Catalogue of disasters (MFI)

Member Name: swinstan

Product:	MFI
Date:	02/04/02 (267 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: cheap

Disadvantages: looks cheap, poor service, incorrect advice

So many things have gone wrong whilst buying a kitchen from MFI to fit ourselves, it seems best just to list them.

1. The delivery was incomplete.
2. The oven had been opened elsewhere and not repacked. Hence, it was smashed in transit.
3. The smashed oven was not discovered until after the delivery-van had gone and the warehouse was not able to supply a replacement for 6 weeks at least.
4. Just phoning the warehouse to complain was charged at national rate charges – then there was a queuing system which took ages for a response. Branches refused to deal with these types of queries. At the end of all this, the total phone charges were huge.
5. Organising collection of the oven and a refund was a nightmare. They refused to refund until collected and they couldn’t collect for at least 3 weeks.
6. This of course meant having to wait for the refund to purchase another oven from elsewhere. We had already dumped the old one ready to fit the new.
7. Of course this left us with a different style oven and hob
8. The kitchen had been planned by MFI staff. It didn’t fit! I rechecked my measurements but it wasn’t my fault. We had to re-jig things to fit or wait weeks for things to be exchanged. We re-jigged and made do. Most unsatisfactory.
9. The sizes quoted for back décor panels were quoted as being 3m long not the 2 m they actually were which again led to a major reorganisation of plans.
10. The ducting for the cooker hood was not included, as they had stated. It cost an extra £35 and another delay for delivery.

On wear and tear – after 12 – 18 months use:
1. On the maple finish units (at the cheaper end of the range I know); the grain pattern simply disappears after very little scrubbing
2. The igniter on the hob has ceased to work
3. The markings on the hob controls have worn off


This is in addition to the expected missing fittings from individual packs, t
he difficult to follow instructions and the quality of fixings being so poor that many actually broke or threaded in use.

The saying that you get what you pay for was what I had expected, i.e. not too much, but what I received was far worse than I had envisaged. As experienced DIYers having converted a village hall and renovated an old farmhouse I can honestly say that I really wouldn’t bother with them again mainly because of the poor service, incorrect advice and failure to deal with the subsequent problems.

Summary: