Wren kitchens. Yes? No? Good? Bad?

[TheOneAndOnlyAlpha]

That's it really. Has anyone had one fitted. It's either that or magnet. Any opinions would be fab. Thanks!

[TheOneAndOnlyAlpha]

Go on?? Anyone?? Hello??

[icravecheese]

hello!
We used Wren last year for our kitchen, and I have to say, our new kitchen is totally gorgeous.

We visited a branch in the next county to us, so they didnt / wouldnt come out and measure up our kitchen, but we made sure we had very accurate measurements / details of all pipework / plugs etc when we sat down at the showroom to plan our new kitchen. We were there hours with the planner, making sure everything was right (kids dvd entertainment provided!).

They were very efficient at scheduling our delivery (called a week before due date to state exact day, then called 24hours before due date to state exact time, then had text message on delivery day confirming time). We checked every item off the lorry to make sure we had it all.

We didnt use their fitters - found our own on Check-a-trade, and we bought our own granite worktop from elsewhere as it was slightly cheaper.

We did need a few more bits and pieces once fitters had got going with the kitchen, so we telephoned and ordered them - took a few weeks, but they kept in good contact and our fitters came back a few weeks later to finish off.

Everything was absolutely brilliant, went very smoothly, and we're really pleased with our gorgeous new kitchen. Fitters commented on the good quality of the pre-assembled units.

HOWEVER.... we recommended Wren to a family member, they visited a different store, and appeared to have had a totally different experience - stuff missing / damaged on delivery, rubbish customer service etc, measurements weren't right so stuff didnt fit. However, this family member is slightly odd and fussy(!!). The damage to the units didnt appear massive in the pictures she sent to us (ok, so you don't want damage if you're paying £600 per unit, but it was slight scratches or dirt marks on the bit of unit that would be covered by a worktop anyway!). Plus I couldnt understand this family member complaining that the measurements werent right - its YOUR responsibility to measure and make sure things fit if Wren don't come out to the home to measure up. We had no problems with that side of it at all. Plus after complaining, Wren gave them £500 compensation, which seemed to cheer them up and do the trick!

Phew, long post! In summary, if you are totally on the ball with your kitchen measurements, own the whole design, check and double check using the plans they provide after you've ordered your units and complain quickly if anything goes wrong (the family member just sent emails to Wren rather than pick up the phone as they can't bear confrontation - we always telephoned Wren with any questions or when ordering extra stuff and got immediate assistance), then I'm sure you'll have no issues.

HTH!

[TheOneAndOnlyAlpha]

Hurrah!! Thank you, that's really useful. I really like one of their kitchens, and it seems so much cheaper than the others I like (plus I'm a good haggler!). I'll be sure to check the measurements carefully as I'm not sure there is a showroom in our county either.

Thanks again, kitchens are so blooming expensive, I want to get it right!!

[icravecheese]

yes, defo haggle - my husband did! We went in near to the end of the month, I assume they wanted to make a sale to hit their sales target, so my husband managed to get the £900 Neff integrated oven thrown in for free!

[Stoby1]

Just had our new WREN kitchen installed by our own fitter, quality of units is excellent and very happy with them. Used Chester branch, very happy with them, they kept us informed with delivery phoned us to confirm day etc. fitter cut a panel wrong phoned store to get replacement, delivered to store so we did not pay delivery charges within 2 weeks, fitter comming back to fit this. Pre assembled means you dont pay £1000 for some one to spend a week building the units, was quoted £2500 to fit flat pack but our fitter charged £600 to fit the wren kitchen. We changed our order a week after we first bought the kitchen, a visit to the Chester store and a designe change made was not an issue, we paid the difference and Andrew the sales man re did all the check lists and plan drawings without any problems. They were very profesional in their approach to our changes, after all its our kitchen and we can take or leave their recomendations. We know our house and what will work best for us.
One point about wren, we wanted real wood worktops, our experiance with other kitchen suppliers was very negative on this choice, but wren just pointed out the facts about maintenance and gave us our kitchen as we wanted it without any problems.

[doglover]

We've just had an ok quote from Wrens but their designer wasn't particularly inspirational. (However, some of his colleagues sounded alot more upbeat). I will be going to Benchmarx to see if they can beat Wrens quote tomorrow.
Our kitchen fitter really rates Benchmarx cabinets / doors and says that their customer service is excellent.
We'll see what their pricing is like ........................ I'll let you know!

[chickensaladagain]

Before you part with your money to wren, the owner of the company used to own mfi which went bust and a lot of customers lost a lot of money

Before he ran mfi he owned another kitchen company which went bust owing a lot of customers a lot of money

I can see a pattern emerging...

Plus their sales technique is not exactly ethical

They have units from other companies in their showrooms which are obviously broken or have parts missing -pointing out how rubbish they are

They also hound people -I got a plan done there and they then rang me 8 times in 5 days to get me to buy

They say people buy from people -well I will never buy from the Huddersfield branch of wren

[Periwinkle007]

We used Poole as did my parents and we have been very happy with them, no hassle, good service, good quality, nice fitters, no problems at all. oh and they were all in the sale so good price too.

I did our plan myself mostly because I knew what I wanted.

[TheWookiesWife]

My message was deleted - so if you want to know what it was offering - ie help to sort the problem - looks like you will have to message me instead ! Hey ho - c'est la vie !

[OverTheFieldsAndFarAway]

The quality and finish is excellent. There will be missing parts, read the reviews on any non wren website. My problem was with the fitter, a complete and utter arsehole. Buy their kitchen but get your own fitter.

[sjtashfield]

Stoby1 - would you recommend your kitchen fitter? We're in Deeside CH5, and would don't want to risk just picking someone out of the phonebook. We're also thinking of getting Wren kitchen - going to get quotes from Wren/Howdens/Magnet, maybe also Ikea?? then decide between them.

[MrsJohnDeere]

A neighbour had a very bad experience with them. I wouldn't touch with a bargepole...

[swanseacat]

Have read all the bad stuff about kitchens, does anyone know if the same applies to their bedroom furniture?

[Selks]

Oh dear, so glad I didn't go with Wren last year (nearly did). If anyone living in Yorkshire wants details of a fantastic trustworthy independent kitchen designer/planner then feel free to PM me. (FWIW this chap visited on several occasions to do detailed plans, took great care over everything, coped with me chopping and changing my mind, and provided a great kitchen at a cheaper price than both Wren and Howdens).

[susancanninganderson]

Go to Magnet.... Still waiting for 2 doors, side panels, this was ordered and paid for in full in Feburary of this year. We constantly phone them but are getting lied to by the Customer Service team, the designer is just as bad. The Director claims that he oversees every Customer Service Survey, well he can't have read mine because he hasn't answered...
The designer who has left a post on here, I wish I had chance to see this first, I would have gone to B&Q!!!!!

[3littlefrogs]

I would never go to a kitchen company.
DS one worked for one during his gap year. The horror stories he told me...

The best kitchen I ever had was a B&Q kitchen fitted by a local builder who came with very good references from local people.

It cost half the cheapest quote from a kitchen company.

There are only about 3 kitchen manufacturers in Europe who supply all these companies.

A good builder should be able to save you some money.

[ihatethecold]

Stella. Who do you work for now then?

[annalouiseh]

3littlefrogs there are 100's of suppliers people use yet the main stream diy stores, magnets... all use the same quality levels such as vinyl doors and some wood doors etc, these can be sourced in the UK as cheap as Europe.
if you found a 'decent' kitchen company (independent) they should offer you better quality doors if they are 'decent'. They should also offer better quality carcass with more verity and scope in colour and sizes to fit your room They should also offer components but to last rather than built to sell like pullouts

[annalouiseh]

built.... not but

[Diddlleedee]

Hi Chickensaladagain,
I'm afraid you have been completely misinformed.
The man who owns Wren started up with Hygena Kitchens and supplied to MFI. He then sold Hygena Kitchens to MFI and moved to America where he started a kitchen manufacturing company.
This became one of the largest and most successful kitchen manufacturers in America whenever he sold it.
He came back to the UK to retire and ended up starting Wren when he noticed there was a gap in the market for a kitchen company to actually make their own units and cut out the middle man.
Malcolm Healey only supplied to MFI and his businesses did not go bust!!

[NeverForgivingWrenLiving]

"He came back to the UK to retire and ended up starting Wren when he noticed there was a gap in the market for a kitchen company to actually make their own units and cut out the middle man."

I can confirm that he did indeed find a gap in the market - and filled it with junk.

[QueenieB2014]

Avoid Wren like the plague!!! Please heed this warning and it will spare you the stress that we are going through. Very hard not to be negative about this company. Customer service after initial sales are extremely poor, and over 3 weeks since our kitchen was started to be installed we are still waiting for our kitchen to be completed as the designer measured it wrong and the units wouldn't fit. My phone calls and emails seem to be ignored, even copying in the Area manager hasn't given them the kick in the pants to buck their ideas up. I wish I had read this thread before visiting Wren, £12k spent on a kitchen which isn't finished and I have no idea when it will be :(