RE: Order Number 55XXXX

Dear Mr. Hill, Ms. Fowkes and Mr. Dilworth,
I am writing to complain about the poor service my husband and I have received from your company, particularly your customer service department. We first had contact with Moben Kitchens in August, when I called the local showroom in Ealing to ask what their hours were. The woman on the phone said that it would be better to send over a representative, since that person could tell us everything we wanted to know about your products. The sales person arrived on August 27th, and proceeded to tell us to go to the showroom to look since we obviously did not know what we wanted. I explained that I had called and the showroom had set up the appointment. Neither your salesperson, nor my husband and myself were very happy to have had our time wasted. We did go and look at the showroom, and came up with some ideas, your salesperson contacted us again, and we agreed on a kitchen.

I then spoke to your people to arrange survey, delivery, and fitting dates. Your surveyor showed up on time and was extremely helpful and professional. The person who initially called to set up the delivery date tried to bully me into taking an earlier delivery date, saying that we had agreed to a discount for early delivery. This was not true. We ended up having the delivery on the date of our choice, Saturday, October 26th. Upon delivery, we were told that the custom sized doors that had been ordered were not with the shipment, but that they would be coming along the week following while the kitchen fitters were in.
The fitters were due to arrive on Monday, the 28th of October. I stayed home from work that day waiting for them to arrive, which they never did.

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I called your customer service number to enquire where they were at 11:00 am. After being put on hold for at least 10 minutes, and then disconnected, when I finally called back I was told that they weren't scheduled until the next day. I explained that I had written down that day in my calendar, and that since I am a contract employee, I do not get paid for any time I take off work. Your customer service representative said she would try to contact the fitters, about gaining access the following day, and someone would call me back. No one called me back. This was my first experience with your appalling customer service staff.

The fitters turned up the next morning, Tuesday, the 29th. They were very polite, and proceeded to do their job. We were told that the kitchen would be finished by Thursday or Friday. They said they would check on our doors. They had our phone numbers, and we expected to receive a call on Friday to tell us they were finished. When we got home Friday, the kitchen was basically done, apart from our four customised doors, and a glass door that was supposed to be on the corner unit. A big box containing plans, and other materials was left, as was all of the rubbish from the former kitchen out on our front lawn. They didn't leave us a note, but we assumed that they would be coming back to put on the remaining doors and clear away the rubbish.

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I called your customer service department on Tuesday, November 5th to enquire about the missing doors, the rubbish, to report a missing cover from the light on the extractor fan, and also to report that our washing machine was filling with water. The person I spoke to said she would check on the doors, and contact one of the fitters to look at the washing machine. Again, she told me someone would get back to me. She called and left a message on my home phone voice mail to say that the doors had been ordered, and that we should expect a call from a fitter the next day to come and look at our washing machine.

The next day, the fitter called my husband at 5:00 pm and said he was waiting outside our door. We were both still at work, but had someone contacted us earlier to be at home, we could have been. He did clear away the rubbish. My husband spoke to him after dialling the missed call number on his mobile, and said we would try to arrange a time to be home the next day. I called his mobile first thing in the morning, on Thursday, Nov. 7th, and he came over straight away to look at the washing machine. His name was C, and again, he was very polite and professional. He fiddled around with the pipes in back of the machine, and told me to use the machine, and see if the problem was fixed. He gave me his mobile and said I could call him if it wasn't, or also to call customer service.

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The next morning we woke up, and had water in our machine again. I called C on his mobile to let him know the problem wasn't fixed, and left a message. Later in the day, I called the customer service number to tell them, and explain that I had seen C, but could not reach him. The woman I spoke to, A, said someone would get back to me. No one did. Over the weekend, we used the drain cycle on the machine, and then did a few loads of laundry, and that problem has seemed to rectify itself. However, if it hadn't, I would have had to call again on Monday to try to get someone around. As far as your customer service was aware, the problem was still not addressed.

At this point, there was still no sign of the doors. When I had called the previous week, I was told that the doors were due to be in stock the following week, which should have been the week of the 11th. I didn't hear anything, so I called the customer service number again, and spoke to Andrea. She said she would look into it. Later that day, my husband received a call at his work to say the doors were ready to be delivered, and could he be there on Monday, the 18th. He said he couldn't, but could on Wednesday, the 20th of November. The delivery was scheduled for that morning.

My husband took the Wednesday morning off work to wait for the delivery. At midday, he called your customer service number, and was told that the delivery was being made that day, and he would just have to wait. He called again at approximately 4:00 pm, and was then told that there was never a delivery scheduled for that day at all, and that he would have to contact them again to arrange another time.

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I called your customer service the next day, Thursday, Nov. 21st at approximately 10:00 am. I asked for A, but was told that A was no longer covering our area. I spoke to someone named S instead. Initially, S informed me that the doors were delivered the day before. I assured her that this wasn't the case. She said she would look into it and call me back. In the interim, unknown to me, my husband also phoned and spoke to S, and explained what happened. Again, she said she would call one of us back. At 3:30 pm, I called her to find out if any progress had been made, hoping to arrange a time to be home for the next day. I wanted to be able to ask my boss for the morning or afternoon off, if delivery was possible the next day. Perhaps at Moben Kitchens, you give your employees lots of time off at the drop of a hat, to wait for companies to deliver things, but most workplaces are not quite so generous.

S informed me that our doors were lost. When I expressed my dissatisfaction at this explanation, she informed me that it wasn't really her fault or problem, because she didn't usually cover our area, and was just given the problem that day. I asked her if I could speak to someone who would deal with the problem in a more satisfactory manner, and that I wasn't happy with how it was being dealt with. She then proceeded to yell at me and tell me that I had no right to say that she wasn't dealing with the problem, that she was doing everything she could and running around like a headless chicken trying to locate my doors. She also remarked that since she had said she would call me back to give me any information, I hadn't even given her the courtesy of waiting for her to phone me back. I asked her when she thought that would be, since she had since 10:00 am to find out about the doors, and she said she finished her day at 5:30 pm. I then asked whether or not I should expect a call by 5:30, and she said yes, and then put the phone down on me. 5:30 came and went, with no phone call.

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I called your customer service line at 5:35 pm, and was told that they were closed for the day. I asked to speak to S directly and was told by your extremely rude receptionist that she wouldn't be available until after 9:00 am the next day. While I was asking to leave a message, she hung up on me. The next day, Friday the 22nd of Nov., I waited to hear from someone from your company, and when I didn't, I called and asked to speak with S, around 3:00 pm. After being put on hold by the receptionist, twice, once for 15 minutes, and once for 10 minutes, and then asking for S, being put on hold again, and disconnected, I called back. After going through the hold routine again, I finally spoke with the rude and unprofessional S. She informed me that my account was no longer in her area and that I was being transferred to someone else named R. When I asked her if she could transfer me, she told me that the line was engaged. I said I would hold. She told me that she would get R to call me back. When I asked when that would be she told me before 5:30. I told her I didn't have a lot of faith that I would receive a call, since she herself had promised to call me back the day before, and never did. 5:30 came and went, and guess what?? NO CALL, surprise, surprise.

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It is now 10:30 am, Tuesday, 26 November, approximately one month since the fitters first came to install the kitchen. I still have not heard from anyone at Moben Kitchens regarding the whereabouts of my doors. I still have no idea where my doors are, when they will be delivered, and absolutely no idea when they will be fitted. Even though your people initially tried to sucker me into getting my kitchen early, I would have been able to deal with the fact that you chose to deliver and fit our kitchen without all the doors being available or ready had your customer service people dealt with my complaint. You probably would not even be reading this letter had it not been for the fact that I was yelled at, lied to and ignored by your customer service representative, S. In addition, I've wasted so much time calling, staying on hold, being hung up on, and my husband and I both missing a day of work, waiting for people who never showed up.

As I went on to the Internet to try to find the name of your managing director to write this letter to, I came across the following websites:
http://www.clik2complaints.co.uk
http://www.consumercomments.co.uk/comments/mobenkitchens.htm

I wish now that I had done my research before I ordered a kitchen from your company. Had I read the 11 pages of links filled with complaints from people who your company has treated much worse than us, I never would've signed on the dotted line. I've included copies of some of the complaints, in case you haven't seen them. I also found out that there were 111 complaints against your company on Watchdog. It amazes me that any company who has received this many complaints continues to have such blatant disregard for their customers. Your company should be embarrassed and horrified to have this kind of reputation.

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I guess Moben's company strategy bets on the fact that most people only do up their kitchen once every ten years or so, and that repeat business is unlikely anyway. However, people do move to new houses, and as I plan to move within the next 18 months, you can be sure if I decide to get a new kitchen, there is no way I would use your company again. In addition, I work for a large media company in London, and sit with a team of ten people. They have heard my conversations with your customer service representatives, and have asked me what occurred, so now ten additional people have a horrible impression of Moben Kitchens. I have also discussed the matter to many of my friends and family when they enquire, "How's your new kitchen?"

After reading all the complaints on the website, I realise that we got off lightly. As I said before, we can deal with the fact that things aren't ready on time, but I have never been treated so appallingly by people who are supposed to be in "Customer Service". I have no major complaints about your surveyor, the fitters, the quality of the job or materials used, but you really need to invest in some major training for the people who deal with your customers on a regular basis.

A course in good manners would benefit them greatly.
At this point, I just want to know where my doors are, or if Moben Kitchens has any intention of delivering and fitting them at all. If not, we would like money off of the price we agreed to pay for the specially made doors. If so, we would really appreciate it if someone with a clue and the ability to deal professionally with people would contact us to arrange a time for delivery and fitting.
Sincerely,

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