Wickes "Free" kitchen planer service - who pays ?

steveharvey2001

We are planning a kitchen refit and we decided to take up the offer of a free kitchen planning service from Wickes.

This consisted of a home visit and measure-up and will be followed-up by a visit to the design office at the local Wickes store.

After the designer took measurements and we discussed a layout, we were told that the units and doors would come to about £8 Grand ! ....and that does NOT include worktops or any appliances.

Our kitchen is probably a bit above average size as it is a kitchen diner .... but £8,000 for units seemed a bit over the top.

I assume that this would be negotiable as the units are nothing special - just chipboard with solid back panels and fancy soft close hinges and drawer runners.

I am assuming that the planning service is "no obligation", so I was wondering how the Wickes in store designers get paid.

I would assume that there is a significant commission based incentive that they are working to so it concerns me that the free design service is in fact paid by getting them to convince customers to paid 'top whack list price' for the materials.

Wickes list prices must be unrealistically high in order for them to frequently have 50% Sales but I assume that is standard practice across the market.

We are waiting for the initial plan to be emailed to us and look forward to seeing how the prices were arrived at.

My view is that if the mark-ups appear too much of a rip-off, then I would request that they re-quoted on the basis that their quoted design would be subject to a price match if they did not significantly discount it.

I don't like the idea of taking someones work and taking it to competitors as they need to make a living.. but i also don't want to be taken for a ride.

Does anyone know how the commercial arrangement works between the customer, designer, Wickes, the fitting contractor and the wholesale kitchen supplier (which I believe is Benchmarq).


Steve

elliot341

I'm sure that the wickes kitchen designers dont expect every plan they draw up (either in store from measurements or from coming out to your house) will lead to a sale. They provide this service to try and get you to buy a kitchen.
In regards to the price they normally have 50% off sales at some point in the year which will obviously reduce the price. I wouldnt worry about taking theyre design and touting it round, unless theyve done something extraordinary whoever you take it to will still set things out in their own way.
If they ever wanted to restrict you to only using themselves they wouldnt email you things out etc etc

warmhands.coldheart

B&Q have an online design tool you can design your own if you want to toy about with things. Not really that hard to use either.... it's by 2020 the same crowd who supply pretty much all the kitchen retailers design software

Annie1960

Interesting, as my local Wickes refused to let me have a copy of the design! They wanted over £18k from me for a kitchen, Homebase want £12k for similar.


Make sure you shop around different places, as they all have 'sales' with 50 - 60% off at various points through the year. Homebase will price-match, but I've not seen anything at Wickes saying they do this.


Wickes told me the only time they sell full-priced units are for insurance cases, otherwise people tend to usually wait for their frequent sales.

warmhands.coldheart

Annie1960 wrote: »

.....Wickes told me the only time they sell full-priced units are for insurance cases, otherwise people tend to usually wait for their frequent sales.

This is what gets my goat with a lot of retailers.... Why not just sell stuff at a suitable margin but which is also value for money for the customer and stop haing "Sales" every blinkin 2nd month !!! It's seriously annoying and most customers are aware of their little tricks now-a-day...

leveller2911

Howdens are just as bad with their obscure discount system where you still end up paying more than other online companies that sell a superior product . I haven't dealt with them at all in the last 12 months and had a call to say that if I didn't buy anything (even a box of screws) they would delete my account...

As if I'm going to be bullied into to buying a box of screws just to keep my account open is laughable. It costs nothing to keep an account open, they don't send a monthly statement showing £0 to pay. I have trade accounts with many companies ,over the years probably hundreds but I've never had a company contact me and say I need to buy something or else......:rotfl:


Howdens haven't had a good reputation for over a decade and is now a joke within the industry.

elliot341

when Wren kitchens initially appeared they sold a decent product at a decent price (i bought a few units previously from them and had no problems), but they changed to doing the whole full price/sale price approach as everybody would keep coming in asking when their sale was! people have just been blinded into doing this approach and unfortunately with these industries its here to stay by the looks of it

Xeorix

We're just finishing our kitchen and have had very similar experiences. In the end, we ended up designing it ourselves, ordering it as supply only and then fitting it ourselves.

Just to give you an idea of prices. All kitchens are white with either handles or the handleless type where the handle channel is above the door:

Benchmarx
£7k without appliances - supply only

Magnet
£18k which included Neff appliances. "An amazing deal as it was £44k" :think: This one annoyed me the most, I gave them MY design, and they came back saying they've done an amazing design and literally just talked about how good THEIR design was. Their design that was exactly what I had planned out and given them :mad:

Howdens
£7k without appliances - supply only, down from £14k.... Wickes came in about £1-2k more expensive

The decision. Crown Imperial
Designed and fitted by ourselves. £9k which includes all the fancy wirework

We went for the Crown Imperial option as I got so fed up with the underhand sales techniques of 80% off and haggling ever minor detail. I spent some time and did some of my own research, looked at what was available online and found Crown Imperial.

We booked a visit to their showroom (a giant warehouse with every kitchen setup they sell) where theres no sales reps, just people to tell you about their kitchen. You can't buy from them direct, so they have no incentive.

I then managed to find a kitchen fitter who helped me with a few tweaks on my design to make sure I had allowed for enough space etc, and then sold it to us supply only. It's working out more expensive that Howdens, Wickes etc, but the kitchen is very high quality and worth it.
15mm solid carcasses all round, grey/silver cabinets, proper handleless design with aluminium trims above the doors etc etc

So to answer your question, they get paid by giving you the highest price they think they can get away with, and hope you don't try to haggle it down.
My advice also is to forget the big "sheds" and go to your local kitchen fitters. They can order direct from kitchen manufactures that specialise in kitchens, and you'll get a much better quality kitchen too, probably for the same price

ed110220

Never fail to be amazed by how much they charge for what is basically just plastic covered chipboard. I think they've hyped kitchens with fancy names so people swoon over them and forget they are just chipboard

Same with bathrooms. We got some Roper Rhodes fitted bathroom furniture which was heavily discounted as seconds/ex display, which was much less than the going rate but I still didn't think it was cheap for what it was - just plastic covered chipboard.

Ed

adamg

leveller2911 wrote: »

Howdens are just as bad with their obscure discount system where you still end up paying more than other online companies that sell a superior product . I haven't dealt with them at all in the last 12 months and had a call to say that if I didn't buy anything (even a box of screws) they would delete my account...

As if I'm going to be bullied into to buying a box of screws just to keep my account open is laughable. It costs nothing to keep an account open, they don't send a monthly statement showing £0 to pay. I have trade accounts with many companies ,over the years probably hundreds but I've never had a company contact me and say I need to buy something or else......:rotfl:


Howdens haven't had a good reputation for over a decade and is now a joke within the industry.

Each Howdens branch has a target of 10 net gain each month, they close every account after 1 year if its not been traded on, if 20 accounts close in a month they then need to find 30 new ones to hit target.

leveller2911

adamg wrote: »

Each Howdens branch has a target of 10 net gain each month, they close every account after 1 year if its not been traded on, if 20 accounts close in a month they then need to find 30 new ones to hit target.

If they improved the quality of their kitchens, be competitive and stopped their rediculous/obscure discount system they may get my custom back but I won't hold my breath......

I'm suprised that different branches will undercut each other to get the business unless the branches are franchised?.