Belgam Kitchens chaos (Fitted Kitchens in General)

Member Name: Ray

Product:	Fitted Kitchens in General
Date:	15/05/09 (83 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Work quality is good

Disadvantages: Administration and customer relations a disaster area

Ordered a kitchen by Belgam in January 2009 with a scheduled start date of 23 March. However, no work started until the following Wednesday. We are now in the middle of May 2009 and the kitchen is still not complete as some wall units have not been delivered, some tiling still outstanding, and no doors to any wall unit.

The problem lies with the administrative arrangements at Belgam Kitchens. My garage is currently holding several thousands of pounds worth of unwanted and unordered kitchen units in oak, laminates and worktops. However, items I need are still outstanding.

I have been told that despite ordering the kitchen seventeen weeks ago my units will take three weeks to build as they are "special". A few telephone calls later to manufacturers established that this was a lie. The units could be built within three days of an order being placed with them.

I am in a strong position as I hold over £7,500 of Belgams which I am refusing to pay until all items are delivered to my home in good condition. However, you may not be so fortunate if you do not look closely at the working arrangements of Belgam.

Their standard procedure is to require that you pay them all their money when goods are delivered, leaving only the money to be paid to the fitter when those units are installed. In effect, the fitter is YOUR contractor, not Belgams and if things go wrong your only recourse is against the fitter. That is not much use if your old kitchen is stripped out and you are waiting on the Belgam administration to correct errors of Belgam because their is no incentive for them to do anything.

I was also fortunate in having a very good fitter in Jonathan, who was not the owner of Belgam. Beware and check all statements made by Belgam.

Summary: Be wary of this company