PLEASE HELP! B&Q and my kitchen saga...part 1

[ljdottir]

I DON'T BELIEVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My kitchen installation has been booked with them since February. It's due to be delivered tomorrow and fitted all next week.

Last night the installation manager called me to say their head fitter is off on compassionate leave due to his mother being ill, and they don't know when he'll be back, so our kitchen might not be done next week. My fiance has taken 2 weeks off for this, and we've just spent the last 2 weeks preparing the kitchen and all areas for the 'fitting team'.

Can anyone verify the following problems:

FIRST - why can't a national chain have 'back-up' people or at least enough staff to cover when people are off sick? The next 'provisional' date they can get us in is Sept 13, but what if someone was off then?

SECOND - we were told when we booked the kitchen that 4 or 5 people would fit it (with a Corgi fitter and electrician) taking a week to do it. Now we're being told it's only 1 PERSON (plus the Corgi fitter and sparky). Is it conceivable for 1 fitter to take out and fit a new entire (medium sized) kitchen in 5 days???? (If I thought it was such a 'quick' job we would have done the project ourselves and got a sparky and Corgi guy in)

THIRD - they reckon that this ONE person (plus sparky/Corgi) can be in our house UNSUPERVISED without us being there. I've never known any professionals do this, they have always said that for legal reasons the householder or another person should be there. What if the guy hurt himself, or damaged something, or if something happened to the house? I can't see my house insurance covering me for allowing a stranger to be in my house unsupervised.

SO...they seem to be (unsurprisingly) giving me a load of c rap. Am I entitled to cancel the fitting, get my £2800 fitting cost (!) back and get someone else to do it, even at this late stage?

Now I'm wishing I'd never even started...[/b]

 

[fitter]

Minxlj, welome to the wonderful world of kitchens, 40 years in the trade and it's worse now than it's ever been.

No 1, no chain employs it's own fitters, they use outside firms which can be just one person and up to 40 teams, a person working on their own would still be called a team.

No 2, A competent fitter can fit a medium sized kitchen in 5 days or less.
Apart from the handling of the worktops he can do it on his own, there is never a need for 4-5 people, infact that would slow the job down as you would be tripping over each other.
Very few fitters are CORGI and it is normal to have one to come in just to take care of the gas, I've known very few to take part in the fitting, same more or less at the moment with electricans.

No 3, this is always going to be a problem area, I can assure you that many householders allow tradesmen in their homes without them being there, there are also many who will not, that's a personal choice, I will tell you that I have worked for a firm for a week all of it in a private home and all the company knew of me was my first name & a phone number.

The way I have always understood it ( I could be completely wrong), is that a self employed person (most fitters are), is responsible for his own H&S, so can work on his own.

As for getting your money back, I really don't know, my feeling is it will take a fair amount of time & effort. Just to say something how about phoning the head office and raising hell, if you are that sort of person the more the better.

I know it will not make you feel better, I've been told of 2 seperate instances of chaos caused by MFI, in the last 5 days.

Good luck whatever you do and do post the outcome.

 

[ljdottir]

My fiance is a project manager who deals with fitters of all trades in his line of work, so he phoned the manager, played hell with him and they have bent over backwards to help (probably cos they realised that they couldn't get one past him)

Apparently we have another fitter to come next week. But they can't come til Wednesday, and two of them will work 'long hours' (we'll see) to get it done in 3 days. The Corgi gas fitter and the electrician will be in for their parts when needed, BUT the only thing that won't be done is the tiling. Which we're promised will be done A.S.A.P. the week after. This will have to be done on top of a finished kitchen with the risk of them damaging the worktops etc etc but we're promised they will take extra care

The fitters that B&Q employ work exclusively for them (exactly the same as my fiance's company do with their fitters) but apparently this is a 'rare occasion' where one being off has thrown their schedule into problems.

The installation manager does seem to be doing everything he can to help, and while I appreciate that the world of kitchens is a minefield, I can't help but worry. The plus side is that we CAN cancel installation as long as they haven't started, it will be refunded to our account card, we have 2 private fitters on standby plus a reliable electrician so if B&Q mess this up again we've got another option.

I'm just concerned that the 'kitchen design and planning' people at B&Q have told us different things than the fitters, no single person gives us the same details as anyone else and the fact that they told us 5 people would be doing the job when it's actually one, surely they should know that... their company training seems very haphazard!

Thanks for your info anyway, I will be back on next week with the updates of how things are going (if it actually gets started)!!

 

[fitter]

A good result, shows what a good shout can do.

I wouldn't worry about the tiling, most do it after the worktops are in.

Now it seems to be sorted, hope it runs smoothly for you.