New Kitchen

fthl

homebase? hmmm....

Flyboy152

Meepster wrote: »

Since when has Vance Miller had a good reputation? I find comparing one of his companies to the likes of (for example, as they are Trustmark accredited) Homebase or Magnet completely laughable...

Measured against what standards? Because both of those companies have more than their fair share of complaints.

Meepster

Flyboy152 wrote: »

Measured against what standards? Because both of those companies have more than their fair share of complaints.

Show me a kitchen company that doesn't have complaints about them!

The bigger the company, the more complaints they will have, simple as that. It's how the complaints are resolved, and what measures they have in place to resolve the issues, that is important.

bris

Meepster wrote: »

Show me a kitchen company that doesn't have complaints about them!

The bigger the company, the more complaints they will have, simple as that. It's how the complaints are resolved, and what measures they have in place to resolve the issues, that is important.

My thoughts exactly, you are far more likely to get a successful resolution to any complaints made to the likes of homebase etc than any independant business who need to watch their margins.

fthl

The bigger the company, the more complaints they will have, simple as that. It's how the complaints are resolved, and what measures they have in place to resolve the issues, that is important.

No it's not. True, how you deal with a complaint is a measure of a company, but the first measure is not having problems in the first place. The threads on here and the attention of the likes of Watchdog etc are testament to that. There will be companies that are substantially larger than their peers but who get fewer complaints. Magnet, for example, appears to be a company that has fewer threads on consumer boards (not an ideal barometer by any means, but the best we have) than the likes of moben and B&Q etc.

I find it interesting that although the financial ombudsman publishes the number of complaints businesses receive, and how many are found in favour of the customer the furniture ombudsman doesn't. I wonder why, if standards are so high?

I also found this on watchdog's site:

"Moben Statement to Watchdog:
As a 35-year-old national brand, in context the Group builds over 30,000 installations every year for customers who are totally delighted with our products. As a result we have many referrals and much repeat business. That said, the nature of construction is that not everything will always go according to plan and when it doesn't, it is how we put things right that matters most. We are obviously sorry we have let these customers down, for which we apologise - however each and every one of their problems was known to us and was being worked on prior to "Watchdog's intervention. All the issues have now been sorted with the exception of one that is ongoing. Our Group-wide customer processes have recently been overhauled but if there is anyone out there who still has any ongoing problems - please call us free on our Hotline: 0800 840 0118 and we will try to resolve them as quickly as possible."


So Moben knew about the problem and didn't sort it?

And I see the same line 'it is how we put things right that matters most' as quoted above. To my cynical mind this is an acknowledgement that they get plenty of complaints. It also makes me wonder which company meepster actually works for...

The guardian are fans too: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/jul/28/consumeraffairs.consumerpages. Moben won an award!

All in all, not good reviews I think. B&Q at least don't seem to be quite as unpopular, and they are a helluva lot bigger than moben.

asbokid

Meepster wrote: »

Since when has Vance Miller had a good reputation?

What do you mean?

Vance Miller even has his own Wikipedia entry.

Vance Miller is the executive director of Maple Industries, and of Kitchens, which operate from Maple Mill in the Hathershaw area of Oldham in Greater Manchester.[3]

Miller has a chequered history. He himself has claimed to be suspected of importing cocaine into Sierra Leone and gold into Belgium as well as having been imprisoned in six countries including the USA for diamond smuggling.[5]

In November 1995, he was sentenced to 18 months on counts of kidnapping and affray following an altercation with his neighbours over a missing kitchen unit.[6]

In February 1999, he was jailed for 6 months having punched a female inspector in the face as she pursued a minor pollution complaint near his Birtle Mill, Bury business premises.

In related incidents his company was fined £28,500 for health and safety breaches and he was convicted for damaging the car of a journalist.[7][8]

In 2002 the Office of Fair Trading instigated the ‘Stop Now’ order and he became the first person in Britain to be handed one after supplying a kitchen which was not sold as advertised.[9]

In June 2003, defending himself without lawyers, he was called “intelligent, cunning, manipulative but above all arrogant” by a Manchester judge who jailed him for nine months for contempt of court when he failed to improve operations at his Oldham-based company, Maple Industries. He was released 2 weeks later on the undertaking to employ business efficiency consultants.[10]

Miller is currently banned from being the director of any company in the United Kingdom until 2014.[11]

Meepster

fthl wrote: »

No it's not. True, how you deal with a complaint is a measure of a company, but the first measure is not having problems in the first place. The threads on here and the attention of the likes of Watchdog etc are testament to that. There will be companies that are substantially larger than their peers but who get fewer complaints. Magnet, for example, appears to be a company that has fewer threads on consumer boards (not an ideal barometer by any means, but the best we have) than the likes of moben and B&Q etc.

I have never hidden the fact that I now work for Magnet (if you go back far enough in my posts, you will find a conversation between myself and CKdesigner in a thread where I state this) Previously I have worked for 3 independent kitchen companies (a mix of high end and budget kitchens) and before that, I worked for Wickes in many roles, including designer and customer service manager. Who I work for is pretty irrelevant though, as I always post impartially and from the facts and information I know to be true.

The main reason Magnet doesn't tend to have a lot of complaints* is because they are a member of Trustmark. This means they have a lot of conditions attached to how they run the business, certainly in respect of customer service and after care. If these conditions aren't met, they can be fined or kicked out of Trustmark. Homebase, which only recently joined trustmark, used to have a dire customer service aspect, but has recently improved A LOT to bring themselves in-line with the Trustmark standards.

*I add this part in because obviously, Magnet does still have a fair few complaints. The difference is that MOST of the time, these complaints are dealt with quickly and with minimal interruption to the customer. You then have the odd complaint that isn't resolved quickly and can drag on for a while (I'm sure if you search the forum, you will find one in particular which I believe is still ongoing, after some considerable time)

fthl

magnet are, in my opinion, one of the reasonable ones. indeed, that is where my kitchen came from.