Problems?They just don't want to know. (MFI Kitchen Furniture)

Member Name: Ann Marie

Product:	MFI Kitchen Furniture
Date:	09/05/08 (895 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: None wahtsoever

Disadvantages: To many to mention

To think I was looking forward to having a nice new kitchen! The first mistake we made was to go to MFI. They SEEMED very helpful and booked a time for their 'top kitchen designer' to visit and measure up. We had picked out the 'Farmhouse' kitchen from the brochure, but were told that various items were not available anymore before we even got started! The kitchen designer suggested that we got rid of our wall mounted boiler as she considered it an 'eyesore' and it could be in the way. We did this at a cost of £2,200. We had a new boiler fitted in our utility room. We returned to the store in Colchester to see the plans she hed drawn up. It all looked great. We were then given a 'complete kitchen' price of over £7,000. I queeried the prices of the sink, the taps and the cooker hood. All were reduced to meet the prices I had seen them for elsewhere. I then noticed that, included in this total price were extended warranties for the cooker hood & the dishwasher, and a 'furniture plan'. I said I didn't want any extended warranties but was told I would not get any other discounts if I didn't have them. The eventual price reached was £5,250. We opted for delivery on 12th March 2008. The delivery was on time, but as the delivery men were leaving, one of them told us ' by the way, you don't have your wall cupboards. They are to follow. Ring MFI straight away or they will take about 2 weeks to send them'. We also signed for a damaged pack containing a 'Herb draw unit'. I spent the rest of the day trying to contact MFI's customer services. I finally got them the next day. I explained what had gone on and was then completely floored when they told me it would be another 6 WEEKS before we could have our wall units!!!! They said it was a problem with Schreiber who could not keep up with demand!!! With regard to the damaged package.....5 pieces of the unit were missing! This prevented us from putting the sink in and having our granite worktops(which did not come from MFI) fitted as one of the bits missing was stopping us from assembling the carcass of the unit. ( we were told that all the units would come assembled). After many, many fruitless phone calls to MFI customer services and the showroom in Colchester, we got no-where! My husband ended up making a piece to substitute the one missing part that was stopping us from assembling the unit. Then, after 2 weeks without a sink, we were able to plumb it in. We then discovered that the Victorian style mixer tap we had bought from MFI was totally useless as it leaked everywhere and could not be stopped. We had to go and buy another one elsewhere! We were then able to finish the rest of the floor standing units and install the dishwasher. After 4 weeks of having the house looking like a jumble sale with all the stuff from my old kitchen everywhere, we had the worktops fitted. When I got the dishwasher ready for it's first use, I discovered in the paperwork for it that Bosch, supply their own extended warranty. FOR £41 LESS THAN MFI CHARGED!!! I don't know why I bothered to call their customer services about this, 'cos they just were not interested!! They said that as the warranties had all been deducted in the discount we were given, we hadn't actually paid for them anyway! I pointed out to them that if the cost of the warranties was deducted from the cost of the kitchen, the discount they gave us turned out to be a measly 17%.I also pointed out that we only had their word of it that we had been given ANY discount as they don't give you "pre-sale"prices to begin with! you only get the 'sale price' and the added discount they claim to have given you. You have nothing to compare it with!!!! We also purchased a freestanding plate rack which had been included in our plan drawn up by MFI. I couldn't believe that something made of MDF and chipboard, that you had to assemble yourself only to find that the plates wouldn't stay on it, had cost us.......£795!!! Yet again, MFI were not in the least bit interested. When the wall cupboards finally turned up, they were flat packed and were a different type from the other units. The plate rack would not go where the planner had put it and so we had to put it on another wall which in turn meant that one of the other wall units had no place to go!!! Going back to the Herb draw unit..... we were told that the delivery men would bring another one with them when they delivered the wall units. We were to take out the bits we needed and give them the rest back. They said...'No, we can't take the rest back, phone the showroom'. Well, as we were going to take the wall units back anyway, we took the rest of the herb unit with us. It turned out that the wall units were different because ' they have glass doors and you can see the inside'.(their excuse).As the glass in the doors is etched, and with cups and glasses in them, you can't see the inside of them anyway!!! As for the herb draw unit.....'throw it away, we don't want it' is what we were told. This unit costs £185. Given that all I have been offered is £100 as a 'goodwill gesture', I find this unbelievable!!! I now have my kitchen finished and have given up trying to speak to MFI. I will never deal with them again EVER. If I have to make my next kitchen out of old orange boxes, I will, rather than go within a hundred miles of MFI ever again!!!

Summary: Don't buy yourself a load of stress and heartache!