The kitchen has stalled to a halt. New fitters came into day, and their opening gambit was that we'd need to move 2 pipes a GCH and a water pipe for the washing machine to fit. which means that every single space has been measured incorrectly and 'nothing fits where it should'. They told me the best thing to do would be to rip everything out and start again. To be fair they were voicing everything I have been thinking the last few days.
They seemed pretty sound, but I told them I wasn't prepared for them to continue until I'd raised this with the store. The thought of hacking through more pipes or compromising on more units has got to me. The fact that we are spending a small fortune on the kitchen, yet have been treated appallingly, had our kitchen chopped and drilled apart in the space of 3 days, and to top it all we still don't have a kitchen is finally getting to me.
Enough is enough. I need to get this fiasco sorted out. What a fricking mess. It's time to get tough Maccy. Watch this space...
Tuesday, 4 October 2011
Sunday, 2 October 2011
Cowboys (& it's not 'yee harhh')
Bad week last week. I decided after 3 days of hell with the kitchen fitters, that I wouldn't have them back on site. The fitter was subcontracted by Magnet to fit our new kitchen and from day 1 it has been a fiasco. Every (and I mean 'every') space had been mis-measured (by him) at the survey stage, and as a result our builder had to drill into every newly plastered and painted wall to try and squeeze in the various units. Some doors / plinths were missing and when I told him theywere available for pick up at the store, the fitter told me that '(he's) not a driver' and that it was for me to source them and ring him when they were delivered.
Having turned up at 3pm on Thursday, he told me at 5pm as he was packing to go home that he wouldn't be back on Friday, and 'would only do 1 more day', once I'd sourced the missing bits from Magnet. Seeing him leaving, I asked him to ensure he had moved all the packaging (piled high across the width of my garden) out to the front, to which he refused, despite my pleas that I had 2 children & the weekend was looming. Given he wasn't coming back to finish on Friday I would need to use the garden over the coming days. Still telling me he wasn't moving it to the front, he only relented when I said if he didn't move it out, I would have no option but to sue Magnet in the event of any harm coming to my small children in the event of accident.
He left me with a messy, unfinished kitchen, holes gauged out of walls, a cooker hood that bowed in the middle where it had been badly fitted, a back-to-front wall unit light, missing units, and doors that wouldn't open due to being poorly fitted. And more than that he left me feeling sick to my guts that someone could be so rude, surly, and downright maverick, while in my own home, providing a service I had paid for, and which was ultimately paying their wage.
I decided this couldn't go on, and on Friday, I rang the store, cataloguing the issues and said I wasn't prepared to have him back on site again. To their absolute credit the manager from Magnet took it all on board, he visited the site today, apologised profusely and appears to be taking steps to rectify all the issues including getting us another fitter that he has worked with previously. He told us that all the staff have changed, and he as the manager is new to this store, that he has no relationship with this fitter and did not know he had been allocated to us. And that this fitter has made mistakes previously and they were not using him anymore. Hopefully he will now rectify the problems, deal with it swiftly and get our kitchen finished, perhaps better than ever before.
I really appreciated his honesty today at any rate. It was a big decision for me to make the call not to have the fitter back again, I'd found myself thinking that perhaps the chaos and the rudeness was normal, and it was me being a difficult client. So, I hope to put the experience of the last few days down to a maverick fitter, not the store. If they can remedy it quickly and correctly with no further issues, then it will undo all the pain of the last week and I will feel positive about this kitchen again rather than ground down by the whole thing.
The fitter we had was 'Jopar's kitchens', a rogue trader if ever there was, in my book (blog!) at least.
Having turned up at 3pm on Thursday, he told me at 5pm as he was packing to go home that he wouldn't be back on Friday, and 'would only do 1 more day', once I'd sourced the missing bits from Magnet. Seeing him leaving, I asked him to ensure he had moved all the packaging (piled high across the width of my garden) out to the front, to which he refused, despite my pleas that I had 2 children & the weekend was looming. Given he wasn't coming back to finish on Friday I would need to use the garden over the coming days. Still telling me he wasn't moving it to the front, he only relented when I said if he didn't move it out, I would have no option but to sue Magnet in the event of any harm coming to my small children in the event of accident.
He left me with a messy, unfinished kitchen, holes gauged out of walls, a cooker hood that bowed in the middle where it had been badly fitted, a back-to-front wall unit light, missing units, and doors that wouldn't open due to being poorly fitted. And more than that he left me feeling sick to my guts that someone could be so rude, surly, and downright maverick, while in my own home, providing a service I had paid for, and which was ultimately paying their wage.
I decided this couldn't go on, and on Friday, I rang the store, cataloguing the issues and said I wasn't prepared to have him back on site again. To their absolute credit the manager from Magnet took it all on board, he visited the site today, apologised profusely and appears to be taking steps to rectify all the issues including getting us another fitter that he has worked with previously. He told us that all the staff have changed, and he as the manager is new to this store, that he has no relationship with this fitter and did not know he had been allocated to us. And that this fitter has made mistakes previously and they were not using him anymore. Hopefully he will now rectify the problems, deal with it swiftly and get our kitchen finished, perhaps better than ever before.
I really appreciated his honesty today at any rate. It was a big decision for me to make the call not to have the fitter back again, I'd found myself thinking that perhaps the chaos and the rudeness was normal, and it was me being a difficult client. So, I hope to put the experience of the last few days down to a maverick fitter, not the store. If they can remedy it quickly and correctly with no further issues, then it will undo all the pain of the last week and I will feel positive about this kitchen again rather than ground down by the whole thing.
The fitter we had was 'Jopar's kitchens', a rogue trader if ever there was, in my book (blog!) at least.
Friday, 30 September 2011
kitchen catastrophe
I woke at 5 this morning feeling sick with progress on the kitchen fitting and the experience of dealing with a maverick, rude kitchen installer. (Jopar's Kitchens - subcontracted to Magnet). Following the experiences of the last few days, I have come to the decision the relationship has broken down irrevocably.
Walls have been hacked, cupboards botched, I've been left to source missing unit doors, the list goes on: I rang the kitchen company Magnet, catalogued the issues we've had, told them that the fitter has been horrendous to work with on site, and concluded we aren't prepared to let him come back on site.
I can't see any way round it. We've had builders working here without any issue for the last 4 months, and in 3 days, one man has made what should be an exciting experience, almost unbearable.
I am hopeful that I can write this off as a bad experience with one installer, not the company itself. We'll see. I rang Magnet today to outline the stage we were at, and stated that I now wanted to hand the situation over to them to resolve, so that I could try and get back the dream of the new kitchen and not the reality of this nightmare installation. They have 5 days to sort it out. The worktop goes on next Thursday.
Walls have been hacked, cupboards botched, I've been left to source missing unit doors, the list goes on: I rang the kitchen company Magnet, catalogued the issues we've had, told them that the fitter has been horrendous to work with on site, and concluded we aren't prepared to let him come back on site.
I can't see any way round it. We've had builders working here without any issue for the last 4 months, and in 3 days, one man has made what should be an exciting experience, almost unbearable.
I am hopeful that I can write this off as a bad experience with one installer, not the company itself. We'll see. I rang Magnet today to outline the stage we were at, and stated that I now wanted to hand the situation over to them to resolve, so that I could try and get back the dream of the new kitchen and not the reality of this nightmare installation. They have 5 days to sort it out. The worktop goes on next Thursday.
Thursday, 29 September 2011
Kitchen continued
The templaters came in to measure up for the worktop today. Can't wait. It is almost palpable that we'll actually have a clean, new kitchen one day soon. True to current form, their plan only shows a template needed for one side of the kitchen, not both.
Our kitchen supplier is rubbish from what I can see, as at design stage we agreed the kitchen would be templated both sides. What would we do otherwise?The price we paid assumed it was all accounted for.
My husband gets fed up with me sometimes because I'm usually really anal about the level of control I exert over things, yet when I don't get everything written down, i's dotted and t's crossed, double and triple checked, I can guarantee I wish I had. Damned if you do, damned if you don't?
Our kitchen supplier is rubbish from what I can see, as at design stage we agreed the kitchen would be templated both sides. What would we do otherwise?The price we paid assumed it was all accounted for.
My husband gets fed up with me sometimes because I'm usually really anal about the level of control I exert over things, yet when I don't get everything written down, i's dotted and t's crossed, double and triple checked, I can guarantee I wish I had. Damned if you do, damned if you don't?
Wednesday, 28 September 2011
Kitchen fitter fiasco
Sadly, this blog seems to be turning into a lament on all things construction. Today is no exception.
The kitchen fitters are in. They guy who runs the fitting (and who surveyed the site 6 weeks ago) didn't turn up day 1 (he was in court (!), apparently). Instead, his proxy crew flagged a number of issues with the measurements: Somehow we lost 150ml between a wall and chimney so a cupboard we've ordered is too now too big for space. And so it went on ...
The main man turned up last night at 5.30, while I was doing tea time for the kids and looking after a friend of williams from school. On anyday this time is a busy time in our house. Yesterday, it was mayhem. My 2 year old kept pinching my son's friend, my son shouting and telling her off, all of them screaming in between telling me they needed a 'wee wee'. In the midst of this, the fitter man was trying to tell me all the survey shortcomings was the builders fault. Apparently the plaster the builder put on must have expanded to make the 150ml difference on one wall. Or maybe the guys ruler wasn't working... I got cross, not like me, and had to tell him we should call it a day. I'd had enough by then.
Today, more problems. The bay window has hit the same problem. Its 200ml too small (now) so the cupboards don't fit: the plug for the tumble dryer has had to moved: the pipe plumbed for the dishwasher has to be taken outside the wall, not behind the units. We've had to re-site a spur for the dishwasher. The latest problem is the free-standing w/machine which is to be housed behind a unit door. I specifically discussed this issue with the fitter myself when he surveyed, but the fitter feigned complete ignorance and says he doesn't remember it, and so hasn't planned for, and essentially, it's not on his 'notes'.
What can you do, record every conversation? get him to write down what we've agreed? well, yes, seems to be the answer. Except when you are face to face with someone who you think knows their job, it doesn't cross your mind that they are incompetent and dodgy. I think we have a rogue trader on our hands and I feel stuck between a rock and a hardplace.
As a result, our builder spent the morning carving up the work he's spent 3 months doing. All the while the kitchen guy saying it's everyone else's fault not his. Absolutely farcical. I have been fuming today. To boot, he's rude, patronising and I don't trust a word he says. I never realised how emotional a kitchen could be. I used to close down companies without batting an eyelid, much, yet this makes my heart pound, and I can't seem to hold a rational conversation with this man without getting cross.
2 more days of this to go. Joy.
The kitchen fitters are in. They guy who runs the fitting (and who surveyed the site 6 weeks ago) didn't turn up day 1 (he was in court (!), apparently). Instead, his proxy crew flagged a number of issues with the measurements: Somehow we lost 150ml between a wall and chimney so a cupboard we've ordered is too now too big for space. And so it went on ...
The main man turned up last night at 5.30, while I was doing tea time for the kids and looking after a friend of williams from school. On anyday this time is a busy time in our house. Yesterday, it was mayhem. My 2 year old kept pinching my son's friend, my son shouting and telling her off, all of them screaming in between telling me they needed a 'wee wee'. In the midst of this, the fitter man was trying to tell me all the survey shortcomings was the builders fault. Apparently the plaster the builder put on must have expanded to make the 150ml difference on one wall. Or maybe the guys ruler wasn't working... I got cross, not like me, and had to tell him we should call it a day. I'd had enough by then.
Today, more problems. The bay window has hit the same problem. Its 200ml too small (now) so the cupboards don't fit: the plug for the tumble dryer has had to moved: the pipe plumbed for the dishwasher has to be taken outside the wall, not behind the units. We've had to re-site a spur for the dishwasher. The latest problem is the free-standing w/machine which is to be housed behind a unit door. I specifically discussed this issue with the fitter myself when he surveyed, but the fitter feigned complete ignorance and says he doesn't remember it, and so hasn't planned for, and essentially, it's not on his 'notes'.
What can you do, record every conversation? get him to write down what we've agreed? well, yes, seems to be the answer. Except when you are face to face with someone who you think knows their job, it doesn't cross your mind that they are incompetent and dodgy. I think we have a rogue trader on our hands and I feel stuck between a rock and a hardplace.
As a result, our builder spent the morning carving up the work he's spent 3 months doing. All the while the kitchen guy saying it's everyone else's fault not his. Absolutely farcical. I have been fuming today. To boot, he's rude, patronising and I don't trust a word he says. I never realised how emotional a kitchen could be. I used to close down companies without batting an eyelid, much, yet this makes my heart pound, and I can't seem to hold a rational conversation with this man without getting cross.
2 more days of this to go. Joy.
Tuesday, 27 September 2011
Kitchen capers
The kitchen fitters are in today. This is quite exciting.
We have hit some problems already as it appears the survey didn't take into account the walls would be plastered(!) and so one cupboard is already too big for the size available between the wall and the chimney breast. I have spent the morning liaising with the fitters, our builder, and the supplier trying to agree a solution. We have one finally. Though I'm trying not to dwell on the comment made by the manager as he left that it may be a further 3 week wait for the alternative door needed now. Surely that won't be the case for me..
In any event, having done the school run, then spent 2 hours arguing the toss over whose fault it is /not, what cupboard widths and doors will fit the remaining space, and what 'compo!' I can get back for the problem along with trying to sort out a replacement hire vehicle while my car is repaired (having been reversed into by our bi-fold company's van last week) I couldn't help ponder my husbands glib comment last night that, 4 months in, 'this project has run itself'.
We have hit some problems already as it appears the survey didn't take into account the walls would be plastered(!) and so one cupboard is already too big for the size available between the wall and the chimney breast. I have spent the morning liaising with the fitters, our builder, and the supplier trying to agree a solution. We have one finally. Though I'm trying not to dwell on the comment made by the manager as he left that it may be a further 3 week wait for the alternative door needed now. Surely that won't be the case for me..
In any event, having done the school run, then spent 2 hours arguing the toss over whose fault it is /not, what cupboard widths and doors will fit the remaining space, and what 'compo!' I can get back for the problem along with trying to sort out a replacement hire vehicle while my car is repaired (having been reversed into by our bi-fold company's van last week) I couldn't help ponder my husbands glib comment last night that, 4 months in, 'this project has run itself'.
Friday, 23 September 2011
blind-ing discovery
We have no curtains in the front room. I took down the existing salmon-grey coloured ones to wash them, originally intending to put them back as a temporary measure but I haven't put them back yet. Don't want to either.. we have big Edwardian sash windows, in need of some tlc and the curtains ran on a track under a nasty looking 80's pelmet. Not really me.
The problem however, is that as the nights draw in, the lights are on earlier and earlier which means that anyone walking past can see in: unpacked boxes, piles of interiors mags, bric-a-brack... our lovely dismantled table from Heals propped behind the sofa.. and so on.
The other day I made eye-contact with one of the parents from my sons school, obviously a local, from behind the glass divide of our windows. Not good. The situation will surely only get worse as we head into winter and a 4 o'clock sunset.
I don't want to invest in curtains (yet) until we have decorated this room. But I have found an answer to the problem with 'blinds in a box'. These are paper blinds that can be 'stuck' to the window frame, cut to size and provide privacy, yet light. I saw these while walking past a local street today and was struck by how nice they looked even though they were clearly made of paper. It's only a temporary measure, but temporary chic is better than temporary goldfish bowl as far as I'm concerned. I'll let you know how I get on with them.
The problem however, is that as the nights draw in, the lights are on earlier and earlier which means that anyone walking past can see in: unpacked boxes, piles of interiors mags, bric-a-brack... our lovely dismantled table from Heals propped behind the sofa.. and so on.
The other day I made eye-contact with one of the parents from my sons school, obviously a local, from behind the glass divide of our windows. Not good. The situation will surely only get worse as we head into winter and a 4 o'clock sunset.
I don't want to invest in curtains (yet) until we have decorated this room. But I have found an answer to the problem with 'blinds in a box'. These are paper blinds that can be 'stuck' to the window frame, cut to size and provide privacy, yet light. I saw these while walking past a local street today and was struck by how nice they looked even though they were clearly made of paper. It's only a temporary measure, but temporary chic is better than temporary goldfish bowl as far as I'm concerned. I'll let you know how I get on with them.
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