Moben Kitchens - setting the record straight
Update April 2006: As far as we know our Moben kitchen is still in one piece (we don’t live there any more). I wouldn’t use Moben again even - it sounds like we were lucky. I’d rather use a local independent kitchen specialist - you might pay more but you’ll probably get a better, customised service. Get recommendations from satisfied customers (that you can talk to) first.
I’m happy for you to leave comments about your experiences below, but do remember this isn’t an official forum and I have no control over what Moben do!
There seems to have been some miscommunication about the Merrett household and Moben Kitchens, so here is the record straightened, for all to read (including Moben, if they so wish)
A few months ago we decided we needed to install a new kitchen in our flat, as the old one was badly in need of an overhaul. We looked around at the various options, and arranged for a Moben representative to come and do a free design of our kitchen.
The designer duly arrived at the time we specified and talked to us about our requirements. He then went a did a sketch of the kitchen design and asked if we were happy with this. We chose fixture designs, appliances, etc. and then signed up for the First National loan scheme.
A surveyor came round the next week to check the work of the first designer. It then transpired that the design calculations were wrong and that not everything would fit into the kitchen the way it had been designed. Not a huge problem though – that’s why they check each others work.
We took delivery within a couple of weeks. Our fit date was moved by 3 days, but we did receive a letter to confirm this.
On the first day, the fitters arrived about half-an-hour late – not too bad and it was just unfortunate timing that a number of other things had gone wrong that day.
At close of play on Friday, the kitchen was “finished�, although we received no communication from the fitters to say so – they just left the key we had given them. Everything appeared to be in place apart from bare wires where a plug for our own fridge-freezer should have been.
I spoke to a ‘skeleton’ member of staff on Saturday who was reasonably helpful, although the term ‘not in your contract’ did come up rather too often for my liking. It was looking like it might be our fault for signing a contract and design that wasn’t correctly laid out.
On Monday I got hold of a full-time customer service staff member and explained the situation. Again, I got the “might not be in your contract� bit, although after some time on hold she did say “it does appear from the plans that there should be a 30 amp plug behind your fridge�. Bingo! So there had been a fault. She contacted the fitters to see what the situation was. I had to phone back that afternoon to chase as I had not heard anything. Later, the fitters called me to say that they had thought it strange to leave a hole in the wall, but it wasn’t on their design to fit anything there. They would be able to come back some time that week and finish the electrics.
On Tuesday I chased Moben again to get an agreed date for the fitters to return. They did call me back (no chasing from me) and arranged first thing Wednesday morning.
This morning, the fitters arrived and my wife was the target of their frustration. They said that Moben had told them that they had not used common sense on the job, and the fitters were unhappy that they were being blamed for a design problem. We never blamed them (though I did talk about common sense on Friday night in relation to the designs) The fitters were in the position of seeing what looked like an incomplete kitchen, but being tied to an incorrect design.
I phoned Moben today just to raise this issue – not to complain as such but to alert them to the fact that someone must have told the fitter that he hadn’t used common sense. The rep told me that she was the only person that had spoken to the fitter and she was confused as to who could have told the fitter that. Then she said that I had left a complaint on the Moben web site which had been made public.
Two problems with this:
1. I didn’t leave a complaint – even a comment – on the Moben website.
2. There is no publicly available comment area on the Moben website – though the rep told me that there was and that “anyone can view comments� – which seems a bit odd for a public-to-company comment system.
I did leave a comment on an independent website in response to some negative comments about Moben. I can’t find those comments now – they may not have been approved yet – but I wasn’t complaining. I mentioned the teething troubles with the job but was actually very complimentary about the company and the job.
A number of people seem to have had problems with Moben Kitchens – but this is also true of MFI, B&Q, and most other home-improvement / DIY companies.
The original guy also managed to mess up the finance agreement, but this will be easily resolved (though it does involve filling in another form, which is irritating).
Mistakes have been made on this job, but they were dealt with fairly swiftly and efficiently.
Some of the issues around Moben’s sales and promotion tactics are interesting – they always seem to have a sale on, they do make claims about last-minute savings if you sign up by a particular date (and yet everyone seems to get this). However, this is an established sales technique, so can’t really be a criticism of Moben alone In a direct-sales world.
The quality of the workmanship and materials appear to be of a very high standard. I would recommend Moben to other people, though (as with many companies) persistence is the key. Customer Services don’t always rush back to you so you need to push them to get a result.
Overall, we’re very pleased. Just one question remains – who is the phantom menace that has been using my email to send Moben comments that I didn’t make.
This page contains the official review!
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October 10th, 2005 at 10:30 pm
MOBEN! If I could do it again I wouldn’t touch them with a bargepole. I have a massive file of correspondance too weighty to put on this site but if anyone is contemplating doing business with Moben, they would do well to email me for the details.
The Technik appliances (range cooker and Hood) that they supplied were with the kitchen were nothing but trouble from the very first day and it tok us over two years and lengthy legal involvement to get the cr*p items replaced.
Moben?? NEVER AGAIN.
October 10th, 2005 at 10:45 pm
Fair enough Mr(s) Kiernan. Ths isn’t an official complaints site, though, and your email doesn’t get published (you’d be spammed to death).
Technik are a good manufacturer and we had no problems with their appliances.
Thanks for your comment though.
November 9th, 2005 at 3:35 pm
I KNOW HOW YOU ALL FEEL
I choose Moben kitchen because I like the style of kitchens and the friendly and informative salesman - unfortunatley the rest of my experience was not so good. This is what happened week by week.
WEEK ONE:
Old kitchen is removed. Man sent by also cut through central heating wiring - thus no hot water or heating.
Installation of kitchen, Fitters complain as some pieces of the installation are damaged and need replacing, they leave early as there is nothing for them to do without new cabinets
Fitters complain that they were not told they had to fit a fridge and have to leave job to find copper piping to finish job the next day. Gasman arrives to fit hob and oven. He checks the heating and says that lack of hot water and heating is nothing to do with him and we need to call a qualified gas man
Call from customer care centre ask whether we are enjoying our new kitchen- we inform them it is yet to be completed. On closer inspection two cupboard doors are damaged, one piece of cabinet panel is split and the cornicing doesn’t join also the boiler container unit is not completed
WEEK TWO:
Fitters come to finish off kitchen. Man from British gas arrives and confirms that who ever removed the kitchen cut the heating wires from the timer to the boiler hence no hot water or heating.Finally we get hot water and heating after a week.
Kitchen looks completed expect for light fitting not working, tray holder and cupboard handles are missing. We are told the handles provided are the right ones - luckily I have a catalogue to prove that they have provided the wrong handles - new ones are ordered
WEEK THREE:
Plasterer arrives but has been told he is not allowed to do the coving! Even though this has been agreed with the company.
call costumer care centre to complain about the coving work not completed in the kitchen and the fact that the plasterer has not completed all the plastering, they aplogise and say they will send someone out asap to finish off job.
Also discover that they have not fitted a tray holder, top oven cabinet is dented and boiler cabinet is scratched!
call costumer care centre to complain about the kitchen being flooded - I am told someone will call back. Next day call again to leave message - no reply
Next day call again - no reply. Kitchen still flooding try to get in touch with anyone from Moben kitchens. Luckily finally get hold of fitter who arrives the next day to fix problem. Also discover gas hob is not fully working.
WEEK FOUR:
return of plasterer who finshes off plastering but has been told under strict instructions he is not allowed to finish of coving.
and BOTH pieces of work to be completed
Sharon also calls from Customer care services to say The work was clearly not carried out with reasonable care and skill (as required by section 13 Supply of Goods and Services Act)
Moben’s brouchure states ‘A vital ingredient of every Moben kitchen is skill, from design through to fitting. Each Moben kitchen is skilfully installed by trained Moben fitters, knowledgeable in all the trades required for a trouble-free installation.’
This has not been a trouble free installation. Be careful.
A very fustrated cUstomer.
April 10th, 2007 at 11:40 am
They came to fit our kitchen. 3 months later….
a) they measured up wrong
b) they sent out 2 fridge freezers that didn’t fit in the space required
c) they said they would give us a refund for the fridge freezer….. still waiting
d) i could go on but i think their isn’t enough letters in the alphabet….
don’t touch this firm… you will regret it!
May 1st, 2007 at 2:27 pm
I wish I had read your comments above before I contracted Mobens to do my kitchen installation. This is not a complaints website so I will not go into detail, but in summary my installation was for 4 days in February - it is now May and the kitchen is still not completed, in fact half of it has to be taken out and reinstalled - I have now started to go grey with all the worry, stress, phone calls etc - like the others, I too would not recommend Moben.
July 9th, 2007 at 4:20 pm
i have had a moben kitchen for well over 25years and its still going strong
October 8th, 2007 at 8:15 pm
I wish I’d read this before I went with Moben for my kitchen. I put my experiences on http://www.moben-kitchens.co.uk. Never again.
October 15th, 2007 at 2:32 pm
SO glad I read this site! Have just had initial design and quote visit. Very expensive for a kitchen as small as mine and considering the sales guy went on and on about their customer service … really seems a bit cheeky!
November 12th, 2007 at 5:11 pm
omg, every sympathies with regards moben.they should not be allowed to opperate.our £25k kitchen started in july still not finished.no one returns our calls regarding the terrble fitters doing short cuts and bodging our supposed dream kitchen.the final straw is today complained about our waste disposal blocking our sink for the second time in three weeks because the fitter put the wrong pipes in they cant help and we cant use our new dishwasher as on the same pipe too!!!!
we have a one year old and a three year old and the kitchen smells from the waste.we wont get them to come as we are still waiting for them to sort out the problem from three weeks ago.we had to get our own drain people in at our expense.feel very angry and frustrated.
November 20th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
Moben have a lareg customer catchment due to their size. This does bring problems as the more you sell…etc.
One thing you should all do (hindsight) is shop around. Take time and never be pushed into something no matter how appetising it is. It will always be there tomorrow or the next week.
With the internet being an easy option for initial searches for your new kitchen you should start there. You can then find your local and national companies very quickly.
With regards to this blog, this is a perfect example of why companies need to get their customer services right. things do go wrong but its how the companies deal with the blips that make the difference and the “good” experience.
January 19th, 2008 at 11:17 am
Local Specialists are the way to go! Personal, Professional and reliable. The ‘big’ firms are box shifters, making money for the shareholders. Business is Business. Independent fitters and suppliers are where it’s at.
May 3rd, 2008 at 2:03 pm
I wish I had found this site BEFORE I ordered 2nd new kitchen from Moben. Had a fantastic experience from start to finish with my 1st kitchen approx 2 yrs ago. Cost me £12.500. Old one ripped out and new one installed in 3 days flat. No problems.
Then we moved house and therefore needed new kitchen. Obvious choice: Moben. BIG MISTAKE!
Again costing around same price. Kitchen paid for in full on delivery. Installation due to start 3 days later. In fact old kitchen wasn’t ripped out until 8 days later whilst telling me horror stories of fitters walking off jobs without finishing the job. Kitchen fitter ‘disappeared’ for a further 4 days leaving us with out any ameanities. We have 5yr old twins and a 6 month old baby. Not easy sterilzing bottles without a kitchen!!
Many frustrated phone calls later to Moben and we have our kitchen fitter back. (Although his working day seems to start around 11am, as he never seems to be at our house before then!) Every single day he has been on our job its been “im sorry im late i had a flat tyre/had to help my father/had to wait for a delivery” etc. There has been days when he has called me to say he will be attending and he just hasn’t turned up.
Moben have been VERY unhelpful. The project Manager Bob i believe his name is was supposed to attend on site. We are still waiting, 4 weeks later. We have given up calling Moben now to be honest as they just never return calls when they promise they will and never seem to help us. Infact in my last call to Moben I asked them outright where our support was and what was the point of a customer care service if they dont do anything to help us.
I have requested a different kitchen fitter but they apparently havent anybody else in this area. Hard to believe to be honest. It is now May bank holiday weekend and our fitter spoke to customer care yesterday after yet another failed attendance (Friday) and confirmed he would attend today(Saturday). I texted the fitter this morning to ask what time he would be here today only to be told he isnt coming and we will see him monday OR tuesday! He obviously told moben he would attend as I now can’t ring them until tuesday to inform them whats happened as they are closed for the holiday weekend. Im going to scream! Really sick of this man who thinks I have nothing better to do than waste my time waiting for him to (maybe) turn up!
He comes when he feels like it, Is very slow at his job. His work is good though (luckily!) and is quite frankly holding us to ransom as I can’t not let him in as I want my kitchen finished! Im just sick of living in a building site.
Will be sharing my opinion with him when (if) he has finally finished my kitchen.
Not that i should need a new kitchen for a while now as we intend to stay put for a few yrs, but if i ever do, i will never use Moben again. We also fully intend to seek compensation from Moben once work has completed.
Still waiting for our Fridge freezer and we are in week four of the fit. Range cooker had to be fitted by a local gasman and our kitchen fitter had to pay out of own pocket as Mobens nearest ‘own’ subcontractor is coventry!
Anyway, the saga continues…..
May 28th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
marie orr i had a great kitchen fitted by moben after months of getting quotes and checking the quality of other companys kitchens i went with moben i felt very happy with their service from the showroom staffs knowledge and help my own ideas along with the finished plans helped me get a brilliant working kitchen and when i read the moans on your site i felt i had to add my own story because we never ever hear the happy customer stories id recomend this company.
June 27th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
PLEASE PLEASE all of you get in touch with Watchdog. These guys are no better than fly by night builders. THey lie, they rip you off and i have had enough with their pathetic attempt at customer service.
All the things i have read do not surprise me. Does anyone know that they don’t actually pay their fitters fully until the job is done - even when Moben HQ are so incompitent they can’t send out the right parts. This is unfair, bullying by a large organisation who think they have the right to do what they want, when they want, how they want.
GET THEIR OPERATIONS MANNER IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN and take them down by people shopping elsewhere.
August 25th, 2008 at 8:08 pm
thanks i am considering to get new kitchen!!!!After reading this—-NNNNNNNNNNNNoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THANKS !
September 15th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
hi am so glad you have this web site, i had a sales man today from moben,15/9/08 had i told him idid not have a huge amount of money but said the kitchen i would like is heavy discounted, he said he even knocked money of coupons off ie 50% + another 10% and it still came out as nearly 15,000 and he wanted us to take out finace, so am glad i said no and read your emails, i think i would of had a break down paying all that money out and having lots of problems, although i do know for a fact that if you payed on fiance and job not complete ge money who fiances the credit will hold paymnent back untill the job is complete if that helps anyone that has gone down that route and still not got there kitchen fitted