Kitchen Company making us pay for their mistake

double0

Hi everyone,

I thought I'd ask on here for any advice before I vent my spleen at the manager!

We put a deposit down on a kitchen back in October (£100 of it on a credit card) and had it fitted at the beginning of this month (design, delivery and installation through same company). To date we've had the following issues:

Wrong sink delivered
No tap delivered
Incorrect drawer fronts delivered
Some wall units cracked on the inside
Washing machine and tumble dryer (both machines we already had) both cut out when on at same time
Induction hob scratched
Worktop wrong size

The drawer fronts and cracked cupboards were re-ordered by the installer when he saw them so they will be sorted. The new sink and tap were re-ordered and fitted at the end of the same week as the rest of the kitchen was done. An electrician had to be called out to rectify the washing machine and tumble dryer (installer had plugged both into a single extension lead with only a 10 amp fuse behind the cupboards). The company are denying scratching the hob as photos taken immediately after installation show it without scratches. We think the scratch came when they came to put the sink in later in the week, but cannot prove it so they are not budging - it definitely wasn't us.

The worktop is the biggie though. It was pre-cut in the factory going off a measurement from only one point on the wall. Surprise, surprise our kitchen wall is not straight (show me a house with dead straight walls) and I can fit my hand between the worktop and wall at certain points of it. Kitchen company gave us 3 options - builder to fix the wall, upstands to cover the gap or a new worktop ordered. They wanted to go with upstands (most cost effective for them) but they would have had to be so thick at certain points it would have ruined the look we were going for. So we went with new worktop and were told it would be at least 3 weeks before a new one was delivered. Today we have been called saying that the store has spoken to management and agreed we can go 50/50 on the new worktop. What???!! There have been so many issues we were contemplating asking for a reduction in the final amount, not pay more.

What would be the best way to handle this? I'm so angry that they seem to be approaching this as if they are doing us a favour ("we'll do it at cost price") instead of fixing their mistake.

Thanks for any help!

happyandcontented

Who took the measurement?

What store is it? My son has just had similar issues with Homebase which is why I ask.

Ant555

I agree that it all boils down to this question - Who took the measurement?

If it was you then 50% for a new worktop is a good deal
If it was not you then 0% is the amount you should pay.

double0

The company sent someone round to do the technical survey and they measured up. I think they are just hacked off that we haven't gone for the cheapest option of upstands so trying to pass off some cost.

They tried to add capping off of our old gas hob onto the bill when we went for the final sign off saying it hadn't been added when the first quote was done. They wanted nearly £300 for this (our plumber came out and did it for less than £100). They justified this by saying that the fitting for the end panels had not been added onto the quote either but that they would cover this if we met the gas part. They said fitting the end panels was around £1300!! Is this not part of the installation, or does it require specialists?! After today it just smacks of trying to be conned.

It wasn't Homebase!

Doozergirl

Wow, they sound like fun to deal with. £1300 is about the cost of a full dry fit on an average kitchen, let alone upstands.

FreeBear

double0 wrote: »

The company sent someone round to do the technical survey and they measured up.

Before I fitted the worktops in my kitchen, I used a couple of sheets of MDF as a base. A line was then scribed all the way round and sanded back so that there was minimal gaps. This was my template for cutting the worktops proper.

After a lot of mess with a router & sander, the worktops slotted in to place almost perfectly. Got one small section where the gap is around 1mm, but this disappeared when a bead of silicone sealant was applied.

If your supplier is not prepared to template the job properly and fails to absorb the full cost of their mistake, take it up with your credit card company.