Kitchen Designers - Space Kitchens???

thebusinessbloke

I had an unusual call from a bloke in the Regus Building in Chester (better not name names) who had found my CV online and offered me a role as a sales/kitchen designer. He was talking about an income of £50k-90k - now I'm not one to turn down an attractive offer, but naturally my 'defences are up' on this one.

I think it may be a company called Space Kitchens - do they have a recruitment operation running in Chester?

I have read the review of them on the forum here and it is not complimentary; to be honest the idea of spending hours pestering people who may or may not want to buy a kitchen does not ring all my bells.

Has anyone had any experience of this company from a recruitment or even employment perspective?

mondayblues_3

Googled

http://www.ciao.co.uk/Space_Kitchens__5612886

http://www.blagger.com/db4/company_id/1237/companyname/Space-Kitchens.html

http://www.ciao.co.uk/Space_Kitchens__Review_5532427

Welshwoofs

I would seriously advise against working for this company. My other half (who was a salesman) took up a job with them and left a week after training because he just couldn't live with either the bullying behaviour of managers or the high-pressure selling.

He was told that you should expect to be on your sales pitch 3-4 hours and you have to do the entire BS thing of going out to phone your manager to get better deals (they just have a chat about any old thing on the phone and the salesman then goes back in to the punter with a slightly better offer). On a number of his evening calls, my other half was in people's houses till midnight or 1am and you're still expected to be in the office again at 9am the next day.

The guff is that the kitchens are made to order - technically they are because the factory doesn't make the kitchen until you order it - but this intimates that they are bespoke kitchens which they are NOT. All cabinets are standard sizes.

I was so angry with the ethics of the company that, after my other half left, I went along for an interview. My impression was that the managers interviewing me were the biggest bunch of arrogant amateurs I've ever had the misfortune to come across and when they offered me the job I had great pleasure in treating them to 20 minutes of a 'full and frank exchange of views' about their working practices and their business practices.

Browntoa

take a read of this thread

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=40518&highlight=space+kitchens

thebusinessbloke

Thanks for the tips; I was very suspicious this morning when I received a call from my would be interviewer and he very quickly said who he was with; I asked him quite pointedly to tell me who the company was and it certainly was 'Space Kitchens'.

Mr 'Nice and Friendly' progressively became Mr 'Aggressive and Abrasive' as I began to question him on the company practises and I told him I didn't want to be associated with a company such as his. I think that the brief contact I had with them on the phone (thankfully I didn't even go to meet them) has left a lasting impression on me - very pushy and aggresive sales people.

I made the link to the person interviewing by googling their name online; it came up with his name and Space Kitchens in the first listing.

Close call...

PhilL_3

Hopefully you read my post at the end of the thread posted above.

Steer well clear IMO, though it sounds like you already have.