Author's product rating: 
| Advantages: |
Decent Range, Good Appliances |
| Disadvantages: |
They lie, they're incompetent, they use hard sell ! |
| Recommend to potential buyers: |
no |
After recently moving house, we decided that the old kitchen (original since built in 1982) had seen better days and was no longer fit for preparing food in. We shopped around looking at the various kitchen companies from the "low market" B&Q to the "top of the market" Moben.
We found very quickly that there was actually very little to choose between any of the brands in terms of quality - they're pretty much all chipboard with some kind of vaneer! However, we thought that as Moben had been going so long, and they did seem on the face of it to offer a more tailored solution, we'd invite them round. We had a small kitchen, and we thought that their higher prices may be worthwhile if they could tailor-make their units to the exact measurements of our kitchen, and thier shop staff seemed to indicate all this and more was possible, and that they also had innovative accessories which could maximise small spaces. They also showed us a brochure of NEFF and other high-end appliances being offered for almost give-away prices, if we bought their kitchen.
So we booked an appointment, for the following Saturday at 12.00, and cancelled any plans we had for going out that day. They were insistent that both myself and my girlfriend had to be there, which ruled out a weekday. We suspected that us "both needing to be there" meant that we would be subject to some pressure to order on the day, but knowing that we are resolute to the last, we still agreed, and were duly handed an "appointment card" confirming date & time of appointment with their designer.
So Saturday came, and 12.00 came and went - no designer appeared. By 1pm we phoned the shop, to be told that they had no record of any designer having been booked to see us. In my hand was an "appointment card" which the woman in the shop had given me, clearly stating Saturday at Mid-day. Anyway, after accusing me of making this up, they agreed to ma ke another appointment for the following Saturday - again at 12.00. We were livid, as we'd cancelled plans to see friends purely so we could be around for the Moben guy, but accepted that a simple mistake must have been made.
The following Saturday, just to be sure, I took the precautionary step of phoning the store at 10.00am to confirm that the guy would be with us at noon. I was given a reassuring "yes", but was suspicious that they hadn't actually asked who I was!
12.00 came and went, and by 12.45 still no designer. I phoned the shop again - to be told that the designer was booked to see us. This time they asked for my name, so when I gave it, they said - oh sorry, it's not us he's booked to see, but someone else!!!! After a huge arguement about 2 wasted weekends, they assured me that he'd be with us by 2pm - and this time, he did show up - stinking of whiskey and beer, with pungeunt aftershave in an attempt to cover up the reik of alchohol!
2 hours of measuring and choice of finish later, he came up with his final plan - which to be honest we were slightly dissapointed with. He informed us that contrary to the advice we'd been given by the shop staff, their units are not made-to-measure, but come in pre-set sizes, meaning that we would not be able to have custom-made units to use up all available space. Also their "innovative accessories" would not fit in any of the units for our plan. The up-market appliances would indeed be offered to us at next to nothing, providing we went with their VASTLY over-priced kitchen (which apparently was on "sale" half-price offer!) This "sale" price was £8650 including fitting - more than DOUBLE any of the competition.
Then the expected hard-sell came - we could have the kitchen for £6000 all-in, if we signed up there and then, and gave him a deposit. He also told us that Moben kitchens are the only manufacturer that was proven to increase the value of your home - although he could not prove this, except to give us a photocopy of some old magazine review of Moben, Magnet B&Q and other kitchens, which was biased towards Moben, albeit with copious amounts of tipp-ex obscuring vast chunks of the text!
So he asked us to sign on the dotted line and make out our deposit cheque....
We answered politely but firmly - no.
This was the right answer, as we consequently got our equally high-quality supplied and fitted from another company, for a total of £3750, and given some of the horror stories I've read from other doo-yoo'ers who've actually gone through with their order, I think we avoided a fate worse than death!
What we've learnt about Moben (and I therefore presume Sharps Bedrooms & Dolphin Bathroooms), is that any adverts of "SALE" or "HALF-PRICE" or "FREE APPLIANCES" is absolute rubbish. Their kitchens are vastly over-priced, their in-store staff are incompetent, they bad-mouth the competition throughout, their logistics staff were useless, all in all, they are the biggest cowboys I have ever come across (even comparing to double-glazing companies), and to say that they are a national high-street company, is a total disgrace.
They couldn't even organise a sales person coming out to someone who wanted to spend £'000s on a kitchen. If this is their approach to winning the order, god only knows what they would be like when it actually comes to supplying and fitting the kitchen!
| More Reviews |
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Review of Moben Kitchens by
dabmim
Advantages: A nice looking kitchen
Disadvantages: extremely bad after sales service, bully tactics sales, rudeness on calling, unhelpfull staff.
I bought my Moben Kitchen in November 1999, after being 'bullied' into a decision! I was really happy with the results despite the high price. Being disabled the salesman, assured me that I could get the VAT back. Nearly two year on and I still have heard nothing from them about this. Moben offer a complete service with all planning, designing, delivery and fitting included. Appliances come from companies such as: Neff, Leisure, Aga and Technic. ...
...salesman did inform us that Moben actually buy the dishwashers for less than £50 each as they buy in such vast quantities, so free isn’t really as free as we might think! Offers are subject to a minimum purchase (currently £2,500).
Moben had been ‘producing’ kitchens for over 20 years now, and can claim 200 showrooms nationwide. Hence: our mistake. We visited the showroom in Bury St Edmunds, and my wife fell in love with a white ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful |
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very helpful
01.11.2000
(25.07.2001)
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Moben - The Worlds Worst Kitchen Company
Review of Moben Kitchens by
ordy
Advantages: One stop shop
Disadvantages: Poor quality, poor customer service
...once) that you sign a Moben kitchen contract! When I was younger and naive I bought my first apartment. It was lovely and huge, in a nice part of NW London but needed lots of work doing to it. Well, not too much actually - a lick of paint, new carpets and a kitchen & bathroom. However when it comes to anything practical I am the worlds worst. I can hang a nail, change a light bulb or a plug and nothing else. So Moben, with their nice showrooms and ...
...they did, but i though Moben are a reputable company, they will fix any problems so no problemo!). The kitchen arrived about 6 weeks later and sat in my living room for 2 weeks while I waited for a fitter. The fitters came and had only 2 days to complete the kitchen. As a result it was a botch job - live wires were left hanging from the wall. Worst of all though is that the kitchen didn't fit - it was slightly too small and they had filled the gap ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful |
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very helpful
07.07.2003
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 Think of a number
Review of Moben Kitchens by
realtrickytree
Advantages: Kitchens appear good quality
Disadvantages: Pushy salesman, economical with the truth, poor design service
The Moben 'designer' who came to give us a quote was purely a salesman. He basically knocked up his 'design' in about 10 minutes using a pen and paper - think back of a fag packet and you're on the right lines. Go to a company like Magnet or MFI and you get a 3D design so you can really visualise what they have in mind.
All the ideas we had were dismissed as being far too expensive, outdated or just not practical. A fridge-freezer? No chance. A ...
...years (nothing, of course, to do with the fact they had none in their range and had a particularly nasty green one being sold very cheaply...)
When it came to the quote, there was no break-down of how he had arrived at this figure. In the showroom, we had been assured that a full listing of the prices would be provided so we could compare the usual prices with those in this 'genuine 50% sale'. His quote was nearly £7,000 for a very basic, functional ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful |
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very helpful
01.01.2001
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Awful
Review of Moben Kitchens by
MobenRuseless
Advantages: They look nice in the showrooms
Disadvantages: Everything else!
It's all true. I just practically threw this salesman, sorry 'designer' out my house. Idiots!
It was like having an old school upvc window salesman round. Wouldn't let the hard sale drop for a minute. Contradicting himself left right and centre but still wouldn't drop the act. All he came up with (after several hours) was a pencil drawing that my Nan could have improved on. No itemisation, just a random number at the bottom. £15K. I even had to ...
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not rated
06.05.2009
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Excellent Product - Shame about the Aftersales
Review of Moben Kitchens by
Lorii
Advantages: Hardwearing Designer Kitchens
Disadvantages: Appalling customer services
...Had no response from Moben despite other letters... all became clear when they popped up on Watchdog!!
Since then... my double oven has broken down twice... the first time took 6 weeks to get fixed and the second time we gave up and bought the element and fitted it ourselves. The controls in the cooker hood have failed four times - and the service guy apologises every time and has told us there is a design fault. The controls are held in the casing ...
...the designers and salesmen for Moben kitchens but only insofar as our salesman was the most helpful and courteous salesman I have ever come across and the design of our kitchen was perfect for our needs. We incorporated everything we needed including a huge range cooker, free dishwasher, under worktop fridge and freezer and all the extras including long stainless steel handles and fancy taps. The price was more than we expected to pay – ending ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful |
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helpful
15.10.2001
(29.01.2004)
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25.01.2009
08.06.2003
22.04.2009
