Moben in administration

Meepster

adamg wrote: »

how much did magnet lose last year? Even if Nobia is making a profit they will soon get rid of a loss making arm, its happening with comet right now they have been put up for sale by 'Kesa'? How mnay area managers got laid off last week from magnet?

Magnet actually lost less than they were forecast to lose, which in another tough trading year, and a year where a lot of outlay was used against the new IT system, was a pretty good result.

As for how many area managers got laid off. I believe it was 4. However this wasn't sales related, but due to a restructure (company is now in 2 divisions instead of 3) Oh and those managers laid off, were offered other positions, but they decided to go elsewhere...

I'm not sure why you have such a problem with Magnet though? But let me reiterate this:

Even if Magnet did go bust, no customers would lose any money or be in a situation where fitters would walk away from the job part way through the installation. Which is the biggest issue with Moben going into administration and has most relevance to this thread...

adamg

Meepster wrote: »

Magnet actually lost less than they were forecast to lose, which in another tough trading year, and a year where a lot of outlay was used against the new IT system, was a pretty good result.

As for how many area managers got laid off. I believe it was 4. However this wasn't sales related, but due to a restructure (company is now in 2 divisions instead of 3) Oh and those managers laid off, were offered other positions, but they decided to go elsewhere...

I'm not sure why you have such a problem with Magnet though? But let me reiterate this:

Even if Magnet did go bust, no customers would lose any money or be in a situation where fitters would walk away from the job part way through the installation. Which is the biggest issue with Moben going into administration and has most relevance to this thread...

I dont have any problem with Magnet, I am just advising people to watch out. And customers would lose money, the trustmark scheme only protects installations not supply only.

janequeenie

save_extra wrote: »

Ranty66, Very sorry to hear about your job at Moben. As you say customers shouldn't hold breath for sinks and doors etc. I'm missing some kitchen doors (Sumatra walnut) and a few devices. Any idea who the suppliers are or will the administrators release these details eventually?

hi, i would give it a week and then try kitchens direct who are one of the homeform group of companies who will continue to trade along with sharps bedrooms.the business was run from the same premises as moben so they might have purchased the stock.

Fulham_Mark

Thanks to reading this site, I paid for my kitchen on a credit card to get extra protection in case Magnet (in my case) went bust.

Was a tad worried as I seemed to be the only customer whenever I was there but they were very good and useful to deal with and didn't push expensive items.

If you want an example of a well-run company, Europarts (car spares) have never borrowed a penny in the history of the company.

cddc

It just goes to show, that even in the kitchen business where margins are huge compared to a lot of retail, if you cant look after your customers and get things right first time you will eventually suffer.
It is interesting to note that even the posters on this thread who are pleased with their kitchens had plenty of it delivered wrong. Everyone I know who ever had a Moben kitchen, myself included some years ago had this. We had a wrong end panel amongst other things wrong and they kept sending replacement ones out. We would ring them and say we had already had it. We ended up with eight! They did not want them back! I ended up using them to box in my boiler and hot water tank.

How much money they must have wasted in sending out replacement items over the years beggars belief, and paying fitters to come back and finish jobs.

I feel sorry for ranty and the others who have lost their jobs, but it seems though the product was good, the sytems behind the scenes put paid to them. Have to say their sales tactics sucked too and overall am not too sorry to see them go.
I wish that everyone in the business would adopt transparent and fair pricing instead of this pretend SALE! tactic. Everyone knows that in a kitchen sale, you are actually paying a fair price and outside of this, the prices are pure fantasy.

adamg

its only going to get worse with Wren kitchens ie MFI in disguise popping up everywhere

Leif

cddc wrote: »

It just goes to show, that even in the kitchen business where margins are huge compared to a lot of retail, if you cant look after your customers and get things right first time you will eventually suffer.

6 months ago when searching for a kitchen I did not even consider Moben due to appalling online reviews. So where did the money go? To expensive advertising campaigns? Or expensive show rooms? Sales staff? Senior management? Shareholders?

The basic product should be high profit since chipboard and veneer/melamine is relatively inexpensive. There is even a company that does solid Pine kitchen for the price of a chipboard one. Go figure.

My old kitchen had a wooden frame (solid wood frame with plywood sides) which lasted 40 years. I suspect a good DIY person could make one.

save_extra

Bubbleyding wrote: »

I also feel very sorry for those employees who have lost their jobs, as well as those who have paid the money but have not received their kitchens. I have an incomplete kitchen, but it's only the plinths at the bottom and a magic corner as they sent a right hand one originally but needed a left. They have since sent the left so I have a right had one going spare.

However, save extra, like you I am also missing cupboard doors in sumatra walnut, specifically those that go above and below the double oven. If you find a supplier, could you let me know, and I'll do the same? I have seen walnut shaker style doors in a local store, I need to take a sample with me and also measure the panels to make sure they are the same thickness. My fall back plan is to get some black glossy doors and use those instead, as they did mix the two in the catalogue and it looked fine.

I know moben have had some terrible reviews. However, I would like to add that, apart from the smarmy sales rep telling us we could have things that didn't exist, from surveyor to the installation we had a good experience (apart from the missing doors). The fitters were contractors and were great, and even made some bespoke pieces to better suit the dimensions of the kitchen. It is the most functional and the most beautiful kitchen I've had and it is a shame it has ended like this. I do think we are the lucky ones though. Had this been three weeks earlier we would have been in a right mess.

Bubbleyding,
If you and anyone else has the same problem with missing Moben kitchen doors, let's get in contact and see what we can do about sourcing matching ones and dealing with the credit card companies for compensation. It looks quite likely I may have to replace all the doors to make them match if I can't get Moben ones. I've tried sending you a private message with my email address, by clicking on your name.

Steve_the_fitter

As said if you are missing any parts try Kitchens Direct. I used to fit for both a few years ago and they are exactly the same kitchens.

AndyBSG

Leif wrote: »

So where did the money go? To expensive advertising campaigns? Or expensive show rooms? Sales staff? Senior management? Shareholders?

All of the above.

I worked for the haulage firm that delivered for Mobens/Dolphin so know exactly what a mess they are. I could go into the state of some of the goods we received from them and were then expected to deliver to customers but it would only bore you and get me wound up!

Homeform had just agreed a £12 million advertising campaign and we had been doing quite a few deliveries to new showrooms, including a massive one they just opened in Lakeside.

I'll not go into too many details on the sales staff because some of the tactics i've seen them using, particularly on elderly customers and what they call their 'Special Needs' bathrooms are disgusting.

As people have mentioned, Kitchen's Direct and Moben are the same company, selling the same product, using the same staff yet the markup on Moben compared to KD is astronomical.

What susprises me is if they knew they were in trouble, why did they spend 12 mill on a new advertising campaign and open all these new showrooms?

Could it be that one of the firms they're looking to put under bankrolled it all but one of the firms they're looking to keep will take ownership with all those debts written off?

Wouldn't be the first time the Moben group have done something like this