What compensation would you want for this?

[FiveHundredDucksWentOutOneDay]

The major kitchen company involved have asked me, and there's a big difference between what me and DH think.

In short...

We planned the kitchen in January in-store, which was a great process.

Payment was awful. They insist on online payment and sent us links, which we paid, but then deluged us in 18 more links. We talked to them and they said it was an error - but then as the 18 extras were not paid, the order was cancelled. It took 2 days to sort out again.

Two weeks before fitting was due to begin, we were told the gas work that was supposed to be covered could no longer be done, and we'd need to find our own engineer at our own cost before fitting could begin. We did, and the engineer discovered the placement of the boiler, sink and hob were non-compliant. We had to drive 90 minutes to a different store for an urgent re-design, which meant the hob we'd bought privately didn't fit, and we lost two cupboards worth of space.

The dishwasher they sold us was out-of-stock, constantly. Eventually a member of staff told us it would not be available and the only one they had in a similar size was a lot less efficient. Swapping out the dishwasher removed our "4 for 3" appliance offer, which has still not been fixed.

Five days before installation, we were asked to send photos to confirm our old kitchen had been fully removed in order for installation to go ahead, which is not fun with a toddler!

Three days before installation, most of the kitchen arrived, but the dishwasher and worktops did not. Customer Services then told us that none of the worktops or island had ever been ordered, despite us paying them. We lost DAYS to calling them to try and sort this out.

The fitters found several items missing, including whole drawers, hinges and doors. Temporary worktops were sourced, but we were not sent enough for the island to be constructed fully, and the fitters were not sure it was safe without worktops, so we were left with an unusable kitchen (which is open-plan in our downstairs, and again really difficult with a toddler!). Then then sent us 30 random kitchen items, none of them the missing ones, which we've had to store since May, which has basically filled the basement.

On the last day of fitting, the new worktops were due, and didn't arrive. The fitters left as they had nothing else to do, but had forgotten to secure the oven into the casing, which fell and hit my foot. I was not seriously injured, but amidst all the stress from the fitting, I had a miscarriage. I can't prove this was because of the kitchen, but I do have a note from EPU with it as the 'suspected cause', due to stress. I'm heartbroken about it regardless.

We've since had three sets of new worktops delivered, all of which have taken at least a month to arrive, and none of which are right. We've finally had the correct colour arrive, but it's not double-sided, so it'll look rubbish on the overhanging part of the island. They've also not sent new worktops for the side, which the fitter expected, so he hasn't fitted the existing ones well - but it is passable.

The final bit should be fitted next week, which will then hopefully finish the kitchen. It should have been completed in the first week of May.

I'm self-employed and lost 8 days of work to trying to sort out all the errors. It's been really stressful, and required constant phone calls and chasing. Promised manager call-backs never come, and nobody seems to read the same notes.

The customer services manager has promised that they'll review the complaint once the kitchen is finalised. I don't hold out much hope - she keeps referring to my miscarriage with smiley face emojis in the same sentence - but what would you be looking for?

I'd quite like them to take it all out, to be honest, but I appreciate that's an emotional response and not a logical one.

Do Ikea still employ independent fitters? It's not their own teams team and they used to give the work to local contractors.

That's bonkers because the whole point of the small claims process is that you don't need a legal representative, you can do it yourself. We did.

The judge would take into account all the money lost by taking days off so do include that in your claim. And the time taken to prepare the case and attend court.

I'm sorry to hear about your miscarriage, but your EPU should not be diagnosing the reason for your loss or writing letters on your behalf.

As someone who suffered with recurrent miscarriage (7 in total) we were never given a reason for any of our losses despite thorough and ongoing investigation under the recurrent miscarriage clinic.

Your EPU were not correct to advise you about the cause of your miscarriage.

How much is your kitchen? Max claim at small claims court in England is £10k fyi

I'm sorry about your losses.

I did raise this with EPU, and I'm not sure it's something I'll raise directly with IKEA, but EPU's response was that it is the leading EPU in the area, and they'd previously scanned me days earlier, so in their opinion, it was clear that the reason was stress from my blood chemistry. That's what they've said in the letter - that in their expert opinion, that was the cause.

Thanks all.

No progress with IKEA, really, they've increased their offer to £1,500 but said they won't consider it any further.

I've been advised to claim back through my credit card company, detailing everything that happened, and giving them a total financial loss suffered.

I'm going to include the lost earnings, but I have no idea how to quantify anything else, and I wondered if anyone had any thoughts?

The total kitchen cost £10,500.99; of which £1,800 was fitting, and the rest was for the kitchen itself. That didn't include any gas work, in the end, or removing the old kitchen. It did include a dishwasher (not the one we ordered, but we did get one), an electric hob, and a washing machine. Nearly £2,000 was for the island, which has been left in an unfinished state, and is 8cm too small so can seat half the people intended.

They also advised me to include stress/inconvenience/injury, but haven't advised on how much, and I'm uncertain about how to go about this.

I have repeatedly asked IKEA to remove the kitchen, leave a skeleton kitchen and refund us in full, but they have refused, and I'm not convinced a claim for the full amount will stand up given that we do now have a functioning kitchen, albeit after a really stressful experience and not really the one we ordered.

I'd be grateful for any thoughts!

They also advised me to include stress/inconvenience/injury, but haven't advised on how much, and I'm uncertain about how to go about this.

When you say you've been advised, do you mean a solicitor advised you? Normally a barrister can calculate damages using set parameters. When I had a car accident, a barrister assessed the medical records and then estimated a range of claimable damages for each injury. We then put that into the insurance company and settled based on that ballpark figure.

You could put some feelers out via the Public Access scheme and see how much it would cost to instruct a barrister directly if you're not planning on using a solicitor. Otherwise you would either be pulling random figures out of the air doing it yourself, or relying on IKEA's minimal efforts to settle as cheaply as possible.

Also, when did you first tell them to take out the kitchen and refund you?

"If the goods do not meet the required standards under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, the consumer has a period of 30 days from delivery/possession to reject them and, in most circumstances, demand a full refund. This is known as the short-term right to reject."

Hi again OP, I really can't believe how dreadfully you've been treated by IKEA, although they do tend to be the type of company that dig their heels in - I know this from personal experience.

My advice at this stage would be as I mentioned previously to contact Rip Off Britain, as I feel that this is the sort of case that they would be really interested in, and it seems that most companies back down when faced with exposure for their failings on national television.

In your shoes, quite honestly, I think if I found myself lumbered with a kitchen that was not what I wanted, or paid for, it would make me want to move house, particularly when you've said that your house is open plan, as it must mean looking at what should have been a fabulous home improvement, but has turned into an absolute nightmare, not to mention reminder of your miscarriage, every single day. I really do feel for you. Have you actually taken ANY legal advice on this, or is this just advice from people in general? If the latter, I would at the very least be speaking to Citizen's Advice, but like I said, 'Rip Off Britain' would be the place I would go.

Yeah, I've talked to a solicitor, but they've advised that Section 75 with my credit card will be a lot faster than Small Claims, which may not hear my case until 2026 at the earliest given current wait times. They sent me the information on how the FCA sorts compensation for stress and inconvenience; but didn't directly advise on how much to ask for, and I forgot to ask in the meeting. I could go back.

I have contacted Rip Off Britain who came back and asked for more information, but again I get the feeling that it/s quite a long wait for them to actually contact anyone.

The Consumer Rights Act angle is one I hadn't considered! I asked them to remove it on the day that they came to fit the new, faulty, island. Admittedly that was four months after the fitting was supposed to be completed, because IKEA wouldn't consider a complaint until we confirmed the kitchen was finalised "incase anything else went wrong".

I'm glad to hear that Rip Off Britain at least got in touch with your OP, so at least if you don't get anywhere by other means, I think it likely they will take it on for you. Do keep us posted.