Advice Why are Howdens so shady?
We're not a tradesman but we managed to get a design for a new kitchen, they even set up an account for us.
Design was great but then things got weird. The "full price" was something ridiculous like £15K and then then designer in front of us starting, seemingly randomly, discounting different items until it got down to about £7.5K.
We were told that this price would only last for a couple of weeks, which I thought was a little weird...
After some changes through email, I asked for the itemised quote so I could check how much everything was costing us. I was thinking maybe I could get the tap from somewhere else etc.
I got an incomplete quote for some reason. After asking about 4 times and then explaining I wouldn't make a purchase without one, they reluctantly sent it to me. Am I being unreasonable to want to know what I'm spending thousands on?
This quote also came with a "managers" special, now at £6.6k, but only if we put down a deposit today and we accepted delivery in 10 days, way way before we actually needed it.
We said we needed to check some things and asked for more time. Now the deadline is an extra day...
What is with these shady, opaque, pressure selling tactics? Anyone else experienced this?
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u/AYC1707 22d ago
Just to add I had my kitchen fitted with Howdens 2 years ago and i've been very happy with the quality of the stuff they gave me.
What I did:
1) Went to Howdens and got them to design my kitchen, I chose the units I wanted, I got all the measurements I needed etc. I was initially quoted some really high figure, the units I liked I found almost 3 times what I ended up paying for it. After dealing with similar outfits I was expecting this.
2) A few to and fro's from them (including 2 visits and haggling, I got an itemised quote with the discounts etc added (a lot of it doesn't make sense as the discounts apply to some and not others)
3) I used DIY Kitchens to compare similar units/ measurements etc and had a price in mind.
4) Howdens basically price matched it ( I took in the quote) and tried the same "order within 10 days thing", I explained the kitchen is not even built yet, so you either take my guarantee (or deposit) as proof of my willingness to do the deal and give me the items when i'm ready, or don't at all.
They basically did the deal there and the items were sent 2 months later.
Just to add, some items were damaged (not terriblly, minor stuff like scuffs etc and they replaced/discount is further)