"A great experience, until it wasn’t….. Incomplete Kitchen"

This review is based on my own experience with Andersons Kitchens based in Kilmarnock.

From the start, the experience with Andersons was really good… the guys at Andersons are very engaging and generally know what they are talking about.

All the problems only started once the kitchen started being installed, and they took payment…..

Wrong Designs:
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Andersons presented us with 2 design ideas for our kitchen. We picked one, and on the day of installation, we realized they had ordered the wrong one. We noticed the error immediately as it was being installed and informed the kitchen fitters. The Fitters called Andersons who told the kitchen fitters to keep fitting and deal with it after the fact.

Andersons immediately started blaming us for the error.

On reflection, we should have insisted they stop, not allowing them to finish until it was investigated.

Constant mistakes:
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Through the kitchen build, they didn’t deliver the inserts for the drawers (they did order them and delivered later), to date, have Never installed the grooves for the worktops despite telling us they ordered a jig and would be back, Didn’t order enough skirting for the top of the cupboards (they came back and sorted this), Didn’t fit shelf under the sink, and forgot to tell the fitters to install the floor which lead to an additional 2 week delay. They then tried to hit us with additional costs for plyboard, despite telling us they would cover it… (They at least honored that in the end).

So to date, the Groves have never been installed and they gave us the wrong set of drawers for under the hob…… Please note this if you are considering paying lots of money for a new kitchen, as they will give you a variation of what you asked for, based around what they want to provide ; making it easier for them and blame you for the mistakes.

The manager:
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The experience got worse when the manager Tam got involved. I explained to him that although mistakes were made in the design, we didn’t hate it, and if he was willing to pay the additional £90 for the floor fitting (Which we paid in cash to the fitter) as well as buy a nice bottle of chocolates and wine for my partner as an apology and thank you, then I would accept the wrong design with no complaint…. From my point of view, I didn’t hate it, it just isn’t what we choose.

With this compromise on offer which would have ended our debate, Tam the manager, decided to get into a war of words through email, trying his best to prove that it was our fault that they ordered the wrong drawers. He kept trying to hit me with gotcha moments to prove I was at fault, which of course he failed. He then tried extorting us for money. Instead of offering to pay for the floor fitting which i requested as a compromise, he stated that if we paid lots more money to fix the wrong drawers, he would throw in the floor fitting for FREE. So I was to pay for his mistakes?

He then showed me an email where he assumed we had agreed to a design which we at no point agreed to…. I explained to him, just because you show us something, does not mean we agreed to it…. He could not show any evidence of us agreeing to it….

Again, I suggested a compromise that would have cost him less than £200 and everyone would have been happy, but instead he wanted to try catch me out, blame me and get into a debate that could have saw them having to rip out the units and replace at great cost…. You got to ask, what was the point…

No follow up:
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As soon as the kitchen was installed, not accounting for the unfinished worktop grooves and missing parts, no one has ever followed up to see how the build went or whether we are happy…. They do not care as they now have our money…..!

Delivery:
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Please note, when delivering your kitchen, they will not let it off the truck until you sign for it….. you can’t even check everything is correct… the moment you sign for it, within 15 minutes, they had activated the finance and taken the money. Then its an uphill fight if you have any issues…

Summary:
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If you want a great end to end experience, then I would not recommend Andersons Kitchens in Kilmarnock.

They will offer a great experience, up until they get the money before installing…then its one thing after another……. I was willing to compromise and meet in the middle, however, Tam the manager just wanted to argue and has resulted in me sharing my experience on this forum.

I could have been awkward and fought them with the finance company, making them rip it all out and re-install, but that would take months and I really can’t be bothered as there are way too many other things going on in my life that take priority.

As I said, I didn’t hate the design they gave us, it just wasn’t what we asked for… so rather than spend the next 6 months fighting them, I will just express my point of view here for everyone to see.

The manager needs a lesson in humility as opposed to all the gotcha moments he tried to catch me on without success. All he did was inflame the situation when I was willing to compromise. Remember, it would have cost him less than £200 to compromise, keeping in mind we spent £16,000 on the kitchen; only to get a variation of what we asked for.

On a side note, the Kitchen fitters were great. I do not hold them responsible for Andersons not supplying enough materials, and not informing them about the floor fitting. They take their orders from Andersons. The floor fitting company was really impressive and left a nice finish despite the missing parts.

To be fair; i will also state although a lot of mistakes were being made, the staff at Andersons did try their best to fix them; the manager Tam just decided not to compromise and start a huge debate instead; ultimately inflaming the situation.

This review is from my perspective base on my own personal experience with Anderson Kitchens.