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I am a salesperson for MFI and understand the stress that MFI delivery service can bring or should I say "don't bring" I will be honest and try to assist you with any problems ie advise, delivery and proceedures. (please bare in mind I work in Kitchens but will do my best to help you in other areas too.
I am afraid I am one of those that have experienced the very poor Customer Service of MFI. We ordered bedroom furniture on Boxing Day 2007 for delivery Feb 19th. The delivery arrived minus one unit. I had to chase for a delivery date and eventually got one (doesn't there Customer Charter say that we would be kept fully informed about our order?). The delivery date came but not the unit, no contact from the company. I went to the local store they looked on their computer and said the order had been cancelled by who they could not say. Another delivery date and this time it came, I opened the box but there were no fittings to put it together. I called Customer Services which was eventually answered and the lady said they would be put in the post. The post came but I only had the hinges. Another visit to the store, they rang and had a promise that the fittings would be sent the next day by DHL, they did not arrive of course. Another visit and the salesman had a long conversation on the phone and said that they would be delivered by lorry in 2 weeks (a lorry to deliver a plastic bag of parts!). The delivery was cancelled again. Another call to Customer Services, they found out the parts were not in stock and would be delivered on May 10th. I was so fed up I looked on the Internet and found that "Screwfix" had the parts I needed so I ordered them and they came the next day. Why can't MFI have the same level of service? It is a pity because the quality of the Schreiber units is good for the price although I had to modify the assembly instructions because it was impossible to assemble them the way they say. In summary - good product, appalling back up.
What can I say. April 11th came and went and I received a few bits but still no drawer fronts and no matching trim. Enough is enough, I cancelled the order for the outstanding trim and took all the other unmatched trim items back for a refund. I have found a local kitchen supplier who will suppy unfinished worktop, end panels and trim that I can stain to match myself. HOWEVER, all the doors and drawer fronts are now on hold. Someone at customer services let slip it was due to a colour match issue. The next delivery is scheduled for the 17th May. I will be astounded if they make this delivery date. I will probably faint on the spot if the final items match what's already been delivered? To try and mitigate I have asked them to re-order all the doors and drawer fronts from the current delivery. The won't deliver them to my home but will get them delivered to the local store so that I can get them quickly if I need them. To be perfectly frank I see this as just a ploy to get rid of me. If I find otherwise, I will post accordingly.
It won't take much more before I send the whole lot back.
I had a similar problem with my kitchen cupboards. I contacted Consumer Direct (Fair Trading) on 08454040506 they gave me some very good advice. I hope this might help
I'm still waiting for my kitchen. I've been given yet another 2 dates and it still hasn't arrived. I've written to the head office and made a complaint but no response yet. My kitchen is a big mess I can't finish decorating it until the new units are fitted. My mother-in-law tried to help tidy up a bit but ended up falling into the old units and really hurting herself, the poor old woman looks like someones been roughing her up, hope people don't think its me. Lets hope my new kitchen comes tomorrow.
thinking about buying through MFI? don't. they messed up my order, and all I asked for was a kitchen for a 6 foot square kitchen (covering two walls). its literally about 5 units, most of them came ok, but I didnt receive the right corner unit, and my oven unit was missing completly. the peice of wood that goes along the botom of my units was split completly along its lengh, and fell into two peices almost immediatly after it was installed. not only that, but the goons who installed my washing machine didn't do it right, and managed to tear the waste pipe, so when I used the washer my kitchen got flooded in dirty black water.
Upon ringing their so-called customer services, all I got told was "oh the oven can be placed on the ground". Its an integrated oven, and thus looks incredebly stupid on the ground owing to the fact its like half the height of my units. went into the store i bought the kitchen from, who basically acted like they couldnt care less. I was fobbed off with about 5 different excuses, and when I asked to see the manager, I was told that the manager wasn't in that week. no im sure he was enjoying the holiday of a lifetime while im stuck trying to sort out my SHAMBLES of an MFI kitchen.
Eventually I had enough, and ordered my missing units from another company to match the rest of my kitchen. its a shame, as 8 years ago I had the most pleasent experience dealing with them. My advice is to go elsewhere, as MFI clearly have no idea how to run a competent buisness anymore.
I have purchased a 6K kitchen from MFI. It came with wrong specification ie interior unit finishes were not what i ordered. Company refuse to change as they said their specs changed and that is now the finish you get. We were not informed of any changes, to give us a chance to choose something of our liking. They were really nasty to us when we complained and laughed as we left the store in disgust. i rang their head office but got nowhere, referring me back to our original stupid salesman.
Their sales force need lessons on customer relations and civil manners
Aviod MFI like the plague, especially the Bury store in Greater manchester.
I purchased the MFI Tamarind Kitchen with Vanilla Maia worktops September 2007 in the store based in Reading.
Delivery date was 22nd February 2008, I thought this would be more then enough time for things to be in order and complete. However after this long awaited trial, my sink undermount was cracked, numerous units and panels missing and
not to mention the worktops not delivered I was furious. Disturbingly I'd got to find this out by the driver whom delivered the goods.
Come April 2008 and my Kitchen order is still incomplete.
Btw, the localised store numbers are a flaw, they are programmed to never be answered.
The Managers of the store always happen to be on a so-called "conference call" (discussing
opportunities to increase sales and decrease stocks) and will never live upto their responsibilities. Members of staff lie through their teeth. Call Centre is useless and the prolonged delays for the phone to be answered is utter torture!
The Salesmen whom have pleaded their innocence, don't take us down for fools, you feed off anyone
who walks through that door especially when you are fully aware of the hundreds of customers
you ripped off months before and are suffering the orchestrated delays.
MFI, motto of a lifetime: The first and very Last.
I fit kitchens for MFI and have done so for approx 7 years now. You can get a good value for money product from them, which is better than BQ, Homebase, Ikea, Wickes and Focus. One of their downsides is if you get a poor fitter, if having installed by their fitters. They recruit them, but do not quality check their work like they used to. Their own Installation Managers and department are poor, due to cutbacks and them having to big an area to cover. The stores always fail to tell the customer of what is included in the MFI fitting charge for essential fits and what is not,this is subject to survey (which the fitter does without payment), and the fitter has to quote for privately, this often leads to cancellations. They have been trying to get round this with a premier fit, which also has problems as they try to qoute for all the fitting in store, but will always increase as it is subject to survey and they cannot scope all the works required from the store and they do not have the fitting knowledge. Also, they whack on a bigger admin charge for it, with less money to the fitters, therefore some of the good fitters are not doing them.
Don't get me wrong, there are many good fitters working for them, ask for referrals from them if required. A good fitter will ensure that your order is comprehensively checked prior to paying up, to ensure that what is delivered will fit and is all there to complete the fit usually within 1 to 2 weeks. However they cannot be responsible for damaged items or incorrectly picked items, which is a problem from time to time, but MFI installers can normally resolve the issues promptly when on site. What does amuse me is their attitude to things when they do go wrong, they are often notoriously difficult to get in contact with and if they can they will want to do only the minimum required. As a good fitter i am often asked to go out and put other fitters work right or finish off jobs due to stock issues and when reporting back customers complaints to us, they either do little to put it right or jump all other it to satisfy them if the work has been requested by H.O. My tip to anyone with problems is to always complain to the highest level, the Directors Liasion Office is always a good place to start. My other tip is to see if you can find a competent fitter privately. MFI fitters are not employed by them, they subcontract to them and fit allsorts of kitchens, not just MFI's and can often be found on Yell.com or in the book ! Always ensure that they are or use Part P Electricians and Corgi Gas installers. If buying from MFI dont be put off, i have done many fits for them and had many happy customers, just bear in mind some of my comments ! If you do have any problems you will find it is all driven by poor customer service mainly.
I purchased a £10k MFI Cream Space kitchen. Had it about 13 months and noticed the surface had started to crack up on some doors. Taking one of the doors off I took it to the local store who said it was a manufacturing fault and was delaminating. I have written to MFI a couple times to try and get these doors replaced (mentioned reasonable quality standards and life as suggested by Trading Standards) but they stand by that the doors are out of warranty (12 months). They will not do anything. Not even suggest how I could buy new with some sort of compromise. They say I should have insured them for longer and was offered this, but I was not, nomatter how many times they say this at me on the phone. At the same time I also purchased a Diplomat dishwasher and now on my fifth call out. The attitude and unhelpfulness of MFI is the most surprising thing. I really feel I have been had and trodden on which was not expected after spending so much money with them. I would have thought kitchen doors should last longer than 12 months ... not sure what to do next to be honest.
Futher developments concerning my bedroom furniture. I unpacked it all and found that the colours of the finishes do not match. Some bits are light some bits are dark. The salesman that sold us the bedroom has been very professional, he came out and took some pictures. He's now in contact with the distibution centre to try and resolve the matter. I've got a delivery date of the 11th April for the rest of the bits. I wonder what colour they will be? The build quality doesn't look bad so I'm going to keep going for a while.
I do wish more people would read these blogs more. I certainly wish I did! I bought a kitchen through MFI, it was an absolute shamble, glass doors cracked, the worktops were scratched and warped, and perhaps the most frightning of all the cupboards are falling off my walls.
The delivery drivers were brutes, they came, practically tipped my kitchen out onto the curb and sped off into the night, taking with them my sink, which i now have to repay a delivery charge to recieve.
This company hides behind its brand naming to disguise their atrocities, dont be fooled, the company once known as MFI went bust, and the company now operating in their place are obviously using the once good name to help mask shoddy goods, poor deliverys and absolutly dense in-store staff. AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE!
Just taken delivery of some bedroom furniture from MFI. Ordered it through MFI in Portsmouth at the end of January.
This furniture is all from their new range, new supplier new stock management system.
10 items short that they should have phoned me about and 2 items missing from the lorry.
My initial reaction is to cancel this order and the sunsequent one, due in April. But to do that will mean I have to start all over again with another supplier.
What do other people think? Stick it out and continue with the order or cut my losses and go for a refund? One order is for £2600 the other for £2400.
On 30th July 2007 we paid the deposit on our new kitchen, with the balance fully paid up on 30th August. At that stage everything was in stock for its completion. We were told that the job would only take three or four days.
The kitchen was finally completed in late November, with the delays mainly due to items that were no longer in stock. Every time we phoned the MFI store at Straiton (Edinburgh) we received the same recorded message to the effect that nobody was available to take our call, but they would phone back in 3 hours. Nobody EVER phoned back. We even once phoned from the car park outside the store, got the same message, and when we went in there was not a single customer! Every time we tried to contact the fitter his mobile was switched off. Every time we visited the store the small number of staff always outnumbered the customers.
We have recently tried to have a new washing machine installed, but the supplier could not do so because the position of the recently fitted socket (by MFI) contravenes building regulations, and the space provided is marginally too small for a standard size appliance.
This is one company that we shall NOT be using again!
My sister and husband had the idea of a dream kitchen which MFI said they could deliver. A sale person visited their property and discussed design. My sister chose the luxor granite worktop and they designed the kitchen around that. One solid piece of granite would be perfect for the island, a centre piece for their kitchen. The salesperson was happy to draw up and agree to the plans and take over £10,000 for the project to include fitting. This was in Jan. The fitter arrived last week days late to fit the kitchen, when the staff came to template for the worktop yesterday, they said 'no can do' we can't deliver the worktop in one piece (as agreed), they will have to bring in four separate pieces and join together... This is not what was discussed at point of sale. After a visit to the store yesterday, the salesperson said he was not aware of any health and safety issues with carrying granite up stairs (kitchen is up to flights of stairs) and the options are either accept several cut pieces of granite, choose alternative wood or get a refund. Basically MFI sold kitchen under false pretenses, and are in breach of contract - as they guarrantee to manage, design, deliver, install their kitchens (advertise this in shop) However, they have wiped their hands of this and said cannot deliver and install as agreed. The Manager of the Lancaster store had my sister in floods of tears, he then walked away as he was no longer interested. We contacted a local company who supply and fit granite and they say there should be no problem with delivering a solid piece of granite and fitting it, and agreed that the alternative of four pieces is eccessive and would look basicaly naff! Why did MFI sell the kitchen in the first place? Why do they make certain guarrentees which they can't keep? Why do they use bully tactics and refuse to accept responsibility for their mistakes? MFI couldn't even be bothered to contact their fitters again to ask them why can't they carry out the fitting when others can? They just couldn't be bothered.... To this end my sister and her husband will take the refund and have asked the local company to take on the project... Who wins though? This has been a terrible experience for my sister the way they treated her by upsetting her. It was their mistake they mis-sold her her dream kitchen. All they are bothered about is getting that sale..... She/we won't be fooled again!!!!
I will never ever buy from this company again. We ordered a bathroom suite and paid £850 deposit. Our quote included fitting at a cost of £1030, the MFI fitter came out to check our suite would fit and quoted an extra £1500 to fit the bathroom.
We asked to cancel our order and were told we could leave our order and get our own fitting quote by the store manager at no loss to our selves. We did this and found that we had been well an truely over charged by MFI. We asked then for a refund but were told we had to pay 10% of the deposit which was £85. We were angry as MFI had told us we would not loose money while finding our own fitting quotes but accepted it eventually. We now find we have been charged £285, which is 10% of whole order. MFI staff are rude, tell constant lies to customers and are extremely unprofessional. We were lied to by the manager on several occasions and now he denies all he said. Never ever shop at MFI!!!!!!!!!!!
I recently had the misfortune to purchase from MFI extractor fan.
I purchased the fan on 27th January 2008 and asked for it to be delivered on 23rd February not a problem I was told. Little did I know?
Come the 22nd February I phone up automatic delivery service to find out time of delivery. I was informed that it was between the hours of 0800-1300 I was happy with that.
Saturday 23 February I get a phone call at 1130 to say that my item had not been loaded on to the van and would need to reschedule. So I was not very happy even less happy when I was informed that it would be 14th Mach before it could be delivered.
So it was arrange for a delivery of 15th March.
On reflection I decided was not happy with these arrangements so I visited my local store in Plymouth. After explaining the situation to a sales person he made a call to try and re arrange the delivery, which he successfully managed.
It was arranged so that it would be couriered down on 26th February. Stayed in all day no courier arrived not even a phone call to inform me he was not coming.
Phoned up customer services 27th February managed to speak to some one after waiting 10 minutes for the phone to be answered. Only to be told that they were having problems with the courier service and it might turn up to morrow as you need to allow 48 hours. So why say it will be sent on one day but you may have to wait 48hours for it to be delivered
I brought a kitchen (Aug 2007 still incomplete)from MFI and I really wished that I hadn't, NEVER, NEVER buy from this company
My story is long and is the same as everybody else. I am now in contact with the Directors Office TEl: 0208 8200 8636. They are also a waste of time and lack basic customer service skills.
Due to my job I have been able to discuss my MFI case with one of their competitors. There equivalent directors office reviewed MFIs solutions to the problem that I have found myself in due to MFI and basically think that MFI are not committed to putting my kitchen right!
MFI has offered to pay for a fitter (a fitter that I have to arrange) to come in and move the majority of kitchen 18mm, as they no longer supply decorative ends. They don't seem to realise that I don't have the time to organise this and as I have paid for decorative ends I want what I paid.
The store, customer service and the directors office really don't care as they have had my money
I am in the process of giving them one last opportunity to DO THE RIGHT THING! but I am not hopeful, before I take my case to Quailtas who are an independent who run a aribration service (free) which MFI signs up to. After that its of to the small claims court for me via Trading Standards, Watchdog and House Beautiful (MFI won an award form them in 2006!?*)and a small demostration outside the store (I have made some great leaflets!)
Please don't calm down and do nothing at least go to Trading Standards and tell everyone that you meet not to buy from MFI as quality is NOT built in.
MFI has made a normal person into a person would will stop at nothing to get Justice! Well just what I paid for really!
I work within the kichen supply industry and news on the wire today is that MFI last week had 2500 failed deliverys due to stock avaliabilty and lead times are now up to three months from order date .
On 22/09/2007, I bought a Melbury range from MFI and then I had no end of trouble.
I bought this so that I could have the 2 tall wardrobes and a dressing table come desk could be up and running when my relatives came to stay. I was shocked to be told that the goods would be delivered in October and I was told further that the panels would come even later. I was panicking, Imagine where my relatives sleep when all the bits and bots were lying everywhere.on 3rd November.
There were 3 pages of instructions all with a wardrobe similar to the ones that I bought. However, I could not find the holes holding up the panel above the cloth rails. I went to MFI, where a staff called Colin told me that there would be no bottom panel. In the end, I was so short of time, I fashioned two holes to hold this panel.
I then realised that MFI customers had to pick and mix the instructions from the 3 pages when they hit a snag. ADVICE: if you find the instructions different from the page you are reading, go to the next page where if answer cannot be found, move on to the next page .... It is like PICK and MIX. Do the buyers in MFI know that PICK and MIX instruction to build a heavy duty wardrobe is downright dangerous!
With the help of my 12-year-old son, I followed a photo from an booklet and fixed the hinges and brackets. The following morning, this panel door fell down and busted the veneer of the other unit. I was livid and questioned Colin of Romford MFI why the door fell when I followed the photo. He told me that it was an old photo. I had a look at exactly the same unit on display in the shop and it was done exactly the same way I did. My friend teased me that I must shake the door next time to see if the middle screws could hold the hinges! If my son had been there, he could be knocked out for six by that damned door.
The supplier was very crafty. They were no full-drilled holes. Some of the front panels came with holes drilled half way through. The reason: THE VENEER WILL INVARIABLY BUST LIKE A VOLCANO WHEN THE SCREW WAS USED. This was despite the fact that i drilled the hold from both sides before using the original screw given.
Another stupid thing was that the handle to the chest drawer is tiny and it came with two raised dots on each side. By the time I tightened the handle, there would be a circle drawn by these 2 dots. Which idiot designed this? If this designer had given me a handle with a larger base, nobody would see the cracked veneer. :x
MFI director sent me a letter giving me a 10% discount when I favour them with a next purchase. FAT CHANCE. This is purely add insult to injury! :x
Some woman called Debbie :evil: is supposed to solve this problem for me. Whenever she called me, I missed her on the mobile phone and when I phoned her, it was an answering machine. Today, I phoned the headoffice and a Debra answered the phone. She said that it was not MFI's fault. If it wasn't MFI's fault, how come the director sent me an apology letter and offer me a 10% discount on my NEXT purchase! What kind of woman is this?
I like you ordered a kitchen from MFI in Nov 2007. I am now having to go to HOWDENS myself to purchase the worktops as MFI are unable to fulfill that part of my order! I'm disgusted with the lack of customer service. Sales staff also seem to forget they are the public face of MFI. If the computers are telling them something is in stock when its not, then they should report that to Head office. There is a pattern here and that is that MFI cannot meet the demand. I'm surprised they are still in business.
I wonder if I'll get the rest of my kitchen cupboards before easter! The moral of this story... DON'T USE MFI.
I have to say, i agree with the post from the MFI sales rep. I have recently, and am still undergoing, the MFI kitchen delivery from hell.
We ordered our kitchen beginning of November 07, were given a reasonable price have paid in full, and told delivery would be January 11th. We were told the suppliers were changing and due to Christmas and new year commitments were happy to wait for this date. Date came, but only one quarter of our kitchen arrived, namely worktop and doors. We still have not received all our kitchen, after five different deliveries, two of the deliveries had so many damages it looked like the delivery team had been using larder door panels to surf over burly rocks. Twenty attempted calls to customer services on 087-Oh my god this is costing me an arm and leg- number, no answer, just ringing on hold for 20 mins, but we have been able to contact the store staff who are doing their best to alleviate an extremely stressful situation (bottles of wine for steadying the nerves are still being added to the extra cost involved). We understand this is not the sales staff fault, we understand they cannot move mountains when mountains are a team of obviously demented teenagers or imbaciles who cant read and tick off a list of items to deliver and bring to our front door on the days agreed without causing a world shortage of chipboard surfboards. No wonder the sales staff have to go off sick with all the customers who come in to the store to rant and rave. I wouldnt be in their shoes for all the proverbial tea in china...though i would really like to make one in my finished kitchen.....ah well...maybe by next christmas...i live in hope !!!!
As you can probably tell i work for MFI, and i just want to leave a message for all the disappointed customers that think there mis-fortune is due to the sales staff in store, we only sell the furniture in store not control the warehouse the stock comes from, if we can order an item then as far as we know it is fully in stock and ready for delivery with the date it promps us to give you. As far as the MFI driver is concerned you know nothing about selling the stock and we dont sell out of stock items just for our commision because if its out of stock, nine times out of ten the customer wants a refund which results in us getting no commision so tell me how you come to that conclusion ? The sales staff have the most difficult job within the whole of the MFI company as we always take greif for issues that are totally out of our control. The call centre is there to deal with any delivery or stock issues but no-one seems to want to use them thats not our fault. I think you should all cut the sales staff some slack as we always go out our way to make your transaction run as smoothly as possible and help you to best of our ability.
I knew there was something up when I easily managed to get £50 knocked off the price of a single wardrobe - should have stopped there but instead like a trusting fool I placed my order. That was on Nov 26th with a promised delivery date of the 11th Dec (pm) - good I thought just in time to get the lads bedroom sorted for Christmas. On the morning of the 11th I get a call, not from MFI but the delivery driver - did I know that he had only been given half a wardrobe to deliver ? No - I'd had no call from MFI. Delivery was refused on the basis that it would be better to have it all delivered at once.
I phoned and spoke to a very decent lass who apologised even before I explained what the problem was. Sorry about that she said - we can deliver the whole thing on the 8th Jan and 20% off as a goodwill gesture (should have smelt another rat). Fine I thought, give it a go and book yet another half day off from work. I bet by now you know where I'm going with this tale ??? Yes you've guessed it. I called MFI yesterday to confirm the delivery would happen today. Spoke to another very decent chap, yes sir, on my screen it says that a 'full delivery' will take place tomorrow pm (i.e. today the 8th).
11:45am this morning, despite this supposed to have being a pm delivery the delivery driver arrives with one package, that's one package from four or a quarter of a wardrobe. No call from MFI ! Sorry sir but this is all they had at the warehouse - MFI should have known yesterday as the van was loaded last night. But why did they yesterday tell me a 'full delivery' dare I suggest that MFI knowingly make false promises ? I leave that for you to answer.
15 minutes later and a drive to the MFI store from where I ordered the illusive wardrobe saw me sitting with the store manager - very sympathetic and totally understood my frustration but totally powerless to do anything about it. And then the classic 'we've just implemented a new system/supplier that should have stopped this from happening - oh dear, doesn't seem to have worked!'
A further 2 phone calls saw the matter escalate to one of the managers with a request for a call back within 1 to 2 hours. The 2 hours have just expired and despite leaving my home number, my works number and my mobile number with 2 different people and double checking at the store that my details were correct I still have not received any call.
Oh and to top it off I got back into work to find an answerphone message from MFI, left at 12 noon, saying that I would only get one part delivered from 4 cos the others were out of stock, despite being told 24 hours earlier that they were all in stock and ready to go. What use is a message telling me that.
MFI - you are seriously letting down your customers, I'm sure you have very decent and sincere staff working for you but it's your fault that they have to deal with people like me who are understandably upset that after nearly 2 months of waiting and two delivery attempts with broken promises given that I still only have a quarter of a wardrobe.
MFI Customers - you have free choice - do your research but I for one wont be an MFI customer in the future - this is only a wardrobe and whilst it's dissappointing, frustrating and inconvienient all I can say is I'm glad I didn't order a kitchen, having ripped out the old one and with fitters waiting to install something that might not appear.
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Comments:
Thank you
J
It won't take much more before I send the whole lot back.
I had a similar problem with my kitchen cupboards. I contacted Consumer Direct (Fair Trading) on 08454040506 they gave me some very good advice. I hope this might help
Upon ringing their so-called customer services, all I got told was "oh the oven can be placed on the ground". Its an integrated oven, and thus looks incredebly stupid on the ground owing to the fact its like half the height of my units. went into the store i bought the kitchen from, who basically acted like they couldnt care less. I was fobbed off with about 5 different excuses, and when I asked to see the manager, I was told that the manager wasn't in that week. no im sure he was enjoying the holiday of a lifetime while im stuck trying to sort out my SHAMBLES of an MFI kitchen.
Eventually I had enough, and ordered my missing units from another company to match the rest of my kitchen. its a shame, as 8 years ago I had the most pleasent experience dealing with them. My advice is to go elsewhere, as MFI clearly have no idea how to run a competent buisness anymore.
Their sales force need lessons on customer relations and civil manners
Aviod MFI like the plague, especially the Bury store in Greater manchester.
I purchased the MFI Tamarind Kitchen with Vanilla Maia worktops September 2007 in the store based in Reading.
Delivery date was 22nd February 2008, I thought this would be more then enough time for things to be in order and complete. However after this long awaited trial, my sink undermount was cracked, numerous units and panels missing and
not to mention the worktops not delivered I was furious. Disturbingly I'd got to find this out by the driver whom delivered the goods.
Come April 2008 and my Kitchen order is still incomplete.
Btw, the localised store numbers are a flaw, they are programmed to never be answered.
The Managers of the store always happen to be on a so-called "conference call" (discussing
opportunities to increase sales and decrease stocks) and will never live upto their responsibilities. Members of staff lie through their teeth. Call Centre is useless and the prolonged delays for the phone to be answered is utter torture!
The Salesmen whom have pleaded their innocence, don't take us down for fools, you feed off anyone
who walks through that door especially when you are fully aware of the hundreds of customers
you ripped off months before and are suffering the orchestrated delays.
MFI, motto of a lifetime: The first and very Last.
Don't get me wrong, there are many good fitters working for them, ask for referrals from them if required. A good fitter will ensure that your order is comprehensively checked prior to paying up, to ensure that what is delivered will fit and is all there to complete the fit usually within 1 to 2 weeks. However they cannot be responsible for damaged items or incorrectly picked items, which is a problem from time to time, but MFI installers can normally resolve the issues promptly when on site. What does amuse me is their attitude to things when they do go wrong, they are often notoriously difficult to get in contact with and if they can they will want to do only the minimum required. As a good fitter i am often asked to go out and put other fitters work right or finish off jobs due to stock issues and when reporting back customers complaints to us, they either do little to put it right or jump all other it to satisfy them if the work has been requested by H.O. My tip to anyone with problems is to always complain to the highest level, the Directors Liasion Office is always a good place to start. My other tip is to see if you can find a competent fitter privately. MFI fitters are not employed by them, they subcontract to them and fit allsorts of kitchens, not just MFI's and can often be found on Yell.com or in the book ! Always ensure that they are or use Part P Electricians and Corgi Gas installers. If buying from MFI dont be put off, i have done many fits for them and had many happy customers, just bear in mind some of my comments ! If you do have any problems you will find it is all driven by poor customer service mainly.
The delivery drivers were brutes, they came, practically tipped my kitchen out onto the curb and sped off into the night, taking with them my sink, which i now have to repay a delivery charge to recieve.
This company hides behind its brand naming to disguise their atrocities, dont be fooled, the company once known as MFI went bust, and the company now operating in their place are obviously using the once good name to help mask shoddy goods, poor deliverys and absolutly dense in-store staff. AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE!
Just taken delivery of some bedroom furniture from MFI. Ordered it through MFI in Portsmouth at the end of January.
This furniture is all from their new range, new supplier new stock management system.
10 items short that they should have phoned me about and 2 items missing from the lorry.
My initial reaction is to cancel this order and the sunsequent one, due in April. But to do that will mean I have to start all over again with another supplier.
What do other people think? Stick it out and continue with the order or cut my losses and go for a refund? One order is for £2600 the other for £2400.
The kitchen was finally completed in late November, with the delays mainly due to items that were no longer in stock. Every time we phoned the MFI store at Straiton (Edinburgh) we received the same recorded message to the effect that nobody was available to take our call, but they would phone back in 3 hours. Nobody EVER phoned back. We even once phoned from the car park outside the store, got the same message, and when we went in there was not a single customer! Every time we tried to contact the fitter his mobile was switched off. Every time we visited the store the small number of staff always outnumbered the customers.
We have recently tried to have a new washing machine installed, but the supplier could not do so because the position of the recently fitted socket (by MFI) contravenes building regulations, and the space provided is marginally too small for a standard size appliance.
This is one company that we shall NOT be using again!
We asked to cancel our order and were told we could leave our order and get our own fitting quote by the store manager at no loss to our selves. We did this and found that we had been well an truely over charged by MFI. We asked then for a refund but were told we had to pay 10% of the deposit which was £85. We were angry as MFI had told us we would not loose money while finding our own fitting quotes but accepted it eventually. We now find we have been charged £285, which is 10% of whole order. MFI staff are rude, tell constant lies to customers and are extremely unprofessional. We were lied to by the manager on several occasions and now he denies all he said. Never ever shop at MFI!!!!!!!!!!!
I purchased the fan on 27th January 2008 and asked for it to be delivered on 23rd February not a problem I was told. Little did I know?
Come the 22nd February I phone up automatic delivery service to find out time of delivery. I was informed that it was between the hours of 0800-1300 I was happy with that.
Saturday 23 February I get a phone call at 1130 to say that my item had not been loaded on to the van and would need to reschedule. So I was not very happy even less happy when I was informed that it would be 14th Mach before it could be delivered.
So it was arrange for a delivery of 15th March.
On reflection I decided was not happy with these arrangements so I visited my local store in Plymouth. After explaining the situation to a sales person he made a call to try and re arrange the delivery, which he successfully managed.
It was arranged so that it would be couriered down on 26th February. Stayed in all day no courier arrived not even a phone call to inform me he was not coming.
Phoned up customer services 27th February managed to speak to some one after waiting 10 minutes for the phone to be answered. Only to be told that they were having problems with the courier service and it might turn up to morrow as you need to allow 48 hours. So why say it will be sent on one day but you may have to wait 48hours for it to be delivered
My story is long and is the same as everybody else. I am now in contact with the Directors Office TEl: 0208 8200 8636. They are also a waste of time and lack basic customer service skills.
Due to my job I have been able to discuss my MFI case with one of their competitors. There equivalent directors office reviewed MFIs solutions to the problem that I have found myself in due to MFI and basically think that MFI are not committed to putting my kitchen right!
MFI has offered to pay for a fitter (a fitter that I have to arrange) to come in and move the majority of kitchen 18mm, as they no longer supply decorative ends. They don't seem to realise that I don't have the time to organise this and as I have paid for decorative ends I want what I paid.
The store, customer service and the directors office really don't care as they have had my money
I am in the process of giving them one last opportunity to DO THE RIGHT THING! but I am not hopeful, before I take my case to Quailtas who are an independent who run a aribration service (free) which MFI signs up to. After that its of to the small claims court for me via Trading Standards, Watchdog and House Beautiful (MFI won an award form them in 2006!?*)and a small demostration outside the store (I have made some great leaflets!)
Please don't calm down and do nothing at least go to Trading Standards and tell everyone that you meet not to buy from MFI as quality is NOT built in.
MFI has made a normal person into a person would will stop at nothing to get Justice! Well just what I paid for really!
I bought this so that I could have the 2 tall wardrobes and a dressing table come desk could be up and running when my relatives came to stay. I was shocked to be told that the goods would be delivered in October and I was told further that the panels would come even later. I was panicking, Imagine where my relatives sleep when all the bits and bots were lying everywhere.on 3rd November.
There were 3 pages of instructions all with a wardrobe similar to the ones that I bought. However, I could not find the holes holding up the panel above the cloth rails. I went to MFI, where a staff called Colin told me that there would be no bottom panel. In the end, I was so short of time, I fashioned two holes to hold this panel.
I then realised that MFI customers had to pick and mix the instructions from the 3 pages when they hit a snag. ADVICE: if you find the instructions different from the page you are reading, go to the next page where if answer cannot be found, move on to the next page .... It is like PICK and MIX. Do the buyers in MFI know that PICK and MIX instruction to build a heavy duty wardrobe is downright dangerous!
With the help of my 12-year-old son, I followed a photo from an booklet and fixed the hinges and brackets. The following morning, this panel door fell down and busted the veneer of the other unit. I was livid and questioned Colin of Romford MFI why the door fell when I followed the photo. He told me that it was an old photo. I had a look at exactly the same unit on display in the shop and it was done exactly the same way I did. My friend teased me that I must shake the door next time to see if the middle screws could hold the hinges! If my son had been there, he could be knocked out for six by that damned door.
The supplier was very crafty. They were no full-drilled holes. Some of the front panels came with holes drilled half way through. The reason: THE VENEER WILL INVARIABLY BUST LIKE A VOLCANO WHEN THE SCREW WAS USED. This was despite the fact that i drilled the hold from both sides before using the original screw given.
Another stupid thing was that the handle to the chest drawer is tiny and it came with two raised dots on each side. By the time I tightened the handle, there would be a circle drawn by these 2 dots. Which idiot designed this? If this designer had given me a handle with a larger base, nobody would see the cracked veneer. :x
MFI director sent me a letter giving me a 10% discount when I favour them with a next purchase. FAT CHANCE. This is purely add insult to injury! :x
Some woman called Debbie :evil: is supposed to solve this problem for me. Whenever she called me, I missed her on the mobile phone and when I phoned her, it was an answering machine. Today, I phoned the headoffice and a Debra answered the phone. She said that it was not MFI's fault. If it wasn't MFI's fault, how come the director sent me an apology letter and offer me a 10% discount on my NEXT purchase! What kind of woman is this?
I wonder if I'll get the rest of my kitchen cupboards before easter! The moral of this story... DON'T USE MFI.
We ordered our kitchen beginning of November 07, were given a reasonable price have paid in full, and told delivery would be January 11th. We were told the suppliers were changing and due to Christmas and new year commitments were happy to wait for this date. Date came, but only one quarter of our kitchen arrived, namely worktop and doors. We still have not received all our kitchen, after five different deliveries, two of the deliveries had so many damages it looked like the delivery team had been using larder door panels to surf over burly rocks. Twenty attempted calls to customer services on 087-Oh my god this is costing me an arm and leg- number, no answer, just ringing on hold for 20 mins, but we have been able to contact the store staff who are doing their best to alleviate an extremely stressful situation (bottles of wine for steadying the nerves are still being added to the extra cost involved). We understand this is not the sales staff fault, we understand they cannot move mountains when mountains are a team of obviously demented teenagers or imbaciles who cant read and tick off a list of items to deliver and bring to our front door on the days agreed without causing a world shortage of chipboard surfboards. No wonder the sales staff have to go off sick with all the customers who come in to the store to rant and rave. I wouldnt be in their shoes for all the proverbial tea in china...though i would really like to make one in my finished kitchen.....ah well...maybe by next christmas...i live in hope !!!!
muffettsmum at 24th Jan 2008, 09:01PM
I phoned and spoke to a very decent lass who apologised even before I explained what the problem was. Sorry about that she said - we can deliver the whole thing on the 8th Jan and 20% off as a goodwill gesture (should have smelt another rat). Fine I thought, give it a go and book yet another half day off from work. I bet by now you know where I'm going with this tale ??? Yes you've guessed it. I called MFI yesterday to confirm the delivery would happen today. Spoke to another very decent chap, yes sir, on my screen it says that a 'full delivery' will take place tomorrow pm (i.e. today the 8th).
11:45am this morning, despite this supposed to have being a pm delivery the delivery driver arrives with one package, that's one package from four or a quarter of a wardrobe. No call from MFI ! Sorry sir but this is all they had at the warehouse - MFI should have known yesterday as the van was loaded last night. But why did they yesterday tell me a 'full delivery' dare I suggest that MFI knowingly make false promises ? I leave that for you to answer.
15 minutes later and a drive to the MFI store from where I ordered the illusive wardrobe saw me sitting with the store manager - very sympathetic and totally understood my frustration but totally powerless to do anything about it. And then the classic 'we've just implemented a new system/supplier that should have stopped this from happening - oh dear, doesn't seem to have worked!'
A further 2 phone calls saw the matter escalate to one of the managers with a request for a call back within 1 to 2 hours. The 2 hours have just expired and despite leaving my home number, my works number and my mobile number with 2 different people and double checking at the store that my details were correct I still have not received any call.
Oh and to top it off I got back into work to find an answerphone message from MFI, left at 12 noon, saying that I would only get one part delivered from 4 cos the others were out of stock, despite being told 24 hours earlier that they were all in stock and ready to go. What use is a message telling me that.
MFI - you are seriously letting down your customers, I'm sure you have very decent and sincere staff working for you but it's your fault that they have to deal with people like me who are understandably upset that after nearly 2 months of waiting and two delivery attempts with broken promises given that I still only have a quarter of a wardrobe.
MFI Customers - you have free choice - do your research but I for one wont be an MFI customer in the future - this is only a wardrobe and whilst it's dissappointing, frustrating and inconvienient all I can say is I'm glad I didn't order a kitchen, having ripped out the old one and with fitters waiting to install something that might not appear.
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