Kitchen compensation

Norfolkspur

Hello,

We purchased a kitchen from tesco kitchens in 2012 for just under £8000.

Long story short the kitchen began to fall apart within a few years due to shoddy manufacturing. We went back to Tesco, they sent us to Mark 2 who went out of business.

We have been bumped around from various law firms and legal people and earlier this year an insurance advisor came out and recommended a brand new kitchen was needed.

Result! Or so we thought. We have had many quotes from various kitchen companies and fitters and the cost of putting in a like for like kitchen is now closer to £15,000.

Tesco have admitted it was a known manufacturing issue at the time, but have said replaceing it is too expensive so to settle the matter, have offered us a full refund of the £8k we originally paid.

This leaves us with a kitchen that is still falling apart and about £7k short of getting it fixed.

Apparantly the most they are allowed to offer is a full refund and there is nothing else they can do regarding putting it right or giving more. The person we are dealing with sounded apologetic but basically said take it or leave it.

We spoke to citizens advice who said Tesco were technically doing what they were legally obligated to in offering a full refund, but were not sure about additional compensation for 'consequential losses' and to seek further advice due to how long the claim has been going and whether it counts from when the kitchen was put in or when the claim started.

Can anyone suggest best next steps? Is there a particular law firm or place to go to next? We are not looking for compensation, just to have the kitchen be fit for purpose.

powerful_Rogue

Norfolkspur said:

Hello,

We purchased a kitchen from tesco kitchens in 2012 for just under £8000.

Long story short the kitchen began to fall apart within a few years due to shoddy manufacturing. We went back to Tesco, they sent us to Mark 2 who went out of business.

We have been bumped around from various law firms and legal people and earlier this year an insurance advisor came out and recommended a brand new kitchen was needed.

Result! Or so we thought. We have had many quotes from various kitchen companies and fitters and the cost of putting in a like for like kitchen is now closer to £15,000.

Tesco have admitted it was a known manufacturing issue at the time, but have said replaceing it is too expensive so to settle the matter, have offered us a full refund of the £8k we originally paid.

This leaves us with a kitchen that is still falling apart and about £7k short of getting it fixed.

Apparantly the most they are allowed to offer is a full refund and there is nothing else they can do regarding putting it right or giving more. The person we are dealing with sounded apologetic but basically said take it or leave it.

We spoke to citizens advice who said Tesco were technically doing what they were legally obligated to in offering a full refund, but were not sure about additional compensation for 'consequential losses' and to seek further advice due to how long the claim has been going and whether it counts from when the kitchen was put in or when the claim started.

Can anyone suggest best next steps? Is there a particular law firm or place to go to next? We are not looking for compensation, just to have the kitchen be fit for purpose.

Bite their hand off if they are offering a full refund after 13 years! They could deduct a percentage for the use you have had of the kitchen over the past 13 years, which I would imagine would be pretty close to 100%.

A_Geordie

I'm curious why it has taken so long to get to this stage? 

Short story, you might want to snap Tesco's hand off and take the £8K settlement. Breach of contract/misrepresentation claims have a limitation period of 6 years from the date of the breach, so the only way to enforce your rights would be to take Tesco to court. However, you are well out of time it seems.

I'm surprised they have offered you anything to be honest but hey ho. 

user1977

What you should have now is a 13 year old (non-faulty) kitchen, not a brand new one. It sounds a very fair offer.

Ayr_Rage

Take the £8000 before the offer is withdrawn!

Green_hopeful

You can get a good kitchen for £8000. Try somewhere like DIY kitchens. That will give you a base cost and then you can get others to price match. 

Grumpy_chap

The most any remedy for breach can do is put you back in the position before the contract was entered into.
That was (in 2012) that you needed a new kitchen and had £8k.
If Tesco give you back the full £8k, you still need a new kitchen and still have £8k.
Tesco could, as others have mentioned, make a deduction for the portion of beneficial use gained from the kitchen to date.

Aylesbury_Duck

You've had the offer of a deal whereby you have had use of a kitchen free of charge for 13 years, and you want more?

Bite their hand off, before the offer disappears.  They appear to be offering a lot more than they have to.  

lincroft1710

Bite their hand off before they realise their mistake and withdraw the offer!