Three weeks ago, we featured the bathroom company, Dolphin, and highlighted their poor workmanship, months of delays and the battles to put problems right.
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This week, we're investigating The HomeForm Group's kitchen operation, Moben. The complaints are the same, and so is the front man - Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen. He fronts a series of sleek-looking adverts for kitchen outfit Moben, the most recent television campaign depicts stylish looking kitchens with happy customers, who tell us that our kitchen could look like this if we just go to Moben. Sounds tempting, Lawrence... or at least it did before we heard from some of Moben's customers...
(Do you have something to say about this story? Tell us what you think by emailing us here. Don't forget to include 'Moben' in the subject line. Watchdog will publish a selection of viewers' comments underneath each story, both throughout and after the programme is on air. Please remember to include your name as you would like to see it published).
Customers like Melodie and John Allen. They chose Moben because they wanted the dream kitchen they saw advertised on TV.
Melodie says:
"We thought, fantastic stress free the project manager would deal with everything, sort it out for us. We were so excited and then it's just gone from bad to worse through disappointment, anger, frustration."
That sounds very different to Moben's recent marketing blitz - they've seriously gone to town, Laurence is everywhere and he seems to be saying all the right things. On one marketing web video, Laurence tells us:
"Moben ensure complete piece of mind from initial consultation all the way through to expert fitting."
We're not sure Melodie and John Allen would agree with that.
They ordered a twelve thousand pound kitchen from Moben back in April. Six months later, it's still not complete. They are still waiting for an end panel and a few doors to be replaced, but it's the sub-standard fit which has really got their goat. John and Melodie have a long list of gripes with their kitchen fit including; hinges that don't work, the dishwasher stands 5mm proud, a broken unit door that should stay open, doesn't, there are broken floor tiles, chips and scratches. And this is the list after Moben had been in to rectify the original list of problems, which included replacing almost 20 items as well as repair work.
And what do they think of Moben's expert fitters? Not much. John tells us they've been through four sets of fitters and not all of them were up to the standard they expected from Moben. The first set that did the original installation caused a lot of chips in their high gloss unit doors but instead of replacing them, they coloured the chips in with black marker pen.
Melodie and John have almost given up on their dream kitchen. They feel let down by Moben and at times they say they would have been happy to have the whole thing ripped out and their money back. They are extremely disappointed that Moben haven't given them the dream they were promised.
Moben are selling dreams and that's why people are prepared to spend as much as fifteen thousand pounds to buy them. For that sort of money you'd expect everything.... Including the kitchen sink.
Well, Jenny Rhodes did get the sink. But it was damaged and not plumbed in, leaving her without water in her kitchen for two weeks. This would be an inconvenience at the best of times, but Jenny's husband's been suffering from throat cancer so she could really do without this sort of hassle.
Moben boldly claim that their project management ensures
"... everything goes smoothly and that everything happens in the right way at the right time."
But Jenny couldn't disagree more. They told her the kitchen would be completed in five to seven working days - it's now been six weeks and they have caused her so much stress, she now is on medication to help her sleep.
Moben seem to be trying to recruit the right fitters. They ask for people who can 'meet demanding standards and deadlines, within cost and to the customers' full satisfaction'. So why is it going so wrong for customers like Gary Harbourne?
Work began on Gary's kitchen in November last year. Moben promised to fit and finish it in three to five days. Almost a year later and it's still not complete.
After the initial fit, Gary was unhappy with the finished product. It wasn't what he was expecting and it didn't look anything like it did in the brochure.
Gary says:
"You pay a lot of money and you don't expect to be let down by them."
Its not only the final look of the kitchen Gary was unhappy with, he's also had huge problems with the way the appliances were installed. Due to poor fitting or damage whilst fitting, Gary has been though two ovens, three microwaves and two fridge freezers. He has also had two sets of plinths fitted, several re-fits of the panels and lights and has had to complain about exposed wires, chips, scratches and marks to the walls.
In Moben's advertising, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen tells us that they can help create the perfect kitchen. Gary has other ideas. He tells us:
"It just rubs salt in to the wound. It's a real slap in the face every time we see the advert on telly."
Mr Harbourne has now been offered a refund of nearly £11,000.
Moben Statement to Watchdog:
As a 35-year-old national brand, in context the Group builds over 30,000 installations every year for customers who are totally delighted with our products. As a result we have many referrals and much repeat business. That said, the nature of construction is that not everything will always go according to plan and when it doesn't, it is how we put things right that matters most. We are obviously sorry we have let these customers down, for which we apologise - however each and every one of their problems was known to us and was being worked on prior to "Watchdog's intervention. All the issues have now been sorted with the exception of one that is ongoing. Our Group-wide customer processes have recently been overhauled but if there is anyone out there who still has any ongoing problems - please call us free on our Hotline: 0800 840 0118 and we will try to resolve them as quickly as possible .
Dream kitchen or a living nightmare?
In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions. If you're reading via RSS, you'll need to visit the blog to access this content.
This week, we're investigating The HomeForm Group's kitchen operation, Moben. The complaints are the same, and so is the front man - Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen. He fronts a series of sleek-looking adverts for kitchen outfit Moben, the most recent television campaign depicts stylish looking kitchens with happy customers, who tell us that our kitchen could look like this if we just go to Moben. Sounds tempting, Lawrence... or at least it did before we heard from some of Moben's customers...
(Do you have something to say about this story? Tell us what you think by emailing us here. Don't forget to include 'Moben' in the subject line. Watchdog will publish a selection of viewers' comments underneath each story, both throughout and after the programme is on air. Please remember to include your name as you would like to see it published).
Customers like Melodie and John Allen. They chose Moben because they wanted the dream kitchen they saw advertised on TV.
Melodie says:
"We thought, fantastic stress free the project manager would deal with everything, sort it out for us. We were so excited and then it's just gone from bad to worse through disappointment, anger, frustration."
That sounds very different to Moben's recent marketing blitz - they've seriously gone to town, Laurence is everywhere and he seems to be saying all the right things. On one marketing web video, Laurence tells us:
"Moben ensure complete piece of mind from initial consultation all the way through to expert fitting."
We're not sure Melodie and John Allen would agree with that.
They ordered a twelve thousand pound kitchen from Moben back in April. Six months later, it's still not complete. They are still waiting for an end panel and a few doors to be replaced, but it's the sub-standard fit which has really got their goat. John and Melodie have a long list of gripes with their kitchen fit including; hinges that don't work, the dishwasher stands 5mm proud, a broken unit door that should stay open, doesn't, there are broken floor tiles, chips and scratches. And this is the list after Moben had been in to rectify the original list of problems, which included replacing almost 20 items as well as repair work.
And what do they think of Moben's expert fitters? Not much. John tells us they've been through four sets of fitters and not all of them were up to the standard they expected from Moben. The first set that did the original installation caused a lot of chips in their high gloss unit doors but instead of replacing them, they coloured the chips in with black marker pen.
Melodie and John have almost given up on their dream kitchen. They feel let down by Moben and at times they say they would have been happy to have the whole thing ripped out and their money back. They are extremely disappointed that Moben haven't given them the dream they were promised.
Moben are selling dreams and that's why people are prepared to spend as much as fifteen thousand pounds to buy them. For that sort of money you'd expect everything.... Including the kitchen sink.
Well, Jenny Rhodes did get the sink. But it was damaged and not plumbed in, leaving her without water in her kitchen for two weeks. This would be an inconvenience at the best of times, but Jenny's husband's been suffering from throat cancer so she could really do without this sort of hassle.
Moben boldly claim that their project management ensures
"... everything goes smoothly and that everything happens in the right way at the right time."
But Jenny couldn't disagree more. They told her the kitchen would be completed in five to seven working days - it's now been six weeks and they have caused her so much stress, she now is on medication to help her sleep.
Moben seem to be trying to recruit the right fitters. They ask for people who can 'meet demanding standards and deadlines, within cost and to the customers' full satisfaction'. So why is it going so wrong for customers like Gary Harbourne?
Work began on Gary's kitchen in November last year. Moben promised to fit and finish it in three to five days. Almost a year later and it's still not complete.
After the initial fit, Gary was unhappy with the finished product. It wasn't what he was expecting and it didn't look anything like it did in the brochure.
Gary says:
"You pay a lot of money and you don't expect to be let down by them."
Its not only the final look of the kitchen Gary was unhappy with, he's also had huge problems with the way the appliances were installed. Due to poor fitting or damage whilst fitting, Gary has been though two ovens, three microwaves and two fridge freezers. He has also had two sets of plinths fitted, several re-fits of the panels and lights and has had to complain about exposed wires, chips, scratches and marks to the walls.
In Moben's advertising, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen tells us that they can help create the perfect kitchen. Gary has other ideas. He tells us:
"It just rubs salt in to the wound. It's a real slap in the face every time we see the advert on telly."
Mr Harbourne has now been offered a refund of nearly £11,000.
Moben Statement to Watchdog:
As a 35-year-old national brand, in context the Group builds over 30,000 installations every year for customers who are totally delighted with our products. As a result we have many referrals and much repeat business. That said, the nature of construction is that not everything will always go according to plan and when it doesn't, it is how we put things right that matters most. We are obviously sorry we have let these customers down, for which we apologise - however each and every one of their problems was known to us and was being worked on prior to "Watchdog's intervention. All the issues have now been sorted with the exception of one that is ongoing. Our Group-wide customer processes have recently been overhauled but if there is anyone out there who still has any ongoing problems - please call us free on our Hotline: 0800 840 0118 and we will try to resolve them as quickly as possible .
Dream kitchen or a living nightmare?