Seven long months of home improvement hell is how the couple, from Hull, describe their experience after buying a kitchen from B&Q which they also paid the store chain to install. Only when they asked Crusader for help did they get the service they originally expected.

"Before that it was a massive failure, " says Mark, 39, a computer specialist who works from home.

"The B&Q team pulled out three days before they were due to start and a lone third-party fitter was shunted in." Missed appointments, insufficient materials, missing or wrong parts, and incompatible appliance replacements became the norm.

"Spending £10,000 was a major purchase for us but months on we still had a leaking sink and a broken dishwasher and microwave, yet they were all supposed to be brand new, " adds Mark, who thought his complaints sent by recorded delivery to head office might prompt someone to take notice. "But they were ignored, " he sighs.

"Whenever I called it took 35 minutes minimum to get through. Everyone was very nice but nothing ever actually happened. Communication was a real problem and a lot of the work remained unfinished, including one whole cupboard. We've had a lot of renovation done at home recently and it's all gone smoothly, except for the kitchen."

Crusader sent Mark's catalogue of failures to B&Q and a few weeks' later their kitchen was complete. "The service they received does not appear to be up to the standard we would expect for our customers, " said a company spokeswoman.

The firm offered the couple £514, including a £250 goodwill gesture, to cover extra expenses. But Mark has now turned this down. "It's not about greed but our actual costs came to £500, We even bought some of the missing materials ourselves just to push the job on. There has been no compensation for the disruption. It's been Crusader who got us where we are today, " he says.

Mark kept a record of the problems and now plans to take his case to Qualitas, an independent disputes resolution service for the furnishing industry and its customers. Its judges comprise Which? , Trading Standards and Citizens Advice.

SEARCH THE CRUSADER for:

B&Q RUBBISH

06.04.07, 1:58pm

The fullers nightmare sounds very similar to mine when i bought a bathroom from B&Q.i had to wait weeks for the bath panel as they said they did not stock them anymore even though there was one on show in the shop.also a broken toilet seat which they said was down to the people who delivered it,when you go and complain the staff and bosses just dont want to know as long as they have got your money, i am modernising my house and there is no way i would buy even a nail from B&Q, they have lost quite a lot of customers and are now totally RUBBISH.

• Posted by: seaqueenuk • Report Comment

TEMPERS FRAYED IN HELL'S KITCHEN

23.03.07, 8:43am

We had our kitchen fitted by a local specialist,
( warning do not use an odd job man who thinks he can fit kitchens etc) with no problems at all, the work was excellent. I would recommend you do the same if you need a new kitchen or bathroom fitted, but always check with others what their standard of work is like, if they are any good they will give you the name of a customer in the area that you can check with. Then if you agree to let them do the work do not pay them all the costs at the start, the final payment is given at the completion of the work.
I dont like B&Q and their attitude you can never get any help, I never use their stores now.

• Posted by: JimCardiff01 • Report Comment

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