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Sunday 1 June 2014

New Kitchen - Final Phase?

On Friday the Wren fitters, who are very good, came at lunchtime & worked till about 8pm. I had to leave them to it because I was going to a friends funeral. Splashbacks & cornice fitted. All the rubbish removed. So apart from a couple of very small things, I finally have a finished Wren kitchen - 11+ weeks since the start of fitting, which was supposed to take 5-7 days. - 22 weeks since the contract was signed. (I gather that my experience is not unique among Wren clients).

I had sent the Wren hierarchy a timeline earlier in the week to focus their minds. As usual there was no acknowledgement or response. However the glass splashback company got in touch straight after to say that the glass was ready.

On Saturday I used my new steam cleaner on the floors for the first time. It is lovely to have a clean kitchen now. It seemed a bit futile to be too houseproud when I never knew when work was going to be done. A new table, the old glass & chrome ultra modern one didn't go & a new smart TV. The latter is great, but I suspect it will take me ages to get to grips with what it will do!

I've made clear that I expect a site meeting with a senior manager from Wren to discuss the issues arising from this whole endless saga. Having paid a deposit & the extra because I had to have quartz worktops instead of the ones I wanted, which didn't go with the units, I am suposedly paying the balance by interest free direct debits.

What's done is done & can't be undone. If I had known that a new Wren kitchen would take this long & cause this amount of disruption to my life & waste of my time, I would never have signed the contract - It is fascinating listening to The Archers & Jennifers new kitchen. A kitchen is the hub of the home. It is where women spend a great deal of time.

Looking back I can't see how I could have avoided all this. Once you are committed you rely on a company to fulfill their part of the contract efficiently & within the allotted timescale. If they don't you have to be very pro-active & determinedly chase & fire fight.

It shouldn't be like that. I'll wait & see what happens now.

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