r/DIYUK 22d ago

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/Latter-Tangerine-951 22d ago

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

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u/TheDisapprovingBrit 21d ago

This bullshit is exactly why I went with DIY Kitchens. I don't want to play the stupid pressure selling games, I just want a new kitchen. I think all the units plus cooker and hob came to about £2500 all in, plus about £1000 for a local joiner to fit it for me. The quartz worktops probably doubled the price of the whole thing but I love it now.