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!

Gutted! We went to see wren the other week and loved their Linda Barker range but having serious doubts now. I saw this thread after I did a search but had hoped it had improved. Clearly not

Something of a postscript to my posts last year ...

I'm not looking for sympathy (honest!) but my fiancee became very ill last Autumn so I then had more urgent things to do than pursue Wren for compensation. Eventually I bit the bullet and decided to put it all down to (bad) experience; Jude's recovery was far more important and now she's OK again.

The support struts on my high-level units' doors have continued to make loud "clunk" noises when closing and have all eventually popped out of their sockets, leaving me with unsupported doors. Wren's fitter "fixed" one when he visited last year but that one has popped again since. On closer inspection, it's obvious that the struts were fitted incorrectly in the factory and I, a complete novice kitchen fitter, have been able to fix them all permanently in a few minutes with the aid of a screwdriver and a little common sense. No noise, no popping out.

Don't, just don't ...

AVOID AVOID AVOID
We too also bought a kitchen from Wren November 2014. We are still waiting for all of problems to be resolved costing us extra time and money.

This is the worst experience that we have ever had! They will avoid ans drag the process out hoping you will give up.
The store staff, fitters, and managers are incompetent.

They have very signs within their store stating that they do all measuring etc, thye can't measure at all. 2 people including the fitter measured ours wrong and tried to blame us and we are waiting for refund on the cupboard we don't have.

Serveral visits from store managers and regional managers to be blamed again. The regional manager started a slanging match in front of our 1 year and then stormed out shouting with our front door wide open. Having let him in for the second time after making promises which were not kept.

Fitters don't turn up, if they do they make more mess and cause more problems. They literally don't care!

We are left with a very poorly fitted kichen, doors faulty, large hole in the wall, leaks, poorly cut top with gaps, doors not closing, handles falling off, top lifting, loose tap the list is endless.
The staff are rude, once they have your money they don't care about the mess or stress they leave behind.

We won't give up wren!

Disgusting how they are allowed to trade like this and cause undue stress to their customers, I will be making further complaints with regards to the manager and his disgusting behaviour in our in front of our son!

Think before you buy from Wren!

Had a kitchen "designed" and "fitted" by WREN last June. I had been trying to sort out a number of issues with them (missing goods, damaged goods, badly fitted goods and an unsuitable vented tumble dryer fitted when a condenser dryer was needed). Although at various stages WREN admitted their blunders, they have done very little to put them right. They blame each other and resolve nothing. Too late for me but you have been warned. Even their customer care department does not reply to formal complaints. Truly shocking!

Hell. I've just arranged for a Wren salesman/designer to come and measure up this week. They're the only major chain that would come and measure up on a weekend (so DH is here; don't flame me for that - I've had bad experiences alone).

B&Q won't measure up at the weekend, Magnet never called back, neither did Homebase, and IKEA would mean doing it all ourselves - we're both all fingers and thumbs!

What now?! Our cupboard doors are falling off, the drawers don't close properly, the handles are tarnished, floor tiles cracked and we can't use the gas cooker when it's windy - we need a new kitchen but now I'm nervous!

Any recommendations for good/bearable kitchens in County Durham? Please?

First impressions of this company were good. Stylish showroom and attentive staff with a convenient play area to keep children occupied. Kitchen designer came out to measure up and a design was put together for us. The design unfortunately, included an island that would not have fitted as the measurements taken were incorrect. Fortunately, we spotted this before the order was completed. Do not purchase the white goods recommended in their designs. Take the make and model numbers and buy them cheaper elsewhere. Also, do not use their fitters, They are expensive and there have been a lot of poor reviews about the quality of their work and reliability.

We agreed a delivery date and I gave specific instructions about the narrow access to our house. I explained several times that anything larger than a bin lorry would get stuck. I was assured that this had been noted and a smaller vehicle would be deployed for our delivery.
I received a phone call from the delivery driver to say that he was stuck in the lane!!! I found him wedged between hedgerows, walls and trees in a large container lorry over twice the size of a bin lorry. The only way he could get to my house was by force which meant hedgerows and trees were ripped out or badly damaged. He then went on to completely block the lane and caused an obstruction for around 35 minutes. Well done Wren!

We employed a carpenter with over 40 years experience who went through every box and component with a fine tooth comb. Incorrect doors were sent which were rectified without too much of a problem. Several weeks later I had a kitchen that I was pleased with despite the problems with planning and delivery.

About 6 months after the kitchen was completed the carousel baskets in the magic corner cupboard collapsed. I called Wren who said they would order a new one but we would have to go to the showroom to collect it ourselves!! (Wow, what customer service - NOT). I did not order a cutlery tray initially so again, rang Wren to order one. Several weeks later the wrong size tray was delivered.

Three years later, I noticed that the pan drawers had started to discolour. Over the period of a week or so the pan drawers had gone from a brilliant white to a dark cream colour. The base unit door on the other side of the cooker had also started to discolour. I sent several emails to customer service requesting replacements and sent a photograph as requested. After several weeks of repeated email requests they agreed to send replacements. I asked that they did not send them on the dates we were away and they agreed. When we got back my neighbour had found them dumped on our doorstep and had to store them in her garage for us. Well done Wren!

No fitting instructions were included with the drawers which are quite complicated to fit onto the sliding mechanism. I have asked customer care several times for these but none have ever been forthcoming. I now have replacement doors that do not match the rest of the kitchen as it has faded. I can accept that fading does take place but my cabinets and drawer fronts are fading at different rates and now the under sink drawers are turning a streaky cream colour. After spending many hours hanging on the end of a phone listening to ?your call is important to us? I gave up and took a drawer into the Cardiff showroom to show them. The young female manageress looked at the drawer and said that it looked as if something had been pouring onto it and referred us back to Customer services. I explained that we could not get a coherent response from their so called customer services and she more or less just walked away to deal with another customer (victim more like). We also asked her for drawer fitting instructions and despite her promises to send them via email, she never did. How can she call herself a manager when she does not even have the capability to locate and email assembly instructions! I gave her my email address but I don?t think she even wrote it down. All she was worried about was getting us and the offending drawer away from her customers. Well done Wren!

I subsequently received an email from customer services to say they had ?leased (sic)? with this manageress and would not honour their guarantee as I had damaged the doors and drawers myself or it was done by a third party!!!!!!! How can I have damaged the doors myself?? Ah yes, I used kitchen cleaner on them ? how foolish of me! As a result of using a reputable kitchen cleaner I have a kitchen that looks disgusting and it has cost us over ?8,000 for the honour. I was finally called last week by the designer who originally took our order to say that someone would be coming out to photograph the discoloration today. Guess what NO SHOW. Well done Wren! An ?8,000 kitchen that is fit for nothing more than a skip.

I now have to go down the legal route to sort this issue out as they are clearly not going to honour their worthless guarantee.

See my last message for background

Update

After our no show site visit, I got home to find a voicemail on my phone from Wren kitchens, Cardiff. The same woman who had rejected there was a veneer fault on our doors and drawers said that given this was a maintenance problem (the damage is your fault in other words) then the site visit had been cancelled!!!! My husband had rescheduled important meetings to be at home and this woman did not have the courtesy to ring before the meeting was sheduled to state she had cancelled it. The call came five hours later and there was also a reference to my postings on social media!.

Correct me if I am wrong Wren, but do junior front of house management have the qualifications or authority to conclude this is a maintenance problem? Is this person a qualified laboratory analyst?? I think not. She did not ask us any probing questions or attempt to ascertain what may have caused the discoloration. There was no offer to investigate further or to speak to someone in authority at your factory. Whilst we were talking she advised her colleague that she would be available shortly. In other words we were about to be dismissed.

There have been many references to faulty laminates in a lot of postings on review sites so you know this is an ongoing problem. I have repeatedly requested a site visit so a proper survey and investigation can be conducted which, in my opinion is following correct complaints procedure. Your member of staff rudely took it upon herself to cancel the appointment and to instruct customer services not to send further drawer or door replacements.

I have worked for 37 years as a marketing professional in project management and FM roles and I can honestly say I have never come across such unprofessional, unhelpful and ignorant customer service. Oh and guess what Wren. She still has not emailed the drawer assembly instructions that she promised to do 10 days ago.

I wish I'd read this thread before I bought a Wren kitchen. My sympathy to MOGFOS.

Our designer left her job after we paid and so never saw it through. However, we had the plans plus the 3D pix so what could go wrong?

The kitchen was delivered in September but our original fitter dropped out and we've only just managed to find another one who started at the end of November. Imagine our surprise today to be fitting the wall cabinets and finding that one double-door wall cabinet has uneven doors - one is 250mm wide and the other 300mm. On enquiry, Wren told me imperiously, "this is how it comes". And yet there is nothing in their brochures, online, in the plans they drew up for me, their 3D depictions or the designer herself even hinted that having mis-sized doors was a possibility.

When the handles go on it will look even more dreadful and wrong.

I had been puzzled why, unlike other kitchen stores, there were no diagrams with measurements either onine or in print. I think I now know why.

Wren makes much of its superiority to its rivals, setting up their units in Wren showrooms and boasting of their wider range of cabinet sizes on page 143 of the Big Book of Wren Kitchens against a table of big names: Wickes, B&Q, Magnet, Homebase, Howdens and Kutchenhaus. Wren proudly states that their units go up in increments of 50mm — unlike the puny opposition. But what they don't make clear is that they only do that because, while the carcases increase in 50mm steps, the doors do not increase to scale. Which is why we now own a useless wrong mistake with doors of 250 and 300 wide.

Wren's excuse for not putting this right by at least allowing me to size down to 500mm and obtain the symmetry most of us expect, is that I was out of time according to their contract which allows you 28 days to report faults.

However, what they fail to grasp is that under the Sale of Goods Act in 1979, their merchandise has to be of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose and fit for the customer's purpose. And they must be as described — which they clearly were not. They are also in breach of their contract under the 1977 Unfair Contracts Act.

Wren can not restrict consumers' rights by imposing a 28 day cut-off when you actually have six years to pursue such matters under this year's Consumer Rights Act.

Even more seriously, they may have transgressed under consumer protection for unfair trading (2008) regarding MISLEADING ACTIONS. I was led to believe I was receiving something else than the item that arrived. All their photos, mock-ups and literature led me to believe that this cabinet would be like any other — ie, have normal symmetrical doors. So I may be entitled to compensation under Part 4A.

Even worse. The above is from last night. Today I had the kettle on for a cup of tea. It was under a new wall cabinet that went up yesterday. I went to wipe away the moisture and the plastic on the underside is now coming away from the chipboard! It's only just gone up. How is this going to last in a hot, steamy kitchen? Wren may look cool in the showroom but it is far from fit for purpose in my kitchen.

Customers who have shelled out thousands shouldn't be put through this.

I would be intersted in hearing about your kitchen man recommendation in Yorkshire! I cant work out how to message you however via Mumsnet?! I realise this is an old thread but hoping you pick it up! Thanks!!

Do not buy a Wren kitchen, customer services are unbelievable, and are the rudest, most unhelpful people I have ever come across.
The laminate worktops they supplied us with are a much faded version of the ones in the showroom. I sent them a photo, and we spoke to three different people and they all said they can see that there is a difference. They said they cannot send a replacement however, as they cannot guarantee it will not be the same as the ones I have got. They said the showroom examples are AT LEAST TWO YEARS OLD, and therefore are unlikely to be the same as the one supplied, and I have to stick with these as they are liable to natural colour variation - this is laminate, not natural wood. They also said that I cannot send them back and get a refund as it says in the agreement there may be natural variation, but this is really faded, and their sample is two years old. They are showing people colours that seem to no longer exist.

I also rang them as my fitter asked if the hob is suitable for LPG gas. The woman I spoke to said that she cannot be expected to know this. When I asked her why they didn't have the specifications of the items they supplied, she put the phone down. I rang back, and spoke to someone who was more helpful, but he didn't know either, but at least gave me the number of the manufacturer.

The fitting of my kitchen was delayed due to the worktop problems, and has just been fitted. To my dismay, I found that the oven I was supplied with was wrong. The Wren kitchen designer changed it to from an Electrolux oven to what he said was a Neff slide and hide as the oven is just in the doorway at eye level, so the door needed to slide in. He showed me a slide and hide in the showroom, and changed it on his screen to a Neff, so when I checked the order, I assumed as it was a Neff, it was Slide and hide. The picture looked the same as the one he showed me in the showroom.

I have emailed him about this and got no answer, but they say once you have checked the order and signed they will not take it back, so I am stuck with a worktop I don't want, an oven I don't want, that is dangerous as it sticks out by the open door (designed by Neff) and a total lack of help by 'customer services'. I had to get a different worktop, so am now out of pocket. They say they will not accept returns as the worktops are bespoke - one piece is, but the others are standard 2 and 3 metre lengths supplied to be cut to size.

I am renovating a whole house, and have dealt with many different suppliers, all of whom have been helpful, have supplied what they said they would, and have a decent returns policy. I feel Wren kitchens are not working to trades description by selling items that are not as described, and do not have a proper returns policy. No one else works like this.

In summary, DO NOT BUY WREN KITCHENS - once you sign on the dotted line, they can supply you with anything, and have a get out clause for everything.

Oh.

I should have read this thread before wasting an entire afternoon in Wren :(

I thought I'd read positive things about them on here before. Bugger.

Damn shame as the sales staff in the Reading store were lovely & I feel bad about wasting their time too :(

If anyone has any recommendations (showrooms/fitters) in the SE (Reading/Basingstoke/Fleet/Camberley area) they'd be greatly appreciated.

The sales people in Oxford were also very nice - it was only when the kitchen was delivered when everything turned into a nightmare!
I am also renovating a whole house, and have dealt with plumbers, plasterers, a bathroom refit, and builders of an extension, and believe me, the kitchen supplied by Wren, which should have been the best and final part before we moved in, has been an absolute nightmare. No one else has caused any of this amount of trouble and rudeness. They accept that the worktops do not match, but will neither exchange them, nor refund me. I am £800 out of pocket, and that isn't counting the fact that the oven they supplied is the wrong one. (They also removed my review from Trustpilot as they said it breaches - it seems they have done this to other people too).

No fecking idea what to do now. Had pretty much ruled out B&Q, Wicks, Howdens & Homebase on (lack of) quality, IKEA due to the nightmare it is to fit & 'local' ones due to either cost or simply not knowing what their quality was really like.

Fuckity fuck fuck.

Hey justforthisfred,
Have you tried asking in your local Facebook groups? Shudder at the thought but groups are the only part of fb I use. The fitter I'm hoping to use, lots have sung their praises and offered to let me poke around their kitchen. I'm eyeing up a German brand although have read mixed reviews but the fitter gets very positive reviews which appeals to me. This company is in your area but it might not be your bag style wise. I have found companies in this area pretty unwilling to travel very far for business. One company in Reading told me to f off as I was 12 miles away!

I have to say, we had a good experience with Wren. We had our kitchen layout designed by our own builder then took it to Wren. Their oak kitchen was cheaper than others like Wickes. It was delivered on time, nothing missing and fitted by our own builder for £600. 3.5 years later and the only issue we have had is one or two of the soft close mechanisms have come off, but they can easily be put back. Appliance-wise we only had their dishwasher (bought a range cooker and fridge separately) and that seems to be fine too

In an ideal world, I would have had a custom made kitchen by a local joiner, or Howdens (although my SIL Howdens kitchen looks cheap imo) but we couldn't afford that, so on balance I'm very happy with my Wren kitchen.

TheSilentOne

Thank you for your reply.

What German company are you looking at?

Facebook groups is a good suggestion, but so much faff (I don't have an account). I might see if any of my friends have a sly Facebook account that the could have a look at...or wait until you've had yours done & see what you think of the kitchen & the fitter

I was supposed to do something about it today, but I just couldn't face it :(

Unsurprised about the company in Reading... Madness isn't it.

TigerDog. I'm pleased it went smoothly for you :). I'm sure it does happened occasionally. I'm just mass ely put off by the number of times it doesn't, but mostly by their dreadful handling of any problems. I'm not risking it myself.

Oh law!
Spent an hour or more in Wrens showroom today.. and of course, impressed!
Virtually designed our kitchen in our heads white goods as well.
Got a great builder /fitter so maybe just stick with their ( lovely ) units and source worktops elsewhere.

Anyone comment on the paint finish & durability of their midrange (Designer) units please.. ?
Or even now is all the siel in their brochure just BS ? e.g.

Planning - It starts with you !
Design - It's about your home !
Manufacturing - It's made for you !
Installation - It's a perfect fit !
Aftercare - It's done but we're not !!!!!@

Harry

I did the same (as you might have read). I really like the kitchen, the designer was great & I have my own fitter, but I'm absolutely not up for their utterly shit after care service IF (but more like 'when' seemingly) the delivery turns up with missing or damaged items. I read the 'Wren' thread here & googled. It's far, far too dire for me to be willing to take the risk.

I'm looking at SystemSix and some other local manufacturers.

Wow. That's wrens off the list. The tone of emails to customers and messages to customers on here is really poor. What a catalogue of cock ups. Bag o shite.

I cannot begin to state how bad my experience buying a kitchen off wren is- Liverpool

• We asked for measurements to be done and the someone came to measure and measured incorrectly and my kitchen fitter raised these concerned with the salesman and I was assured there would be no problems.
• The kitchen fitter went to fit the kitchen and low and behold the concerned he raised were actual concerns and the kitchen did not fit.
• The customer service is like talking to a brick wall and I was on hold constantly and cut off NUMEROUS times and was told that this is a problem they are looking into. Cutting customers off and not calling them back because 'we get another call straight through' is not acceptable. Not even an email once to apologise or advise the conversation was logged or an outcome.
• I am a landlady and had a tenant waiting to move in so this was delayed by a month and they were essentially left homeless unable to move into a house with no kitchen. Not to mention my reputation as a landlady.
• after finally speaking to a manager it was authorised for wren to rectify the problem and the salesman who done the original measurements came out to measure again to see what needed to change. He wanted the kitchen fitter to make it fit which would of meant taking legs off items and essentially being an unsafe kitchen.

-I was told the next delivery date for the new items was 3 weeks away which would delay it by more and after speaking to manager Nick Johnson he brought it forward by a few days.

• I sent an invoice to nick for the amount of £900 (the amount it cost me for a days labour for the kitchen fitter as he could not complete the job and also for the plumber and apprentice who attended who could also not complete their work. Also for the electrician to come back as the fridge is now blocking a socket and I have been advised the fridge is to stay where it is as there is nowhere else for it to go. Then a plasterer to come back as I have had the kitchen newly plastered and there will be a hole in the wall where the socket was. I have pictures of these problems and I have been advised that they will only give me £250 costs!

-I advised Nick that this has cost me considerable amount of money and stress and that I wish to escalate the complaint. I called up 5 times to speak to him and was advised every time he was on another phone call and that he will call me back. Not once has he called me only email (which have all been delayed responses).

• I have had to pay a mortgage payment that the tenant would have covered had she moved in when she was supposed to if the kitchen had have been correct like I was told it was.

-the kitchen fitter came back today to fit the kitchen and there are STILL problems with it and he has been fired to 'make it fit' as I cannot afford to incite additional labour costs and delay the tenant moving in by a further period. -I have contacted the call centre yesterday and they advised me they are open today and I have called and they are closed. Lies! Would not recommend it to anyone either. All they want is your money, they will take any opportunity to call their mistakes your mistake and leave you in a position where you have had to incur lots of costs which they refuse to reimburse. The customer service have been unreasonable and I assure you I will not rest until the costs I he incurred are reimbursed! Very unprofessional and unreasonable. Quoting parts of their term and conditions to make customers feel like it is their fault and guilty for making a fuss. I have wrote in to watchdog but believe that they have already been on the programme which doesn't surprise me! I just have no words for the company and when the advert comes on the radio it infuriates me and I wish no one to encounter the problems and stress I have in the last few months. I notice they don't have a page that customers can write on so we have to make do with commenting on a post. Where do we even review them to alert people of their incompetence

I went to Wren today. Luckily for me they were spectacularly unhelpful so I had crossed them off my list. I shall take my budget after reading this thread!

I have not had time to read all the messages on here. however can say from experience, any one that is looking to buy a kitchen from
Howdens Magnet or Wren need to look at what any person could well perceive to be fake discounts, before going further, basically they're all at it.

I am sat here with a quote from Wren Was £19k+ now 10k+ is shaker gloss

I have a quote from Howdens which says with approx 75% off is £7500

Finally visiting a Magnet store, they state a gloss kitchen ( says 12 units ,all panels, trims and plinths with 6metres of laminated top), wait for it?!

Was ( in gloss ) £12576, now £6378.

by the way the same store was selling kitchens at 1/3 of this price under differing guises, very confusing for us..

So ask yourself why they offer these discounts?

Ps the same stuff of similar quality to the Magnet specification was well below £5k elsewhere, so how can Wren say they are 80% cheaper than Magnet. Are there kitchens £1063 for the same ( they say there's no Vat and 80% off so is this true )

You can see from the Magnet picture, someone from Wren? has posted the Magnet price list to a Cloud.

Check out the forums on any kitchen company, I have posted one from MSE here. Its old but still relevant.

Anyway I'm off elsewhere

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We had an extremely stressful time having our wren kitchen - the list of things that went wrong is extensive... they forgot the taps and made us pay for them ourselves, they didn't communicate with the fitter and we had to do it otherwise it wouldn't have happened, the cupboards aren't bespoke like they say they are so they couldn't make one for next to our sink and so we have NO cutlery drawer! Nobody at the company responds to us despite still owing us £200 for the taps. Wish we had listened to the reviews before we bought from this cowboy organisation!