My Wren Living kitchen - Finale

It's well over a year since I signed the contract  for my Wren Living kitchen. Apart from the unacceptable overrun and all the problems I had to deal with, and have blogged about in this strand, there has been a lengthy issue of compensation.

I took legal advice after getting an offer from the Directors which equated to £35 per week for the 17 weeks the installation took to completion. The lawyer said there was a case to answer & this wasn't enough - I should get in the region of £2,000. To cut a long & boring story short, the company played "hardball" despite the fact that I threatened legal action in the County Court. I stood to lose the paltry £600 on offer.

Life is too short if you are 70. I've been through the Court loop before & it's very time consuming & depends on the Judge & intricacies of case law. There is always another way to view an issue, however just your cause. I felt I had wasted enough time on Wren Living. There are more things in life than winning.

That is a major step forward for me. If I feel strongly about fairness I normally fight to the end. Now I don't need the money. I have more enjoyable things to do with my time. Facing up to a company or person with limitless resources & no moral compass is fine if you are young and fit. I'm neither of those things. Time to let go and move on.

But - I do believe in Karma. Our actions and non actions define who we are and we all eventually pay a price for "bad actions".

A Financial Services Web

I now know why I had a poor Experian credit rating. I now know how much I owe Wren, how I am supposed to pay the money & what my Agreement reference Number is to enable me to hopefully be able to get information on the Barclays Partner Finance  / Clydesdale Financial Services website. I know this because I sent an email to the B / C website asking for information - Not because Wren had done anything about informing me. Obviously I should have received documentation about all of this a long time ago. Instead I found out that I was technically in debt for a large sum of money when I applied for a credit card. What would have happened if I hadn't done that?

I was still waiting for Wren to respond to my communications & negotiate a compensation sum for the 7+ months of my kitchen installation. How naive. I have now had the documentation in order to sign off on the project from the new Wren manager in Oxford. I should have had it months ago. No surprise there then.

What I didn't know is that I am in debt to Barclays / Clydesdale. This, as I understand it, is because Wren borrow the money from them for their sales & I pay their debt back to B / C. This means that B / C do not have any responsibility for complaints. It also means I have no choice but to pay the total amount even if I dispute it because of my compensation issue with Wren. So I have no leverage. To be fair B / C have now formally notified Wren that there is a complaint. This means Wren have to respond to me within 40 working days. Over 6 months - I wonder if that's enough time! If they don't I can go to the Ombudsman. Great!

I would have thought that a responsible company, who valued their reputation & good customer service, wouldn't dream of waiting that long. I would expect that they would be keen to negotiate & resolve the matter.So far there is a deafening silence from Wren. There are other routes I can take, but I would rather have my life back & get this sorted & finished with.

This financial set up feels dodgy to me. I think there are questions about it on the web, so I'm not alone. It doesn't seem to be in the customers interest at all.

My Wren Living kitchen - a Cautionary Tale.

Wren Kitchen Timeline

Acc No – 4448221 Ord Ref – S529613/13 Ord No - 20161487

16.12. 2013 – 1^st design meeting Wren Oxford – (Dan Melville).

28.12. 2013 - 2nd design meeting (D.M) – Order & deposit.

4.1. 2014 – Fitter (Woody) Preliminary survey.

18. 2. 2014 – Full survey (Woody)

5-6. 3. 2014 – Old kitchen removed by my fitter. Kitchen empty for new kitchen delivery.

7.3. 2014 – New kitchen delivered & stacked using most of the whole of the ground floor

– Barely enough room for all boxes. Simply impossible to check for damage. No

one from Wren to supervise. No worktops.

• Lead Time – 10 weeks! Why?

• Do Wren not have enough capacity to manufacture their product & meet orders in a timely fashion?
• Or enough good fitters to do the work?
• Are their links with other manufacturers not good enough – eg worktops, splashbacks, appliances, sinks & taps, handles?
• Are their project management & oversight procedures lacking?

10.3. 2014 – Supposed to be first day of fitting – cancelled at the last minute.

10 weeks after signing contract.

11^th – 14^th 3. 2014 – Fitting – Woody & Ben – a lot of time lost – absence from site.

17.3. 2014 – Site visit (Morgan Phillips, showroom manager) - requested by me because

of overrun. (5 - 7 days for installation quoted)

19.3. 2014 – Woody leaves site, take tools, appliances not fitted. My electrician had to do

a lot more work than expected at the last minute.

21.3. 2014 – Conference call, (unexpected) from Gavin Challinor (area manager, Morgan

Phillips, & an unnamed woman).

26.3. 2014 – Site visit (Dave Fyfe, installation manager) – organised as result of

conference call.

7.4. 2014 – Measuring for quartz worktops because edging of original “Galaxy Dove” didn't

go with cupboards. (Very disappointed - £2,250 extra cost).

23.4. 2014 – Fitting of worktops cancelled, not ready.

24.4. 2014 – Quartz fitters arrive. Upstands too high, have to go back.

9.5. 2014 – Upstands fitted after being chased by me..

12.5. 2014 – Woody measures for glass splash backs.

16.5. 2014 – Glass company say they can't match the standard Dulux wall colour I chose. I

sent a sample of paint.

26 5 2014 – 11+ Weeks since fitting due to start. Estimated time for fitting 5-7 Days. Why?

30.5. 2014 – Glass splashbacks delivered. Woody to do final fitting. 5 months since

signing the contract.

• Does Wren have the structure in place to ensure a seamless process from order to completion?
• How is this process monitored?
• What is the chain of command to ensure that customers are not kept waiting unnecessarily, bearing in mind that the kitchen is the hub of a home & in daily use.
• Does the customer have sufficient information to know what their role is & what is covered by the contract? - In my case not until after there had been problems & delays.

Total time since order 27 weeks.

30.6. 2014 – Waiting for final sealing of glass splashbacks, replacement of tap, cover for

a socket & adjustments to doors not closing properly. 16 weeks / 4 mths

since start of fitting.

4.7.2014 – Site visit by Area Manager Gavin Challinor. Apologised for everything that has

happened. Admitted it shouldn't have. Said a new department had been set up

to negotiate compensation for the many complaints there have been. Mine is

one of the worst. Someone will contact me.

8.7.2014 – Woody should have come at 5pm but didn't. ( A lot of the fitting has taken place

at really inconvenient times & late into the evening as I had to slot into the many

other jobs Woody & Ben were working on. Some Wren some private).

9.7.2014 – Woody came at 5pm & finished the fitting. 17 weeks since start date.

30.7.2014 – E mailed Area Manager G.C, Installation Manager D.F, & M.D A.S about

payment & compensation.

28.8.2014 – No response to above email so Emailed final, formal, notification to G.C, D.F,

& A.S that I would not continue to chase this. They should contact me to sort

this out.

12.11.2014 – Application for M&S credit card refused because of bad Experian rating due

to large outstanding unpaid debt! Horrified! Could only be Wren Kitchen.

Contacted Oxford Wren Living & asked for new store manager Stephen Hinitt.

(Previous one demoted & left). Discovered I should have had 2 documents to

sign off on the installation.

12.11.2014 Emailed G.C, D.F, A.S, & S.H about the above problem. Given a new important

sounding email address by S.H starting “directorsoffice....”

Forwarded the most recent string of emails to “directorsoffice...” No response

so far. AGAIN! Is there anybody there running this company I ask myself?

To sum up, in my experience:-

• High turnover of personnel so no continuity of project management
• Complete lack of efficient & competent oversight of project. There should be 1 person who liaises & has oversight of each job, communicating with the client at every stage & at regular intervals..
• Appalling lack of communication between Wren & client, & between Wren employees & outside contractors & appliance providers.
• Lack of relevant documentation & information given to client.
• No response to concerns, problems & complaints.

Quotes from Brochure.

“Cutting edge design, great quality & exceptional customer service should be for everyone, not just the rich and famous” - Armando Sanchez - MD Wren Living.

1. “I'm proud to be part of a company that puts the customer first....” - Armando Sanchez

“Turning your ideas into your dream room should be lots of fun & with Wren Living it will be”.

“our aim is simple..... (to) give you, our customer, the best possible experience.”

I wonder how Wren Living think my experience measures up to these stated aims & mission statements?

Update
 

16.11.14 – Sent 2 signed forms - “Satisfaction Docs” !

17.11.14 – Letters & copies of time line sent to Wren Directors – A Sanchez & M Pullman.

Formally informed them we are in dispute. Also mentioned Experian credit

rating. Gave 7 working days for them to respond & negotiate.

18. 11.14 – Contacted Barclays Clydesdale via their website. The contract number,

(06799478), Steve Hinitt gave me for payment of the 1yr interest free credit is

not the right number so I can't get any information about the contract. I have

never been given any documentation at all.

19.11.14 – 1)Ben Phillips contacted me from Barclays re my email. I should have been

given documentation about the agreement, (No – 9600360106057496). It went

live in May & ends on 28^th May 2015. I owe £17,770. £8,885.00 to date &

£1,480.83 every month for a further 6 months. I did not know any of this. He will

refer to C Relations customerrelations@barclays-loans.com

I paid off the lump sum & set up the St Ord from Santander. Barclays Acc No -

70185604. S Code – 20 19 90.

2) Matthew Davis, C Relations, contacted me re above. 08001522888 ext

22408. Will raise a formal complaint with Wren.

3)Ludovic ? Contacted me. Wren have to respond to me within 40 working

days. If the matter isn't settled I can go to the Financial Ombudsman,

T Standards etc.

Naming and shaming is all very well. Hopefully prospective clients will learn from my experience. I also hope the company puts their management structure right. But it doesn't solve my problem.

New Kitchen - the Final Straw

I applied for a M&S credit card last week. I heard a couple of days ago they were refusing me because of my poor Experian Credit Rating! Shock. Horror. Being a woman of independent means I simply couldn't understand what the problem could be. There have never been any issues before. When I contacted M&S they looked into it & said it's because I have a very big outstanding debt. We finally came to the conclusion it must be something to do with my Wren Living kitchen.

I must digress & remind you, dear reader, that all did not go smoothly with this kitchen installation. (See the "My Wren Kitchen" link). The kitchen was finally finished after 27 weeks 3 days. I was never given a Certificate of Completion or a Quality of Work Survey so I never signed off on it. I also didn't have any paperwork relating to any direct debit arrangements for payment. Furthermore, according to the Area Manager (G.C) who came to discuss the job with me on site, my kitchen was supposed to be being referred to the new department set up to deal with complaints & negotiate a compensation settlement. (I gathered that there were a lot of complaints, but none quite as bad as mine). So as far as I was concerned I didn't know how much I actually owed them.

Having heard nothing I sent an email to the CEO (A.S), the Area Manager (G.C), & the Installation Manager (D.F), on the 30th July. (The Oxford shop manager at the time of my order & installation had been demoted & left so I didn't include him). I reminded them that I was expecting to hear from them. Nothing, zilch, nada, rien, absolute resounding quiet.

So then, on advice, I sent them another email at the end of August pointing out that I had heard nothing & was not prepared to keep chasing them for proper closure of the contract & payment. Since then complete & utter silence.

When I was refused a credit card I rang the Oxford Wren Living store. I discovered that both the Area Manager & the Installation Manager no longer worked for Wren. (I don't know when they left, but they don't seem to have been replaced). What a surprise. If it was me I would have abandoned the sinking ship too.

To add insult to injury it seems possible that I may be being charged interest on the non payment too!

I was told to send details of all this to a special email address, starting with the official sounding "directors office......." Still no response, nothing, zilch, nada, rien, deathly hush. If it weren't so serious it would be laughable. I really am at a loss what to do next. But I am sending this link to the "directors office...." Someone must be alive there.

ICTC - Microplane - Excellent Customer Service

Just to show that I don't just rant & complain.

I had a Microplane grater which my late husband bought me. It was the cause of a certain degree of hilarity in our household because kitchen utensils have never been high on my lists for presents. However I think this gadget is really good.

The only flaw is that it was an early model with a plastic frame. This fractured in several places quite early on, but if you held it carefully you could still use it. Oddly, because it had memories I suppose, I never did anything about the fact that it was broken. Not like me at all.

Anyway I finally got round to sending an email to the company. I have to say I am really delighted with their excellent customer service. Not a quibble. They didn't ask for proof of purchase or the return of the faulty item. (I did try uploading a digital image as an attachment, but it didn't work).

They offered a replacement, which arrived today, just a few days after the original email. What's more I had offered to purchase a slider gizmo that stops you grating your fingers. They sent this too - at no charge.

It is such a delight to deal with a company that takes customer satisfaction & service so seriously. It is also, in my experience quite rare, although companies are getting better. So huge thanks to Sonia & ICTC.

It's really nice to be able to praise a company in glowing terms. (Don't ask about my Wren Living kitchen saga which is still ongoing!)

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.

A New Kitchen - 2 month anniversary!

It's exactly 8 weeks today since my old kitchen was taken out & the disruption began. There is nothing unusual or over complicated about the size of the room or the design. So the varying estimates given by Wren of between 5 -7 days should have been achievable.

The very expensive quartz worktops & upstands to replace the original choice, which didn't go, should have been installed last Wednesday. However they weren't ready - no surprise there. When they arrived, a day late, the fitters discovered that the upstands were too high. Odd that considering the state of the art laser device used to measure. So they went back. So far no communication whatsoever.

The remaining work:-

• Fitting the upstands
• Measuring, ordering & fitting the glass splashbacks, (goodness knows how long the lead time for that will be).
• Adjusting all the cupboard doors / drawers, which are rubbing against eachother & presumably wearing away the paintwork.
• Putting up the pediment.
• Sorting out the high pressure tap, which isn't.
• Doing the step tiling.
• Replacing a light in the cooker hood.

I'm way past putting any end date on this. I think I have just become completely cynical about the abysmal administration & oversight of the company. Customer service just doesn't seem to figure in the equation.

I'm pathetically grateful I can cook & prepare proper food, but I am really angry now too. Not with the designer, or the fitter. They were doing their jobs. I am completely p...... off with Wren. Their communication between people & departments is non existant. So the client stands no chance of knowing what's going on or getting accurate information. The client has to know what questions to ask & who to direct the questions to. The only way to get any forward movement is to be continuously pro active.

I chose this company because I didn't want to have to project manage again. I expected an accurate  schedule of work & detailed paperwork of what the company would do & what I was responsible for. Sadly, I should have known better. It's such a shame because it is a good product.

A new Kitchen - Utter exhaustion

I'm usually a glass half full person, but this weekend has been a trial of strength & determination which nearly reduced me to a quivering wreck. I was really pleased that the fitters carried all the boxes of stuff into the kitchen before they left. If they hadn't I doubt that I could have done it. As it was my pacemaker simply couldn't cope with just putting stuff away & cleaning up a bit.

In doing that I discovered that the under unit lighting looks dreadful - all the black wires showing. To be fair you don't see it when you are standing, But I imagine you will when sitting at the table. There is something wrong with the electrical load too - the fuse box tripped 4 times over the last 2 days. I also discovered that some of the self close doors don't. The main problem is the larder cupboard, so I can't put anything in it till  someone puts it right. The Installation Manager couldn't come on Friday as promised by the Area Manager, no one had checked his diary. So he's now coming on Wednesday.

I did a mega food shop yesterday intending to cook myself some tasty, real, food for supper. But when it came to supper time I was too exhausted to cope with the cooker instructions. So I ended up with frankfurters because I could cope with the hob! Must get to grips with the technology today, before I'm too tired to wrestle with it all.

At least I'm going to Maryon's for a proper Sunday lunch today so that should set me up to wrestle with the cooker & combi microwave.

A New Kitchen - A step Closer?

No response to emails yesterday about connecting appliances. Apparently it had been stuck in the managers "Drafts" & not sent till late afternoon when I had logged off. This morning it's been agreed that my excellent electrician will connect up the appliances & certify the electrics & Wren will pay him. The supposed issue about the combi microwave didn't exist. So, by tonight I will be able to cook & store food in the fridge freezer.

Finally a response form the Area Manager, who is sending out the Installation Manager for a site visit. Just waiting for a response to my request for a better price on the quartz worktops as some sort of compensation for all of this hassle.

It's such a shame. The designer was good, the product is good, the fitter was good. What let the company down was the lack of communication, information & joined up thinking. Successful companies have learned the lesson that the core of their success is really good customer service & satisfaction. If that's in place the customer will recommend the company & the business will grow by word of mouth, (& modern communications technology). If it's not at the heart of their company ethos & mission statement, the business will get a poor reputation & ultimately suffer the consequences.

My kitchen will be lovely when it's finished. I will enjoy working & eating in it. But that won't be for about another month & it's already been going on over a period of 3 weeks. I doubt this would happen in northern & eastern European countries who have a meticulous work ethic. British companies have improved customer service enormously. Maybe I've just been unlucky - but I doubt it.

PS
The next thing I knew was a conference call late this morning with the area manager, the showroom manager & someone else, (didn't catch what she did). Wren isn't going to pay my electrician, they are going to refund me a sum of money which they say was the appliance installation cost. But as I was never told what this was, they could just pluck a figure out of the air. They are reducing the extra cost of the worktops by £233. Hopefully the missing door & lights will appear & the fitting of the cornice & cooker hood can take place next week before the fitter goes on holiday.

So, with a fair wind & a bit of luck, by the end of next week all that I'll be waiting for is the worktops & splashbacks. Just 3 weeks for what was supposed to be one weeks work.

A New Kitchen - "Don't count your Chickens!"

Good news - Washing machine on an extension lead so 2 wash loads done & plenty clean knickers! Bad news - no appliances actually commissioned. Fitters & tools gone.

I obviously shouldn't have been so self congratulatory that a site meeting had cleared up all the issues over Wrens fitter & my electrician doing the electrics. My electrician is coming tomorrow to do the lighting - great. But I really want to be able to cook & put food in the fridge freezer. (An over priced pasta take away last night was the final straw & my taste buds are rebelling).

More good news - I have been able to unpack quite a lot of my kitchen contents & put them into cupboards. However, I needed to be restrained, because I don't want stuff in the electricians way & have to move it again.

Bad news - the replacement worktops have been quoted at £2,500 more than the ones that were no good. They are a better quality it's true, but after all the hassle I've put up with I would have thought that they could do a better price than that. Tomorrow will be the 16th anniversary of camping upstairs. Currently Wren have an extra 20% off the sale price & I have been advised that if you still have an open contract they have to apply that to you. I'm not holding my breath, but if anyone knows do tell.

A New Kitchen - Oh Dear

After the site meeting, the fitter suggested putting the worktops onto the base units so I could see what the whole thing looks like - A good idea. It hadn't been possible in the showroom when I ordered. I had, however, pointed out in December that the edging strip, which was either a grey / beige stripe, (awful), or just a dark grey, (also completely the wrong tone for the warm, glittery, gold flecked top), wasn't good. The beige colour in the striped one was much better if I could have it without the grey stripe. Anyway I never got a response, so ordered & hoped it would work because I really like the "Galaxy Dove" worktop itself.

The edge just didn't work with the warm sage colour of the units & the exposed wood which the wine rack is made of also made the edging look worse. So we have to have a plan B. Fortunately Wren will take the worktops & upstands back & I can chose something else & pay the difference. It just means more delay because they will have to be made specially. Now it's down to choosing the colour for the walls & the glass splashbacks. The sage coloured glass the designer had suggested wouldn't look right. You can't just have clear glass with the wall colour behind, because apparently flies can get behind the glass & expire in full view!

Decisions, decisions. But I have got 3-4 different worktops to chose from & I have been out to get some matchpots of paint. Just waiting to hear from my electrician & decorator now. Supposedly the appliances will be fitted by the end of today, a temporary worktop will support the sink & hob & the rest of the base units will be covered by cardboard sheets. There is no shortage of that!

A new Kitchen - Site Meeting.

I rang and asked for a site meeting with the showroom & installation managers this morning, after I discovered from the fitter that there are 2 documents which I've never seen, never mind had copies of  - An installation Summary, about joinery, plumbing, gas & electric installation etc & a Guide to Supplimentary Works Charges. A copy of the Initial Assessment had also not been given me. Most of the issues which have arisen would have been avoided if I had been given these in advance. I would have known exactly what Wren's responsibilities were & what I should arrange privately.

A "full and frank discussion" ensued about all the problems I've had. A lot of stuff came to light as well as the documents. So now, hopefully, Wren, the fitter & I all know what's got to be done, who's got to do it & who's paying. (Not me).  It probably won't be finished before Thursday. Then my decorator has to come in before the final cornices & splashbacks are installed. At that point I will have a beautiful, new, designed by me kitchen - Maybe.

It's all about giving information in a timely way, communication & oversight / project management. Especially when Wren admit that it's a bigger, more complex kitchen than they normally fit. I've been flagging up the problems all week in writing. As they say - it's not "rocket science". The thing is I've ended up being irritated, frustrated & inconvenienced because I didn't have enough information to be able to ask the right questions.

Apparently, on some paperwork, which I didn't have, someone anticipated that the job might take 7 working days. I've always thought it was 5. So there is built in aggravation there & Wren don't do a schedule of works / timeline like most builders I've worked with.

It's such a shame, because I think the product is good. I actually think the fitter is experienced & does a good job. It's the admin / organisation which is rubbish & when you are camping out, eating take aways, in a mess, anything which prolongs that is bad news. But then, "no pain, no gain".

A new Kitchen - Day 4

Today my lovely electrician has arrived to do the electrics. It is so good to have someone reliable who comes when he says & does a good job. What I didn't realise, because it wasn't made clear, was that he has to do all of the re-positioning of sockets & switches, putting in new ones, as well as the downlights & the cabinet lights. I thought all he had to do was move the sockets at floor level up to above the upstand & put in the downlights. Because the fitter didn't turn up on Monday they couldn't have a conversation about what exactly was involved & Rich has got a job he has to go on to.

This follows on from an email to the CEO, the Area Manager, & the showroom manager, because the fitter didn't turn up till 9am on Tuesday & after 10am on Wednesday having said he would be here at about 7.30. Then he was off site for over 2 hours on Thursday because he was called into the showroom for a discussion with a new installation manager & had to go and buy a plinth heater which he knew I wanted from the planning stage. Today both fitters have just left saying that they are just in the way of the electricians. Consequently, surprise surprise the job will overrun into next week.

This follows on from other issues.

• When the units were delivered first thing last Friday all the worktops were marked to follow. I queried it with the store about 9am & was told the laminate hadn't been available for a long time & they didn't have any date for new stock. I would have to have something else & pay extra. The manager chased it up & discovered that they were being made & would be ready to be couriered to me, arriving by about 4.30. They didn't arrive until early evening, around 7pm. I only just made it to an evening out.
• When the fitters arrived on Tuesday they discovered that the wine rack was missing. Eventually Wren said it would have to be fitted next week, but no one told the fitter. He went to the store to check what was happening, which was a complete waste of time.
• The glass splashbacks were not delivered apparently they are custom made to the specific measurements after the units are fitted. That's fine, but no one told the fitter who said he had never fitted them before.

The impression I am left with is that communication isn't just poor, it's non existent sometimes. It's not unusual in anything to do with building. Mine is quite a large, costly kitchen even at the sale price. I expect a quality product & a quality service for that. The overrun into next week, means I will have been camping upstairs for over 11 days. (I made life a lot easier for Wren by having a fitter take out the old kitchen before the new units arrived. If I hadn't forseen the problem, which Wren didn't, there simply would not have been room for the new units.)

Wren has a good product but I think they are expanding too fast to be able to deliver the sort of seamless, joined up, service discriminating customers expect. This just means that no one is happy. Not the customer & certainly not the designers, fitters & admin people who get it in the neck when things go wrong. This really needs sorting at the most senior level or Wren will get a bad reputation by word of mouth, not to mention today's modern communications.

I've waited for this kitchen since the end of December. That should be a long enough lead time to get it right. Now I just want my home back and a beautiful finished kitchen. Hopefully it will all have been worth it.

A new kitchen - customer dissatisfaction.

This may turn into a marathon rant!

I texted the fitter last night to find out what time he would arrive today. No response till quite late when he said his current job had overrun, he had just finished & could he come this afternoon. I said OK. My electrician was scheduled for today to move sockets & put in downlights because the fitter said he didn't want to do it & it should happen on the first day. Too late for him to change jobs, so he arrived on time. But he couldn't finish because he needed to liaise with the fitter, so had to leave.

When the fitter hadn't arrived after lunch I texted again. He hadn't finished the last job & was still working there. Said he wouldn't now arrive till tomorrow. So Electrician messed about, I missed an appointment waiting in at lunch time, and the job put back a whole day. This probably means it will go into the weekend or next week, which will be a real pain. Camping upstairs isn't fun & eating take aways quickly palls.

Jobs do overrun. The unforseen arises. I accept that. What I don't accept is that I'm not informed of the delay. When was someone going to tell me if I hadn't texted? Why don't people who provide goods & services realise that good communication is the key to customer services & satisfaction? An awful lot of aggravation could be avoided & in this age of communications technology I really don't think there's any excuse.

As it is, I'm really p.....off. Not a good start to a dream kitchen. I hope Wren get their act together, because if this pattern continues I'm not going to be at all happy.

A new kitchen - delivery complications

Good news, the kitchen arrived, as promised, first thing this morning. Bad news, there was barely enough room to get all the boxes in the kitchen / diner, despite the fact that I had arranged for a fitter to dismantle the old kitchen and take it away yesterday. Some boxes are in the sitting room which was already pretty full of the contents of the cupboards. I can't imagine what would have happened if I had left it to Wren to dismantle & remove the old kitchen. There simply would not have been enough room.

Worse news, all of the worktops were missing. The delivery men said to chase it up with the Oxford store. When I did, they said that the worktops had been out of stock for some time & they didn't know when / if they would be coming in. The scenario of a beautiful but unusable kitchen at the end of next week seemed highly likely. What I don't understand is why I'm having the problem now, a couple of days before fitting? Why had no one told me? Then the manager got back to me and said the worktops were being made today & would be couriered to me by about 4.30. Relief - I really liked the worktops I'd chosen. It's now 5pm & they haven't arrived yet - not holding my breath. Just had a phone call, they will be here by 7.15. (The fact that I'm going out this evening makes it all a bit close to the wire, but Wren doesn't have to worry about that).

On the other hand, really good news. I have identified the floor tiles that are in the whole of the ground floor. This is crucial because I discovered, when the old kitchen came out, that the existing ones don't go fully under a boxed in area which is going to be removed. The chances of finding the right tiles, still in stock, somewhere in Oxford, seemed pretty remote. But, hey, something has to go right for a change. The staff at Manoli tiles are wonderful. It's just so nice to have people who put themselves out for you. The wonderful lady, whose name I don't know, patiently went through all the orders in 2006 to find the one for my house. I can't check properly to see if they are right, because I can't lift them out of my boot. But I'm reasonably confident.

Hey Ho another day of chaos & fire fighting.

A New Kitchen - Prologue

It's all begun to happen. Almost everything in my kitchen cupboards has now been moved into the sitting room. It's now half full with boxes & bags. I had help from my daughter & a good friend or I would have probably had a heart attack!

Despite the fact that I only moved house 6 months ago I realise that I still need to get rid of out of date stuff, (herbs & spices which have probably lost any flavour or aroma). Not to mention plastic containers, which I have never & will never use. Also why do I have enough saucepans & casseroles to feed the 5,000 when I am single? Do I really need 2 complete china dinner & tea services? Must remember the mantra "less is more".

A pathway has been cleared across the sitting room so the old units can be taken out & the new ones brought in. A fitter is coming tonight to start removing the old units & appliances. He has to clear the kitchen by tomorrow evening because the new units could arrive any time from 7am on Friday. The doomsday scenario would be if the new units arrived before the old ones had gone. There is no room for both.

From tomorrow I will be camping out upstairs with a kettle, a toaster, a microwave & a small halogen cooker. A portable fridge would have been useful because I won't have managed to eat everything in my freezer. A cool box will have to do, although the ice blocks will melt long before all this is over. The main problem will be washing up in a small bathroom sink.

Saturday & Sunday will be the "calm before the storm" because the fitters don't start till Monday. They say they will start around 7 in the mornings & go on till about 7 in the evenings for a week. They obviously don't know that I'm not a morning person. It will take a superhuman effort for me to be up, dressed and fully functioning at that ungodly hour.

My lovely electrician has been primed to move the sockets which are too close to the upstand for the plugs to fit in. (What dimbo installed them like that I wonder?) He will also put in the new down lights in the dining area. A decorator says he can do the painting after installation by cutting in & is confident that he won't mess up my new units. I can't choose a paint colour till the new units are in situ. I have to have faith & believe.

The only imponderables are:-

• Will the boxed in area that needs to be removed come out OK?
• Will the existing floor tiles have been installed over the whole of the kitchen floor under the existing units & will they be in reasonable condition?

It's a bit nail biting, but I am optimistic. I don't have a plan B.