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I have a Space Cream Custom Fit Pabnel which can be cut to measure. It is 240 x 65 cm and cost me £169 but I am willing to sell on for less. Still in MFI packaging.
Can someone help us??
We ordered our new kitchen in Jan 2008, delivered in bits throughout the year and we can now fit it in Dec 2008.
We have started to put the carcasses together but they have delivered 'wood' coloured corner posts instead of Space 'cream' (high gloss cream posts).
We therefore have cream doors with wood coloured corner peices!!! looks great.
We are looking to obviously replace these posts but where can we get the exact ones we need that will match our Space cream kitchen??
Hello.. I worked for mfi for 17 years,got made redundant in 1998 when the people at the top decided to axe all the warehouses,and just have home delivery.
There core business was bedrooms and kitchens but also they did centre floor furniture,ie tables,chairs.tv units ect.
The home delivery of kitchens,bedrooms,was a excellent move,but also having delivery of small items(tables,chairs ect) was a nail in the coffin,who wants to wait in for delivery of a £19.99 item...
They should have looked at the way ikea do things,a very succesful company,pick and pay.
but no,the people at the top had to do it there way.they should have built mega stores around the country..
Feel so sorry for the mfi employers losing there jobs,alot of experience wasted,hope you all do well in the new year.. to the managment who killed mfi,hold your heads in shame,but you will all be ok,plenty of money in the bank for your failures..
The best man at mfi in the golden years was Derek Hunt,(chairman).. When he retired,others moved into his job,but sadly they messed things up.
My best years were at mfi,and even after all these years,i feel sad that they are closed for good..... or are they?
Having spent over £11,500 on a kitchen supplied and fitted by MFI in april 08 I was extremely angry last night as I spent yet another evening trying to finish it off myself! A very bitter pill to swallow. The installation was far from acceptable when first attempted in June still it is far from complete. I bumped into the designer / sales person the other night in a car park and he let it out that they will be back in the new year trading as hygena and schreiber a company that they own?! Same s*** different name.
After reading all of the other stories mine follows a similar path. I wish that I had read these articles before i placed my order at the begining of August. Althought when you spend £3.5k with a large company like mfi you expect a decent level of service. What surprises me is that none of the 6 newspapers have returned my calls to publish an article on this business. I am still waiting for my delivery to be completed.
i work for mfi. good luck getting your stuff, but don't blame customer service, we do everything we can. blame the manufacturers. if it says it's not in stock, it's NOT IN STOCK. we can't get it sooner. shout at us all you want, you're just running up your own phone bill.
better idea: don't shop with mfi.
Cant i score higher than 5?
Mirror the comments everyone else who has unfortunately purchased a kitchen off MFI,but reading some of the horror stories think i have been quite fortunate!
Purchased a kitchen at the end of September and delivery was made in October.Kitchen fitter was booked, old kitchen taken out ready ,only to find when it was delivered several items were short, including the sink and a worktop!! When i informed customer services they informed me they could not deliver outstanding items for five weeks. Contactacted consumer direct who advised me on my rights and finally after a further 3 weeks have been informed i can have a full refund. The matter is now with trading standards, so if you are still thinking of purchasing a kitchen from MFI good luck, u will need it.
i have been unfortunate enough to buy a kitchen from MFI and i will swear now that i will never ever even set foot in there again let alone give them any more money.
i ordered my kitchen in january 2008 and arranged to take delivery off it on february 21st. The kitchen came as arranged only for the driver to say to me "there are some bits missing mate"
there was loads missing.
i was straight on the phone asking why i had not been informed that half my order was not there.
I was passed from pillar to post by the most dim witted of of customer service staff who each gave me a seperate bull s!*t reason for why my bits had'nt come.
i stand by what i said to one member of staff in that my order would have been complete if i had paid the £2000 that mfi wanted for fitting rather than arranging my own fitter.
My fitter had to go and buy bits that had not arrived from elsewhwere and i had to have those bits taken off my bill which MFI objected strongly to. My cousins husband works at the branch of mfi where i purchased my kitchen and if it was'nt for him i still think i would be waiting for my bits now. I think he was embarrased to say the least with the companys handling of my order.
i must have made in the region of 10 to 15 phone calls to customer services chasing different parts and i must say i have never had the misfortune to deal with such an un-helpful bunch of idiots in all my life
if i have one piece of advice for anybody it would be "never ever ever buy anything from this company, no mater what great deals and sales they advertise. the anger and stress they cause you more than makes up for the money they save you".
I used to work for MFI until March but left because I was so embarrassed by 1. Customer Service, 2. Delivery Times, 3.the way they treat their staff (The manager told me he wanted a new Audi with his next bonus) so if you don’t make me lots of money then its p45time, 4.paying less than the minimum wage £3.96 an hour 5. Charging customers a cancellation fee (one poor OAP was charged over £1000 because she had realised she could not afford the kitchen it had not been delivered!!!!!) 6. Being on first name terms with the local trading standards officer
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.
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Visitors to the site are reminded that the details contained within user comments are uncorroborated and as such should not be read as fact but as the opinion of the person who left the comment.
Comments:
We ordered our new kitchen in Jan 2008, delivered in bits throughout the year and we can now fit it in Dec 2008.
We have started to put the carcasses together but they have delivered 'wood' coloured corner posts instead of Space 'cream' (high gloss cream posts).
We therefore have cream doors with wood coloured corner peices!!! looks great.
We are looking to obviously replace these posts but where can we get the exact ones we need that will match our Space cream kitchen??
Any one out there know?
There core business was bedrooms and kitchens but also they did centre floor furniture,ie tables,chairs.tv units ect.
The home delivery of kitchens,bedrooms,was a excellent move,but also having delivery of small items(tables,chairs ect) was a nail in the coffin,who wants to wait in for delivery of a £19.99 item...
They should have looked at the way ikea do things,a very succesful company,pick and pay.
but no,the people at the top had to do it there way.they should have built mega stores around the country..
Feel so sorry for the mfi employers losing there jobs,alot of experience wasted,hope you all do well in the new year.. to the managment who killed mfi,hold your heads in shame,but you will all be ok,plenty of money in the bank for your failures..
The best man at mfi in the golden years was Derek Hunt,(chairman).. When he retired,others moved into his job,but sadly they messed things up.
My best years were at mfi,and even after all these years,i feel sad that they are closed for good..... or are they?
toldyouso at 20th Dec 2008, 06:23PM
better idea: don't shop with mfi.
JimmyJerusalem at 26th Nov 2008, 05:43PM
Mirror the comments everyone else who has unfortunately purchased a kitchen off MFI,but reading some of the horror stories think i have been quite fortunate!
Purchased a kitchen at the end of September and delivery was made in October.Kitchen fitter was booked, old kitchen taken out ready ,only to find when it was delivered several items were short, including the sink and a worktop!! When i informed customer services they informed me they could not deliver outstanding items for five weeks. Contactacted consumer direct who advised me on my rights and finally after a further 3 weeks have been informed i can have a full refund. The matter is now with trading standards, so if you are still thinking of purchasing a kitchen from MFI good luck, u will need it.
i ordered my kitchen in january 2008 and arranged to take delivery off it on february 21st. The kitchen came as arranged only for the driver to say to me "there are some bits missing mate"
there was loads missing.
i was straight on the phone asking why i had not been informed that half my order was not there.
I was passed from pillar to post by the most dim witted of of customer service staff who each gave me a seperate bull s!*t reason for why my bits had'nt come.
i stand by what i said to one member of staff in that my order would have been complete if i had paid the £2000 that mfi wanted for fitting rather than arranging my own fitter.
My fitter had to go and buy bits that had not arrived from elsewhwere and i had to have those bits taken off my bill which MFI objected strongly to. My cousins husband works at the branch of mfi where i purchased my kitchen and if it was'nt for him i still think i would be waiting for my bits now. I think he was embarrased to say the least with the companys handling of my order.
i must have made in the region of 10 to 15 phone calls to customer services chasing different parts and i must say i have never had the misfortune to deal with such an un-helpful bunch of idiots in all my life
if i have one piece of advice for anybody it would be "never ever ever buy anything from this company, no mater what great deals and sales they advertise. the anger and stress they cause you more than makes up for the money they save you".
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.
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