Dream Wickes kitchen turns into nightmare as firm supplies wrong parts to Drayton pensioners

A Wickes dream kitchen turned into a nightmare for stressed-out Drayton pensioners Pat and Leslie Wilson when recurring wrong part blunders left them in the lurch without cooking facilities for weeks on end.
A promised dream fitted kitchen turned from a fiasco into a nightmare for a retired Drayton couple after they were left without cooking facilities for five weeks when Wickes failed to supply their fitter with the correct component parts.A promised dream fitted kitchen turned from a fiasco into a nightmare for a retired Drayton couple after they were left without cooking facilities for five weeks when Wickes failed to supply their fitter with the correct component parts.
A promised dream fitted kitchen turned from a fiasco into a nightmare for a retired Drayton couple after they were left without cooking facilities for five weeks when Wickes failed to supply their fitter with the correct component parts.

They signed up for their 8K kitchen from the firm’s Waterlooville branch last July, after Pat was persuaded to take up a half price sales promotion, including free measurement and design facilities.

Everything looked on track after she opted to use her own experienced fitter and the kitchen package was delivered in good time for him to start the installation work at the beginning of September.

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After checking the delivery against the order, all the parts appeared to be there and the fitter estimated it would take a week to assemble and fit the kitchen.

But what was soon to become apparent was a number of wrong parts had arrived in the delivery which hadn’t been ordered, leaving the fitter with a jigsaw puzzle of incorrect components and unable to assemble the kitchen to the design specification.

Pat, 78, said: ‘The actual quality of the kitchen I was pleased with – it was just all the hassle. If it hadn’t been for the skill of the fitter I don’t know where we’d have been.

‘It should have taken just six days, but because of Wickes’ incompetence it took almost six weeks.

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‘Instead of base unit end panels, larder panels had been supplied which were far too long and completely inappropriate.

‘I went to the branch to complain but the manager wrongly informed me the end unit panels should be cut to size.

‘When I got back home and told the fitter he rubbished the suggestion as it would leave a raw edge.

‘In the meantime he’d discovered the cooker hood couldn’t be fitted over the cooker because a cupboard was the wrong size.

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‘Another cupboard wasn’t deep enough to accommodate the boiler and the fitter had to rebuild it. I’m now left with two odd cupboards inasmuch as one is much deeper and shallower than the other.

‘I rang the store and got the designer to come and take a look, and she was appalled at the errors that had been made.

‘A corner post didn’t join the base units together and when it came to fitting the wall cabinets on the other side of the kitchen there no corner posts had been supplied to separate them which meant the doors couldn’t be opened.

‘After complaining to the CEO at head office, nine attempts to deliver them were made over a period of three weeks, every one of which was wrong - nothing at all like the piece required.

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‘Even the postman in the end was laughing when he told us he had yet another bit for us in his van.

‘Then Wickes tried to excuse themselves by claiming the fitter should have had a meeting with the designer before he started, but nothing of the kind was ever mentioned to us about it. All we were given were the plans.’

Pat’s exasperation boiled over when she was twice emailed by a senior manager with suggestion of a £600 reimbursement package, but that only just covered the fitter’s additional rectification expenses and nothing else.

The offer immediately turned sour when he subsequently left the company in the middle of the proceedings, and without explanation, Wickes suddenly dug their heels in and substituted a miserly £200 offer instead.

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The ongoing impasse escalated still further when the company suggested the spat should be referred to the Furniture Ombudsman for a solution.

However, as former sub post office officer Pat suspected, the ombudsman intervention turned out to be a farce and left the outraged couple precisely nowhere.

The lawyer dealing with the situation just appeared determined to get hold of the wrong end of the stick, insisting the £600 was a full and final compensation offer.

Subsequently, she was told by a store manager her signature of acceptance was required in a ruse to effectively sweep Wickes’ preposterous catalogue of errors under the carpet.

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Pat had no hesitation in refusing to play ball, slamming the Waterlooville management for their abysmal customer service.

What particularly upset her was being left in the lurch for five weeks, plus the inconvenience of having their lounge cluttered with useless parts, and the added expense of having to live on takeaway meals, fish and chips, and salads.

Angry and stressed out, Pat decided it was high time to call in the big guns for increased firepower, and wrote in to Streetwise for help to get the fiasco sorted.

We were astounded by the way a firm of Wickes’ standing had handled the situation, not remotely delivering on their widely advertised mantra of coming to them for a perfect kitchen experience.

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We pointed out they were in breach of contract in that many of the kitchen parts were not fit for purpose, leaving the fitter to salvage their reputation assembling it and rectifying their errors.

The proposed financial settlements amounted to an admission of liability, and the involvement of the Furniture Ombudsman only served to muddy the waters and leave the exasperated couple at their wits’ end.

Within a few days a contrite Wickes’ commendably admitted they’d got things badly wrong. They’d offered the pensioners £500 by way of compensation, plus the withheld £200 offer.

A spokesperson said: ‘We're sorry to hear about the customer’s experience. We’ve been working with the customer regarding this matter and are pleased to say a resolution has been agreed. Please be assured that as a business we continually improve our services by listening to customer feedback and this experience will be reviewed.’

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On hearing the good news, a much relieved Pat said: ‘The whole thing was very worrying and stressful especially as my husband Leslie is 83 and in really bad health.

‘I just want to say a big thank you. I’m sure we wouldn’t have got anywhere without your help and we are so very grateful for everything you’ve done for us.’

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