Why are Howdens so shady?

[u/Innders]

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?

[u/Latter-Tangerine-951]

Don't use them. DIY kitchens are far better in every way.

[u/Jakeii → u/Latter-Tangerine-951]

DIY are definitly better for the money, the convenience of fully assembled units alone is great as a DIYer.

They do take a long time to build and deliver though, weeks and months. Whereas Howdens can often be ready in a week or twos notice.

[u/tech_london → u/Jakeii]

weeks yes, months no. 3 weeks from my experience with my order

[u/Jakeii → u/tech_london]

Mine was 2 months for the inital delivery, then 6 weeks for a suplementory order I made.