Hammonds Furniture vs. alternatives - help?

[jlpm1957]

We've just bought our first home and we need to fit wardrobes in the bedroom - we really liked the Hammonds stuff in their showroom and found the saleslady quite friendly. Having arranged a design consultation, however, I then made the mistake (?!) of checking internet reviews of Hammonds, and it's such a mixed bag!!

What's the general Mumsnet consensus on Hammonds? Use or avoid??

thanks!

Very expensive. One of my children is currently buying a new build with hammonds fitted wardrobes available. You can buy exactly the same a lot cheaper once you've moved in. Which is what they are doing.

Thanks! What are they buying instead, if I may ask? Wondering if it's available here in Oxon...

I would highly recommend Hammonds. We had a wall of wardrobes fitted about 3 yrs ago and they are great quality and still look as good as new. Play hard to get, don’t accept the first price. Also we didn’t have fancy interiors as they bump the price up, just shelves and railings. Would recommend 2 railings in a wardrobe if you want to maximise space, one near the top for tops/shorts etc and one half way down for skirts and trousers.

@jlpm1957 buying from a local family run wardrobe company. Only in this area I'm afraid. Nowhere near you. Look around though, there's bound to be local companies cheaper than hammonds.

we have Hammonds fitted furniture in our bedroom and it is fantastic. Had no problems.

we had hepplewhite fitted bedroom units fitted by a local showroom- they are the same company as hammonds - think you can look up your nearest on their website - anyway still pleased with them

Overpriced but very good quality. Our new build (13 years ago) came with Hammonds wardrobes in two of the bedrooms, main bedroom is a wall full of wardrobes, cupboards, drawers and an integrated pull out tv unit. Great quality, still look good as new now. Definitely heed the advice to play hard to get or haggle though. Once we moved in we arranged a consultation for matching bedside cabinets, a mirror for one of the existing doors plus a double wardrobe in one of the other bedrooms - over £3000. When we said no thanks the salesperson texted (felt rather unprofessional) dropping a third of the price off, without even the slightest haggle from us. I’m sure he would have gone further if we’d pushed. We didn’t go ahead in the end though.

I second finding someone near to you who installs Hepplewhites as a previous poster suggested. I did this after recommendations on here and now have a lovely dressing room beautifully fitted with their wardrobes and drawers.
I didn't go to Hammonds ( or Sharps ) as I object to having to haggle. They really should offer their best price to start with. Reminds me of buying a Moben kitchen when we were young and naive - couldn't get the guy to leave our home until we'd signed up (but we did get nearly 50% off). Was a very average quality kitchen though.

I've just agreed to buy a kitchen with Hammonds but had a shock today when I saw some of the reviews. How are people finding them these days?

I have an uneasy feeling. Some of the reviews out there are horrendous. On Twitter, there's nothing but negative feedback. On Facebook, it looks like the majority of comments under their posts have been deleted (for example it would say '15 comments' but then you can only see 1). And there are very very few positive comments. Other companies like Magnet and Howdens do get criticism but they also have loads of people saying how happy they are with their work. I'm not seeing that for Hammonds.

I also saw on reviewcentre, where they have very good reviews, that they allegedly offer people M&S vouchers for posting reviews on both reviewcentre and Trust Pilot.

Both me and my parents had an horrendous time with them, I would avoid like the plague.

My parents did actually end up having the wardrobes fitted in the end due to the contract and they had been made so liable for any cost. They messed them about so much I can't tell you, customer services are shocking.

To be fair the actual wardrobes are decent and they are happy with them but the stress was unreal.

Personally I would ask for recommendations on smaller companies in your area as you will find much cheaper and just as good.

Thanks. I've already cancelled my order and asked for the deposit back. They've confirmed the cancellation over the phone, but I asked for something in writing and haven't had it yet.

The scary thing is that they provide a phone number, but when you call them they won't put you through without an extension, which you won't have. You're entirely reliant on them to call you back.

Apparently it takes 12 working days to refund a deposit because it has to go all the way up to the boss Richard Hammond for approval. I suspect I'll spend the next two weeks not knowing if they've accepted my cancellation or not (it's within the cooling off period so they are legally obliged to).

I really wish I'd never gone near them, and yes - have already asked around and got recommendations for a local company, who'll be coming over for a chat tomorrow.

It was a few years ago now but I had a terrible time dealing with Hammonds.
I had to put so much time and effort into getting their mistakes put right, it was massively stressful, their customer service was so poor, absolutely shocking.
Avoid! They were a nightmare.

Wow. I obviously dodged a bullet and just hope I can get my deposit back.