kitchens direct / moben / mkd holdings

[mij rothera glasgow]

I ordered my Kitchens Direct kitchen a few weeks ago on the understanding that it would be EASILY fitted before Christmas. Yippee, I thought. They have completely messed me around, and to cut a long story short, I now have an empty shell for a kitchen, and a flat full of units and appliances. They say they can't fit until mid Jan at least. I have a 12 year old son. Our flat is in effect a storage facility. Christmas at home has been cancelled. I have written to them in very strong terms, demanding pre christmas fit or my money back, and for them to remove everything of theirs. I've sent copies of my letter to The Evening Times, Trading Standards and Watchdog. It will be interesting to see what they do next.

[mij]

My scary letter seems to have worked! They are miraculously starting work tomorrow. Feel a lot better. I would advise others to write strong letters too, especially to newspapers. If they make a mess of the fitting, I'll be on to them like a ton of bricks!

[Sandra]

[guest]

I had a kitchen designer / salesperson from KD visit our house a while back. I'm a proficient CAD designer and as the kitchen space was small there wasn't really much scope for changing the design layout from the original.

The kitchen designer arrived, and even though I presented my 3D and 2D plans he insisted on 'designing' the kitchen space.

After over an hour he reached the conclusion that his design would be the same as mine.

I asked for a cost with units and with white goods. A simple request i felt, but then had to listen to the 'sales speel'. A price was provided which I said fine too... I had previously indicated that there was no way a decision was going to be made there and then.

The price was dropped, I agreed and thanked him for the reduction.

I still wouldn't sign.

It then became quite a 'struggle' metaphorically to remove him from my house. How many times do you have to say 'i'm not signing anything today' before they listen.

eventually he left.

I got a call the next morning from the sales manager asking to sign the paperwork that had been left.

I said i was still reviewing the situation.

Next day another sales manager calls, I responded that I wasn't going to go ahead with the offer... at which point i was bombarded with an agressive attitude of time wasting and not being 'man enough' to make a decision.

I instructed a local carpenter (general builder) to purchase units etc. everything was completed including tiling, floors, plumbing, installation of fridge/freezer, dishwasher etc. etc. in one week !! finished to perfection and £ 100's if not £ 1000's less than the KD 'quote'

Fortunately i have the 'balls' to say NO!, but am sure someone else may feel threatned and sign away £ 1000's

[jimmy]

i had my kitchen from this company, and it went smoothly enough. sales person was okay, i said my bit on the design and price was astonishing.

Thier fitter, Neil or Nevil i think came and did a good clean job, no problems whatseover. its still in one piece. however i've read that owner Vance Miller is a bit of handful, but at the price i paid i'm not about to start throwing my venom at him.

good job overall.

[NOT TELLING YA]

I WORK FOR THESE COWBOYS AND COWBOYS IS EXACTLY WHAT THEY ARE - THEY CON PPL LEFT RIGHT AND CENTRE BUT LET ME ASSURE U NO ONE IS TREATED AS BADLY AS THEIR STAFF - WE ARE SET UNFAIR TARGETS SO FORCED TO WORK UNPAID OVERTIME,WE ARE GIVEN NO TRAINING, NO HELP OR SUPPORT. THE MANAGEMENT ARE SO COMPLETELY UNPROFESSIONAL ITS A JOKE - THERES NO CONFIDENTIALITY, AND ITS SIMPLY A CASE OF WHETHER UR FACE FITS. DONT BUY FROM THEM, AND NEVER EVER WORK FOR THEM.

[anon]

i also used to work for moben kitchens and totally agree with you!

they are an awful company to work for, they do not care about there staff at all!! the managment are a complete farce, they put "systems and proceedures" in place which feel like they are ther for one reason, which is to make your job completely impossible. and whilst your spending time trying to find away over these hurdles your not able to actually do your job as a customer care co ordinator.

the office politics in the office were so strong, and i never fealt that i could go to my line manager and confide in them without them blabbing to all of there cronies at lunch time. 1 person in particular was ****** *******( customer care dept manager) she never kept anything that i told her to herself, i just wish now that i had reported this when i was still there!

i would just like to say to anyone thinking of buying a kitchen from them.........................DONT!!!! i worked there for long enough to see how all they are interested in is money, and don't care one bit about there staff or the customers for that matter.

[vance miller]

Hello.

First of all we would like to appologise to all our customers for this disruption. Contrary to what Trading Standards have to say, we would like to inform all our customers that if you do have any outstanding issues then you can contact me by fax directly on 01706 821 991 and we assure you that your outstanding issues will be resolved.

We urge the Trading standards to open communications with us, and lets work together to resolve this problem.

if you are a competitor, then its easy kicking us whilst we are trying our best to resolve these issues, we have been improving month on month and have brought our complaints down month on month over the last year. the Oldham tradings standards have continously refused to work with us in resolving the complaints they have recieved, yet we have always offered to work with them. We still urge them, if they are as fair as they claim to be then open a line of communication with us, lets resolve these complaints like we have always requested.

and for those who care to listen, we are not Kitchens Direct, that is a different company and linked to moben, not Kitchens or maple industries.

Kind Regards

Vance Miller
Fax: 01706 821 991
email: kitchensoldham@hotmail.co.uk

[I'm Vance Miller too!]

You forgot to leave your phone number mate.

[exmoben]

[smithy]

How do I get my money back?

I bought a kitchen from Kitchens of Oldham last year. When the kitchen was finally delivered the quality was terrible. Their telephone staff were rude and unhelpful when I tried to sort things out and get replacement units.

I took them to Small Claims Court and won, they now owe me $3,700, but I can't get them to give me the cash. The court service have given me some options (bailiffs etc), but I don't know which will work. Any advice gratefully received.

[ncmoon]

Sending in bailiffs is probably the simplest option. They might pay up immediately rather than have the bailiffs dragging equipment out of their offices.

But if the company has had lots of visits from bailiffs there might not be anything belonging to the company left.

The other thing worth doing might be to do an oral examination on the Finance Director.

And the other option is to have them declared bankrupt.

I'd say it's a toss-up whether a bailiffs visit or a starting the bankruptcy proceedings will be more effective.
_________________
Nick Moon [WebMaster]

www.justclaim.co.uk

[bwglaw]

Bailiffs would be the best option if the judgment debtor owns a shop (I am assuming 'Kitchens in Oldham' have a shop) the bailiff can just walk in, levy the goods and if not paid then return to seize, by force if necessary.

Bankruptcy option is only available if the judgment debtor is a sole-trader or unincorporated partnership. If the judgment debtor is a Limited Company then a winding-up order would be an alternative.

Bailiff would be cheaper. Apply for a Warrant of Execution.
_________________
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Black White and Grey

[guest]

i agree a warrant of execution is the best bet

nothing better than a feeling as the balliffs turn up at the defendants work premises and to collect the judgement - that soon kicks them into gear

[smithy]

Thanks for the advice, I issued the warrant and got the money!

I'm now left with an unwanted Kitchen. Can I ask them to take this away, and what is a reasonable time for the request?

If not I guess I'll have to geta skip.