Kitchens went wrong with Wren

TWO Raw Deal readers have contacted us recently about their problems with Wren Kitchens.

Their complaints have been very different, but both were quite serious.

The kitchen is always one of the most important rooms in the house, when something goes even a little bit wrong, you see the flaw several times each day.

When something goes seriously wrong, day-to-day life can become very difficult.

Our first case is that of Andrew MacDonald, of Crieff.

He got a quote for a kitchen from Wren in December. He signed the contract and paid a deposit on January 20. The kitchen was delivered on March 9.

To Andrew’s surprise, however, when he opened the boxes it wasn’t the kitchen and worktops that he had asked for a quote on.

But Wren said this was his fault. He had signed the contract. Andrew maintains that the salesman put the wrong names down.

He has since heard that the salesman no longer works for the company.

The kitchens are very similar. They were both white gloss handleless kitchen units, and the worktop on the paperwork says oak.

The one he wanted, he has since found out, is called driftwood.

Andrew contends that, as a non-expert, he wouldn’t know the difference as he only ever discussed one type of units and worktops with the company.

The customer service department and his nearest Wren shop (in Stirling) offered no solution.

At an impasse, he complained to the furniture ombudsman.

The ombudsman said:

“There is an onus on a consumer to check details on their order prior to entering into the contract”, so they wouldn’t be upholding a claim in this instance.

Andrew had also contacted Citizens Advice prior to the ombudsman’s response, who advised him to write to Wren to ask them to unwind the contract in the 90 day period, under the consumer protection regulations. He did this on April 11. But Wren’s reply was that “Our stance on the matter has been endorsed by the furniture ombudsman.

“Please take this as our final response on the matter.” Andrew is entirely stuck. He has a kitchen that isn’t the one he ordered sitting in boxes in his empty kitchen.

He and his family are getting by using a microwave and hotplate on a table in the hallway of his house.

To say this is an unsatisfactory state of affairs is, to Andrew, a huge understatement.

He wants to return the units and worktop to Wren and receive a refund. The design isn’t what he ordered, so he doesn’t see why he should take it.

Karen Sandison, of Aberdeen, at least got the kitchen she wanted.

But that was the start of her problems.

Karen’s account of her experiences with Wren is sobering.

The fitting date was February 8, 2016, but because the company was busy, outside contractors, instead of Wren employees, were engaged.

As soon as the installation was completed, Karen says, problems presented themselves: her splashback wasn’t aligned with the cooker; the siliconing work was untidy; there was no access or ventilation to the fridge power switch; water wouldn’t stay in the sink as the plug was loose; the window sill was badly finished – but these were the minor snags.

The wrong cooker hood had been supplied and Karen was told that it would be fitted until a new one could be ordered.

However, after it was put in place she was told this signified she had “accepted” it and it wouldn’t be replaced.

Karen doesn’t see how she could win in this situation, she did what she was asked to do and then seems to have suffered because of it.

One of the most visible faults was that the plug and cable for her washing machine wasn’t out of sight under the counter, the cable snaked up over the worktop to the eye-level sockets. It looked ridiculous. Wren did return to carry out snagging over the course of several visits – Karen reckons she has had them back 11 times in total – but there are still several matters that she feels aren’t quite right.

The wrangling has gone on for well over a year.

Raw Deal has attempted on several occasions to contact Wren for comment. It has not answered.

Both Andrew and Karen say they have also had communication problems with Wren.

Come on Wren, you have worried and disgruntled customers left with kitchens they aren’t pleased with.

What are you doing about it?