What rights do i have for a delayed kitchen refit

Ianh82

hi
i am currently having my kitchen replaced. its costing £11800 in total form a local kitchen specialist. not B&Q or Howdens. the itchen and new integrated appliances etc costs £5000 - i have a 4.5mtr x 3.5 mtr kitchen - its big. anyway, i agreed the price and booked the date. it was due to start on the 15th may, everything had been ordered - they have there own manufacturers for the units. this was then delayed to the 22nd may due to the manufacturers being booked up. this was fine.

work started on the 22nd and one guy came round to take out my old kitchen - we'd taken the old appliances out and sold them. he took the kitchen apart but didn't strip it completely - left several units around the sink area, tiles on the wall and old extractor fan and tiles around that. started at 8am finished at 2pm. i asked if he was finishing the job the next day, he didn;t know. the next day, no one came - supposed to be electrician! he came the wednesday. he was quizical that the kitchen wasn't fully stripped. more work for him - he asked if i was keeping the extractor, i said no. we are having everything done, plastering, painting, new spots, new everything. the kitchen also arrived - the new one. we turned it away and said we were in no position to store it and it certainly wasn't ready to be fitted! the company took it and stored it in the owners garage. the sparky did a full on day and did very well. the day after, the plasterers arrived. they looked at it and were shocked it wasn't stripped. this kind of thing and communication between the project manager and trades and us has been shocking and i've had to micro manage and make constant phone calls and sent numerous emails complaining about the way its been handled. they have apologised numerous times, the plastering finish was terrible and they had units fitted on the walls before the PM had even seen the finish. he eventually came and i gave him both barrels. i told him it was shocking and he agreed and wasn't happy. he didn't instruct the removal of the top level units and skim over it, just said the painter will make good. 5 days later, painting is still being done as that wasn't good. they also seem to not answer emails very quickly.

now, we are week 5 in from a maximum of 3 wk job. the reason - units had been missed off by the manufacturer, fitters not being told what was were - i did this.

they have sent a email today saying it should all be done this week, my floor layer can come in friday and fit the floor after the messy work is done.

what rights do i have, we have spent loads of time managing this job which i paid a large amount and a premium for them to do it all, to not pay the full and final payment. it'll be around £5k i owe. can i deduct wasted hours calling and chasing, stress its caused us etc? i did my due diligence before, full 5 stars reviews on numerous sites and as they are a small company, gave them the job. a local kitchen fitter would have been around £2 k cheaper but sub contracted some of the work out and used loads of companies which might have caused delays.

they said they are so busy with loads of projects that things have gone mental. i don't care really about that, but the young girl who has been making 'happy customer calls' since last week and to all other customers - it sounds like we might not be alone - said they have other customers now to look after and make reference to us being 'fitted in' to finish up.

rach_k

Is that £11.8k including the kitchen and appliances?

JEN22

What area are they from

Ianh82

yes, the 11.8k is for the full kitchen, appliances - except my range cooker, new radiator, plumbing etc etc.

they are from Benfleet in Essex.

Furts

Ianh82 wrote: »

yes, the 11.8k is for the full kitchen, appliances - except my range cooker, new radiator, plumbing etc etc.

they are from Benfleet in Essex. Alban Gray Interiors

Bit naughty to name them publicly, but so be it. My pennyworth is only a generalisation. The kitchen price appears cheap, and I do not know what quality the company works to. I accept you have experienced a rough time but I also quickly glanced at the website. The change of company, the move from bathrooms to becoming more, the lack of Kitemarks, or trade accreditation, or anything else is concerning. The reviews are typically generic, with a gap after last September - just rectified. All enough to make one ask any staff ... what is their competence?, what are their qualifications?, what accreditation do they have?, what professional membership?, and similar.

Perhaps some is on the website but you get my drift.

You may just have picked a poor company and your post suggests others have problems. But there are enough concerns for serious questions before you signed your order and placed business with the company.

Will you get compensation? Did you have a written, binding programme of dates/sequences? If yes then perhaps you can negotiate something. What are in the T&C? If delays are covered by exclusions then no, other than a goodwill gesture.

Should you have gone to an independent kitchen company? In my experience for a typical, average, kitchen the answer is no. I am not a fan of such companies and there a number dotted around my area that are consistently useless yet people seem to flock to them.

rach_k

So £11.8K is not for the full kitchen as it excludes things like plumbing which are essential in a kitchen? What is the full price?

Unless the full price is considerably more, although £12K is a lot of money if you pile it up on a table, paying that much for a decent size kitchen isn't paying a premium. We recently had our kitchen done and it's about the same size as yours. Ours is from Ikea although we had somebody else fit it and our plumber oversaw everything for us. We paid £16K plus some extra building work and I consider it a cheap kitchen. Still very nice and I'm very happy with it but it was a good price... so I think you're being unrealistic to pay that kind of money and expect everything to be perfect straight away. Even with the best laid plans, things often get delayed on decent-size projects. Perhaps they didn't manage your expectations very well but it's kind of 50/50 on who is to blame for that.

I would say the best thing is to look at the positives. It can seem horrendous when you don't have a fully functional kitchen yet but after a week of it being finished it will seem like nothing... if you can allow it to. If you want to argue (and argue and argue) for some money off, you can do that but then it becomes this big deal and your kitchen will be a daily reminder of it. I'd let it go, as long as everything does get finished properly.

Ianh82

thanks.

the price is for everything, plumbing, electricals, new rads etc. only thing they are not providing is the new vinyl floor and range cooker.

they have had a new painter in this week, he's not a painter and decorator by trade, he doesn't speak a word of english anyway and he's redone the painting. in my eyes its an ok job, cutting in is crap but ooks a hell of a lot better. my missus, her father is a qualified and retired P&D, is not totally happy. still sees stipples etc. to me, its ok, but i don't notice those little things.

the rest of the stuff is coming today and fitted tomorrow. they have apologised and they have stated that after the snag list and everything is done they will sort of the compensation part for the delay and poor comms and my micro management of the whole thing. i can post lots of pictures of the stages to show you, i kept a picture diary, which they want to publish on there site!

Furts: i got lots of quotes from about 4-5 people that could do it, had advice from friends and family about who not to go with - wren, wickes, B&Q etc and they were not the cheapest but one of the more expensive firms. they stated were not the cheapest but we are the best. i will see when its all done. if the missus wants to redo some paintwork, i'll tell them we'll get a professional in and deduct the costs from the final bill. i think that would be fair.