A COUPLE today told how a series of problems had turned their dream new kitchen into a nightmare.

Nick and Mair Evans, of Chaloners Road, York, splashed out almost £1,400 on a new kitchen last week.

But while they should now be cooking with gas, the Acomb couple say they have instead been left out to dry.

They say the company made a number of mistakes, and have failed to give an adequate response to their concerns.

It was only after The Press contacted the firm - called Kitchens, based at Maple Mills, Oldham - did it get in touch with Mr and Mrs Evans Mr Evans, 36, said: "The kitchen was delivered last Monday, and they say you have five days to check your kitchen and get in touch with them.

"But trying to get their customer services is like trying to get manure from a rocking horse."

He said he and his wife had been disappointed by both the quality of the kitchen, and the customer care.

He said: "A lot of the stock was damaged, and the kitchen has been put together to such a bad standard that it's unbelievable - you would think it's a kitchen I had ripped out."

The couple said the problems included:

  • The wrong worktops being delivered
  • A fridge-freezer that they ordered not being delivered at all
  • A wine-rack being wrongly assembled
  • Three kitchen units being damaged.

Kitchens spokeswoman Nicola Bell said: "It's being sorted now. Someone has told them that the fridge- freezer was £200, but it costs us £300 to £400, but we are going to give it to them.

"We are also going to sort the damaged units.

"It will probably be done within the week - at the end of this or the beginning of next week."

On Mr Evans's complaints about the firm's customer services, she said: "We dispatch 60 kitchens per day, and a kitchen has probably 3,000 items in it, so you do not get the full kitchen there first time - it's impossible.

"Sometimes, it's hard to get through, but we do have ten people in customer services dealing with the phones."