9+ months for a kitchen...

Aar0sc

Hi all, 
Last year we shopped around and found a local kitchen supplier who could match the price of the big players (Wren etc) but at apparent higher quality, plus with the advantage of supporting a local business. We paid a £1,000 deposit on credit card in early January, with the kitchen due to be installed in early March. Unfortunately some parts were being shipped from Italy, which was then in lockdown, and then of course we went into lockdown. After a lot of phone calls and emailing I finally got an update in June, full of excuses but with no real update beyond "I'll get in contact next week with a date". Here we are in mid October and I still have no further update, my calls aren't answered, emails are ignored, and when I physically went to the shop was shooed off for distancing purposes and promised that I'd be called that afternoon - of course, nothing. 

I'm not sure what my next step should be, I don't want to do a Section 75 without notifying the company, but I'm pretty bored of the whole thing... any suggestions? 

Thanks,

Aar0sc

bris

First thing if you want to take it further is to send a "Time is of the Essence" letter giving them a deadline you deem fair to do the kitchen or you will hold them in breach of contract.

if this deadline isn't met then you can ask for your deposit back as the contract is now null and void. if they refuse then you have done the legal thing to use S75.

Aar0sc

Thanks for that, googled that phrase and found a "make your own" guide on three Citizen's Advice website, so have made one with them. 

IvanOpinion

Sorry to hear that but there are worse things.
We arranged for our new kitchen to get fitted while we were on holiday in March.  Due to the situation we got back a week early (on the 22nd) to find the old kitchen had been ripped out and my garage was full of cabinets and bits of wood ... then we went into lockdown.  There was no electricity or water to the kitchen and most of the floor had also been lifted for plumbing work.  There were a couple of planks across the floor though so that we could get to the utility room.  In the utility room we at least had a sink and a microwave ... rest of the house was a mess because all the stuff from the kitchen was there.  I had also run the larder down so we came home to virtually nothing in the house and the supermarkets closed and we were unable to get a delivery slot (fortunately family helped out and one my brothers had several delivery slots booked so they gave us a couple).

We were into September before we got an operational kitchen and there are still a couple of minor things needed to be done (a couple of missing handles and a missing shelf).  But it always works out in the end

I hope you get sorted.

Aar0sc

Sorted, refund went into my account last month, a very welcome time of the year too! Thanks for your help