up with a few hundred quid more but the stress of prolonging the debacle - is it worth it ? You have vented your frustrations on your website, if they write back about it you would have 'got under their skin' and in effect feel a bit of 'getting even'
I think i'd be inclinded to ask for a bit more than the £500 they offered just so they were paying what I asked for not what THEY offered.(childish of me but hey ho !)Hopefully you will then be able to treat your wife to some lovely new bits to put in her shiney new kitchen and put the whole thing beind you.
Good Luck

Thanks libsmum.

They originally quoted 5 days, start to finish.

Our primary concern was getting the job finished, so we focused on that. Now it's done we've turned our attention to the compensation as we feel that we've not received the sort of service we paid for.

I think you're right, the website was intended to warn others but if it gets under their skin then we will feel like there is some justice in that, given the number of times I had to console my wife as a result of the problems they created.

We have rejected their initial offer and have written to The Furniture Ombudsman to open a case. We may or may not be offered more, but we feel the need to press them. We may not get what we feel is fair but some way between the two would be better.

Thanks again
Gary D.

fthl

In the absence of any losses, £500 is a gift, to be honest. It sounds like you've suffered disruption and irritation, not true distress and inconvenience. I think a court might give you £300 or so. In your position I'd take it rather than wait 6 months for an ombudsman to look at it. After all, it is possible that you might get less. I doubt you'll get more.

B&Q and Kitchens Direct will insist on full payment up front. If you were told different, the salesman was being creative.

GaryD_2

fthl wrote: »

In the absence of any losses, £500 is a gift, to be honest. It sounds like you've suffered disruption and irritation, not true distress and inconvenience. I think a court might give you £300 or so. In your position I'd take it rather than wait 6 months for an ombudsman to look at it. After all, it is possible that you might get less. I doubt you'll get more.

B&Q and Kitchens Direct will insist on full payment up front. If you were told different, the salesman was being creative.

Thanks for the comments and feedback.

We have suffered some losses in fact, we paid for kennels for our dog which was wasted as they delayed the start of the work, and we had to pay for a decorator twice, and again for the inconvenience a delay, and we've run up phone bills trying to get this resolved. But yes, these are small amounts in the scheme of things (less than £200).

But I think my wife would disagree on the distress point. She was in tears on many occasions as a result of the mess that they left and the arguments with them, and the fact that we had friends and family coming over Christmas with a botched kitchen we fully use was inconvenient, to say the least.

If it takes 6 months to resolve and we get less so be it, at least it will be an independent assessment and we will know we've pushed it as far as we can/should.

Our last kitchen was from Kitchens Direct. We paid them 20% up-front, 50% on delivery of items, and the remainder when it had been installed. We had them back to quote this time and they repeated this, but we just didn't like their units (wish we had, though!).

Thanks again.

fthl

Jones v gallagher might be an interesting read for you.

http://www.bailii.org/cgi-bin/markup.cgi?doc=/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2004/10.html&query=Jones+and+v+and+Gallagher+and+(trading+and+as+and+Gallery+and+Kitchens+and+Bathrooms)+and+[2004]+and+EWCA+and+Civ+and+10,+and+13+and+January+and+2004&method=boolean

Personally, I'd take the 500 now, rather than risk getting 300 in six months.

Equaliser123

fthl wrote: »

Jones v gallagher might be an interesting read for you.

http://www.bailii.org/cgi-bin/markup.cgi?doc=/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2004/10.html&query=Jones+and+v+and+Gallagher+and+(trading+and+as+and+Gallery+and+Kitchens+and+Bathrooms)+and+[2004]+and+EWCA+and+Civ+and+10,+and+13+and+January+and+2004&method=boolean

Personally, I'd take the 500 now, rather than risk getting 300 in six months.

That case relates to the loss of the right of rejection and does not really deal with the compensation for inconvenience and distress.

fthl

it does - see para 12. You need to look at the history, the claim and then see what was awarded at first instance. Some journals have a better account of the case than the bailii report, which is the only source I can link to here. It was predominantly about a rejection though, I'll grant you. Still, there are very few decent cases on comp in home improvement cases. I do however have a pretty good list somewhere if folk are very interested. Many are not reported though.

Ruxely electronics v forsyth at CoA also has some good discussion, but these aspects weren't appealed so didn't make it to the HoL.

shaddowrunner

Hi Gary,

I have recently had the same sort of issue with a bathroom installation from B and Q.


We are looking at takign them to the Ombusdsman right now, can you let me know what happended with your case in the end i would be really interested to know.

Thanks,

Nick

wealdroam

shaddowrunner wrote: »

Hi Gary,

I have recently had the same sort of issue with a bathroom installation from B and Q.


We are looking at takign them to the Ombusdsman right now, can you let me know what happended with your case in the end i would be really interested to know.

Thanks,

Nick

Hi,
Gary hasn't logged on to these forums since March, so may not see your request.