What's a fair refund here?

HopeAndDriftWood

I had a kitchen fitted in May.

We were responsible for removing the old kitchen, which we did, and then we were told the new installer could not deal with gas any more, so we needed a gas engineer to come and disconnect our old gas cooker and reconnect the new one once it'd been installed. 

The gas engineer refused, saying the new kitchen design was not compliant with building regulations, so it had to be redesigned at the last moment, meaning we lost two cupboards' worth of space. We also had to switch the gas hob on our order to an electric one and lost the multi-buy appliance deal, which the advisor said would be re-added later.

The day before installation, the kitchen company confirmed that an "error" meant they'd not ordered the worktops, so we had no worktops or island cover. 

The install itself was slow and frustrating as various items were missing, and the installer forgot to secure the oven in the casings, which meant it fell out while we were using it and bruised my foot. The stress of the accident/overall situation also caused a miscarriage (according to EPU).

We then had five incorrect island tops delivered. The most recent one is 8cm too short, and unfinished down two sides, where the manufacturer presumably thought it was going to be fitted against a wall.

Throughout, the company have reassured us that they'd pay for all the work I've missed while dealing with this; and also compensate us for everything that has gone wrong, but that they wouldn't deal with anything until the kitchen was finalised and signed off. After the last island arrived incorrectly, I asked them to come and remove their kitchen and refund me, but they ignored this and started dealing with the complaint instead.

The first offer was £900 for the "upset" caused. They've increased that to £1,800 but said that's their final offer.

We paid £8.5k for the kitchen itself, on a credit card, £1,800 in fitting costs (arranged by the company but paid directly to the installer), and I lost £3k worth of work with all the literally constant calls and visits we had to do to sort out the many problems.

Fitting was a nightmare, and our kitchen now has three less cupboards than intended, an island that can only seat 3 people instead of 6 due to the length, and an electric hob instead of a gas one. There's several small imperfections like the worktops not being a solid piece, as we purchased, but having a visible split down the middle; and exposed woodchip where the detailing hasn't been properly finished.

I don't feel that £1,800 really covers the losses, but I'm not sure what's fair to ask for, or whether to go to AmEx or small claims. 

All opinions welcomed, as I am understandably still quite upset about the loss, as well as the kitchen, and finding it quite difficult to be logical rather than emotional.  

powerful_Rogue

HopeAndDriftWood said:

I had a kitchen fitted in May.

We were responsible for removing the old kitchen, which we did, and then we were told the new installer could not deal with gas any more, so we needed a gas engineer to come and disconnect our old gas cooker and reconnect the new one once it'd been installed. 

The gas engineer refused, saying the new kitchen design was not compliant with building regulations, so it had to be redesigned at the last moment, meaning we lost two cupboards' worth of space. We also had to switch the gas hob on our order to an electric one and lost the multi-buy appliance deal, which the advisor said would be re-added later.

The day before installation, the kitchen company confirmed that an "error" meant they'd not ordered the worktops, so we had no worktops or island cover. 

The install itself was slow and frustrating as various items were missing, and the installer forgot to secure the oven in the casings, which meant it fell out while we were using it and bruised my foot. The stress of the accident/overall situation also caused a miscarriage (according to EPU).

We then had five incorrect island tops delivered. The most recent one is 8cm too short, and unfinished down two sides, where the manufacturer presumably thought it was going to be fitted against a wall.

Throughout, the company have reassured us that they'd pay for all the work I've missed while dealing with this; and also compensate us for everything that has gone wrong, but that they wouldn't deal with anything until the kitchen was finalised and signed off. After the last island arrived incorrectly, I asked them to come and remove their kitchen and refund me, but they ignored this and started dealing with the complaint instead.

The first offer was £900 for the "upset" caused. They've increased that to £1,800 but said that's their final offer.

We paid £8.5k for the kitchen itself, on a credit card, £1,800 in fitting costs (arranged by the company but paid directly to the installer), and I lost £3k worth of work with all the literally constant calls and visits we had to do to sort out the many problems.

Fitting was a nightmare, and our kitchen now has three less cupboards than intended, an island that can only seat 3 people instead of 6 due to the length, and an electric hob instead of a gas one. There's several small imperfections like the worktops not being a solid piece, as we purchased, but having a visible split down the middle; and exposed woodchip where the detailing hasn't been properly finished.

I don't feel that £1,800 really covers the losses, but I'm not sure what's fair to ask for, or whether to go to AmEx or small claims. 

All opinions welcomed, as I am understandably still quite upset about the loss, as well as the kitchen, and finding it quite difficult to be logical rather than emotional.  

The part in bold, first of all i'm sorry to hear that. I would advise that if you are going to mention that in regards to an offer than you would be best seeking proper legal advice.

Aylesbury_Duck

This was covered in a previous thread, here:  https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6563907/kitchen-refund-compensation#latest  It helps to stick to one thread so you can see all the responses and others aren't repeating questions to you.

A week ago you said their first offer was £900 and then they increased that to £1500 as a final offer.   Is this £1800 a new final offer?

As the previous poster has said, given the possible size of your claim and the very personally difficult circumstances involved, I think it prudent to get some legal advice.  Perhaps your home insurance includes legal cover, for example?

DullGreyGuy

HopeAndDriftWood said:

The stress of the accident/overall situation also caused a miscarriage (according to EPU).

HopeAndDriftWood said:

I don't feel that £1,800 really covers the losses, but I'm not sure what's fair to ask for, or whether to go to AmEx or small claims. 

It really depends on if you literally want to accuse them of being liable for the miscarriage and want compensation from them for that? If you do you will need to instruct lawyers, have medical reports done etc.

If you put that aside and look at it purely from a delay etc then they have basically given you fitting for free and given 95% of the problems are related to that it does seem reasonable. 

The remaining 5% is the cupboard change but would really need to understand what happened, how a non-compliant design came about, if it really was non-compliant or just borderline and they were being overcautious and what the designers response was to the problem.