Wren Kitchens - My Review

Money_Muppet

Money_Muppet wrote: »

Another victim of Wren here.

We tragically ordered our kitchen from them before reading these reviews. It turns out their "in-house expert designer" can't use a tape measure, and that his incompetence is our fault. Thus we are stuck with a carcase we can't use, a fridge that won't even fit in the supplied carcase and a sink that will have to be fitted straddled between two units. Mistakes I can handle, incompetence and hand wringing are hard to take. They have offered to sell us more units for £850, but won't take anything back or exchange anything - as obviously all of this is our fault, even though we used their "Home Measurement Service"

Avoid like the plague .

Just an update. After no progress complaining to WREN, other than very quick dismissals on social media, we complained to the furniture ombudsman. Wren have refunded us all extra costs incurred. However, still no apology or acknowledgement of their failings.

Do not give up if they fob you off! Get your money back. Scandalous company. :mad:

I am enjoying telling friends and family about their terrible service though. I think I must have had 5 people who were thinking of using them change their mind after hearing our story. One colleague had actually been through the full design process and was about to put a deposit down, he has now gone somewhere else.

MrBenz

Terrible Customer Service - Complaints ignored

One day you might end up with a beautiful Wren Kitchen, but the chances are you'll also get awful customer service. And when you complain no one will listen.

Want to read the full story? benzonline com/wren html

NatNat77

I'm really concerned after reading this thread, I've paid my 10% deposit but these horror stories have really put me off Wren-particularly as I've chosen the white handleless gloss range. Think I'm going to do some more research and see if I can get my deposit back...

alexcoops

After 3 months of complaining I have been offered a derisory sum to settle my complaint. I have never experienced worse customer service, the staff on the phone are very pleasant but its the managers/directors and owners who ignore you unless you keep contacting them.

Do yourself a favour, get your deposit back and go elsewhere.....use your own fitter if you do keep your order with Wren and hope that everything arrives and in one piece (miracles do happen)

wrenisascam

Please everyone dont buy anything from this company. If i did read all the reviews i certainly wouldn't have spent my money there.
Bought a bedroom room set just like the one on display and the designer ordered the wrong item but because i didnt notice this until installing 3 months later they would not exchange it despite it being their fault.
Please please save yourself the hassle and go somewhere else. Their competitors are better in treating their customers better. stay away from scam Wren. and go to Betta living or B&Q. They treat their customers alot better

bimmy1973

Hi I'm new to this and I am desperately trying to get the kitchen I ordered fitted and completed. Wren were all singing and dancing until they got my money! The kitchen arrived and about a third of it was damaged. I have contacted Wren several times, some replacements have arrived but now no-one returns my phone calls, emails or texts. I have complained several times but am not taken seriously and am fobbed off. Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES use this company. I have the addresses of the directors Malcolm Healey & Jane Oldfield. Does anyone have their phone numbers or email addresses? I believe I will have contact them personally to get this resolved and receive some form of financial compensation for all the stress, additional costs of workmen returning back to site and the leave I have had to take off to be in for deliveries etc. I will also be contacting Trading Standards.

Thanks

thescouselander

Just to balance things out we had a Wren kitchen delivered last year which we used our own fitter to install and it went very smoothly. There were two items with a bit of damage and these were replaced quickly. It all went in fine and has been providing good service ever since. We got a good price too.

Can't say I have any complaints and I'd happily order from them again.

mattandjanno

Really feel for anyone dealing with WREN whether it be from buying one of their kitchens or their other household goods. Similar to everyone else I have had to endure similar sorts of problems ranging from the quality of their products, the greyness when it comes to their product prices and invoices and the attitudes of their staff whether it be at store level or all the way up their Senior VP's. We even had to suffer comments from their managers where they said that the reason why my wife couldn't open a dishwasher door was down to the fact that she is female and weak.

This was the same manager that said that he really needed to go to the opticians as he couldn't see the text on a page properly.

In my particular situation I paid for my kitchen deposit on a credit card and the balance is being financed via Barclays, I am currently at a bit of an impasse with WREN in that they are now refusing to remediate any "potential" defects as their so called Technical Surveyor has deemed that there is nothing outstanding in the kitchen. So the chips on the units, the paint runs and doors/drawers not opening are not issues then ??

There is also the fact that the items on the final order differ to what has been delivered because both their designer and fitter wrongly specified and checked our kitchen.

What we have been told by WREN is that they have decided that our kitchen is finished and as such they are going to cancel our credit agreement and pass the recovery of the balance onto their debt recovery team.

I have been speaking with Barclays all along and managed to get them to lodge a Section 75 claim but am getting slightly confused as to what is a defect as they want to send out someone from FIRA to inspect the kitchen. It feels as if I am being stitched up a bit as FIRA is an industry sponsored body and as such can't see it being totally independent. The other thing that is being pushed around is industry standards with the classic line that is repeated by WREN employees that if you can't see the defect from a metre away then it isn't a defect.

HurdyGurdy

Money_Muppet wrote: »

I think I must have had 5 people who were thinking of using them change their mind after hearing our story.

6

I loved the look of their kitchens in the showroom, but this thread, and particularly your post (given that you used their design service) has put me right off

Abimc1991

I cannot begin to state how bad my experience buying a kitchen off wren is- Liverpool
- We asked for measurements to be done and the someone came to measure and measured incorrectly and my kitchen fitter raised these concerned with the salesman and I was assured there would be no problems.
- The kitchen fitter went to fit the kitchen and low and behold the concerned he raised were actual concerns and the kitchen did not fit.
- The customer service is like talking to a brick wall and I was on hold constantly and cut off NUMEROUS times and was told that this is a problem they are looking into. Cutting customers off and not calling them back because 'we get another call straight through' is not acceptable. Not even an email once to apologise or advise the conversation was logged or an outcome.
- I am a landlady and had a tenant waiting to move in so this was delayed by a month and they were essentially left homeless unable to move into a house with no kitchen. Not to mention my reputation as a landlady.
- after finally speaking to a manager it was authorised for wren to rectify the problem and the salesman who done the original measurements came out to measure again to see what needed to change. He wanted the kitchen fitter to make it fit which would of meant taking legs off items and essentially being an unsafe kitchen.
-I was told the next delivery date for the new items was 3 weeks away which would delay it by more and after speaking to manager Nick Johnson he brought it forward by a few days.
- I sent an invoice to nick for the amount of £900 (the amount it cost me for a days labour for the kitchen fitter as he could not complete the job and also for the plumber and apprentice who attended who could also not complete their work. Also for the electrician to come back as the fridge is now blocking a socket and I have been advised the fridge is to stay where it is as there is nowhere else for it to go. Then a plasterer to come back as I have had the kitchen newly plastered and there will be a hole in the wall where the socket was. I have pictures of these problems and I have been advised that they will only give me £250 costs!
-I advised Nick that this has cost me considerable amount of money and stress and that I wish to escalate the complaint. I called up 5 times to speak to him and was advised every time he was on another phone call and that he will call me back. Not once has he called me only email (which have all been delayed responses).
- I have had to pay a mortgage payment that the tenant would have covered had she moved in when she was supposed to if the kitchen had have been correct like I was told it was.
-the kitchen fitter came back today to fit the kitchen and there are STILL problems with it and he has been fired to 'make it fit' as I cannot afford to incite additional labour costs and delay the tenant moving in by a further period.
-I have contacted the call centre yesterday and they advised me they are open today and I have called and they are closed. Lies!
Would not recommend it to anyone either.
All they want is your money, they will take any opportunity to call their mistakes your mistake and leave you in a position where you have had to incur lots of costs which they refuse to reimburse. The customer service have been unreasonable and I assure you I will not rest until the costs I he incurred are reimbursed!
Very unprofessional and unreasonable. Quoting parts of their term and conditions to make customers feel like it is their fault and guilty for making a fuss.
I have wrote in to watchdog but believe that they have already been on the programme which doesn't surprise me!
I just have no words for the company and when the advert comes on the radio it infuriates me and I wish no one to encounter the problems and stress I have in the last few months.
I notice they don't have a page that customers can write on so we have to make do with commenting on a post.
Where do we even review them to alert people of their incompetence