We started renovating our kitchen in mid september and our kitchen is yet to complete!!! With a newborn and a 3 year old, I cannot stress how important a kitchen is to us. We chose Wren Kitchens because it was rated one of the top 10 kitchen in the UK, but needless to say I will not be recommending them to anyone else.

The kitchens were fabulous! And to be honest the built and stability of it seems pretty worth it. But what isn’t worth it is the amount of mental stress we had to go through for the past 2 months! I would honestly put the blame on the kitchen fitter alone… but I’ll let you be the judge.

So in summary this is what happened (TLDR, scroll until the end of timeline):

Early 2021: we signed a contract with Wren and chose to use the fitter / contractor from their company (because, I’m sure they would be better than just getting someone random from the street right? WRONG).

Mid 2021: Told that our kitchen fitting will start from 13/9/21 (which will run for only a week)and that the fitter will contact us for a pre-fitting survey. It didn’t happened by the way and we had to tell our designer to get the fitter to come out to have a look

Few days prior 13/9/21 (the designated start date), we got a text from the fitter saying he will only come on 15/9/21 as he has ‘too many jobs to do’. 

14/9/21: got a text from the company saying that the worktop measurement (need to be done after bottom cabinets completion) would be on 17/9/21. I called the company because I wasn’t sure that the fitter could finish it by Friday. To my surprise, the company was not aware that the fitter would be starting his work at a later date. The next date available for worktop measurement was unfortunately 28/9/21!

23/9/21: The fitter FINALLY started installing the cabinets. What was he doing all these while? NOTHING. Why? Because the worktop measurement wasn’t until 28/9/21, so he was taking his own sweet time not showing up for work!

28/9/21: worktop measured and will take 11 working days for the quartz to be cut to size.

4/10/21: Our boiler was broken and need repairing but it is in the garage with many uninstalled kitchen cabinets! Called the fitter to come and fit it and he promise to come on the next day.

5/10/21: Sent us a text to say he will come tomorrow instead

6/10/21: Installed the top cabinets to free garage space BUT for some dumb reason, did not finish up another 2 small cabinet on the fridge side

11/10/21: Quartz worktop installed — Yay! (now the fitter is meant to install a temporary sink + worktop for us to use which he NEVER did until the end).

12/10/21: Promised extractor fan delivery by Wren did not arrive. Fitter was meant to come today but sent a text to say he will come tomorrow

13/10/21: Mojujuju called the company just to find out that the extractor fan would not arrive until Mid November?!?!? And yet they didn’t notify us!!! Fitter came with plumber and WE FINALLY HAVE CLEAN WATER (Yes we didn’t from 13/9/21-13/10/21 besides toilet water!). He also installed the hob and oven but said it’s not functional (lol what?). He installed the final 2 top cabinets BUT somehow displaced (I suspect by stepping on our worktop— he’s a big massive overweight man) our worktop and it’s no longer secure! He then made Mojujuju sign the certificate of completion without letting him read the entire document (I have lectured him about this. YOU DON’T SIGN SOMETHING YOU DON’T KNOW!)

15/10/21: He came back again and the hob is now functioning? (Why can’t you just do it 2 days ago?). Installed the extractor fan Mojujuju ordered himself but did not install the chimney. Said need the electrician to fix the wiring prior chimney installation

19/10/21: Electrician came to finish up the wiring. Husband rang the fitter and he said he will come the next day.

20/10/21: fitter refuses to pick up our phone calls nor reply our messages. Called the company and the company said he will come over tomorrow

21/10/21: didn’t show up, didn’t pick up, didn’t reply messages.

The entire nightmare is still an ongoing saga.

We have complained to the company and to our surprise (again) the fitter started lying and making false claims about us!!! He cooked up a great story about how much he has helped us, especially clearing our garage of the CABINETS HE WAS MEANT TO INSTALL. He also blamed us for wanting to tile the floor and causing the delay in works (NO! HE TOOK OVER A WEEK TO TILE THE FLOOR. WHO DOES THAT?)

I was so mad at him that I actually took the time to reply him with a massive passive aggressive email (No seriously I don’t usually do that.. and this is DEFINITELY not my default tone (ᗒᗣᗕ)՞).

Dear Mr A, 

It is disappointing that you lack insight to understand that the reason why you had to take ‘Time out to come out’ to put our wall units when so our boiler engineer needed access to our garage was due to your lack of punctuality, and poor schedule organisation; nor possess the integrity to keep your promises after signing the certificate of completion which was not fully explained to my husband.

It was also upsetting to know that our chickens have made you sick, after hearing you playing with them on numerous occasion. It was unfortunately difficult to clean the backyard with all the waste generated from your job that was left on the ground for weeks to month, but I wish you would have brought it up to us, the way my husband has openly bring up your tardy arrival each time.

I believe there is no need for further discussion and we will be waiting to hear from Wren in regards to our complaint in a separate mail. 

I hope you have a great holiday with your family.

Regards

Mrs XX

Let’s all just go back to square 1 and remember… if he actually started work on 13/9/21 as scheduled and promised, none of this would ever happen…. or… the fact that it is HIM, maybe even if he start his job on time he would still be delaying himself! He has costs us so much mental stress, house are a bloody mess, no clean water to drink, or even a temporary table top to put a microwave. He literally made our life a living hell for the past month, I wonder how he even sleep at night after claiming he has ‘worked very hard’. <_<