Wren kitchen issues - take to Ombudsman?

sheramber

For example, one such design aspect that couldn't be implemented was "flyover" lighting above the kitchen sink whereby a plinth ran across the kitchen over the sink with spotlights recessed.  This had an aesthetic purpose as we liked how it fitted in with the rest of the kitchen, as well as a functional lighting purpose.  At the fitting stage after our old kitchen had been removed, it was determined this couldn't in fact be done and neither Wren nor our fitters could come up with an alternative similar workable design.  Ultimately we sourced and arranged separate fitting of two fairly standard lights in the wall above the sink - so largely meets the same functionality (although I would argue not as good) but a very different aesthetic to what we wanted and had specifically requested at the design phase.

Does that mean that other fitter couldn't do what you wanted either?

DullGreyGuy

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Wren are not a bespoke kitchen company and so either you buy the ready made components you need and adjust your design or you get a good fitter who can modify their components to your needs. 

It's probably an example one of those cases that doesn't occur as often as it should, in that the trader should decline custom rather than agree the work and then figure out they can't do it because they aren't a specialist. 

Not at all, but it should be the fitter that is involved in the process and that almost certainly means its a fitter of your picking not Wren's 

For those that dont have the budget for Roundhouse but also dont want a totally vanilla kitchen getting an experienced person to remodel units etc can certainly be a reasonable middle ground. A friend whose husband is a chippy did exactly this and their units look far more high end than their budget was. 

aecb

Thanks all for the various comments which are very helpful.

Where I was coming from (in line with one of the recent posts) is that Wren shouldn’t have agreed to a design that couldn't be implemented and should have come as close as they could to meeting our request in the design then left the final decision to us as to whether it was good enough, rather than contracting on a design they couldn’t deliver. (I appreciate they aren’t a bespoke kitchen designer and would have had no problem with them saying they couldn’t do it at the outset when we could’ve considered other options.)

The flyover lighting I mention is similar to the photo in a previous post, albeit ours was intended to be longer and less supported. I didn’t detail why the design couldn’t be done as that doesn’t seem relevant - Wren designed the kitchen, supplied the parts and agreed it couldn’t be implemented when our Wren approved fitters said it couldn’t so responsibility lies with them as they were involved in all stages (using Wren approved fitters was a mistake, but seemed the right thing to do at the time as it was required to retain the guarantee.)

The compensation being offered is around £400 representing, as previously mentioned, slightly under 2% of the kitchen cost excluding fitting. We went with one of their more expensive Infinity Plus ranges.

(I accept it seems I am overly optimistic expecting compensation for time spent/wasted.)

DullGreyGuy

aecb said:
I didn’t detail why the design couldn’t be done as that doesn’t seem relevant 

It can be highly relevant... in our Wren kitchen there was a dead space in the corner between the two units. In the new design we have a corner unit in there thus making use of the dead space. On removing the old units it was discovered that there is a large waste pipe coming in from the bathroom before disappearing into the floor which was too large to fit in the service void of the new unit. 

There was no way our designer could have known about it, there was no way we knew about it and so no way we could hold them responsible for having to change things as a consequence. I'm sure a more demanding customer wouldn't have liked what the fitter came up with as a solution but it worked for us at minimal cost.

aecb

Ah yes, I see what you mean in that case.

Ours was however simply the designer being too ambitious in using Wren’s standard pieces in a non-standard way in the design and in particular not fully considering how the fittings would work as in some cases there was nothing in the order to actually connect the parts and our fitters/Wren couldn’t come up with a solution that wouldn’t have been a bodge that was unlikely to last. There was certainly nothing new that couldn’t have been known at the outset, unlike in your case.

pinkshoes

aecb said:

Ah yes, I see what you mean in that case.

Ours was however simply the designer being too ambitious in using Wren’s standard pieces in a non-standard way in the design and in particular not fully considering how the fittings would work as in some cases there was nothing in the order to actually connect the parts and our fitters/Wren couldn’t come up with a solution that wouldn’t have been a bodge that was unlikely to last. There was certainly nothing new that couldn’t have been known at the outset, unlike in your case.

So essentially they promised something that wasn't feasible and you have no financial loss (e.g. you cannot employ someone else to do it and claim this cost) so what you're claiming for is incompetence on theot behalf. 

Incompetence is difficult to quantify. E.g. you would need to show that you chose them over another designer as you much preferred their design but have now ended up with the same design as someone else quoted for but it would have cost you less. 

E.g. a local designer could have done exactly the same for £1000 less so claim £1000.

aecb

Yes essentially, but also probably more the fact that had we known at the outset that they couldn't do the design we wanted, we could have looked elsewhere to get a design closer to our requirements.  As it was, this only came to light partway through the construction of the new kitchen after the old one had been removed by which point we had to go with Wren and we can't now get the design we wanted as Wren can't meet it with the kitchen we have.  It feels like Wren's incompetence has effectively got them business that they wouldn't have got from us had their designer been more competent and 2% compensation doesn't seem fitting when they get to keep the other 98% arising from their incompetence!

Anyway thanks for this and to all the other posters for comments, we will reflect over the weekend but I accept the comments that the fact that these issues are not easy to quantify will make trying to take this further very difficult to do successfully, even though I am unhappy with the compensation amount that Wren have offered.