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Some "high street" outlets deserve to go out of business.


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Okay in this case not perhaps so much of "high street" but a shed.

 

So we are shopping for the kitchen.  On our shopping list is a big fridge/freezer. A matching oven and built in microwave or combination oven. A built in dishwasher. An island cooker hood. A gas / electric hob.

 

You would think there was enough there to get any shop manager drooling with excitement and wanting to relieve us of our hard earned for that little lot.

 

Well sadly there only appears to be one outlet in town that might sell that lot, Curry's / PC world. So we have been there tonight.  What a thoroughly miserable experience.

 

Lets start with the Fridge / Freezer. We saw the one we liked a few weeks back at £449. That wasn't marked as a sale item, just it's normal price.  Today it is marked as end of line sale for £499.  The spotty faced assistant was no use so we asked for the manager. A sour faced lady appeared and offered us £20 off the £499.  I told her we wanted it for £449. Nope no deal to be had.

 

Ovens.  Well they had a number of built in conventional ovens, but not a single built in microwave or combination oven. Another dead loss.

 

Cooker hoods. About 4 back to wall hoods, but not a single one for an island.

 

We didn't bother looking at dishwashers.

 

So here we are, a couple expecting to buy all the kit for a new kitchen, they could not sell us a single item.  Their shoddy stock and even more shoddy attitude to pricing and customers means I vote they should stop wasting retail space and close down, the sooner the better.

 

Off to buy our stuff on line now.

 

 

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The sheds have given up on the quality/custom end of the market. They just want to shift easy to sell stuff like homewares, surprised they sell kitchens at all these days.

 

Got our latest washing machine from AO. They delivered it next day which was a Sunday. They would have unpacked it and installed it had we wanted. They took away the old one.

 

There aren't many built in microwave ovens (according to our kitchen supplier) and they are more expensive. Ours is a Neff.

 

Our Bosch dishwasher has given good services. Currently 11 years old.  Had to replace a heater last year but Bosch parts are easy to get.

 

 

Edited by Temp
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Ikea do a full range of built in stuff and all of it has a 5 year warranty. 

 

John Lewis can be surprisingly good value too - their own range stuff is rebadged AEG but with a longer warranty. 

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Try co-op electrical on line.  I chanced upon them a few years ago when AO let me down.  Co-op were amazingly good service and value. I bought a washing machine. a tumble  drier and an American fridge freezer for the temp house we were renting. All are still going. The fridge/freezer is a Hiaer, not. a brand I had heard of but it is just brilliant, I recommend it.

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27 minutes ago, Temp said:

There aren't many built in microwave ovens (according to our kitchen supplier) and they are more expensive. Ours is a Neff.

Ours is a NEFF too and we think its great it can be every type of oven (fan / upper / lower etc) and a pretty clever microwave as well it does not have a rotating plate it swirls the MWaves around at the top, you can use metal utensils in it and it will grill as well. Its only limitation is size anything bigger than a large chicken and its stuffed.

 

PS its the previous version of this one: https://www.johnlewis.com/neff-c17mr02n0b-built-in-combination-microwave-oven-stainless-steel/p1937166

 

Edited by MikeSharp01
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6 hours ago, lizzie said:

Try co-op electrical on line.  I chanced upon them a few years ago when AO let me down.  Co-op were amazingly good service and value. I bought a washing machine. a tumble  drier and an American fridge freezer for the temp house we were renting. All are still going. The fridge/freezer is a Hiaer, not. a brand I had heard of but it is just brilliant, I recommend it.

 

+1 to Co-op. Had a good few appliances off of them. Only issue we had was a dent in the side of a Hotpoint WMD960 washing machine found on delivery. Saying that it isn't visible once installed and we got a HUGE discount off it.

 

The machine has been crap mind, so glad we have a service contract on it. It's paid for itself numerous times. From drum bearings to main board to rust! 

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There are quite often discount codes available for the co-op so have a Google first and try. Also they give cashback via Quidco (clear cookies for the site before going via Quidco or use a different browser). Look at Quidco as a bonus if it tracks rather than a ‘must receive’ to make the purchase worthwhile as sometimes despite all best efforts it doesn’t. Not all discount codes and Quidco work together but you may get lucky. 

 

 

 

 

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Edited by newhome
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12 hours ago, ProDave said:

A sour faced lady appeared and offered us £20 off the £499.  I told her we wanted it for £449. Nope no deal to be had.

...

Off to buy our stuff on line now.

 

 

There is a causal relationship here.

 

High Street retail is in its death throws, its remaining function to satisfy those who demand compulsive retail therapy between episodes of Jeremy Kyle.

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This reminds me of the time I went to look at an oven from the high street - would have bought if it there had been a decent price. They had two of the particular one I was looking at on display in different areas of the store. As I looked at it, an assistant came out and changed the price on the display, reducing it by £150. He didn't change the other one. 

 

So, I approached a different employee and asked about their price match policy. At the time, it was double the difference if you found it cheaper elsewhere. 

 

"So, it has to be a bricks and mortar store?" 

"Yeah."

"And it has to be within 10 miles?"

"Yeah"

"And it can't be using a staff discount or anything?"

"Nope. Where have you seen it cheaper?"

"It's just over there!"

 

Amazingly, he did not find this as hilariously funny as I did. I argued my case so extensively to the manager that he gave in eventually. I suspect that they have since changed the policy. 

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We bought our American fridge freezer through AO and they were great, on unwrapping I found a very small dent on the door right at eye level ( must be factory dent as behind handle line), they offered money off but I declined (new house, all new kit). They delivered another new one 8 o clock the next morning, unwrapped it for inspection, wrapped the old one and took it away. Fabulous customer service.

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The ovens are not such an issue. Actually Howdens have a better choice than any single shop I have seen, I just need to see how much room for maneuver they have in the prices when I go back.

 

The issue is turning out to be the Fridge.  That has been subject to a lot of discussion. SWMBO now does not want a double door American style thing, they are "too big"  But nearly all the upright FF's are 60cm wide or less and just too small and just look too tall and skinny.  We found this Beko one that is 70cm wide and has a lot more volume.  If we can get it for the £449 it was previously on sale for, we would buy one.  Nobody local has it.  Can't find it on line. There are a few on ebay but down south and collection only.  The blood boiling thing is it is now on "clearance sale" for £499.  If only that stupid woman would do it for £449 we would buy it, I feel I am being ripped off, being asked to pay more than a recently advertised normal price for a clearance sale item. This is as much a matter of principle than anything else.  Oh and the REALLY stupid thing, they also had the new model that is replacing it. Exactly the same body and interior, just slightly different designed doors. £300 more. Forget that.

 

 

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Arghh, that is so frustrating. I'm with your wife, I'll be honest - some of those american things are tiny inside! Would you consider an integrated one? I picked up a liebherr one off gumtree for £100 and it is absolutely enormous. We ended getting a full height fridge and freezer (separate units) and are going to put them next to each other. Loads more capacity. 

Edited by divorcingjack
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The integrated ones tend to be 60cm wide only, and you add another £300 for a cupboard to wrap round it.  The FF is going on it's own, not next to the kitchen units so there is no merit in having it integrated into a unit.

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I had that type of beko fridge with the water dispenser for near 8 years. Never gave a min of trouble. Only got rid as it didn't fit anywhere in the new house. It's still going strong in the sister in law's.

Edited by Declan52
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Just now, ProDave said:

The "target" is to get one, delivered, for £449 or less so I can stop feeling cheated. So those are too expensive I am afraid. The Silver one from AO will do that is SWMBO finds the colour acceptable.

 

Lol, fridges last forever so don’t feel cheated as you are in this for the long term so spread across the lifetime it is peanuts. 

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