Schreiber (MFI) Kitchens

In May this year (2007) my wife and I visited the MFI store in Leamington Spa to look for a new kitchen. We'd been to a number of other stores and had yet to see a kitchen that we both liked. After a good browse around the store we finally agreed that we both liked a kitchen called the 'Callisto'. We'd already taken the measurements for our kitchen so we sat down with one of their nice sales chaps who took our measurements, fed them into the computer ...
...kitchen. He gave us some advice on which options we could and could not have and all in all it took just over 2 hours to get everything we wanted in the design including the granite worktops.

Next came the horrible bit. The quote.

He pressed a button and the computer added up all the bits, stuck in the Bank Holiday discount and the price came to around £12000 including fitting which was about £2000 more than we had budgeted ... more

In May this year (2007) my wife and I visited the MFI store in Leamington Spa to look for a new kitchen. We'd been to a number of other stores and had yet to see a kitchen that we both liked. After a good browse around the store we finally agreed that we both liked a kitchen called the 'Callisto'. We'd already taken the measurements for our kitchen so we sat down with one of their nice sales chaps who took our measurements, fed them into the computer and eventually came up with a design for our new kitchen. He gave us some advice on which options we could and could not have and all in all it took just over 2 hours to get everything we wanted in the design including the granite worktops.

Next came the horrible bit. The quote.

He pressed a button and the computer added up all the bits, stuck in the Bank Holiday discount and the price came to around £12000 including fitting which was about £2000 more than we had budgeted for. We juggled around with the design a little more but it was clear that we wouldn't be able to get the price down to where we wanted it. Eventually after a word with his manager, the price was dropped to exactly £10000 so we happily left a deposit of £2500 and a promised delivery date of 25th September 2007 subject to a 'pre-fit survey'. It could have been delivered a little earlier but we needed time to get other elements of our grand kitchen design in place such as the lighting so we asked for the delivery to be made sometime in September.

A week after our order was placed, the fitter came to our house to conduct the pre-fit survey. This was basically to ensure that the measurements I'd taken were accurate and to make sure that everything in the design was feasible. This was also an opportunity for MFI to squeeze a little more cash out of us. The fitter explained that additional work was required. This included extending the gas pipes to the other end of the kitchen to accommodate the new position of the gas oven. It included a few hundred pound to ensure that all the electrics conformed to the new safety regulations and other bits and bobs. In all he quoted an additional £1200 and stated that unless some of the electrics were modified he couldn't allow his men into the property due to health and safety reasons.

Annoyed at this, I went back to the store and said that unfortunately I was not prepared to have the extra 'remedial' work done and that I would have to cancel the order and ask for a full refund which according to their terms and conditions I was entitled to do. The manager asked if I would consider going ahead if MFI paid for 50% of the additional work which I agreed to.

During the summer we got the kitchen ready and in August we received a phone call from the MFI Depot informing us that the majority of the kitchen would be delivered in September but that unfortunately they could not get hold of 10 of the 11 doors that fitted onto the units due to a change of supplier and that these would have to be delivered at a later date of 6th November at the earliest. I was furious at this so once again went back to the MFI store to complain and potentially cancel my order. The first thing I found was that the kitchen I'd ordered had been discontinued and replaced by a new model. The second thing I found was that the manager had also been discontinued and replaced by a newer model so I explained to him the situation and said that unless I could accept that the odd bit might be missing but for 10 out of 11 doors not to be delivered meant that I would have to unfortunately cancel the order and ask for a full refund.

The manager was very apologetic and rang the depot to determine what the problem was. He pulled a few strings and managed to locate 8 of the 10 missing doors and arranged for them to be delivered with the rest of the kitchen. The remaining 2 doors could not be made available before 6th November. I reluctantly agreed to not cancel my order on condition that nothing else go wrong before the delivery date.

On the 25th September an MFI truck parked outside our house and 2 guys came and rang my doorbell. They took a look at me and said 'You're not gonna like this but some of your kitchen is missing'
I said that's okay I know about the 2 doors. They looked at each other and then gave me the delivery sheet. The document stated that 11 doors would be delivered at a later unspecified date along with about 6 other items such as pelmets and end panels.

The delivery guys told me that MFI do this all the time and advised me not to accept the delivery. If I accepted the delivery I would be entering into a 'contract' with MFI by showing my acceptance to take the kitchen as it was and I would be implicitly agreeing to have the missing bits delivered in November. They also told me that the November date was also unlikely to be met. They called their depot for me and allowed me to speak to their manager and I told him that I would be rejecting the delivery because about ½ of the kitchen was not there. I then went back to the store and told the manager there that I wanted a full refund. His response was to ask me whether there was any financial incentive that he could give me to accept the kitchen as it was and wait until November for the doors and I said thanks but no thanks and asked again for a full refund which he reluctantly agreed to.

A week later MFI refunded the money I paid and kept £626. As the deposit was paid by credit card, that matter has now been referred back to the credit card company who are chasing the difference.

The MFI terms and conditions are very long and make lots of statements about what would happen if the customer cancels the contract but makes no mention of what the customer is entitled to if MFI fail to deliver what they promise. They will offer financial incentives to you to not cancel the order but frankly I can't see the point in accepting a reduction of a few hundred pounds from your order when your order is unlikely to be delivered in the first place

For any potential customer of MFI I would advise you to stay clear and perhaps try B&Q with whom we've just placed a new order for a kitchen, which it turns out will be delivered before the MFI doors would eventually have been delivered. 

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