Wren Kitchens - avoid!

[Papaya2]

Wren Kitchens are SHOCKING! They took £12,500 of our money up front. They planned, designed and measured our kitchen and didn't leave a big enough space for the washing machine that THEY ordered and they're not going to do ANYTHING about it! We're left with a big space in a £12,500 kitchen and no washing machine! They sent two estimators round in the purchasing process and they got it wrong! Don't touch them and don't fall for the friendly staff and the copious tea and coffee in the showroom. They do not give a damn once they've got your money! JUST UNBELIEVABLE! They are con merchants.

Ooops.See you are already taking action. Ignore my post! Good luck.

lWren Kitchens are SHOCKING!

Well yes, this is very well known.

Would they have been able to see the gas pipe when they came and measured or was it behind cupboards at the time?

Take everything to the Kitchen ombudsman.... A friend did this with Wren and won a significant proportion of money spent back and they had to sort.
They seem to be incredibly hit and miss..

I agree that if they do the measurements for you then they should get it right, unless you signed something which obliged you to check the measurements and you didn't. If it's £100 to fix, fix it and sue them for the money in the small claims court for breach of an implied contractual duty of reasonable care and skill.

It'll cost them more for one hour of their lawyer's time then it will just to pay you and they can't recover legal costs in small claims - they'll pay you eventually because the money is peanuts to them and even if they don't you have nothing to lose apart from a very small court fee. Don't stress yourself out by handing out leaflets.

@derelictwreck Yes, we had stripped the old kitchen out and the gas pipe was fully visible at all times.

Thank you everyone with all the great advice. I'll pursue it vigorously and let you know the outcome.

You are a lay person they are professionals, if you have plans showing a washing machine and one wont fit well its a no brainer. Have you looked at the Small claims court? Legal cover on house insurance?

Hang on, £100 will fix the problem? If pay the £100,much less hassle than continuing to try to get them to do it.

@Funf It is a no-brainer, but try telling Wren that!

@Ffsnosexallowed If I let them get away with it, they'll go on to do the same to other customers.

Wren like many others will just tell you you are wrong and its all your fault, this is in the hope you will walk away. We had similar with B&Q got the kitchen fo half price in the end, its about keeping going like a little terrier, research the law its not hard.
Remember its possibly cheaper for Wren to pay you out than attend court

Agree with above, get it in writing that they won't send someone out, then get it fixed yourself and send them the bill. When they don't pay make a small claim and then they will have to pay

As above just so long as you can prove you gave them opportunity to repair it then they didn't.

Hope you get it sorted. And agree, you paid for a service and shouldn’t have needed to double, let alone triple check anything. Strange thing to say. If you are going to do that there are loads of kitchen companies you can use and just buy the units from and have saved the measuring and design costs.

So you have spent £12,500 and could get this resolved by spending another £100 but instead you are choosing to remain in a state of utter rage, picketing the shop and handing out leaflets?

I understand your dissatisfaction but I think you should pay the hundred and move on for the sake of your health.

We got a new kitchen put in last summer. It was a challenging job because our kitchen space is teeny tiny! We looked at all the national suppliers (we were green, no experience of this before) but because of the hard sell of many of them, plus the impersonal nature of it, we went to a local firm in South London. The owner has run the business from the shop for 30 years. Where to put the washing machine in our titchy space was very much a priority. Wren are renowned for their shitness.

I will keep fighting legally and publicity-wise, including giving out leaflets inside and outside their store.

Wouldn’t it be a better use of your energy and time to spend the £100 and move the gas pipe, so you can turn the page on this?

Not sure leafleting is considered an essential activity

We had a Wren kitchen fitted in December and have absolutely no complaints.
No hard sell in the showroom, advice and ideas given by them which were great.
Fitted by an independent fitter recommended by Wren.
Only one part missing when they fitted the kitchen and the part arrived 3 days later and fitted straight away.
No complaints here.

Wren are awful, not much point in complaining as they really dont give a shit

In my view, the fact that a kitchen designer can't actually measure properly - which is a critical aspect of their job - isn't the OPs fault and Wren need to make things right at their own cost. Anything less wouldn't be acceptable to me and I'd give them the opportunity to put things right and, if they didn't, make a small claims court claim for my out of pocket costs.

If you purchased the Wren kitchen on finance, speak to the finance company, they should freeze your payments until a resolution is found. They will help you by acting as an intermediary to seek a swift resolution. Good luck.