3 months ago

Avoid at all costs!

I just moved in a new house last end of October, a house much smaller, so I need it time to adjust, and find out what it works, and what not. I had the representative to measure, do the design of the kitchen 2.78x2.78m, very small considering that I bought an American fridge freezer which will occupy a lot from that small space... I choose white high gloss doors, and the front of the drawers light grey gloss. I could not choose anything else, as I wanted granite worktop, deep sink, etc...and already bought my appliances on Black Friday... The 2nd time I went to Howdens was to see why such a high price for such a small space, and to see what sinks they have, only to discover a poor brochure, the sizes on description stated 20cm deep, when measured the sink was 19cm deep. When I look for splash back, the options were limited, and the look industrial, so again I could not choose anything from them... as about the granite worktop, the representative kept saying that she contacted companies, and she is waiting for a reply, but in reality she could not justify such prices for such a small kitchen... The initial design included 14 cabinets, which 5 were wall cabinets, the tallest, and I wanted 20cm cabinet by the fridge to be protected from the heat of the oven, and 30cm the other side of the 60cm ladder cabinet where the oven would have been. What pushed the price so high, was the tall cabinets, more expensive than the standard size, and the builder still needs to fill the gap in between the cabinets and the ceiling... so I asker her to remove all of them, and replace them with the standard size, and the price went down considerably, because it is not just the cabinets that pushes the price up, but the doors too... I've removed the LED lights, the edge around the units, I've asked her if there is anything else there that pushes the price up, she said "no", so I went home, thinking that she removed them all, price is affordable, and I was happier... On my return from Christmas Holliday I started to have a feel for the new space I am living in, and I started to realise that 30cm cabinet is very narrow for anything, so I opted to remove the 20 plus 30cm, and have a 50cm cabinet instead. Now only 12 cabinets entered in that small space, and 7 drawers. On my 3rd visit, I readjusted the layout, changed the cabinets, replacing the 2 narrower to a single 50cm, and I done an extra design, by putting the oven traditionally under the hob, to save worktop space by splitting the 50cm unit in two, bottom with worktop, and top cabinet. As I could not find the correct thickness of granite which should be 4cm to support a big 81cm hob, I had to choose a laminate worktop from Howdens, but I wanted 63-64cm worktop which she told me that they do not supply, only 61cm, and as I was tired I accepted it, and moved on. Now choosing different look of worktop like concrete looking grey, I spotted their drawers front concrete looking too, so I asked her to replace the drawers fronts grey gloss, to the grey concrete looking to match the worktop, and to let the doors high gloss white, and off I went, happy with pictures of 2 designs to choose from, a beautiful mixture of gloss and mat, the price even better than choosing granite worktop...but on installation day, I had a beautiful surprise, they have bar worktops 90cm, and they supply it to me. Unfortunately that's where the beauty ends... On installation a tall wall unit already installed, on my time and money, and when I rung Howdens, she told me "I thought to give you extra space" But I never asked her to think on my wallet...Later the builder asked me where to put the 2 metal cutlery trays, so my eyes opened as big as onions, as I discovered something else added without permission, so he put them in the garage for returns... and plenty of end panels which he used to block the gap in between the cabinets and ceiling, as not to create another return... Only 3 small end panels were need it for my little kitchen, as the rest was unnecessary expense. Howdens relentlessly added things that were unnecessary, which increased my bill by almost £1000 with the end panels, but the cherry on top is the finish of my doors, either the system changed from gloss to mat, as once also she had to reboot the system as it was frozen, or she entered into my account and changed all to mat as she did with the cabinet. Now I have to argue and fight for something I should not! I hope it will be reasonably solved this huge problem, so I will not end to ombudsmen, but if pushed, I will... She immediately lie about my doors, and the manager followed, when I proved the contrary, he started to add words into the builder conversation to try to find the problem on my side. Shelves 3-4mm gaps, drawers poor finished, and gaps, poor finish cupboards doors, chipped shelves, and back of the cupboards... Avoid!

Roxana Brivent-Barnes

3 months ago

Couldn’t fault anything great…

Couldn’t fault anything great experience explained and helped and happy

GARY HENDERSON

4 months ago

Excellent service as always

Excellent service as always

Francis

4 months ago

Its always a pleasure going to the…

Its always a pleasure going to the local Howdens shop. Good friendly staff and always deliver as promised. Keep it up!!

Eric Peter Bruggeman

4 months ago

Hartlepool Howdens

Hartlepool Howdens, a great store with brilliant staff. Excellent service

HANCOCK ELECTRICAL SERVICES

7 months ago

Second to none for service!

Second to none for service!

ST JOSEPH'S ROMAN CATHOLIC CH

7 months ago

New Kitchen…

Just recently purchased our kitchen from Howdens, Hartlepool and we would like to thank everyone involved for all their help and expertise. From start to finish our experience was first class and in particular would like to say a huge thank you to Gareth who went above and beyond. In fact no matter who we dealt with they were absolutely lovely and very knowledgeable and helpful. A credit to the Manager Phil. We would definitely recommend Howdens to all our family and friends.

Annette Atkinson

7 months ago

Excellent communication and transparency

Excellent communication and transparency

sean wood

7 months ago

It's always a wonderfully experience at…

It's always a wonderfully experience at the hartlepool branch as all the staff are brilliant Paul Brettell

Paul

8 months ago

Staff are always most helpful in the…

Staff are always most helpful in the Hartlepool branch. Joinery isn’t our main line of work, however the support we receive when choosing products is great. Very knowledgeable staff

HANCOCK ELECTRICAL SERVICES

8 months ago

The staff are extremely knowledgeable…

The staff are extremely knowledgeable and very helpful with suggestions for appropriate products.

Kathryn PORT

10 months ago

Good service willing to help out if…

Good service willing to help out if they are problems Good manager and good team of friendly helpful staff

MrKevin Welsh

10 months ago

Excellent customer service

Very quick response to design and price a kitchen. Options given and timeframe. Very helpful in store.

Kathryn PORT

11 months ago

Good service with good staff

Good service with good staff

MrKevin Welsh

11 months ago

Excellent service

Excellent service, very friendly staff, nothing ever too much trouble. 10/10

L JDomestics