We're just at the end of a kitchen nightmare courtsey of B&Q. We ordered from their IT range, with the Speedstone Quartz worktops, and from the beginning have been amazed by their incompetence, right from The B&Q designer forgetting to order the survey, to the subcontracted woman who completed the survey (5 minutes with a tape measure is NOT a survey!) to the 2 month wait for a delivery. But once work "started" our problems got worse.
It turns out there are 3 or 4 companies all trying to work together but failing miserably. Rok was controlling it, but subcontracted the work out to another company (on a permanent contract basis), who sub it out to their fitters / plumbers / electricians. The survey was by another company and the finance deal is with another (so don't think about witholding payments, as you'll have a debt collection agency on your door!)
Work was supposed to start on the Monday, but by 3pm we were still waiting for the delivery. It arrived too late for the fitters to do anything, so they started on the Tuesday. By Wednesday night the units were all in place, but I'd already pointed out mistakes along the way (TIP: If you can take time off to be at home with them...do it!), such as forgetting
to put the pull out larder unit into the cupboard, cutting the pelmet wonky... but after they left I noticed that whilst they had cut a base unit around our soil pipe duct, they hadn't cut the shelves to match, so that was left to me! We had to change our design as the survey hadn't picked up the fact that the fridge dimensions in the book don't take the door hinges into account, so the bridging unit had to be raised up higher than the surrounding units and the pelmet cut to fit. Then there were 2 days of nothing - just empty promises from the fitting company Rok and the subcontracted project manager ("I'm just on my way to you now, I promise" 4 hours later he arrives, you could drive from London to Leeds in that time, let alone Hackney to Essex!)
We had a visit from the project manager on the Friday and had to twist his arm for his mate to wire in the cooker so we could eat! (still no sink though!) He also pointed out that the washing machine couldn't fit all the way back due to the waste pipe running behind it - something that should have been spotted in the survey/design stage. At 6:30pm we finally had confirmation that the worktop fitter would be arriving on the Saturday (his day off). The fitter would have to pick up the 1 and only set of tools for the whole East London area and we were made to feel guilty about the guy giving up his Saturday when there had been no progress for 2 days in the week.
Saturday morning, and along came the fitter with a plumber...who hadn't been told about all the work required so he hadn't had all the right tools on the van, and he had to let down someone else for their bathroom that afternoon as there was too much work in our half-kitchen! He drilled a hole right through the exterior wall to fit the waste pipe so the washing machine could sit under the unit properly. The hinge positions in the door for the washing machine has to be re-cut as they were wrong for the washing machine (still not got a straight answer on this issue - either they sent the wrong door, or the fitters dont realise that they have to re-drill new hinge holes for each washing machine, we're still not sure who is telling the truth!).
The sink tap had been fitted wrongly, there were pieces missing from the waste unit which he had to pop out to a local store to supplement, and the worktop fitter couldn't even finish the job as the unit fitters hadn't left the units level (how hard is it to use a spirit level???). We were told that the plumber was also an electrician, but as it turns out he wasn't, so we had to get back on the phone to the project manager to tell him to get an electrician round to wire up the hob and the cooker hood! I guess filling the holes in the wall around the pipe is down to me!
Once the worktop was down, it was obvious that the wall unit over it could be used properly as the hings don't open further than 90 degrees. Apparently it's my fault that I don't have double-jointed elbows to reach round the door!
Now we're left with 3 items which had been ordered too many (and paid for), we still need to argue our case in-store about the hinges (as Rok claim that B&Q are at fault, and it's not their problem), we need an extra worktop support leg (we had to ask specifically for one in the design stage, but the worktop fitter says two are required to support the weight of the worktop), the pull-out larder unit needs fixing, the fitters split the wall unit when screwing in the pelmet, we need extra plinth for the cooker (which wasn't included in the calculations), and the self-closing door fittings weren't ordered either. All of this has taken nearly a week out of our life to act as the project manager between 4 different companies!
My recommendations: 1. Take the time to go through the list of items ordered (just 1 long list of items), and re-arrange them into groups for each unit to make sure enough parts have been ordered for the "extras" such as 180degree hinges if needed, handles (they come in packs of 2), self closing door attachments, screw covers, little rubber buffers etc. 2. Measure at the top and bottom of your kitchen walls, as they could be different, especially if things are quite tight for fitting your units in. 3. Take the time off work if you can while the kitchen is fitted (or work from home if possible) so you can keep an eye on how it's getting installed. 4. If you have your own fridge, measure including the door hinges, for correct height (dont trust the book, even if it's the same model!) 5. Integrated washing machines dont have any clearance at the back, so make sure you're not running the waste pipe or anything else behind it. 6. Before the fitters leave, get them to show you that the units are level, and also level across 2 - 3 units. Especially if you're having granite/quartz worktop. 7. Keep on the phone to the project manager (get his mobile number) and also to the control office too (if it's still Rok by then...), go up the management chain if you get no joy with the phone operators! 8. Installation of an appliance is about £100 per appliance. Things like a cooker or a hob are useful, but they tried to charge us 100 quid for pushing our fridge from one side of the room to the other and plugging it in!
Good luck!
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Dec 16th, 2008
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