Fitted furniture - Hammonds, John Lewis, Sharps?

[NotMondayAgain]

Hi,
I sent off for some brochures recently as we have a new loft bedroom and need some decent clothes storage. I unticked the boxes to get a home visit as it is early days as not even got the flooring in yet. Obviously they all called anyway and muggins here has succumbed to the pressure to have some home visits.
Does anyone have any experience of these companies? Are they expensive? How pushy are they?
Thanks.

[deste]

Sharps you cannot get rid of.

[Knittedfairy]

Sharps did a really good job for us; not pushy and we've only had one phone call from them since we had the furniture fitted a couple of years ago.

[JoJoSM2]

When I was planning fitted furniture, I got quotes and they were ridiculous. You might find that you'd be better off with a local carpenter.

[WhoseGonnaDriveUHomePorkPie]

I had Hammonds and they were expensive but are absolutely beautiful and fantastic quality. I've seen the John Lewis ones on display in store and the quality was poor compared to mine, it was very flimsy, more like Argos quality.
I had quotes from Sharps, Hammonds and a local company and the prices were very similar. The people who came out to quote were typical sales people, they started high but when I said they were too expensive they all started muttering about offers and dropped the prices. once we decided to go with Hammonds they sent a surveyor to measure up properly and he tweaked the original plans to make it fit the space better.
In the end we paid about £3500 (this was for one of the cheapest door styles!) and this includes 2 double cupboards which both have a rail at the top and half way down so we can hang loads of tops, shirts etc, one single cupboard for hanging long items dresses, coats etc and two single cupboards with shelves, in which I keep handbags, spare toiletries, scarfs etc. All the cupboards are floor to ceiling. We haven't regretted getting these cupboards for one minute - they look beautiful and we finally have enough storage to actually have a tidy bedroom!

[WhoseGonnaDriveUHomePorkPie]

Ps I didn't find any of the companys pestered me to buy after they had been to my house.

[guilty100]

Just a note - have a look and see if there are CNC manufacturing places near you. A lot of these offer a design service, and can be considerably cheaper (and more customizable).

[JoJoSM2]

Or if your budget extends to thousands then get something truly amazing, e.g. the English Wardrobe Company stuff. The quotes from the high street were only a bit cheaper when I compared.

[dudsville]

JoJo, their stuff is beautiful, did you use them? If so, I have a question about cost as they don't indicate cost on their site. What did you have done and over what kind of size?

[JoJoSM2]

Dudsville, I got quotes from a range of companies but went with Ikea + carpenter making it look fitted + different handles etc for a great look on a budget (lights, glass fronted drawers etc for about £350/m). As far as I remember, the figures that I got from the English Wardrobe Company were about 20-25% more than Sharps or Hammonds (all considerably over 1k per metre of full-height, well kitted out wardrobe).

[DOLLYDAYDREAMER]

We went into the Hammonds shop and really liked one of their bedrooms but found them a bit pushy which Hubby does not like. Then found a local shop does the same stuff undef a different name Hepplewhite. The were really nice and did us a design with a place for everything.

[Crow1234]

Hammonds make the John Lewis fitted wardrobes

[jorjski]

Do not let John Lewis do your fitted wardrobes. They are not "made-to-measure" as they have implied. They have a set of carcasses that they pop in and they add 'fillers' on the sides to cover the gaps. They've wasted about 50cm of storage space.

In addition to this, they were not clear about how they were going to make sockets available. Previously, my shelf had the socket attached to the wood, but John Lewis just cuts a hole to make the socket available (also, their removers managed to make a mess out of the removal). This is problematic as I have to stick my hand into the hole through the giant gap before I can plug it in.

Did I also mention that they did not deliver the drawers in one bedroom and they delivered smaller drawers in the other? Of course the sides of the drawers were covered by about 10cm on each side of 'fillers' again...

[MissMapes]

Don't use Hammonds unless you can wait 136 days

Here is my Hammonds story:
24th May and 27th June – Designer and Surveyor visited
30th July – Promised date of my wardrobe being fitted. I was told it would take one day. Two of the wooden panels arrived dented
16th August – Second attempt at fitting the wardrobe. The fitter cut one of the panels on the wrong side, turned it around and used it anyway. I imagine he hoped I would not notice. However, you would have to have very low observation skills not to notice a cut in the middle of the side of a gloss white wardrobe. The wardrobe was signed off as finished but on closer inspection, here are a few of the many problems that were noticed:

1. Adhesive which had turned grey and spread down the wardrobe
   
2. The side panel was not flush with the front of the wardrobe
   
3. The rail was sharp and not fixed symmetrically with a screw missing
   
4. The rails were too short and therefore loose, highly mobile and rattled
   
5. There was damage to the edge of one of the shelves
   
6. There was an assembly joint present visible in front of the interior drawers
   
7. There were multiple places where the wood chip is exposed
   
   28th August – Another fitter came, realized that there were more problems than reported on the Hammonds App and recommended a reassessment
   5th September – A third fitter came and recommended that almost the entire wardrobe needed replacing, apart from the doors and the internal drawers
   18th September – The new parts and fitter arrived. The edge of the wood was cream instead of white.
   7th October – Finally a product that resembled that which I had ordered
   
   In total it has taken 8 visits from Hammonds to fit this wardrobe. I was expecting three. For each of these visits it is necessary to rearrange my days and take precious time off work. Each visit involves multiple phone calls and emails. I have not had a bed all that time. The carpet has been taken up in the bedroom (as recommended by Hammonds) and therefore the bedroom has not been usable. In addition there are numerous dents in my walls, more than would had occurred had the wardrobe been fitted correctly on the first attempt.
   
   My multiple complaint letters and phone calls have not been fully dealt with. When I finally did have some sort of response, I was told that the wardrobe was fitted within a “reasonable timescale”. If you think 136days to fit a wardrobe is a reasonable timescale, then pick Hammonds. If, like me, you do not have 8 days spare holiday to spend letting people into your home to rectify errors made by their colleagues then I suggest you try another company. Ikea PAX would do the job.

[Toddlerteaplease]

As soon as I told shapes they were over my budget, they left. Also never heard from Sliderobes again although I was seriously considering them. I eventually went for a family business, who did a brilliant job!

[Elkrust]

We had a very disappointing experience with Hammonds. Their designer (salesman) thought 32cm was adequate space to pass between bed and wardrobe but this didn't come to light until the surveyors visit. He spotted the issue within 2 seconds of being in the bedroom. Essentially the salesman knew it was going to be a problem but never warned us and wasn't interested in resolving our bedroom storage problem. He was probably hoping the surveyor would bale him out or we would have to compromise on buying a smaller bed . We wasted weeks waiting for the survey, which may never have happened had we not chased for it. Now to rub salt into the wounds we have to wait 48 hours before their client services team refund our deposit. For our £800 deposit we have had nothing (repeat nothing) from Hammonds apart from disappointment.