Ex Display Kitchen - Arrived damaged

[canalsiderenovation]

Our ex display kitchen arrived on Saturday. We viewed it twice, the final time only recently and everything was perfect which we can back up with probably around 100 photos. We were reassured it would be taken out carefully from the showroom. Guess what, it arrived damaged despite them taking it out Friday and delivering it to is Saturday morning. They had cling wrapped things but damage is visible from inside the cling film when the cling film isn't damaged so the damage was definitely done by them and before it was packaged up. I was emailing and sending pictures to the manager as it was being unloaded despite the driver from the company saying 'I haven't got time for you to check everything'. We followed this up with additional photos and detail. Despite saying 'we will sort it' he's not answering the phone or staff are giving me the runaround or replying to emails. As a minimum I've asked for replacement to the damaged doors, worktop, plinth and shelf (this is what my other half wants but I'm half tempted to tell him to come and collect all of it and take it back (wife is freaking out currently)! I've asked for a resolution close on Wednesday, at which point I'll open a small claim online (which is normally quite quick to do - I am familiar with the process and have done this before). 

 

What I want to know is exactly how much damage should we expect? I mean I was expecting some minor damage that would be disguised by fitting but this is just a selection of things that would be very much visible that I've raised with him (there was more but this is a selection of the worst). I know it's not cheap to replace and I have asked another local supplier to price up everything we have damaged so we know what we need to replace....

 

This is a floating shelf which is completely scratched.

 

 

This is on the front of a door - we have at least 3 doors like this with damage either chips or scuffs.

 

 

This is worktop. There is a scratch underneath which isn't too much of a problem but the scratch goes up onto the edge and it is literally the end of the hob so is an end you would see. It's very sharp.

 

 

This is a fridge unit housing on the van. Because it was against a wall in the showroom they have literally hacked off the actual paint. Whilst this may not be visible I'm concerned about it being sturdy enough to be attached to another unit (which it will be) and the wood should be 20mm and it is less than 5mm in places due to them taking away half of it.

 

Edited October 26, 2020 by canalsiderenovation

[PeterW]

In order 

 

Floating shelf - ask for replacement 

Doors - get the whole lot fitted and get Magicman to repair at their cost 

Fridge Cabinet ...... never seen anyone do that to a unit ..!! If the front is still sound then I would just ask for money to reinforce the back and get the chippy to cut back that chipboard and let in a new stronger piece that is full thickness 

[Mr Punter]

The one in the last picture is quite an achievement.

[Bozza]

Is it possible to cannibalise some of the units e.g. use the good left and right sides of the tall units so you only perhaps need to replace one unit.  Factoring in the cost of buying some  new units etc to replace the damaged ones would you still end up with a really good deal?
 

I know that not the point, but just perhaps worth taking a hit on?

 

what they should have done is when they removed the items and damaged them they should have discussed that with you and reduced the price or whatever.    The goods would have had some wear and tear Being ex display but the way I see it is unless You’ve signed a disclaimer regarding damage upon removal you probably would have a strong legal case.  Have you tried trading standards?   I once bought a car from a dealer who told me it wasn’t an ex rental but once docs arrived it had been.  Phoned trading standards and they told dealer to refund me which they did.

 

 

 

 

[canalsiderenovation]

8 minutes ago, Bozza said:

Is it possible to cannibalise some of the units e.g. use the good left and right sides of the tall units so you only perhaps need to replace one unit.  Factoring in the cost of buying some  new units etc to replace the damaged ones would you still end up with a really good deal?

 

Aside from the fridge unit (the last two pics) the main other issues are doors which to me really need replacing. I've no idea how much a door replacement is but it won't be cheap with Mereway as we have to go through a distributor which is why we are pushing for them to be replaced. Once I get a price from a local distributor for all the items damaged I'll at least have a better idea.

 

11 minutes ago, Bozza said:

what they should have done is when they removed the items and damaged them they should have discussed that with you and reduced the price or whatever.  

 

I specifically asked if there was any damage on Friday and was told no. I wanted to hold back 20% and they refused to delivery unless paid in full (probably a little different than their normal practice as it was ex display). 

 

Not signed anything. The kitchen was from a showroom who have a number of branches but it was on eBay but not the company. We viewed it and he offered a discount if we paid directly (all monies paid directly to the Company Directors bank account). We know he is the company director and owner of a number of the kitchen branches as we have viewed information on Companies House. I know stupid we should have just sorted it through eBay..... Can still issue a Small Claims as have all of his details. 

[Big Jimbo]

I hope you didn't pay a lot. Most kitchen showrooms are just glad to get rid of ex display stuff. Mereway will have given them the units at a huge discount for display, and may have even given them for free if the showroom sells mereway cabs, and no other cab brands. Ex display appliances have a value, but the cabs very little. I once won a  contract for  a One off designed hand built kitchen with convex, and concave units. Completly exclusive, not another in the world. It wasn't long after i had been voted as One of the top 10 kitchen designers in the uk, so my stuff had a bit of kudos. The cabs were £35k to manufacture, and had been sold at £65k along with another £40k worth of appliances. The contract was cancelled as the guy decided not to move to the uk. I had been paid in full, and was happy to refund for the appliances, less handling (The appliances had never left the factory in Germany.) The cabinets which had cost £35K were now worthless, Although stunning. A guy in Cornwall had them for £2k, which was basically the cost for me to have them transported to him. I do hope that you get it sorted. However, no written contract, you may (by a judge) be expected to accept wear and tear, on an item which has been on display in a public showroom. I know that most of the damaged caused is due to careless removal but........ I would suggest that you go through the items, list and photograph them, and approach the Kitchen Showroom with a "We don't want this to become a problem, and would like to work with you to get this resolved" If they are a big Mereway purchaser, and the items are still current, Mereway may well supply replacement items at minimun cost (A few hundred quid) A Magic man would be able to make most of that damage disappear. At a guess about £300 quid. If you go in heavy handed right at the start, you might just end up with no resolution, and a lot of firewood.  

[SteamyTea]

Did you pay by credit card?

[nod]

I wouldn’t beat yourself up about paying upfront 

Most want payment upfront 

 

We ordered a German Nolte kitchen Four items badly damaged 

A 5 mtr stainless finger rail was badly scratched 

But wrapped anyway 

I don’t think any of the kitchen suppliers cover themselves in glory when it comes to Customer service 

[canalsiderenovation]

13 hours ago, Big Jimbo said:

I would suggest that you go through the items, list and photograph them, and approach the Kitchen Showroom with a "We don't want this to become a problem

 

I did this first thing Saturday and followed up Sunday with a polite but firm email. No contact Monday at all from him and he must be telling staff to avoid my calls.

 

I've got another Mereway agent pricing up replacement items so I know the cost of buying them. The kitchen was in great condition when we viewed, it's been soley damaged from removal. We did a thorough inspection prior to removal.

 

I'm not sure what's reasonable cost but it seemed reasonable to us. We know a similar kitchen (even without appliances) would have cost a lot more. We actually got another Mereway agent to design us a kitchen almost identical so we knew how much it would have been to purchase and we had compared against some of the ex display kitchen sites (newandused, kitchen exchange etc) too. We also had priced a DIY kitchen so had a rough idea of unit cost (albeit we didn't like any of the DIY kitchen ones) so we did our homework on unit cost.

 

The appliances, sink, pop up plug socket, led lighting etc were all included so I guess this is where the real value is. We have Quooker tap & cube, and all Siemens top of the range appliances. Hob, fridge, dishwasher, a single oven, steam oven and coffee machine.

[recoveringbuilder]

Our kitchen was hand made by a company in Fife., it came primed and once it was fitted a painter was sent out to paint it, then followed by a visit from the project manager who picked up on a couple of streaks inside the doors and a handle which he wasn’t happy with, so their installer and painter returned to sort this out. After this was attended to they wrapped it all up to avoid any damage by the builders who were still on site, They even told us to call them in after 6 months in case there were any adjustments needed once the cabinets had been loaded although we didn’t do it as they were all fine, we were also left a pot of paint in the colour in case we needed to touch anything in. Of all the installers we had in they had to be the best , everything on schedule and no problems.