Ikea kitchen problems, starting to get a list going here not impressed.

[BorisJohnsonsHairdresser]

I am having the Ikea kitchen fitted, it is not going well.

I spent half an hour on the phone to query the worktop. I was told by the fitting people to order worktops I didn't need, they were loads extra in price. So I paid about an extra hundred pounds to have something that I didn't need, and I have to pay extra to get it cut to "normal" size. After the first person I spoke to couldn't cope with the "problem" he cut me off.

Half an hour later I got through to someone else, he couldn't cope with the "problem" eventually went to his supervisor, an hour later decided he coudlnt' help and someone else would ring me back. We finished the call at 4pm, nobody rang me back by 5.30 as promised. So first thing I am going to be on the phone again today. To sort this out.

Secondly, the firm that is ordered the wrong sized worktop, sent around a very strange electrician, amongst the odd things he did, was put the plugs so low down that there is no gap between the plug and worktop for one row of tiles.

The electrician, didn't cover my cooker, which I put things on top of on purpose to avoid it being used as a tool table. I went in and it was being used as a tool table, and is scratched. The vent between the oven and top is clogged with dirt from the walls being ripped out to chase the plugs in.

The electrician also was rude to me.

I am going to have to ask to have the plugs moved to a "normal" height now.

I am fuming between the one doing the worktop ordering and the one doing the electric's it is not a good start at all.

So far I feel like crying, this is a lot of money to me, to get the fitting and kitchen, and they are wasting my money, wrecking my cooker and walls and giving me needless stress. I can't even do anything about it as Ikea won't speak to me.

ok I found this, with a link. It seems this electrician guy is not following the regulations. FFS, why do I have to end up with the odd bod electrician? He could have done anything to the writing if he is not following the rules for height.

www.planningportal.gov.uk/permission/commonprojects/electrics/

Is it IKEA fitters or someone else?

We had an ikea kitchen fitted by someone independently. Why did you get a worktop you didn't need if you knew that?

Go into store and speak to someone?

Your problem here is with the fitters - even if you've gone with IKEA's fitters, I think IKEA contract out the work to them so the store won't have anything to do with it. I'd still complain to the store - it may stop IKEA using them in future.

Just out of interest - where are you based? We're planning an IKEA kitchen and will probably use their fitters but would like to know which ones to avoid! We'll use the Lakeside store.

Well I spent an other half an hour on hold, then a half an hour with the guy trying to find out the problem, another half an hour with him speaking to others, and still the problem is not resolved. The guy who did the survey conned me basically, for some odd reason he made me get a custom made worktop, when I didn't need one and as I signed something I have lost over a hundred pounds, and spent £160 pounds on a unit I now have to pay extra to have cut down to be the size of a normal work top that would have cost me £40 and there is nothing that came be done about it as the survey guy got me to sign a load of paperwork with small print in.

To make matters worse, despite me telling the fitter he had an old plan and him telling me he was getting a new one sorted, he either used an old plan or made a plan up himself.

I now can't open my freestanding fridge freezer properly as he has pushed it right tight up to the wall. He put the panelling in next to the fridge freezer, missed the panelling on the other side of the tall unit, and glued it to a wall unit. The tall unit had another unit on top, which should be at the top of the wall unit, the wall unit is instead in line with the tall unit and glued to it.

And yes I have been in and out there talking to them.

The unit I was to have on the other side of the room with a gas meter in won't work, I could have had the unit I wanted and the surveyor wouldn't allow me to have as he said it wouldn't work. It turns out now it will work and his idea of a unit over the gas area won't work, I have to bring back the unit the fitter said he can fit the doors to make it look like there is a double cupboard there. So I have nothing now in the space, and the water stop tap that was moved has been put in the gap that I could have fitted in a 40cm under counter unit, so I can't have anything there now as it would stop me being able to access the stop tap. Of course all plumbing has finished now.

I feel very disappointed by the service I have had, I paid over two and half thousand pounds to these people to fit and remove a tiny kitchen and all I have had is a whole load of grief from every angle.

Who is fitting your kitchen though?

The firm Ikea put you in touch with. I am charging my camera and will take and upload some pictures.

ok it should go

cover panel to sit next to free standing fridge freezer, then high cabinet with two little cubby hole things on top, then another cover panel, then a double wall unit, then a final cover panel.

So he has put the cover panel and tall unit too close to the fridge freezer which he moved for some reason closer to the wall from where it was. where you could open the door properly to be able to pull out the freezer drawers he has cut the cover panel, put the good end on the floor and the rough end at the top, it is too short and not tall enough to cover the two little cubby holes above the tall unit. He has missed out a cover panel and put the wall unit too low and glued it to the tall cabinet. I have no idea how he is going to sort out that mess. He has to replace the cover panel, and the two ends of the wall unit and tall unit as they will be destroyed from being glued together.

glued them together

my inexperienced dh has just fitted an Ikea kitchen, virtually the very last job was attach cupboards together....with screws!

He is using the rails isn't?

I can't see what he attached them to the wall with, I am getting worried now.

Here is the lower part, where you can see the cover panel, the tall unit and the wall unit with no cover panel on the tall unit.

you need a cover panel there
is there an issue with room?

Are you saying the wall cabinets are not the same heights as the top of the high cabinets?

Yes I am saying the wall cabinets will not be the same height as the finished high cabinet and end cover when the cubby holes are put on top and the end panel is put in properly.

You can't open the drawers of the fridge freezer as you can't open the door properly as they for some odd reason decided to move my own free standing fridge freezer closer to the wall. They also left no space between the end panel and the fridge freezer so it will never be able to be pulled out where they have trapped it.

I found the other part of what was once a proper length of cover panel, the fitter needlessly cut up and chucked in the garden, in the rubbish pile. It was to have the cubby hole on top, and the wall unit was to be the same height as that cover panel and end at the top of the top of the cubby holes. Neither the cover panel nor the wall unit should end at the top of the tall unit. My head hurts.

I also don't understand why they bothered stuff on the other wall, and left me with a sink unit made up and didn't bother putting the sink in so I could have a drink. I would have done number one job get the sink up and running. There is only a sink unit in place, the sink is not fitted.

I also looked at the way they cut the sink unit, and cut it ott cut far too much away than was necessary and left it weak when there was no need to cut it so much, I will take pictures in the morning, the light is not so good right now.

I am gutted, I have wasted so much money for a rubbish job and my units are not fitted properly, damaged, wrongly ordered and Ikea make me take the blame for their fitters and their surveyor and their kitchen ordering staff told me to order the wrong stuff. I pay the stress and price and wreck what I ordered by not reading the plans or ignoring the plans.

I have spent hours on the phone and been told to come to the store, I said why can't you deal with it on the phone, they don't phone back when they promise, they cut you off if they can't cope with your problem. This is apparently because they are so busy they are training up new people that is why you wait half an hour for someone to answer the phone and why they cut you off when they can't help you and why they take half an hour and ask you the same questions over and over again as they don't know what they are doing. I am wondering if they are hiring people who are not properly qualified to survey and fit kitchens too. I was told to go to the branch, it is forty km's away, cost to time and travel. When you are away complaining in store too goodness knows what carnage is going on in the kitchen.

I am not impressed at all.

It's really difficult to envisage without pictures but to give you some reassurance re the sink and other cabinets we have massive cutouts or no backs at all and as long as they are secured to the wall and the next cabinet they will be strong enough.

Is the worktop in? We didn't have a sink that we could use even once the worktops were in because the plumber had to fit the pipes.

Also, there are various bits we had to 'bodge' along the way because we either hadn't measured correctly or our walls were too wonky, however now it's altogether you wouldn't know.

However, you do need to be able to open your fridge correctly and any decent fitter would understand that plans might need tweaking after the event without impacting the finished result.

We were given the direct number of the chap who helped sign off our kitchen plans but we didn't need it in the end.

I think you get what you pay for. So many people recommend IKEA kitchens but I had no hassle with my new kitchen at all. Not from IKEA though and they had their own fitters. IKEA are so over hyped they don't care about your kitchen!

I hate that saying 'you get what you pay for'. No matter what price you have paid, the job should be done properly.

Mildly that's a nonsense thing to say in the context of this thread. There is no excuse for poor workmanship whatever your budget.
OP you have my sympathy, it sounds torturous. I'm sure you'll get a lovely kitchen at the end of it all though.

Have you paid the full amount up front for this? If not I would not pay a penny more until they resolve some of these issues.

Tell Ikea that you expect them to resolve it and will pursue them via Trading Standards, Small Claims Court or whatever if they do not

I have paid for the kitchen, I have paid for the making and fitting of the units to Ikea, I have not paid the over a thousand for the extra's yet. I gather Ikea don't release the money to the fitters until the end.

You know what I will tell them and carry through trading standards and the small claims court if this is not sorted out now, I have spent far too long wasting my time and upset on this. I just want it sorted out, there is no need for this.

It will have cost me over two and a half thousand pounds for a tiny kitchen to be removed and fitted, I am not paying peanuts here.

Sounds a nightmare OP. However I've found it quite difficult to follow the detail and I wonder if this is a bit of the difficulty when trying to get the problem sorted (and why they have asked you to go in). You have every right to feel upset and angry, but that might get in the way of the store understanding the problem and being able to help you. I'd stick to the big picture ie you have significant concerns about the quality of the workmanship of the fitters they recommended. Elements of the kitchen will not function and it does not follow the plans. You have concerns about the survey as it required you to buy items you did not need. Don't bog them down in the detail at this stage but ask them what they are going to do. You could offer to email the more detailed list of problems with photos. Less words and more pauses (to make them answer) is the strategy I have found works best for resolving things. Finally what have the fitters said when you have said rte above to them? Have they been reassuring?

InsertUsernameHere, thank you so much for giving me a better way to communicate the problem. I do have neurological issues that hospital have done the final tests for, next appointment is for treatment.

No prob. Hope it gets sorted. Getting a kitchen fitted is really stressful when it is going well and an utter nightmare when it isn't.