Just give me some Space! (Kitchen design)

Member Name: wendyloo

Product:	Kitchen design
Date:	23/03/04 (2752 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good customer service, Easy to contact, Well fitted

Disadvantages: Haggling over the price, Fairly hard selling

Get a cuppa, this is a long one!

I moved into this house a year ago and one of my main objectives was to refit the kitchen as it was a wonderful shade of 1980?s salmon ? remember when everything was salmon and grey? Suffice to say it had to go. Bank loan was ready and waiting, so I was eager to get it organised.

I looked all round the usual stores but just couldn?t face organising it, with choosing, planning, working out plumbing and electricals. I know that the high street/business park stores would probably do this for the buyer, but I felt quite nervous asking. Also, I am a little scruffy for the most part and when I visited Magnet, they ignored me for so long I lost confidence and left the shop with not even a brochure. Their loss, of course!

Introduction to company

Enter Space Kitchens. I think I was probably set up by someone to receive a call (through a bonus scheme that they run) and so a call duly came. An appointment was made which took them by surprise, and the ?designer? came along last August.

The idea was that the quote would be good for a year, and if I appeared in Feature Homes magazine, I could have an instant reduction and also benefit from anyone booking a new kitchen on the back of seeing mine in the mag. With me still??

The catalogue which the designer brought along, shows a whole range of kitchens from very modern to classic designs. There are also gadgets like a special shelving system which makes the best use of those corners of cupboards which never see the light of day and harbour goodness knows what from the day you moved in and have never used. If you are interested, these are in the form of baskets which slide forward with the door, then the baskets that were tucked in the corner slide into view too so that you can use the stuff without crawling into the cupboard.

There is also a range of appliances, on two price levels. Both German makes, but one ran
ge way over my price range, and the other, a bit ?ouch? but manageable. There are no price lists, naturally, but on asking they will incorporate that appliance and then tell you the damage.

Anyway, man came, sat and designed, then gave me a price. If any of you watch Eastenders, I have a house which is similar in style to one of those ? The Slaters, if you like. My kitchen is not huge, it is a moderate size. Units are along one wall, and the sink at the end under the window. I have a table and chairs squashed in too as my daughter has the dining room as her bedroom. So as you can imagine, there is not much to design. I was also going for the second to cheapest kitchen range as some were very modern and looked great, but were way over my budget. I tend to go for a classic design as, though it never looks stunning, it doesn?t ?date? either, and I don?t intend doing it ever again!
So onto the first quote: £10,000.

?Is that the sort of figure you were thinking of madam??

?Well, it is a good quality kitchen, but I think I was looking for something a little less. Will you be phoning your manager now and asking him to start lowering it, bit by bit, or can we just cut to the chase and you give me the lowest figure you can??

He wasn?t impressed with that, but he did lower the figure to £7,500 but only if I signed the paper there and then and agreed to appear in the magazine.

?The quote was good for a year? I reminded him. But no, that was the 10 grand figure and not the ?feature home? price.

So, off trotted the designer, with his design and left me no phone number to get back to Space Kitchens with. I went back to the Salmon pink, and learnt to love it a bit more, thinking of what colours I could paint the walls; how I could cover the work surfaces etc etc. Or even, how ?80?s retro is all the rage and maybe it has come back into vogue?

December 2003

In December, I had another call from
Space Kitchens, asking if I still needed my kitchen refitted, and why hadn?t I gone ahead. I said that I was saving up the money as my quote was good for a year. ?What if we made it cheaper, would you want to do it sooner if that was the case?? I said ?Well, make me an offer and I will let you know?
The new price £4,500.

?Hmm, what does this include though, as I need plumbing work, some electrical work, and all the fitting? ?Yes, Mrs -, all of that, but we will need to send a designer round again as we didn?t keep the last design?. Oh, for pity?s sake! I have to say, though, that the women in Blackburn were also very chatty and friendly on the phone. The reason for the drop in price is because this time it would be ?factory direct? and not through the local agent and the ?feature homes? promotion. More like buying through the trade side, it seems.

January 2004

After three aborted attempts to send a designer, twice through some hiccup, and once through the Snowfall, a very nice man came and designed my kitchen. He was much more thorough than the original designer, and took note of plumbing and electrical issues.
The new, new price £5,500.

?Hold on, the woman in the office up in Blackburn said a thousand less.? ?Ah, well she shouldn?t have done, because she doesn?t really know what your kitchen is like?
?Well, that is the company?s problem, not mine? And so we went on until we split the difference and decided on £5,000. But it would all hinge on what the surveyor said.
So, new, new, new price £5,000. That was ok.

Then, a surveyor had to come too. He could not come in the evening, so I had to take time off work to let him in. Another three hours and I was signing on the dotted line and looking at CAD (computer assisted design) drawings of how my kitchen would look. Again, a very pleasant man. I asked him about the price ?That?s nothing to do with me?. Hmm.

Couple of days later, the desig
ner (middle man) phoned back with some story about the surveyor saying about the price. ?Strange that, as he told me it had nothing to do with him?. Next night, some man in Blackburn phoned to say that it would be a further £300 due to ?unforeseen electrical work? (moving two sockets ten inches along the wall was all this entailed). I had a go at this point. Then I was greeted with the nonsense of ?I need to speak to my director. I have just had another woman in tears for an hour on the phone as we are having to increase the price of her kitchen too.?. Er, is that actually ethical?? If there is a ?final contract? as the one that I had, then surely this could go to the Trading Standards department.
New, new, new, new price £5,300.

Nope, that is not good enough. I will withdraw my order then. ?You have a contract Mrs ?? ?No, you have invalidated my contract with the extra charge, so I haven?t got a contract which would stand up in court?. ?I will speak to my director?.

Unfortunately, he contacted me on the phone while I was at work and having had a client die unexpectedly, it seemed a ridiculous thing to argue about, so I managed to battle it down to an extra £150 but should have stuck to my guns really.
So, final new, new, new, new, new price £5,150.

Delivery and fitting

I asked for the fitting agents number, as I knew that I had booked the half term hols off from work to spend time with my school age kids, but also wanted to have the kitchen fitted while I was around. I was given a number and phoned them up. Again, very pleasant people, who gave me the half term week?s fitting date.

On the Saturday prior, a really shiny silver lorry emblazoned with ?Space Kitchens ? custom built kitchens? arrived to deliver. The poor bloke driving had to manoeuvre this large lorry and do a turn at the end of my cul-de-sac which is no easy task as we don?t have driveways, so all the cars are out on the street. r>
Again, the driver/delivery men who had travelled all the way from Blackburn, were great. Very polite, hardworking and asked all the while if I was ok with where they were putting the stuff. All they asked was for some hot water for their flask. And off they went.

A young male fitter came this week and ripped out my old kitchen. He then brought in a younger man who is the ?labourer? and they have just finished fitting the kitchen. They are subcontracted apparently, but mainly work for Space. They arrived each of the full days at 8am and worked solidly (except for an hour?s lunch) until 5pm and cleaned up as they went. There has been initiative being used too, which is always a bonus. They finished on the third day at lunchtime.

The main fitter completed all the plumbing work, the electrical work and all the main fitting of the kitchen, while the younger one did all the sawing and fetching/carrying. They worked very cleanly and quickly and I have been very impressed with them. No disappearing for hours, or hanging around.

On their departure, they explained how the new appliances worked. Where they had rewired everything and access points. They fitted my cable box with a new socket which wasn?t part of the order, but they realised that I had cables running all round the place to my telly and cable box which were in the way and probably overloading the existing sockets.

Conclusion

My newly fitted kitchen looks really nice and much better than I had imagined. It will look even better when I have some tiles on the walls and floors which are not part of the package with Space.

I am totally impressed with the speed of the whole operation, once I had decided to go ahead with the package. I can?t compare it with any other kitchen supplier/fitter as I have never had this done before, as we are part of the DIY age group.

I have also been totally impressed with all the staff (bar the one wh
o made the woman cry on the phone) and they were extremely courteous and polite and some were just plain chatty to me on the phone!! 98% for customer service.

After note

There is a scheme operated by Space whereby you can recommend someone and then get 5% from their sale if they have a kitchen fitted. As you can tell, I am not taking part in this scheme on Dooyoo as it would be unethical (although possibly lucrative ? darn it). It is a consideration for some though, as this would certainly give back a tidy sum to cover the bank loan that was taken out for your own kitchen.

They also do their own finance package for paying for the kitchen (can?t remember the APR on this though).

Contact details

Space Kitchens and Bedrooms, Shadsworth Business Park, Sett End Road, Blackburn BB1 2PZ.
Tel: 01254 583883
www.space-kitchens.co.uk

With local branches also nationwide.

If there are any unforeseen problems that arise with my kitchen after going to press I will update this opinion. For now though, I am one happy customer.

© Wendyloo (Orlando) 2004