Wren Kitchens - My Review

Tommocc

So why does this number take me to the same menu as your customer dissservice department?

Carolineag

Is anyone out there having major issues with Wren. I know I am. I wished I had read up on them. Disaster from day one wrong items delivered and still wrong but gave up in end.. Year and half down the line the doors are peeling and black coming through edges utter crap. They state flawless and inspected to high standard craftsmen its a joke. Their customer services are useless they want me to run around take photos etc they should send someone out. To be honest I hate my dream kitchen. Is there anyone out there to advise I want my money back but the are not interested saying go to Ominibusman....pleeesse help

Mars99

Hi
Sorry to hear of your troubles but not altogether surprised.
Regards the wrong items, did you employ your own fitters or Wrens?
Is yours a Linda Barker range (not sure if its still sold as that). The doors come with a lifetime warranty. Not sure what the warranty is on other ranges but when did you notify them of the fault?

Johnandsue

We have been offered £1000 compensation for the hassle involved in Wren taking six months to complete our kitchen. Should we accept this offer or can we go to small claims for more?

DoaM

Can you quantify and evidence losses of more than £1000? If not then small claims is likely pointless.

Mars99

This may be a silly question but why are they offering you £1000. Has your kitchen been properly completed. You said in your previous post that "the doors are peeling and black coming through edges". Have these been replaced? If not, then £1000 is not going to help much to complete the kitchen. Its not as if you can go and buy the doors from somewhere else (?)
If you can clearly demonstrate that the items supplied were not fit for purpose (merchantable quality) and at least estimate what it would cost to put matters right then you may have a chance of success in small claims.

Pete_Smith

I know someone about to purchase a kitchen from Wrens.Should I advise them against this?

neilorushton

Hi fossil1,
Unfortunately we have experienced similar issues and about to embark on trying to get some form of compensation. I would be grateful if you can provide an update a please?

fossil1 wrote: »

My partner and I bought a kitchen from Wren and it was delivered on in October 2017. We sourced our own fitter to install it, which took 3-4 days (he's worked on friends and families houses, so we know how good he is) and he advised us that he didn’t think the quality was up to much. So upon hearing this we removed all the protective plastic that was on the cupboards, drawers and panels covering the kitchen, and discovered issue after issue. These included chips, shoddy paintwork I.e. white lines of paint showing on the edge of the dark matt grey paint colour we went for, bobbles in the paint etc. But the last straw was when we went to clean the kitchen and paint literally wiped off a panel.

(Oh, and in the midst of all this we discovered that the brand new oven was faulty, and they tried to get us to repair it instead of replacing it, which we told them was not happening as we had not used it and we were within 28 days. Only when we quoted the consumer rights act did they replace it.)

Long story short, we have given Wren umpteen opportunities to replace the substandard goods, we are now onto delivery number 11 (I think? I’ve seriously lost count), day 94, and we still don’t have a kitchen free from fault.

We have rejected the kitchen under the Consumer rights act 2015 for a full refund due to substandard goods and goods not fit for purpose in some instances, and we originally requested the rejection within 28 days, but they sent out an installation manager to try and 'rectify' the situation (we now realise this was a delay tactic.)

However, we went on to issue a formal rejection mid December as they continued to send out damaged goods with QC inspected plastered all over it to try and replace the original damaged goods, but they are saying we are unable to reject it. They change what the reason for this is, which has ranged from:

• Us accepting the kitchen because we installed it - though we pointed out that we were not aware of these issues until after installation.
• Us accepting the kitchen because we fitted our own worktop. However, we did not anticipate the issues we have experienced and got this fitted within a week of the kitchen being fitted. But regardless of this, us accepting another contract has no bearing on the kitchen contract - which we have advised Wren of.
• The claim is disproportionate to the remaining issues. So they are saying because we only need 2 more items and then the kitchen will be complete, that we are not allowed to reject it. Which is absurd because we rejected it long before we got to this point. Plus, we don’t actually feel like we can use the kitchen because we don’t feel confident in it after seeing paint coming off!

In the midst of all this we opened up a section 75 claim through Barclays as we got the finance through them, who we feel have seriously failed us. We have had 3 different claim handlers due to staff leaving the department, and we have basically been forgotten about as a result.

We opened the section 75 claim with them in November 2017, and we are led to believe that they have 8 weeks to deal with this claim. We are now past this 8 week mark, but they are not providing us with a decision nor a timeframe as to when this will be.

We feel we are at the mercy of Barclays making their decision, but they have advised us over the phone that they have other claims open with Wren that have gone on a lot longer than ours, so we’re not sure on what are we meant to do with that information. Oh, and it's also become apparent that Barclays have a whole department to deal with Wren claims, which says it all really.

We are unable to move into our first home together as we can’t lay the floor until the kitchen is fitted, and we feel that Wren are in breach of the consumer rights act as well as trading standards, and are purposely delaying us past the six month mark so as to make this refund process more difficult for us.

Has anybody else had this kind of situation and managed to get the refund? I now realise how many people have had issues with Wren and I am kicking myself for not researching them better, but it would be good to know if anyone waited for the section 75 claim, or just went through the ombudsman?

Barclays have advised us that if we go to the furniture ombudsman that they will no longer deal with the claim, but then I feel like I should be reporting Barclays to the financial ombudsman for how they have dealt with our claim, or lack of.

I can honestly say this has been the most stressful thing I've ever gone through.

photome

neilorushton wrote: »

Hi fossil1,
Unfortunately we have experienced similar issues and about to embark on trying to get some form of compensation. I would be grateful if you can provide an update a please?

Unlikely fossil hasn’t logged in for 6 months and last posted 18 months ago

JohnnyCee

Hi Mars99, following your win did wren take long to settle. I'm insulted by their poultry compensation offer, which comes nowhere now close to monies lost or paid out because of them supplying and fitting our kitchen...not to mention the stress and problems associated with it all.