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Original poster

Diykitchens recent experience

39 replies

Rhica · 28/06/2019 22:26

Just wondering if anyone could share their recent experiences if diykitchens please. I know there have been problems with there new machinery- has this caused anyone delays? Or poor product quality? How have they coped with resolving issues? Any tips for visiting the showroom?

OP posts:
LittleRen · 29/06/2019 09:37

Appalling so far. Kitchen came yesterday with 37 missing items - kitchen renovation is horrendous without the stress of this. They don't open weekends, they have a crappy support system.

I went with DIY over Wren for fear of missing items, wish I hadn't. We haven't opened the boxes so will update when we have done this. I hear they had a big issue with their spray machine which has knocked it all back, but ours wasn't bespoke.

I would avoid if I were you.

detachablehoof · 29/06/2019 09:53

I had a terrible experience with them. Lots of missing parts and a nightmare to get it all sorted. When I left a bad review they tried to bribe me to remove it (which I didn't) which is probably why their reviews are so good 🙄

A few tboughts:

Once you add on all the end panels, plinths, etc it's not even that cheap.

The carcasses and drawer runners etc are good quality but our dark colour painted doors have some chips already - they use a white primer so it's really obvious.

Internal drawers are really small compared to IKEA.

I had an IKEA kitchen previously and loved it, although the corner carousels weren't amazing quality everything else was top notch and looked like new when we sold the house 2 yrs later.

Summergarden · 29/06/2019 09:59

Sorry I can’t help answer your question, but I’m glad you asked it because I was going to order a kitchen with them soon and reading this has got me worried...

Original poster
Rhica · 29/06/2019 10:08

Oh no it's not looking good. I could risk a mixed up order if I knew they were reliable for resolving the issues. Such a shame

OP posts:
Summergarden · 29/06/2019 10:13

Rhica can I ask where you heard about the recent issues with them please?

Xanadu58 · 29/06/2019 10:20

We had ours delivered in May , ordering was fine although I checked and checked measurements over and over again beforehand! Felt like I was walking around with the tape measure constantly in my hand. They gave us a delivery slot of week beginning 13th May at time of ordering. We got a message on the 14th telling us it would be delivered on the 15th which it was (at about 6pm) . We checked everything against the delivery note and thought we had everything but then realised that our glazed cupboard doors were missing. We had the carcasses but the doors hadn't been listed on delivery note. Contacted them and they were delivered next day . We realised at time of fitting that we had forgotten to order 2 end panels which we ordered and waited nearly a week for. DH phoned and they said they'd been despatched. 2 days later we phoned again and they were still there ! So DH decided to drive to pick them up ( a 6.5 hr round trip) . Other than that , really happy with kitchen , excellent quality and looks really good. I'm guessing we ordered before the problems with their production line occurred . We've not had any probs so far with paint finish. Only other thing we were a bit Hmm about was the glazed section of the doors appear to be plastic and not glass, not sure if that's a thing now but was expecting glass. DH says glazed just means clear and not necessarily glass but I do think it should state this online.

Original poster
Rhica · 29/06/2019 23:19

@summergarden. Mostly comments on mumsnet. They also released a statement on Facebook apologising to anyone experiencing delays and explaining they're machine was broke which I thought was really good but then they subsequently deleted it.

OP posts:
Original poster
Rhica · 29/06/2019 23:22

@xanadu that's really frustrating your husband had to drive to the showroom to sort it out.

I keep going round in circles. Narrowed it down to two kitchens now

OP posts:
wowfudge · 30/06/2019 08:55

Xanadu stated that she and her DH had forgotten to order the items they went to pick up. I'm pretty sure that if you order additional items after your main delivery there isn't a minimum order amount, but you either have to pay for delivery or collect. We were lucky - our kitchen fitter was local to DIY and picked up the extra couple of cabinets we needed. I had to raise a ticket letting them know he was authorised to collect.

I thought the issues they've had have been with bespoke painted kitchens? In the scheme of things that must be a small percentage of their products?

TheFatberg · 30/06/2019 08:58

Currently having issues with delayed delivery, which we've been offered money off for as they've accepted it's their fault. Still don't have the kitchen so who knows if this is the end of my saga?!

LittleRen · 30/06/2019 10:35

If you read trust pilot the spray machine has had a knock of effect to their procedures including their QC. They are rejecting prices for quality far too late at the moment and sending orders without those pieces. Months ago they would have had time to rectify. Ours is a massive kitchen with a lot of units so we are probably an extreme case.

LittleRen · 30/06/2019 10:36

So many typos - pieces not prices!

Gunpowder · 30/06/2019 10:38

Just about to order a new kitchen and glad I stumbled across this thread. Will look elsewhere. Thank you Smile

SpoonBlender · 30/06/2019 10:48

Wow - such a shame they've tripped up like this and it seems totally messed up how they're handling it. We used them a couple of years ago and they were absolutely excellent, unfailingly helpful and everything went off smoothly including a carcase swap as we'd screwed up a measurement.

Original poster
Rhica · 30/06/2019 11:13

I went to the showroom yesterday and there was someone there complaining. I asked them about it all and they said there was an issue but it was all resolved which I find a little disheartening given the posts on here . I would have preferred if they acknowledged there was a problem and said they were working to resolve as quickly as possible but they outright denied it

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LittleRen · 30/06/2019 11:25

Victims of their own success. What gets me the most is that a company of that size taking anywhere from £3k-£20k orders doesn’t have customer services available at the weekend.

LittleRen · 30/06/2019 11:26

To add though - what we can see of the units they look great quality.

wowfudge · 30/06/2019 12:13

They're not going to tell you about someone else's complaint though are they?

Our kitchen was significantly cheaper than Magnet quoted us, even with allegedly 75% off the cabinets. One of the reasons their prices are low is because they only have one showroom next door to their factory and they don't pay for sales staff so no commission structure.

TheFatberg · 30/06/2019 12:38

LittleRen I agree - they've had great reviews and that's obviously led to an increase in business. Now they'll no doubt lose business, and things will become more manageable again - then they'll get good reviews and another increase etc etc.

boredboredboredboredbored · 30/06/2019 12:40

I had shit after care when I had a few damaged items. Waiting up to 48 hours for a reply...fucking joke.

The best way to deal with it is put a really truthful review on Trust pilot about how disappointed you are in them. I had a manager on the phone within an hour!!

QuantumWeatherButterfly · 30/06/2019 12:54

For balance, our experience was extremely positive.

We ordered in February for delivery at the beginning of April. We paid for premium delivery, and everything we ordered came on the agreed date.

We had two problems, one my fault (3 end panels I had missed from our order) and one theirs (paint quality not up to scratch on quite a few of the doors). Both were resolved easily, with no quibbling. They were extremely helpful.

The quality of the kitchen is excellent (our fitter was impressed), and the units were less than half the cost we were quoted by Benchmarx for almost exactly the same thing - we saved around £5k, and I am delighted with the finished kitchen.

I would definitely still recommend them.

TheFatberg · 30/06/2019 12:56

Good to know Quantum and I'm hoping the quality of ours will be great when it arrives. Thankfully the builders have been able to do other things in the meantime, so it's not causing a big delay.

Original poster
Rhica · 30/06/2019 14:10

@wowfudge I asked separately as a general enquiry what the situation was at the end of my trip. The gent complaining was there at the start but made me think it was obviously still an issue

OP posts:
SpoonBlender · 30/06/2019 15:07

Quantum has the same positive experience we had a couple of years back. Hope they buck up again quickly, if they haven't already.

Noroof · 30/06/2019 16:41

Plenty of other companies offer similar services. It's just that DIY is often tipped here. I found several others that offered the same products/ prices

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