High Street Kitchen Cowboys (Moben Kitchens)

Member Name: 137699

Product:	Moben Kitchens
Date:	18/03/03 (3684 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Decent range, Good appliances, Average Unit quality

Disadvantages: They Lie, They're Incompetent, They use Ultra-Hard Sell

After recently moving house, we decided that the old kitchen (original since built in 1982) had seen better days and was no longer fit for preparing food in. We shopped around looking at the various kitchen companies from the "low market" B&Q to the "top of the market" Moben.

We found very quickly that there was actually very little to choose between any of the brands in terms of quality - they're pretty much all chipboard with some kind of vaneer! However, we thought that as Moben had been going so long, and they did seem on the face of it to offer a more tailored solution, we'd invite them round. We had a small kitchen, and we thought that their higher prices may be worthwhile if they could tailor-make their units to the exact measurements of our kitchen, and thier shop staff seemed to indicate all this and more was possible, and that they also had innovative accessories which could maximise small spaces. They also showed us a brochure of NEFF and other high-end appliances being offered for almost give-away prices, if we bought their kitchen.

So we booked an appointment, for the following Saturday at 12.00, and cancelled any plans we had for going out that day. They were insistent that both myself and my girlfriend had to be there, which ruled out a weekday. We suspected that us "both needing to be there" meant that we would be subject to some pressure to order on the day, but knowing that we are resolute to the last, we still agreed, and were duly handed an "appointment card" confirming date & time of appointment with their designer.

So Saturday came, and 12.00 came and went - no designer appeared. By 1pm we phoned the shop, to be told that they had no record of any designer having been booked to see us. In my hand was an "appointment card" which the woman in the shop had given me, clearly stating Saturday at Mid-day. Anyway, after accusing me of making this up, they agreed to ma
ke another appointment for the following Saturday - again at 12.00. We were livid, as we'd cancelled plans to see friends purely so we could be around for the Moben guy, but accepted that a simple mistake must have been made.

The following Saturday, just to be sure, I took the precautionary step of phoning the store at 10.00am to confirm that the guy would be with us at noon. I was given a reassuring "yes", but was suspicious that they hadn't actually asked who I was!

12.00 came and went, and by 12.45 still no designer. I phoned the shop again - to be told that the designer was booked to see us. This time they asked for my name, so when I gave it, they said - oh sorry, it's not us he's booked to see, but someone else!!!! After a huge arguement about 2 wasted weekends, they assured me that he'd be with us by 2pm - and this time, he did show up - stinking of whiskey and beer, with pungeunt aftershave in an attempt to cover up the reik of alchohol!

2 hours of measuring and choice of finish later, he came up with his final plan - which to be honest we were slightly dissapointed with. He informed us that contrary to the advice we'd been given by the shop staff, their units are not made-to-measure, but come in pre-set sizes, meaning that we would not be able to have custom-made units to use up all available space. Also their "innovative accessories" would not fit in any of the units for our plan. The up-market appliances would indeed be offered to us at next to nothing, providing we went with their VASTLY over-priced kitchen (which apparently was on "sale" half-price offer!) This "sale" price was £8650 including fitting - more than DOUBLE any of the competition.

Then the expected hard-sell came - we could have the kitchen for £6000 all-in, if we signed up there and then, and gave him a deposit. He also told us that Moben kitchens are the only manufacturer that was proven to
increase the value of your home - although he could not prove this, except to give us a photocopy of some old magazine review of Moben, Magnet B&Q and other kitchens, which was biased towards Moben, albeit with copious amounts of tipp-ex obscuring vast chunks of the text!

So he asked us to sign on the dotted line and make out our deposit cheque....

We answered politely but firmly - no.

This was the right answer, as we consequently got our equally high-quality supplied and fitted from another company, for a total of £3750, and given some of the horror stories I've read from other doo-yoo'ers who've actually gone through with their order, I think we avoided a fate worse than death!

What we've learnt about Moben (and I therefore presume Sharps Bedrooms & Dolphin Bathroooms), is that any adverts of "SALE" or "HALF-PRICE" or "FREE APPLIANCES" is absolute rubbish. Their kitchens are vastly over-priced, their in-store staff are incompetent, they bad-mouth the competition throughout, their logistics staff were useless, all in all, they are the biggest cowboys I have ever come across (even comparing to double-glazing companies), and to say that they are a national high-street company, is a total disgrace.

They couldn't even organise a sales person coming out to someone who wanted to spend £'000s on a kitchen. If this is their approach to winning the order, god only knows what they would be like when it actually comes to supplying and fitting the kitchen!

BUYER BEWARE - STAY WELL CLEAR!!!

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