In the spring of 2023 we ordered a new Kitchen from Wren Kitchens Kittybrewster Retail Park Aberdeen. It was based on a template that a local company had done for us the previous year. The designer Agata Renusch was warm,efficient, helpful and professional. [This is why we have given one star]

The kitchen was delivered and Wren Kitchens organised a local installer [AF]. We also negotiated with him to do some additional work at direct cost to us [around £1600]. We relied on Wren to get us a competent subcontractor.

The installation of the Kitchen took place week beginning Monday 12th June 2023. As we are retired we remained on the premises but tried to stay out of the installers way. But we did try to strike up a rapport but he made no attempt to be civil and his demeanor was monosyllabic "off hand" and bordered on rude. We felt our presence was resented in our own home. We were initially impressed with the speed of his work but he was more concerned with finishing the job by Friday lunch time than the quality of his workmanship. We were glad to see the back of him; but discovered after he left that there were several cupboard doors / drawer fronts that had substantial paint flaws that should have been rejected. In addition one drawer was left full of screws, nuts and bolts and when we emptied it there was a substantial damaged area. [Probably caused by him] We were left to organise replacements for all this and two replacements also had to be replaced as they were substandard. So much for quality control! It took us almost two months to get these parts replaced and fitted and we insisted another installer did the work. He was like a breath of fresh air! We also wrote to Wren Kitchens to complain about the attitude and workmanship of the origional installer but never even received an acknowledgement. Customer care?

In April 2024 our integral dishwasher door was making a horrendous noise when it was being opened and closed. We contacted Wren's and sent them photographs and a video as requested. On 24th April they sent an installer to look at the problem [IK] and he stated that the dishwasher had not been correctly installed. He said that it would require a great deal of work to put right and he did not want to do it. In spite of continuing telephone calls and emails to Wren over the next weeks - nothing happened.

On 1st July 2024 a second installer attended our home and stated that as the dishwasher had been put into an inadequate space several units would have to be moved and a new worktop fitted. This would probably cause damage to the ceramic wall tiles and the floor tiles. He also declined to carry out the work. Again in spite of continuing telephone calls and emails to Wren [stonewalling and excuses] - nothing happened.

On September 11th 2024 [six months on] as we were no further forward I sent Wren an email asking what was happening; they responded by saying the case was closed in June; they wanted more information and they were looking at the guarantee. They clearly had no intention of doing anything!

On Saturday 14th September in frustration we went to the showroom where we purchased the kitchen the previous year and managed to speak with the manager Patryk Maker. I also gave him a copy of the complaint about the origional Installer. [He had been sent the origional] He assured us he would report our conversation and the some one from head office would contact us on the following Monday. He also advised us to contact the company responsible for the dishwasher warranty.

On Saturday 21st September an electrical engineer [from Pacifica] examined the dishwasher and concluded that it had been badly damaged due to being "forced and rammed" into place at the time of installation [by Wren's installer] and consequently is "twisted and buckled!" He stated quite unequivocally "you need a new dishwasher!"

Someone called Mathew did contact us from head office and a new work top and plinth were delivered. We also had a visit from an installer who proposed a totally impractical and unacceptable solution. In early November with no sign of resolution we decide to take further action and contact the Furniture and Home Improvement Ombudsman.

They took up the complaint on our behalf and Wren Kitchens immediately started to take our complaint seriously. The contrast on what had gone on before was unbelievable. It was arranged that we would get a visit from a Field Installation Manager on 26th November. This was a difficult visit and his manner was "brusque, unapologetic and unsympathetic". It was very stressful and we almost asked him to leave our home! At one point he suggested that the origional installer return and do the remedial work. As he was the cause of the problem this was insensitive and provocative. He also queried why Wren should replace the dishwasher; which was damaged by their installer. His remit was obviously to concede as little as possible. However we were determined that Wren would fulfill their obligations under the terms of their warranty. We had to fight our case every inch of the way.

Wren did refund us for the cost of the origional dishwasher and the remedial work was carried out on 18th December 2024. Having said that; it took nine months of contacting Wren Kitchens and others involved [over 150 emails and telephone calls]. During that nine months we were met with a lack of cooperation and a failure to take action. Without the intervention of the Ombudsman we remain convinced that Wren would have never carried out the remedial work which clearly they were legally obliged to do under the terms of their own warranty.
A couple of weeks after our kitchen was installed [but not completed to our satisfaction] Wren sent us a questionnaire with a single question - asked "Would we recommend Wren Kitchens to anyone else?"
At that point we declined to answer- but in the light of our aftercare experience the answer is
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCE - WE REGRET TOTALLY USING THIS COMPANY!

Date of experience: 18 December 2024

Great service from Wren. We had a great deal on our Quooker tap which we wouldn't be without now.

Seamless start to finish Particularly liked the App Support with Installation Guided

Was so efficient from start to finish fitter excellent couldn't fault anything.

We were hesitant to go with Wren due to the poor reviews. Boy I wish we would have listened. Prior to purchasing, we discussed the concerns of the online reviews with the Commack store manager Jeanine who assured us that she would assist should any issues arise. Well they did and then some! It began with delivery. Our wood floor was scratched & dented due to the delivery guys dragging heavy pieces. As the kitchen was being assembled there was 4 doors and 1 drawer that came with edges dented or other imperfections. This was something mentioned many times in previous reviews and it was totally accurate. We only have 13 cabinets total so to have this percentage come with issues is ridiculous. The quality control in the factory is extremely poor and not up basic standards! We were assigned Destiny as our customer service support person for the project. Destiny was extremely unresponsive, unconcerned, and unapologetic regarding our issue with the floor damage and cabinet replacement. Her customer service skills were nonexistent. Again, this complaint is mentioned many times in previous reviews and is completely accurate of our experience! This is not the type of service you would expect when you spent 10s of thousands of dollars and are having these types of issues. We then involved Commack store manager Jeanine who was much more responsive and supportive with trying to get our issue resolved however the issues went over her head as far as what she could do for us. We were very happy with Boss Contracting who did the installation. We found them to do a beautiful job and they have great communication and follow up. The next problem was when they were installing the crown moulding on the cabinets, we realized it was a different color. So that needed to be reordered. We had to take additional time off of work to be home for the replacement pieces to be installed. However, the crown moulding was still the wrong color! We received the 4th delivery of the wrong color crown moulding (the 3rd delivery went to the wrong address and we never received it). Can you imagine 4 deliveries of the wrong color?! I am not sure how these people cannot get this right! We also had issues with the installation of the countertop and the manager of installation at Northeast Quartz had to come himself to our home twice to try to get the issue resolved and it is still not what was promised it would look like. They came 3 times total for countertop installation! Can you even imagine having to deal with all this crap?! We now have a regional manager Renee involved who also exemplifies Wren's nonexistent customer service and lack of follow up, care and concern for all the problems we are experiencing. We were told to get 3 estimates for repair of the floor which we did. All 3 companies said they would not repair the floor because it needs to be sanded down and the color won't match the existing floor so the entire floor needs to be redone! Not one of them would do a repair to that area only. But Wren & Renee are saying they don't want to use these estimates and we need to find others which is totally ridiculous! We found 3 random floor companies and all are saying the same thing. Just because Wren doesn't like it, doesn't mean that we need to continue trying to find other companies! This regional representative Renee does not respond to texts or phone calls for days at a time which is totally inappropriate and unprofessional. He refused to provide us with his supervisor's information. We are getting nowhere with getting our issues resolved and kitchen completed. We had to take off additional time from our jobs so workers can come back to fix all of these problems. We've been on the phone with all of these parties for hours at a time trying to get all of these issues resolved. The level of aggravation and frustration is unreal! And the worst part is no one (other than the store manager Jeanine at Commack) has been apologetic or showed any real motivation or concern to get these issues resolved! This whole process has been a nightmare and I could never recommend Wren to anyone.

AVOID and If you have to use WREN please read, as this will be the only way to protect yourself.

Ppl who have written positive reviews can only be due to the order happening spot on by luck or chance. Has nothing to do with good customer service.

I am a very specific customer and I try and make notes and records of everything and designed the kitchen & utility for 5 months. I did spot so many errors and corrected along the way but with a long house build happening I missed 1 and I have been robbed (in my view) of £242. I am even willing to share names of everyone involved but for now I won't. If you have the option, kindly stay away from WREN, will save you a life of pain.

I was told WREN have a min. Of 5 units needed in an order and my utility was at 4, so the designer (who I was told by the Coventry manager to be the best in his team) said let's move the wine rack from the kitchen order to the utility so both meet the requirements. I specifically asked if the wine rack is the same height as the kitchen wall units and I was told YES.

When I got the order, it is much longer and makes my kitchen look really bad, so didn't fit. E-mailed the designed and the manager with picture, NO RESPONSE. I have been since directed to head office who said "WREN do not do returns, you have signed the contract"

I was also told apparently designers are expected to add all notes from conversations onto the WREN system and in my case apparently this specific chat about the heights matching is nowhere logged (surprise surprise).

I have been told, we as the CUSTOMER IS RESPONSIBLE to check all measurements. In the T&C's it says "kitchen designers are not technical experts and cannot be responsible to make sure they are the same height". To which I have asked, then why have them. Might as well, we design the kitchen ourselves. Other issues also included items being mentioned as "comes with that cupboard" and it didn't. And again head office will say "it's not on your order" and you have no proof or leg to stand on.

COVENTRY STORE

The manager is a only talk individual. Will never do anything or take any responsibility. Will not respond to your emails when escalated and will stand behind "head office will sort it". Then head office will revert to the T&C's". He talks a talk but does nothing ever to help.

Kindly if you ever go to WREN, please RECORD all your discussion with anyone. Mention "based on a review read or past info, you need to record this call so you have proof if things go wrong". The only thing I never did. That will be the only proof you can hold if you get forced down a legal route. And you need to mention this statement and get consent to be able to use it. WALK AWAY if you don't get consent, and you know why that is.

DO not believe anything said or spoken of, that CONTRACT is what they put in your face. The showroom staff will say things like "no don't worry, it's included" / "I will add it later on" etc DO NOT BUDGE. Ensure the contact is updated and in your included items it's WRITTEN. Even simple things like sink cabinet liners / cutlery units. All items I was told it comes with but never did.

Do not use WREN quartz fitters, horrible workmanship. The only bit WREN fitted for me. Try and find your own local company.

As a whole, please find another kitchen company and avoid WREN.

These are the facts and our experience of having a Wren kitchen!
The design process was the one positive experience we received from Wren.
We received kitchen 1 in January 2023
We received kitchen 2 in February 2023 and we received kitchen 3 in March 2023.
Each time we have received a complete full set of doors draw fronts end panels and plynth so just about the full set!

We also raised a section 75 within the first 30 days with Barclays although we feel we were left to sort this with Wren.

The first two were a custom painted contour version. Their top of the range! Well the paint just came off every single unit. When we had opened kitchen 2 replacements the site manager came out and agreed both sets were in terrible condition. Kitchen 2 was not even installed as it was so bad and was collected by a waste disposal team and taked straight to the tip!

The last replacement was apparently a new colour in the contour range but this was wrapped. We were offered the difference in cost as this was cheaper than the custom colour as well as £1000 compensation and an amount that they felt was an appropriate fitting costs! Also free temporary worktops for some of the kitchen so we could use it while waiting for our worktops to be fitted.

We felt under pressure to have this replacement as we have a new build and wanted to move into our house as we had been living in temporary accommodation. Please note we had not received any payment from Wren at this point.

The third order arrived on the 10th of March as we opened there Q C checked boxes with extra packaging they were marked and easily scratched. Infact dispute being told they were wrapped not painted there are parts that are clearly painted which like the original units comes off. We complained and sent an email to the resolution team and said enough was enough and we had given them a fair chance to put this right but it's unfair to keep expecting us to replace items.

Despite being in contact with them over the last couple of weeks and their site manager refusing to come out a second time as he had been once there was no point! The response to the email was that they would only replace the damaged units not remove and replace as it was easy for them to do this. They were not concerned about the inconvenience to us each time.

They stated the units would be QC checked and packed with extra packaging as this would mitigate the issue. Well the last two deliveries were supposedly QC checked and had extra packaging and both deliveries had units unfit for purpose and were damaged as we opened each box. They also offered us compensation of just over £500 pounds!

We rejected their last offer of a further fourth replacement and they told us we could not have the kitchen removed and refunded and as we disagreed with them Wrens response was we can do no more contact the ombudsman. This is on a brand new kitchen not even used! How can it be legal to do this to people do they expect you to have replacement units for the next 25 years of the Wren warranty? Oh and if we don't pay the finance we are liable! How does this seem fair!

Following this we had some legal advice from Which? They were able to give us advice to write another letter to Wren. We listed everything and quoted the reelvent legal sections. We sent this to wren barclays and M pullin managing director and his secutary. It was quickly passed back to the resolution team. They then request we take further photos of everything we were un happy with. So another few hours wasted taking photos infact we sent approx 50 images! It then took them more than a month to resolve the issue and despite calls to Barclays it dod not speed up the process!

Finally we were given three options from Wren
1. Replace and be given a 20% refund just over £4000 as a giod will gester
2. Take just over £5000 with no replacement and a void warranty
3. Remove the kitchen our selves so at our expense and they would refund our deposit and cancel the finace.
After six months of stress and the time it had wasted we felt we had no choice so agreed to option 3 as we just wanted the situation resolved.

NO compensation or fitting costs have ever been given to us and as we agreed to the offer we can do nothing else as they had great pleasure informing us.

We have now had the kitchen returned and our money back and we finally have a new kitchen delivered from a small local kitchen company. They have provided exceptional customer care something larger retail companies would benefit from learning from!

Good luck to you if you are ordering a wren kitchen!

Love my new kitchen I would recommend to anyone as I got my recommendation from a froend

Very helpful in store an polite Chester
Really happy with my new kitchen
Staff very friendly

Great professional service from our designer, Karolina at Leicester store