Wren kitchens & pushy staff

[CamdenTownie]

Hi,

I've recently had an appointment at Wren, after looking through the brochure they gave me I was pretty sure they'd be able to help me sort out a new kitchen.

Initially the staff there were very friendly, maybe slightly too friendly, and helpful. I gave the all the measurements and we started to 'build' the kitchen at no point during the two and a half hour appointment were prices mentioned until the very last few
Minutes.

Anyway my 'dream' kitchen as they like to put it came in at around £28000, this is well above my expectations. And also included appliances which I stated that I did not intend to purchase from Wren.

The salesman leaves me to go and ask his manager a question, he left the costing sheet behind and I noticed that the cost of the kitchen units could be halved if I took a lower range and changed the colour slightly, so I mentioned this when he came back, at this point his attitude changed instantly, he said the finish wouldn't be as good and his friendly persona became quite rude and he almost completely lost interest.

A few minutes later the very pushy store manager comes over and asks "what's going on?" He replies that he's now quoting for the cheaper range and she barks "Why?" I told her that it was simply too expensive and whilst it's nice to have an integrated laundry bin, it's really not worth £8000 to me.

At this point I could see the hard sell was about to start and I could feel myself getting flustered, they started talking about interest free payments and how I could pay that way rather that upfront as I intended. Neither of them wanted to let me go without committing to a purchase of a high value kitchen, it almost felt like I had to argue my way out of buying something that i can't afford. They were adamant I'd pay a deposit there and then even though I told them
I wasn't going to without speaking to my builder first.

After another ten minutes of being grilled I finally escaped.

Now I did like the kitchen that was designed, albeit it was way out of my budget, I said that surely everyone has a cut off point and you have to stop somewhere, my sister has had a fully bespoke kitchen installed for just over 30k, if I was going to spend that amount I'd probably do the same.

Anyway I really feel like I don't want to use wren now, but I also don't want to waste another two and a half hours of my time, I felt so awkward whilst I was there and it made wonder how someone not so confident would have reacted, 10 years ago I wouldn't have been brave enough to say no.

Has anyone else had a situation like this at all? It actually reminded me of Rogue Traders, and the old double glazing sales pitch.

Any other recommendations of fully build kitchen units?

Just don't know what to do from here

@FookMeFookYou - I won't be spending 30k on a kitchen, and the same style kitchen factory built without a few accessories was nearer to £16k which I would have been happy to pay but the designer didn't accept that and got quite pissed off when I asked him to quote for that range instead, not much difference just no special colours.

That was my issue plus the fact that he kept disappearing and a few minutes after he came back the manager would appear and put pressure on me to pay a deposit and take the kitchen that they wanted me to buy rather than the one I wanted and could afford.

Wren salespeople get a very basic salary and need commission to make it a decent wage. Probably why you got a hard sell. We've recently bought a new kitchen, went with Wickes in the end and had s great experience.

Friends of ours had a nightmare experience with Wren.

The best kitchen I’ve had is an Ikea one. When I look to replace my current one (new build with kitchen already fitted so couldn’t have an Ikea one) in a few years time that’s where I’ll go again.

We are currently putting on
a Wren kitchen.

We also knew exactly what we wanted as had a previous quote from Wicks

We got exactly what we wanted.

Also got my appliances as well which
I was very pleased with.
Good brands and price competitive.

No hard sell.
Happy to change bits.
Customer service excellent.

And looks amazing - big kitchen but coming in at about a third of the price of Op.

@CamdenTownie I was referring to a couple of other posters who mentioned quotes/kitchens around that price.

It's a shame you had a shit experience.

We have a Wren kitchen and I did have a problem with the after sales care team - went on for months which wasn’t great. But they did eventually sort it and I can honestly say the quality of the finished product is fantastic.

My dm had same experience with wren last year.

She’s quite vulnerable but came home having signed up for kitchen and had paid deposit. Very complicated cancelling the next day and getting the deposit back.

Howedens ended up doing a great job.

Stay strong op and look for an alternative provider.

I won't be buying the £28k kitchen I mentioned!
Discussed with designer how to get it closer to our budget and we've cut it down quite a lot already.
I had the opposite response from my designer - he had quoted mid range priced units. I suggested going down one price band, he suggested that I'd still be perfectly happy if we went down 3 price bands....

We had a really bad experience with wren. I agree the build quality is good but the pelmets don't match the units and they just weren't interested. A year of legal wrangling and we got £3k back. Ours cost £20k but £5k of that was down to my choice of granite........

It's frustrating, the product is largely ok but they are horrendous if you have an issue and it isn't worth it

Just to add we had 2 issues which were resolved immediately by a very helpful customer service person.

This was at Doncaster and would fully recommend.

It's a fairly new show room and really helped with so much choice, to visualise the end result.

Sorry you had a bad experience.

Hang on...you've got a fully functional kitchen that's six years old? I don't want to be a killjoy, but why are you looking to spend thousands replacing it at this point?

We are having a Howdens kitchen in the next few months, we have had to wait six months for our fitter, he came and measured up and said he would fit any kitchen we chose except Wren.

Hang on...you've got a fully functional kitchen that's six years old? I don't want to be a killjoy, but why are you looking to spend thousands replacing it at this point?
The OP mentioned a new house so I guess that they're moving.
Assuming that OK with you?

I had a great experience with Wren. Told him I'm on a strict budget because I'm selling the house on, so wanted cheapest units etc. No probs. He pulled up ao.com and price matched all white goods. Got an oven for £50 (?!) and a cooker good for £20 in their sale. Unbeatable if you ask me!

They work on commission and it was the end of the month so perhaps they had a quota to meet. I hate being given the hard sell, it puts me right off. Having said that, the average spend on a kitchen is £10-25k and a third of people spend over £25k. So the amount they were pushing you to spend isn’t obscene.

@BitOfFun this is one of the worse things about Mumsnet - as I mentioned earlier I am in the process of building a house, But even if I wasn't surely if I want to spend my money on a new kitchen that's my choice?

Thanks everyone for your input and advice, I've started planning a design on the diy kitchens planner, and it's going well. I'm also going to look at Howdens, I only want some shaker style units and a solid worktop, so not too big a project!

@MountainEagle it's the fact that they were very pushy, wouldn't take no for an answer, also there's a huge difference between 10k and 25k, the upselling tactics are shocking, infact it was almost bullying, who in their right mind would pay double for 'special' colours and a few wire racks?

I can't understand why there weren't happy to sell me the 16k kitchen I asked them to plan after all they would still have got commission from it, as it stands they won't be getting my business.

Sure, go for it. Sorry if I came across as judgemental- I just thought it sounded like an expense you could probably do without.

who in their right mind would pay double for 'special' colours
It’ll be the difference between stock colours and painted to order colours. They were obviously banking on you not knowing there was a cheaper option. Although a good kitchen salesman would have made more effort to tailor to your budget.

We want a new kitchen too so I read with interest

Actually had a very decent quote from Howdens

Before we moved out of our last house we actually fitted a second hand Howdens kitchen (wanted kitchen to look good but not spend loads as we were moving). It was great quality and looked great so I am a fan of Howdens

@MountainEagle they have two colours lava and carbon that are almost identical but one is a special colour only available in the top of the range plus collection - 10k for a slightly different finish seems crazy to me, infact they could probably be hand painted for that!

I got something similar to DIY kitchens but not the same company - there are a number of companies across the UK who buy in doors, make their own carcasses and then ship prebuilt. For me the fitter was more important that the company, so we went with his recommendation.

Our kitchen was about £15k including fitting.

One thing that put me off Wren (apart from the parking ticket for parking in their 'free' parking) was that while they do fitting I needed plastering and electrical work as well, which I had to commit to without a quote for how much it was. Too much of a risk for me.

@dirtystinkyrats are you in the south or southeast? If so could you tell
Me the name of the company you used? Thanks

I’ve just had a Wren kitchen, using my old builders. I have the salesman my budget up front and told him I wasn’t going over it. He found and designed one just under my budget.

Two chipped doors when packages opened, quick call and the replaced them next day by courier.

Bosch dishwasher was a pain, didn’t work from the start, Bosch sent an engineer, it needed so many new parts, on a new dishwasher I phoned Wren who intervened and a new replacement has been ordered.

No complaints from me, they did try and sell on finance but I paid cash upfront.

He might have been a bit fed up if he spent a couple of hours on it without you telling him your budget?

@Villanellesproudmum it is his job to design kitchens, also at no point was it mentioned that I would be bullied into buying the kitchen, just that it was a free design consultation, I'm sure that not everyone that goes in makes a purchase, also I really didn't want to spend hours in there, he kept going off and coming back 10 or 15 minutes later, and then I endured a long hard sell firstly by the designer and then by the designer and the manager.