My awful experience with Mark Wilkinson Kitchens

[Fuzzy123]

I paid a horrendous amount of money for what should be stunning kitchen, or at least this is what I was promised.

The date the kitchen was supposed to be fitted came and went, I rang in. They forgot to schedule me in for a fitting.

When the kitchen finally turned up it was a mess of different colours of what looked like oak, conti board and laminates. Apparently this passes for a solid oak kitchen.

Before it was even fitted, I asked for it to go back, oh it was also missing a lot of the metal strips it was supposed to have on it.

After really unpleasant conversations with Canburg the people that also own small bones, The door fronts were all changed. Unfortunately they came in the wrong sizes. So instead of sending all back, the carpenters fitted them . Oh I forgot the two cabinets that came in too small that the breakfast bar is sitting on, instead of sending these back for the right height units, they stuck two boards in underneath that look awful. They then stuck a breakfast bar on top. Result, the breakfast bar bowed in the middle and the edges are so sharp I have lost a dress and two jumpers to it.

We have AT LEAST eight sets of carpenters in over approx 8 months, who have one after the other shaved, sanded, cut down the doors and draws to no avail. We now have a kitchen with horrid uneven gaps between each and every unit. If that's not bad enough, they have also warped. We can't switch on the insink erator, we can't use the corner cupboards because the internal unit bangs on the external unit.

Finally the managers at Mark Wilkinson decided the only thing they could do nine months down the road, was to replace the whole kitchen. Great!!!

Had it confirmed in writing. I had a date, they promised to build the whole thing off site and bring it to site when they were convinced it was all going to work.

I was given a date for the fitting. All good so far, then I suddenly get a phone call out of the blue from an angry owner of Canburg. stating and I kid you not, that there was absolutely no way on earth I was getting my kitchen and that his senior managers had no place offering to replace my kitchen. He even said that "even if they did replace the kitchen it may still not be right." (oh and I did tape the entire conversation, just to be on the safe side).

Not a great for a company that makes and sells kitchens, they say are high end.

What I want to know is why is the owner of Canburg so convinced they can't build a kitchen that will work. Is the work generally of a poor standard?

A warning then, you can not trust anything that anyone in MW tells you, because they may not have the authority to give you what you think you are paying for. They have walked away from the situation and my solicitors are now dealing with all.

If you want to avoid a similar fate avoid Canburg (MW and Small bones).

I will let you know what happens next. Am now in talks with a marketing company too, to advertise the kitchen I have out side their shops.

[thenewbroom]

how appalling.with those prices you really expect a top end service and sounds like you'd have been treated better by Magnet! I wish you all the best getting it resolved.

[Fuzzy123]

Our neighbour has a lovely magnet kitchen (their trade store is up the road from us in Brentford) cost 1/5 of what I paid.
LOL.

[MyFavouriteClintonisGeorge]

I'm surprised. My best friend went for MW and says it was a great experience from start to finish. Her kitchen is wonderful.

Canburg sound awful, so I hope your solicitors get something out of them for you.

[MrsLeighHalfpenny]

Weren't they featured on a BBC consumer programme a few years ago? I seem to remember !its of customers with similar stories.

[hollyisalovelyname]

Fuzzy I get palpitations when I hear the words Magnet Kitchens.
They were dreadful to deal with when I had a problem with the kitchen six months after fitting it. It took months and months and months before the faults were rectified
OP I feel sorry for you. You apprar to have neen treeated very badly by MW's owners.
Contact BBC's Watchdog- they were instrumental in highlighting the danger inherent in some Vauxhall Zafiras and ensuring Vauxhall did something about it.
I do hope you get satisfaction.

[winkywinkola]

What legal action can you take?

[notapizzaeater]

Do you have a consumer section in the local,paper ?

[openeyes11]

This response is based on the review regarding failure of MWK to deliver the kitchen requested.
I'm appalled about your bad experiences with Wilkinson's Kitchen. Thank you very much for sharing this info. I was very eager to place an order but not anymore. I really have no time for these pathetic excuses when companies fail to deliver. They have no compassion for the stress they cause which always lead to ill health. Not to mention the outrageous prices we pay for very bad services. Shame on you Mark Wilkinson with your superficial impression and poor quality services. I'm surprised to see the name of a famous chef I so admire associating his name with this company. Unfortunately MWK is not the only company to fail customers like this. What is worse is the law being a mine field and not always easy to get justice. Money and contacts is a big barrier in the pursuit of justice.Thanks again for the information. Well Done.

[wowfudge]

Famous chef? I though he was a furniture designer.

[Mum2KSS]

Mark Wilkinson was a cabinet maker but recently Michel Roux Jnr has endorsed MKW as his personal choice.

[HappydaysArehere]

My son-in-law has fitted hundreds of kitchens and he discovered Kitchens Direct. He says the quality is fantastic and the service excellent. Mentioned this to the local butcher recently and he said someone in the posh, high end kitchen shop opposite had said the same. My daughter's kitchen is lovely. The bonus is that her husband is a great fitter. One warning, eleven years ago we ordered a magnet kitchen which thank heavens my son-in-law fitted. He discovered when looking at the order that they had massively over ordered side door panels and coving around cupboards. Obviously if we had had their fitters which they were pushing we would not have been aware as they would have been held back. We saved over five hundred pounds. Also. Their computerised planning was incorrect even tho we were just replacing a kitchen previously designed by Moben which was perfect.

[lynnehills13]

I am currently going through a terrible experience with MWF. We used them 11 years ago and they were brilliant. Sadly they have been taken over by Canburg and now they are dreadful. We are still trying to resolve things but we have had nothing but issues from day one. They 'forgot' to place our order but had our deposit for months. They then fitted the incorrect internal wood colour, wrong handles, hinges and tap. They have since wrongly templated the granite and then on refitting they fitted it badly so it now needs to be replaced. The customer service team are not customer friendly, just out to make money I'm afraid. We have also used a company call Blackfields furniture in Bristol. Far less expensive and much better service and quality. I am so disappointed with MWF. Did you resolve things in the end?

[MinnieTM]

Sorry to hear everyone’s tales of woe. I can heartily recommend Harvey Jones Kitchens in Worcester and designer Hannah. I would add that my kitchen went smoothly in part because I spent a long time with my builder planning and Re planning the layout before the final order was placed.

[eloisesparkle]

HappyDays
Just the mention of Magnet brings me out in a rash.
Appalling service.
The kitchen is nice though.

[eloppo]

I just wanted to report another awful experience with Mark Wilkinson Furniture and warn you against dealing with this company at all. I bought a kitchen 6 years ago paying an exorbitant price. The kitchen came with a 25 years guarantee for technical malfunctions (so the price seemed justified).

About a year ago, the built-in dishwasher door, the saucepans drawer and the door underneath the sink started to swell. I did not have the time to contact MWF as soon as I saw this, but contacted them a couple of months ago because the dishwasher broke and wanted to fit a new one. With the occasion I asked MWF to replace the damaged doors (the material used for the doors is clearly of poor quality and this according to me accounts as technical malfunction, hence it should be included in the guarantee. Note that I had another part of the kitchen done by a local carpenter at a ridiculously smaller price than the one paid to MWF and the cabinet doors are still spotless!!!!!)

To my utter surprise and dismal, Cadbur (the company supposed to provide support to costumers) refused to replace the doors claiming that the dishwasher had a leak which damaged the doors. They repeatedly failed to provide the report of the technician that inspected the dishwasher's door to substantiate their claims. Also I wonder how a leak in the dishwasher can cause damage to other doors which are located far from the dishwasher! And why were the doors of the cabinet built by the local carpenter not impacted?!

In order to challenge their absurd response, I have called and sent emails to Cadbur and the salesman at MWF countless times and I have been mostly ignored.

The conclusion is that the quality of the kitchen and after sale service is absolutely appalling and insulting, the guarantee is a scam and overall this trade was a complete RIP-OFF!

Shame on you MWF and Cadbur!!!!

[lynnehills13]

I'm sorry you had such a bad experience also. We recently had a meeting to try and resolve our issues but to no avail. Their customer service team are so difficult and one sided, they really need to review this at Canburg as they are clearly losing customers as a result. According to their customer service director, 'they do not receive complaints' obviously not true by the number of complaints voiced online alone. Sadly we now have to take legal action against them.

[Fuzzy123]

Our building insurance has legal cover so they have been chasing Canburg for years they have used the delay, delay, delay tactic. We are now preparing to go to court and finally resolve the issue once and for all. The final cost to replace the kitchen is horrific, we have to pay to rip it out, to repair the walls and floors they damaged, remove the electrics, gas, plumbing and reinstall as well as pay for the new kitchen which four years down the line is now 50% more expensive. Just looking for kitchens now gives me hives. The stress of this kitchen episode has been tremendous.

[Fuzzy123]

lynnehills13 contact [email protected]
he may be able to help you with this. Lyons Davidson are dealing with our claim on behalf of our house insurers. We are about to go to court to claim the cost of replacing the entire kitchen. Your legal team may be able to lodge a joint claim. Please check to see if you have legal insurance as part of your building insurance. If there is any one else that has had a bad experience with small bone or Mark Wilkinson furniture please contact Kristian Pickup above and let them know. This will give us more ammunition in court to dispel the lie propagated by Canburg of no complaints.

[rbbkbb]

Too late I’m afraid , Canburg the parent company entered a pre pack administration on Thursday last week ... that’s your legal case done and dusted . Not that I would expect any less from the management , snake oil salesman .....

[soffi]

Hello Fuzzy123, I wanted to know what progress you made with your claim as I also bought a kitchen from MWF and they haven't finished the kitchen and are now claiming that I have to deal with their administrators. The thing is you trust the reputation of a company like Smallbone & MWF and just dont think that they'll behave this badly.

[rbbkbb]

So sorry to hear of your problems with them too , they promised us they would finish our kitchen even though they were in administration , they didn’t , I’m not suprised and we have had to pay to finish it ourselves . Absolutely disgraceful that they have been paid up front by all of us . Really what they have done would be criminal if it wasn’t for the corporate veil

[soffi]

Hello rbbkbb. They told us that they would finish peoples kitchens but not honour warranties so they clearly are just telling lies. Its all quite shocking tbh how they can take our money and just run off with it.