“SHAMBOLIC COMPANY
I don't usually write reviews, but my advice is: DON'T USE THIS SHAMBOLIC COMPANY. We paid 5K for fitted wardrobes, and the subcontract fitters did not turn up! I had no contact from Hammonds, and I had to ring several times to receive an update. They offered £100 compensation, but when I asked for a refund as I wanted to cancel the fitting, they refused. I would never use this company again!”
“This has been the most stressful experience and I wish I had my money back to go with another company. An ikea flat pack would have looked better! Designed to fit your room is a joke. They design to fit your room but then don’t have the pieces necessary to deliver. I feel very sorry for the fitter because apparently they don’t get paid until you sign off on the job but they have been given a design which isn’t possible. Just truly shocking and I don’t understand how it is legal!”
“The company is just a fraudulent company they offer the world and then deliver nothing.
After seeing some Hammonds Wardrobes in my Sisters new house and then seeing her Surveyor doing her wardrobes, I had seen the exact color combination I wanted for my new wardrobes in the property I had just purchased... have a lot of clothes but now no wardrobes.
I went to the Milton Keynes store (28th December) and showed the color, Their representative could show me the color in person but not a lot else as it was a new range. But I was impressed at the time as I could get a designer visit the next day. But at no point was I offered any other options or told there would be severe delays.
The 29th the Designer turned up, was very friendly and measured and designed my wardrobe. Changed a few options due to my budget and then left me to think about it whilst I had another company (Sharps) come around on the 30th.
After the visit from Sharps, I decided Hammonds was the better offer so proceeds to pay my deposit that evening (but their system said I ordered on the 29th).
On the 3rd January, Maxine called me and setup a survey for the 7th Jan & fitting W/c 17th Feb.
On the 7th Jan, I get a phone call from Maxine to say the surveys are not yet trained yet and that the survey shouldn't have been booked for that date and another survey was booked for the 15th Jan and I was assured the surveyor would be trained by then.
I was then called on the 10th by "Pre-Fits" to say that my survey would now not happen on that date as the training would still not have happened by this time and that my Install would be delayed 3-4 weeks now W/c 10th March.
On those previous two phone calls I expressed my frustration to both pre-fits and Maxine, that this was not good enough and that if there was any further delays I would want my money returned and order cancelled.
On the 15th January I was then booked in for Survey for the 23rd January, but this was then changed again two days later on the 17th... I was annoyed but accepted as it was actually earlier on the 21st January.
The Surveyor did turn up and was friendly enough, but after all that hassle effective did the same job as the designer and as was here for 20 minutes...
Two days later on the 23rd January I then get a phone call to say they are having productions problems and I now can't have my wardrobes fitted until the 16th April at the earliest... This was the final straw for me and I asked them to cancel my order and give me a refund after 4-5 Survey Changes and 3 fitting dates I wasn't going to wait a near further 3 months for my wardrobes.
I was advised I would get a phone call within 48 Hours and it is now Monday 27th January and still no phone call even after reaching twice through instagram.
This is effectively fraud as they are taking money in my case £713.50 deposit for a product that is not yet ready for retail.
And from other reviews will say they can keep you 25% deposit because you cancelled after the 14 Day "Cooling Off" Period .... Yet it is them making constant changes and not delivering to their side of the contract.”
“What an absolutely horrendous experience with this incompetent company. After visiting the Abingdon showroom and being followed round by a young girl who wouldn’t leave us alone to browse I decided against my better judgement to get a quote for 4 bedrooms in our newly renovated house. The initial meeting with Debbie went well but then the surveyor turned up and that’s when it all started to go wrong. The 4 bedrooms, at a cost of over £20,000, were supposed to installed by 2 fitters between late February and 6th March 2024.
Once the installations had started it was clear that there was issues in every single room, ranging from damaged doors and panels, to bits missing and a whole stretch of wardrobes on a sloping ceiling being measured and made completely incorrectly! We also had previously been asked to move 2 electrical sockets, which we did to the surveyor’s measurements, then when the units came to be fitted the sockets had to be moved yet again, having to be plastered and painted around yet again!! The fitters are not employed directly by Hammonds themselves but are subcontracted individuals.
After a visit from a manager he promised these issues would be rectified promptly!
After numerous phone calls, emails and failed attempts to rectify the issues and another manager visiting the site I had enough and got a solicitor involved.
Finally the 4 bedrooms were finished 8 months later at a cost to myself and holding up other trades for months. Hammond’s deemed £1475 off the cost was enough compensation which I only agreed to because I didn’t want the hassle of actually taking them to court!
The fitters informed me that I was not the only customer that had taken legal action!
PLEASE avoid this company at all costs, get a local fitter to install for you!!”
“Very poor service from start to finish, changed our installation date twice, one being the night before. Ended up having to take more time off work.
Surveyor said it would only take one day, took two. The installer said he only started the day before my installation, and you can tell. For the nearly £3000 | paid, the work carried out is poor to say the least.
I also asked for a refund after my second cancellation and was told a straight no. I said I would be leaving a poor review and they didn't seem interested one bit.
I would avoid with all cost !!”
“Ongoing saga with Hammonds regarding the appalling way we have been treated Via the Customer Service Department.
Our bedroom furniture is perfect, the fitter was brilliant so no complaints there
The door knobs we agreed to and were ordered, shown to us by the Surveyor, were discontinued and although in our final agreement and acceptance form a photo of this door knob was clearly evident, although we are now know Hammonds were fully aware of this particular one being discontinued prior to work starting, infact 2 months, but did not abide by their own Contract of notification of 21 days prior to work starting of any changes that needed to be made.
A Manager today, who visited us, stated that the contract was flexible, although the wording does not reflect this
I have been in contact with Hammonds since the 11th June via emails and phone calls trying to get a reasonable outcome, one Manager in July agreeing the wrong knobs had been fitted and ones like we had agreed to be fitted, this didn't happen.
At one point we were told that a Surveyor does not carry samples so we couldn't have chosen them from him, but have since learnt they do.
It made it looked like my husband and I to be lying and no apology around this was given
More and more denials from Hammonds even passing the blame onto others rather than apologise and remedy it.
We were even told to go and find ones we like and Hammonds would refit at no charge,this might sound reasonable but we have paid for this and you wouldn't go out and purchased something for a brand new car that had the wrong fitted headlights on
As we were not notified of this,and Hammonds had broke the contract, and wrong ones were supplied and fitted without our consent and agreement we believe reasonable compensation of £500 for the time and stress we have endured but we have only been offered a non negotiable £200.
Hammonds are not acting like the ' Family Company ' they are trying to promote and need to listen to the reasonable complaints and improve the service as customers rather not complain they just want what they have paid for”
“"I recently placed an order for furniture for three rooms with Hammonds, and while the company initially seemed promising, my experience with the salesperson, Paul Nuttall, was extremely disappointing. He made several false commitments regarding the designs, and when the surveyor came for the final measurements, he criticized Paul for his poor knowledge and misrepresentations. After I paid the advance, Paul stopped responding to my messages. Even after multiple follow-ups and sending a written complaint email, I received no response from the company. It’s clear that Hammonds only provides good service until you make the payment, but after that, they don't seem to care about the customer. I would not recommend dealing with this company or salesperson based on this unprofessional experience."”
“Hammonds are the worst company I have ever made a purchase from. I lost track of how many time I was lied to and dishonesty appears deeply engrained into their culture. Ordered 2x wardrobes costing £4.5k. They originally advised 1 day fitting, after paying the deposit changed their mind to 2 days so needed leave from work. They changed the agreed fitting date without any consultation with myself a couple of weeks before when nobody would be at the address and stated the next available date would be another 12 weeks away. They then offered to refer us to their "customer relations team" but another month passed of them not contacting me and only stating they were aware of the error on the 2 occasions I chased them. U had to escalate to the ombudsman just to rearrange a fitting date which they said "should have been offered within 7 days but is always within 30", the following day when I called to arrange this they stated the earliest available was 60 days away. The only positive throughout the whole ordeal was the quality of work from the fitter we eventually got 6 months after making the order, however it sounds like they treat them with as much distain as they do customers, hence why I suspect they struggle to provide any service. Overall my impression of Hammonds is that you will pay premium prices for a decent quality product, however the service you will receive will be a mix of gross incompetence and extortion, and actually getting the product you ordered will be a nightmare. There is no way I would ever consider using this company or any others associated with them ever again.”
“Do not hand your money to these people!
We gave had our fit date moved again and again, with little notice each time. We paid promptly only to have our fit moved 2 days before…. Then again and again by text.
Thus has now gone in for months and we are still waiting. Time to demand our money back and threaten legal action???”
“We were initially to have the fitting of the units done over four days. We were surprised to find it was cut to two days and consequently not finished for the Friday afternoon. We expected the fitter to return the following Monday…oh how wrong we were. He was due to return the following Friday 13th Sept. We phoned customer services and they would do nothing to move to an earlier day in the week. Our carpet fitter was due in on 14th and the electrician and builder due to start alterations to the rest of the bungalow on 16th. We are both in our late 70s and reasonably fit and had arranged for our son in law to help move the rest of the the bedroom furniture into our newly fitted bedroom and help store other furniture to allow the builder to start on 16th. Now the work will not commence till 13th our family are due to go on holiday so we are left to do it on our own
As far as I’m concerned Hammonds have broken their contract by not allowing the fitter the correct amount of time to do his job. We cannot fault the fitter at all. There were other faults with the job but he made good suggestions to get round them. We have paid always on time. WHY Hammonds can you not try to ease a little of our stress? Your suggestion of asking our carpet fitter and builder to move their start dates was completely unreasonable. They have time commitments like any other business. I hope people will read this and think very carefully and if they decide to use this product have everything in writing. We will not be using Hammonds again.”
“Very pushy sales. I had to cancel my ‘no obligation survey’. The day I cancelled I had 4 phone calls pushing me to rearrange despite me saying I can’t put anything in my diary yet.
Just seen reviews now, I can see they are an awful company.”
“Absolutely horrific experience at Hammonds, mainly the initial consultation, which is essentially a con. The salesman was pushy, and kept asking me for my decision straight away. How is it possible that I could decide within an initial consultation? Then he said, a few times, that I was overthinking it! Spending thousands of pounds and I’m overthinking it? Unacceptable. I wasn’t told how big the drawers would be - they are tiny both in terms of width and depth - the L-shaped design is terrible and doesn’t work, completely impractical, and the push mechanism is so clearly going to wear out. It’s also monstrous in my tiny bedroom. I want it taken out, I can’t stand looking at it, I don’t want it. I can’t fault the fitter, but the whole experience was absolutely awful. The designer doesn’t know the product and the surveyor was literally pointless. The only person one should be dealing with is the fitter, which meals why go with a company like Hammonds, which has to pay all those pointless people? The thing to do is go with a local joinery person with good reviews. This company should be out of business.”
“Although rate the furniture and the fitter five star but because wrong door knobs were delivered, chosen from samples the surveyor showed us, gaps left at the wardrobes even though assured by the surveyor that there wouldn't be any areas that could be seen as dust collectors, I have to rate tge overall experience 1 star”
“I had fitted wardrobes in my bedroom in December, lovely job carried out by Aaron and was impressed with the service and fitting.
I called them in January, out came a designer to design a media unit in my living room, slight snag as they failed to let me know I needed to move a socket but no problem, I can get they done - this was picked up by the surveyor.
The surveyor comes out and after slagging off the designer, I ask him to mark on the wall where the TV is going so I can get the bracket up etc.
I wasn’t happy with the measurements so I complained and another one came out (the one who did my wardrobes so I know he’s good at his job) and yes, the measurements were incorrect so good job I double checked.
Fitting date commenced middle March, Aaron the wardrobe fitter was requested (yes you can have him) great stuff, can’t wait to see how it looks for £4450.
Email received with an earlier fitting date of March 4th and another fitters name given, okay hopefully he’s as good as Aaron.
The Saturday before the fitting date I received a call from the fitter asking if I was having wardrobes fitted! Erm no, it’s a media unit, I asked if he had the drawings and I felt that sinking feeling.
Monday arrived (2 day job) the fitter bought my ‘bespoke’ furniture in the house, marking my walls and doors along the way and tells me it’s a 3 day job and the design is going to make his work really hard to do so I had to make some slight adjustments.
Not much done on the first day, base unit carcasses and the worktop across the top - on closer inspection it was two pieces joined together, two tone and stuck with glue spilling out and a chunk in it where he had been clamped together.
I called Hammonds first thing Tuesday morning and was told to let him finish the job as I’m sure it’ll be ok and wouldn’t call the fitter to let them know I was unhappy.
I was fuming but thought ok I’ll say something myself so I did and made him change it.
Day 2 and half way through and he was leaving around 7pm which was dark so he couldn’t see what he was doing.
Day 3 - finally finished at 8pm and draw front and handles missing.
I was that annoyed and cheesed off and wanted him out my house so didn’t say anything as I’d been emailing pictures of his poor work to Hammonds which consisted of Jagged and chipped edges, nails coming through the side of the cupboard, caulking everywhere, two tone edging on the shelving that wmore chips on it, poorly fitted edges on the plinths fitted to the skirting (squared off instead of round leaving a large gap)
Customer services fobbed me off, booked in a remedial guy to come out, so I booked a day off work thinking he was coming to fix it, no write a report - take it down and re do it he said. More time off work unpaid!
8 weeks wait for the remedial guy to write the report, 3 weeks for the fitting so in total 11 weeks from start to finish.
Apparently my bespoke furniture is supposed to have a join right down the middle of the back of where the tv goes and the worktop only comes in one size so you’ll have to have a join.. how is that ‘bespoke’??
Absolute con artists and should be done for misleading advertising.
I complained to the ombudsman who said because I didn’t complain to Hammonds during the 30 day period, that’s a laugh I’ve done nothing but complain - I requested a transcript of my conversation with them - I got a typed email with snippets of conversation.
The ombudsman found in their favour (surprise) and thought the £100 compensation was adequate.
This wouldn’t even cover half of the decoration costs I have as they have scored a large dent across the whole of the ceiling, marked my walls and skirting boards and door, not to mention the 5.5 days unpaid leave for work.
Every chance I get I am leaving bad feedback on Facebook and Instagram with pictures if I can add them.
Absolute disgrace of a company who you’d have thought would be more professional seeing as they have been around for many years. Hopefully for not much longer..”
“How deeply I regret that I didn’t find this page before I decided to use Hammonds to provide furniture for my new bedroom. This has to be the worst company I have ever made the mistake of dealing with. Both the initial salesman/designer and the surveyor got the measurements of my bedroom wrong with the result that, when the fitter came to do a three day job, it had to be abandoned part way through as the design did not fit in. I was then left without a usable bedroom in my house for several weeks, during which I found out that the person who had introduced herself as the person who would be ‘looking after’ me during the installation process was not there to help the customer, but to protect Hammonds. She never called when she said she would, and not once replied to any of the numerous emails I sent to her. In spite of her unhelpfulness, the room was eventually remeasured and a second fitting date was arranged. The ‘remedial fitter’ managed to fit most of the furniture as planned but I agreed with him that one unit would be left out due to difficulty fitting it in. And another unit, a triple wardrobe, was left without a door as somebody had forgotten to order it! So, I had another wait before my bedroom was finally finished minus one planned unit. Altogether, it took well over three months from paying the initial deposit to having my room completed, and for much of that time I had to sleep on my sofa. And my compensation for this debacle? £300 knocked off my final payment!
I would prefer to give no stars to this company but can’t. However, I would like to thank the fitters who must get so frustrated at having to apologise for mistakes made by other, less efficient employees, of this dreadful company.”
“This company is one of the worst company you will ever deal with. Their sale person was brilliant, came to our house, showed us pictures and samples, took measurements and secured a sale from us.
From then on, it went downhill.
The fitter arrived at our house and kept on complaining about the quality of the product. The panels received were the wrong size. The shelves were all fitted at a different height, cut to a different depth. The wardrobe was not secured to the walls. The back panel was not the right size. The joints were glued with mastics. The fitter even said that this was worst quality than Ikea. After a week of repeated calls, we managed to get someone inspecting the work who basically said they needed to start again but mainly that this was a dangerous fit as this was not attached to the wall. Hammonds client services is appalling. They wanted to send someone to get this stuck to the wall, but failed to call us. We called them 13 times within 2 weeks, they called us once. Failing everyday to fulfill their duties of care and after service.
I would highly recommend anyone stay away from this company. Worst product ever but the client servicing is beyond appalling. 10 years guarantee with this service, no faith, no confidence. No thanks.”
“If I could give them 0 stars I would.
The initial experience is very positive, the team that came to do the design and the initial survey were all very professional, so I felt that we were in good hands with Hammonds...well nothing could be further from the truth.
The initial build was cancelled or rescheduled several times often without any notice, so I would have to call them to find out why the fitter did not arrive.
Once the product was eventually fitted, there were some snags that needed to be attended to, and that is when they really let themselves down...unreliable fitters and the customer service person that I spoke to on my last call to complain was just completely indifferent bordering on rude. Not once did she even apologise for the inconvenience of having the fitters cancel yet again for their follow-up call for the snag list.
The quality of the product is okay, but not worth the hassle.”
“My furniture is supposed to be fitted next week and have been trying to get through to Hammonds customer service all afternoon, have they gone on bank holiday already. They are not helpful when you do and sometimes rude.
After reading reviews online I am dreading next week what have I let myself in for. They are very good when they want your money but oh dear what have I done. I sincerely hope it is a good job or I will be extremely upset and that’s before they start.”
“Useless customer service as once out of guarantee they don't want to know about any problems one might be experiencing.
We shall NEVER purchase from Hammonds again and will advise all of our friends about our experience!”
