Key Post: Kitchens.

The IKEA kitchen planner software is excellent for visualisation. You can only work with their products obviously but it's still brilliant, allows you to create 3D pictures in minutes.
 
I bought a kitchen from B&Q in Liffey Valley this summer. The kitchen designer there was very nice (designed the whole kitchen online for us) and they offered to fit it for us but we declined as there was a 12 week wait for fitting and our builder offered to fit it for us.

Anyway, we bought one of the 'select' model of kitchens in B&Q which were more expensive then the standard range - but really nice. The product itself is great but I have to say that where B&Q really fell down was in aftersales service. The first problem was with the kitchen delivery which was delayed by a few days (twice) - no big deal really, but inconvenient as we had to rearrange when we could be there etc.

When the kitchen was finally delivered, there were discrepancies between what was on the delivery note and the itemised product list we got from B&Q when we first bought the kitchen.

The deliverers didn't want to know - nothing to do with them, they were just the deliverers, didn't work directly for B&Q etc etc...

It turned out there were some items which were not delivered - and about 50% of items had a different delivery code from what was on the itemised sales list.

I called B&Q a BILLION times - they were absolutely useless - their phone customer service was the worst I ever experienced. After about 3 weeks, and with no notice, I suddenly got a delivery of most of the missing items (although about 2 doors were still missing - and about two more were wrong), but this didn't explain the barcode problem. I was glad some of the missing items had turned up but was worried I had the wrong items as the barcodes were all wrong and the barcodes were the only way of matching what had been delivered to what was on the sales list.

When I called B&Q for service I was either transferred to a line which would ring out constantly (with no-one picking up), or transferred to someone who promised me they'd get a 'manager' to call me back - they never did, or I was hung up on. It was the most frustrating experience I have ever encountered. I could not believe they treat their customers like this - and of course with B&Q you pay for everything up front, so they already have your money.

I finally did get a manager who agreed to send the 'kitchen person' out to my house to help me. It took nearly 3 months to get to that stage. That person was the only person who was able to help and finally sorted everything, but the whole experience really put me of B&Q. I was told that the problem was the 'select' range I was buying which apparenlty isn't a frequently purchased item, so the delivery people and the suppliers in the UK didn't keep much of it in stock and items often went missing because no-one knew what the range really looked like. I couldn't believe that was the reason I was given. I was also told that the barcodes on products frequently changed and it was nothing to worry about. When I told the staff member that I was never informed that barcodes changed frequently and therefore had no idea if I had the correct product or not, they just shrugged.

Subsequently after all this, I went out to B&Q to get a refund on an item (separate to the kitchen) which had never been delivered (again after 3 months), and I spoke to a new customer service manager who was really nice and who said he was trying to improve customer service in the stores. He did make me feel better and did turn around the problem for me in record time, but I don't have a lot of confidence in them.

In short it took 4 months to sort the kitchen problem out. Even after the kitchen person came to my house, I still had to wait almost another month for the final 'doors' etc which had not been delivered. I don't think I'd ever shop with B&Q again for a kitchen.

Perhaps their service has improved since then. I'd be interested to hear anyone else's experiences.
 
yeah got a really good kitchen fitter who did a super job on our kitchen from a wholesale company like cash and carry. Fortunatly this guy had a lot of experience working doing fitted kithens both for himself and with some leading kitchen companies. He did a super job, if we had got anyone else as some freinds had previously Im quite sure it would not have turned out as good. While I would say you could definitly save money going to wholesale places, but as far as I can see youd need a degree in engineering to figure out the pack when you do get it, so therefore a good fitter is a must. His name is John and his number is 0872349409.

L
 
Hi Zil, welcome to AAM. In accordance with the [broken link removed], could you confirm whether you have any interest other than as a satisfied customer of the above?
Thanks,
Leo
 
Hi, First time using this site. Does anyone know if there is a company that will paint your kitchen presses (just the doors) in high gloss paint.
 
robbie321

I don't think you can achieve the ultra high gloss, sort of wet look, with standard paints... you can always get a normal painter to do the work but he will only be able to use the highest gloss paints available, these wouldn't be the same as professionally finished high gloss cabinets using specialist products.

(I'm not 100% certain about this... mainly because I'm a little unsure of what you mean by high gloss)

Cheers
 
Cho,
I dealt with B+ Q Liffey Valley for a kitchen this summer (2007) and they were useless.The staff had no interest, my experience was like something out of an eastern european communist store, all just wandering around but not interested in helping. Eventually after three visits, I secured an appointment with a kitchen designer who was then 40 minutes late for our appointment, although according to staff he was somewhere in the store. He was helpful, tho he told me it was his last day before going back to the Limerick store, so i was going to be back to the Liffey Valley staff. I decided not to buy a B+ Q kitchen. The customer service is appalling, and makes one wondr what sort of management system is in place there
 
Just a note on Cash and Carry Kitchens

I decided to get a kitchen from them (Sandyford branch)

Kitchen arrived with a number of items missing (one door, strips for worktop, a worktop), extra items I did not want. On the second attempt we are still missing some items. I needed to keep ringing them to sort it out. I don't have time to do this, regardless of how busy they are.

All in all so far a lot of hassle and I would not recommend them unless you have time to keep after them. The fact that the fitter is not employed by them leads to a gap in responsbility too.

The fitter, in fairness to him, came back once already to fit extra bits that arrived and did not charge any extra.
 
Hello, Could I ask your advice on other options re lighting a kitchen besides recessed lighting as I've been hearing people saying that those lights blow a lot! Also, any one installed an eye level dishwasher and if they would recommend it rather than putting it at floor level near the kitchen sink? Thanks very much.
 
Its the GU10 bulbs that usually blow frequently - and they are not cheap. You can use CFL & LED versions of those bulbs - not cheap either though...
- CFL version of light is lower & yellowish
- LED OK for under counter lighting but not for mainstream lighting as yet (unless you want to pay about €18 a bulb)

Had planned to put in eye level dishwasher actually but the layout/kitchen size didn't allow unfortunately. Know some one who has it done & they recommend it highly - saves on the old back!
 
Bought a kitchen in B & Q cork for €7,000 including island, utility room fit out appliances and insinkerator. We dealt with a guy Mark who was very helpful. We found a fitter who was recommended and despite being told by builder B & Q kitchens are hard to fit, it went smooth. It really turned out to be exceptionally good value.
 
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