Wren kitchen, best time to buy, now or post Xmas sale?

Wren kitchen, best time to buy, now or post Xmas sale?

Author
Discussion

alistair1234

Original Poster:

1,129 posts

145 months

Monday 9th December 2019
quotequote all
When we bought our house, there was a Howdens kitchen installed in the previous couple of years, not completely our style, but we budgeted to replace the crappy worktops with quartz.

Unfortunately, due to complete shoddyness with the floor tiling (suspended floors), over the first few months after moving in, the grout started breaking up and now the tiles are loose and a couple have cracked in half. (it's now become obvious they re-grouted to hide the problem, but this obviously didn't fix the issue which we believe is not laying thick enough ply or not using flexible adhesive).

We were going to just have the kitchen removed and reinstalled, then got a quote from Howdens for a new kitchen, but have now ended up in Wren having a design appointment and we're happy with the final result, it actually came in a lot cheaper than expected.

My query is should we buy now, or wait until boxing day sales. They have 25% off quartz at the moment and also 50% off units if you buy more than 5, but i'm wondering if this is a kind of permanent sale that some companies seem to do all the time and actually post xmas will be even better. Our quote came out at £14k originally (kitchen, quartz and appliances) and went down to £9,600 after discounts.

Also, they seem to be quite good at price matching on appliances, so obviously there is a chance they will go down in price in the sales and even if the kitchens aren't cheaper, the appliances will be.

They say the price is fixed but i'm just wondering if they may have targets to hit before xmas and i could say I'll wait until after xmas to try and get a better deal. The downside to waiting until after xmas is there will be longer waits for delivery.

For anyone that didn't know, Wren close on the 14th until after xmas because all employees have to do 3 weeks solid in the sales apparently.

Anyone been in a similar siltation with them before?

dmsims

6,450 posts

266 months

Monday 9th December 2019
quotequote all
Best time to buy ? - never

singlecoil

33,311 posts

245 months

Monday 9th December 2019
quotequote all
They do have a rather negative reputation on PH

Gary Woodland

2,552 posts

161 months

Monday 9th December 2019
quotequote all
Don't buy from Wren. Seriously.

Freakuk

3,105 posts

150 months

Monday 9th December 2019
quotequote all
I know of two people who have had Wren kitchens, to be fair they were pretty good however the one thing that stung both was the wait times on worktops, something like a 2-3 week lead time after everything is installed to get your worktop, which means no hob or sink.

Something to consider maybe?

Octoposse

2,152 posts

184 months

Monday 9th December 2019
quotequote all
NEARLY bought a Wren kitchen this year. Quite impressed with the choice, design service, and especially the worktop. But salesman blew it with his "you have to order by Wednesday to take advantage of the summer sale . . .".

I assume you can haggle a substantial chunk (at least 25%?) off whatever their opening quote is.

We ended up with IKEA, £3,800 all in including appliances, instead of Wren's opening quote of £7.5k. That was with wood worktops instead of Wren's (admittedly rather lovely) 'Copper Slate' laminate. Super impressed with the IKEA quality as well.

Edited by Octoposse on Monday 9th December 15:47

bonerp

812 posts

238 months

Monday 9th December 2019
quotequote all
NEVER. I took them to court over the shoddy components, doors etc they kept sending me to replace badly finished or damaged items. I won.

ElectricSoup

8,202 posts

150 months

Monday 9th December 2019
quotequote all
2 houses in my street have had Wren kitchens this year. Both of them are disappointed with both the quality and poor after sales service.

I had an IKEA kitchen installed 10 years ago, and it's still brilliant. No "must buy now because fake sales" schtick either.

bonerp

812 posts

238 months

Monday 9th December 2019
quotequote all
Octoposse said:
NEARLY bought a Wren kitchen this year. Quite impressed with the choice, design service, and especially the worktop. But salesman blew it with his "you have to order by Wednesday to take advantage of the summer sale . . .".

I assume you can haggle a substantial chunk (at least 25%?) off whatever their opening quote is.
true story happened to me too. Even their worktop fitters (rotherhams) are crap and repeatedly kept sending lengths that were made up incorrectly and drilled the tap hole in the wrong place! In fitting it, they also damaged the kitchen further. Utterly hopeless. Their kitchen showrooms are stunning - don't be fooled. Not sure why they can't manage to send quality components. I didn't use their kitchen fitters who I've seen are even worse!

Muncher

12,219 posts

248 months

Monday 9th December 2019
quotequote all
The answer is never. We ended up getting a full refund from the credit card provider for our kitchen. DIY-Kitchens.com are much better.

macdaddy11

57 posts

174 months

Monday 9th December 2019
quotequote all
Muncher said:
The answer is never. We ended up getting a full refund from the credit card provider for our kitchen. DIY-Kitchens.com are much better.
^This. But if you really insist on using Wren at least take a list from DIY kitchens of all the pieces you want, and they will do a price match. I saved my sister-in-law over 2k doing this. Just be wary of all the add-ons... "Appliances? Yes ma'am we can do that, for much more than AO.com would charge and much more inferior equipment"

Prolex-UK

3,008 posts

207 months

Monday 9th December 2019
quotequote all
We had a Howdens kitchen fitted and was perfect.

Looked at Wren but the fitter who had accounts with Wren & Howdens said Wren were not as good as Howdens also that they make the stuff when you place your order so if they get something wrong its more than likely you will have to wait.

If you are South London based I can put you in touch with him.

anonymous-user

53 months

Monday 9th December 2019
quotequote all
Use Wren at your peril. As has been said, you have been warned.


jackofall84

537 posts

58 months

Monday 9th December 2019
quotequote all
A little bit of insider information for you. 90% of kitchen panels and units from a chain come off of Homag machines (including a lot of the ikea stuff), the issue is depending on who's operating the machine, how tidy it's been kept and maintained that week can vary the output. One of the installation and maintenance engineers I know who works for Homag explained to me that they really are all much of a muchness but Wren are one of the only suppliers to use a very high quality glue which gives them the slight edge. Having said that I would never use any 3rd party installation contractors recommended by Wren as this is what really lets them down.

My advice FWIW, buy the kitchen from Wren but source your own fitters.

Road2Ruin

5,166 posts

215 months

Monday 9th December 2019
quotequote all
Also, you a local independent for the worktop. Not only will it be cheaper, but better quality and fitted. Howdens wanted £5k for a 22mm quartz worktop. We got a 30mm quartz fitted for £2.9k

C Lee Farquar

4,066 posts

215 months

Monday 9th December 2019
quotequote all
I think I'd be tempted to lay some lino/adhesive tiles, £9k in the Bank and not deal with kitchen salesman or fitters.

Alucidnation

16,810 posts

169 months

Monday 9th December 2019
quotequote all
singlecoil said:
They do have a rather negative reputation on PH
They have a negative reputation throughout the industry as they are bloody diabolical.

gred

447 posts

168 months

Monday 9th December 2019
quotequote all
I’ve just:moved to a recent conversion of an old industrial building, quite fun, but although the Wren kitchen looked ok from a distance it’s by some margin the worst piece of c**p I’ve had the misfortune to encounter. I put much better B&Q ones into my rentals. Poor design, quality of units, fittings and instal.

OP run a mile.

Mine’s going in a skip

Alucidnation

16,810 posts

169 months

Monday 9th December 2019
quotequote all
To be honest, the quality is ok, it's the awful experience that goes with it.

anonymous-user

53 months

Monday 9th December 2019
quotequote all
Alucidnation said:
To be honest, the quality is ok, it's the awful experience that goes with it.
That certainly is the main issue people have.