Wren Kitchens Door Falling off

[guest77]

Not sure where to post. Apologies for long post, trying to be concise. We Ordered a beautiful Wren Kitchen, husband is a carpenter and is a seasoned kitchen installer. Fitted our own kitchen over the summer which was pre assembled. A good 25% had to be replaced as we unboxed it because of damages. We have photographed some of the install (so excited were we). We have even kept one of the damaged doors it was so appalling.....and even had a boot print in the tall unit where someone had walked in it. Anyway. Had our floor tiles laid (expensive) and paid a lot of money to have our existing marble worktop re cut for the kitchen. 2 hours after the marble was installed, I opened a wall cupboard to get a jug, closed the door and turned. Next thing I was hit to the floor, and in shock. The four screws holding the 9.8kg door had ripped through the carcassing and hit me across the back. I had no bruising, just winded so didn't take pictures. However, next day in daylight, noticed the door had hit the worktop, taking a small chunk out of it, and cracked the freshly laid ceramic tile. Have been back and forth with Wren for quite a few weeks and all they want to do is offer (now upped it to) £350 as good will with a new unit. The cost to rectify all this damage is around £850. I don't care if our fitters mend the damage or if they send their own, I just want my kitchen finished. They are arguing they can see not reason for the hinges or hinge plate to fail. Our argument is it was installed properly, (even the guy inspecting it said he could see no reason for the door to fall) A lot of fitters remove the plate and put an extra screw under the plate, which in fact weakens the chipboard, the inspector guy pointed this out (but we knew anyway). they are now saying it is not their fault. I have read their terms and conditions it says the goods must be fit for purpose....which in this case its not (could have hit a child). Trading Standards also said the Burden of Proof lies with Wren to prove the fault lies with us....but they keep saying their Field Installation Guy can't find the fault. I have kept that door, still have the unit up, and kept another unit (plus umpteen pictures of other issues) incase we can get this to court or arbitration to show how shoddy some of the work is. they keep spouting about their platinum standard kitchens. We aren't saying they are not. Just whoever has put the screws into this unit has not done so properly. Screws have literally ripped out of the unit. Has anyone else had this issue? or have any idea what we should do. We have been dealing with a young lady that keeps coming back and wanting us to settle for a low amount. I have included the CEO in a couple of these to say we were taking it further (said initial girl got the hump we deemed that necessary), someone from his end says we will be getting a call, which hasn't happened....then the original girl just emails with the second offer. which wont cover half the costs. I have a feeling this is going to arbitration/court....can anybody advise. And thankyou if you get this far x

[atticus]

Can you please clarify one thing. Who fitted this kitchen? Was it your husband, or a contractor provided by Wren?

[dslippy]

If they have offered the cost of a new unit plus £350, what is the problem?

[guest77]

Can you please clarify one thing. Who fitted this kitchen? Was it your husband, or a contractor provided by Wren?

My husband, who is a seasoned kitchen fitter, used to trouble shoot and put right issues with other fitters for ikea. The quote we gave for rectifying issues was consistent, if on the low side of what contractors would quote.

[guest77]

If they have offered the cost of a new unit plus £350, what is the problem?

because the costing of putting all the issues right is around £850. The cost of having the marble worktop repaired is around £400 alone, let alone the cost of excavating a tile without damaging others around it from dura mat (honey comb matting for underfloor heating) and replacing it. Then the labour of removing and rehanging the other unit and putting back the above and under unit lighting

[des8]

Just to clarify the situation:
Is your complaint based on the failure of a preassemble unit causing the door to detach?

If so I would suggest you are covered by the provisions of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (CRA2015) in that the goods were not of a satisfactory quality.

Have you exhausted WREN's complaints policy?
If so you can lodge a complaint with the Dispute Resolution Ombudsman, whose decision is binding on the company, but not you if you disagree.
https://www.disputeresolutionombudsm...chens-limited#

[atticus]

Your answer to my question does not answer my question.

[guest77]

Your answer to my question does not answer my question.

apologies, yes he did

[guest77]

Just to clarify the situation:
Is your complaint based on the failure of a preassemble unit causing the door to detach?

If so I would suggest you are covered by the provisions of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (CRA2015) in that the goods were not of a satisfactory quality.

Have you exhausted WREN's complaints policy?
If so you can lodge a complaint with the Dispute Resolution Ombudsman, whose decision is binding on the company, but not you if you disagree.
https://www.disputeresolutionombudsm...chens-limited#

Hi, yes, that is exactly our issue. The units are pre assembled, our complaint is Wren staff screw the units together in a Wren factory, all that is required is bolt them to the wall. CAB did say that under Section 25 of something or other, the goods were not fit for use, also under Wren's policy they have a clause saying about goods being fit for use. Wren are arguing that their field installation manager cannot see any reason why the door would have fallen off, in otherwords, we have not caused or tampered with the hinges (some builders take the hinge plate off and insert another screw for strength, but this infact weakens the chipboard), he specifically looked for that and said, I can see this hasn't happened here. In otherwords, our fitting was spot on. CAB said that the Burden of Proof lay with Wren to prove that we caused the issue.and they cant. But they simply say they cannot see why it fell off. We also have kept another door which we kept back which shows the type of damage of items sent out,(this door didn't have hingeplates as was attached to a rail, and still sent out completely damaged). which is exactly the same damage as the door that fell off. The only difference was we would never have seen the issue with the door that fell because it was covered by hinge plates, which are not required to be touched during install. The hinges are still in the door that fell, what gave way was their 4 screws they screwed into the chipboard carcassing that supported an almost 10kg door. We just want want them to pay for the consequential loss caused by their failed construct. We have given them the opportunity to send in their own contractors, so long as they do a professional job. They offered £350 probably to make us go away, but that would not cover the cost of rectifying all the damage. I haven't even asked for money for the fact that the door struck me and knocked me to the ground. We were unsure whether to go forward with Small Claims Court rather than DRO?

[atticus]

"Something or other" will be the Consumer Rights Act 2015, but it is section 10 that relates to fitness for purpose and not section 25, which is about delivery of wrong quantity.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/section/10

[guest77]

"Something or other" will be the Consumer Rights Act 2015, but it is section 10 that relates to fitness for purpose and not section 25, which is about delivery of wrong quantity.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/section/10

thank you.....just trying to remember what I was quoted from CAB.

[atticus]

I hope it helps you to be able to refer to the legislation correctly when dealing with Wren.

[guest77]

I hope it helps you to be able to refer to the legislation correctly when dealing with Wren.

of course.....very grateful. We have back and forthed many times now, so it is probably going to have to go to court / arbitration. Kitchen was started in June, and can't finish till this is sorted.

[echat11]

How did you pay for it? If you paid by Credit Card, you could consider a Section 75 claim. Time limits apply, so you need to act swiftly.

https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rig...t-aZCUb9i8Kwfa

[guest77]

I very much value everything you guys have advised. So grateful. Could I possibly ask just a few more things before we proceed to Small Claims Court?, The girl in the legal department has said she is being more than generous offering (under) half as they can't 'see' why the door fell off. I have sent her a photo of another door with identical damage to the cupboard we are disputing showing that this how some items were actually delivered, to show the type of damage sustained either in the factory or transit. She told us we can contact their Furniture Ombudsmen. For clarity I would love confirmation (1) are we within our rights to use small claims court rather than their furniture ombudsmen, as advised by CAB, surely from a legal point of view we would have a better chance at stating our case? (2) would I be correct in quoting that the 'burden of proof' lies with them to prove that the damage was caused by us? ( It wasn't, as all we did was install, not construct....as our contract was to buy pre-built kitchen units from Wren to be delivered into our kitchen. So surely any damage under manufacture or transit should be accountable by them? Our job was to remove the box and fit the units to the wall, which doesn't involve screwing and uscrewing hinge plates.. (3) any consequential loss should be covered by Wren, I am not even seeking any monies for being struck to the ground, and in shock!. I will also be quoting Consumer Rights Act 2015 (CRA2015) in that the goods were not of a satisfactory quality. ( I did say that to them, but they just email back spouting how they have gold or platinum awards. I just need to be clear I am going about this the right way, we have exhausted emails. it will be nerve racking for me as it is, I am just looking for conviction in the route to take. Thank you in advance.