“A complete disaster from the Preston…
A complete disaster from the Preston Store. Fitter failed to turn up on the first day. He came 3 days later and started to fit the kitchen, when he found out the worktops were bowed, the manager refused to replace, which caused an 2 week delay, eventually the manager agreed reordered the worktops. After a two week delay waiting for the new work tops, the fitter refused to return complete the kitchen, because of issues with the branch manager.
The manager failed to return our calls on numerous occasions. We eventually got a replacement fitter who finished the kitchen off, unfortunately this was done to a poor standard, fitted worktops were bowed and out of level, the joints on the worktop were a disgrace and letting water into the cupboards, the pelmets cut too short and fitted out of square, the plinths were too long and not fitting properly, some appliances were damaged, we had a leak from the plumbing which flooded the kitchen, we didn’t receive an electrical safety certificate for the work carry out on the first part of the installation .
The Branch Manager again didn’t respond to our concerns and failed to come and have a look. It took 5 weeks from start to finish really poor communication from the store and poor customer service.
After 8 weeks finally got the installation manager to conduct a site visit and he accepted the installation of the worktop by the 2nd fitter, Adam Hoyle, was very poor and below standard,
Now on week 11 and still awaiting a date for a third fitter to return to put right the dodgy work. I would say the over Magnet experience was a nightmare, the service was shocking and the ability of the store manager to communicate was dreadful.
The installation manager Ron Wood , who came to inspection the kitchen, was appalling, he had couldn’t care less attitude and unapologetic and seemed to lack the capacity to keep his word and communicate effectively and out of his depth, didn’t follow through on his promises and he fed back false and misleading information to the warranty and complaints teams. He even lied about contacting Neff, to get a replacement the damaged glass for the extractor fan and said they couldn’t send a replacement , when I rang Neff they said they could send me one out not a problem! Why lie?
The installation of the kitchen has been a nightmare and eventually getting magnet to agree to the remedial work stressful.
Please go to the Professional’s like Howdens or Wren!”
“A review of 2 halves….
Great buying experience, fitting was a fiasco.
THE GOOD…
The showroom experience – fantastic, Marc was amazing, listened to exactly what we wanted and created our dream kitchen with all the personalised requests met, no problems at all. Marc was lovely, friendly, professional and a credit to the company.
Great price, great quality. I would absolutely buy from Magnet again every time.
5 Stars every time.
THE BAD…
The fitter – we hired N****, recommended through Magnet, seemed a nice bloke at first. Caused us many, many problems, we are now left massively out of pocket due to his extortionate costs due to his slow work rate (and charging us to correct his many errors), and moreover, our dream kitchen ruined. I am sure they have some great fitters, but we are absolutely scarred after our experience.
Zero stars.
Problems in brief:
- Would not give a complete fit price, charged per day. Tried to charge us for days he did absolutely no work on our kitchen!! Even shouted, argued and became quite vile when we showed the evidence of the lack of work on those days (we did day by day photos) – tried to charge 19 days to fit a small kitchen, other advice we have got said it should have taken 12-13 max. He even threatened to take us to court when we challenged this!
- Did not fit kitchen as we asked:
o Left our domestic bin FULL of broken tiles and cement, council refused to empty, so we have had to decant and take to the tip ourselves!!!
o Put the wrong handles in the wrong locations despite our conversations, now we can’t move them and have all these extra holes in our cupboards!!!
o Went through one of the electrical ring mains and we’ve had a nightmare finding the fault and correcting this.
o we specified we wanted cupboards fitted to the ceiling with an infill, he did not do this; he also put up all cupboards before realising there were LEDs to fit so took more time taking them all down again to sort out (at cost per day to us). We have since hired a carpenter at additional cost to us to rectify this.
o Left plastic protective covering on some cupboards which we a nightmare to remove once other cupboards we attached to them (which we have had to do).
o Left the kitchen filthy, covered in saw dust and dirt, and the gas hob unconnected - we have had to arrange connection ourselves.
Tried to say he wasn’t with Magnet, but self-employed despite turning up to work in a magnet top everyday and getting all supplies for fitting from Magnet?!
So yes, buy a kitchen from Magnet, but do not go anywhere near their recommended fitters – arrange your own.
We are now left with our dream kitchen vastly over budget (over £4k to fit a 3x3m kitchen)?! Moreover, it is now spoiled forever. We now despise what should have been our dream kitchen.”
“Our experience with Magnet Chiswick has been nothing short of a nightmare. What was promised to be a smooth kitchen installation turned into a five-month ordeal. The level of communication was horrific throughout — we constantly had to chase updates, phone calls, and basic information just to keep the project moving.
We trusted Magnet enough to use the builders they recommended, only to later discover that these individuals had previously been done for fraud. This is absolutely unacceptable from a company of this size and reputation.
To this day, we are still waiting for compensation, and it feels like Magnet has done everything possible to avoid taking responsibility for the situation. The whole process has been incredibly stressful and damaging to our mental health — something no customer should have to endure, especially after spending a significant amount of money.
We genuinely regret choosing Magnet Chiswick and would strongly advise others to look elsewhere if you value transparency, professionalism, and peace of mind.”
“I had a design and quote from a lady called Mags at Magnet, Solihull. She worked really hard and came up with an excellent design. We got three quotes from three different Companies. We rejected one because we didn't like the salesman. Mags was great and we were on the point of booking her design when the third Company came in with the offer of starting within a week. That was really important to us as we are having loads of work on the house and the kitchen fitter is also a builder, he lives in the next road and he is converting our garage and renovating two bathrooms. It made sense to go with him.
I can't fault Mags and we felt quite guilty not going with her. She took time with the plans, showed us all the drawers etc in the showroom, added some really good advice that her experience indicated was best for us. The price was quite similar to the one we went with. I have a Trade Account so I suspect I could have haggled with Mags to reduce my price if needed.
Although we went elsewhere I am leaving this review because its important to recognise good people and we also liked the product offered.”
“Magnet warranties are not worth the paper that it's written on! Our quartz worktop has gone brown (should be white) and they want nothing to do with it. We followed manufacturer's cleaning materials and still they don't want to know. Also their paint to order cabinets are terrible. Always chipping.
AVOID AVOID AVOID.”
“I was left devastated and frustrated after being duped by this broker. I searched high and low for a solution, but to no avail. That's when I stumbled upon bi t cl ai m , ., .n e t , and they turned my world around. Their team of experts understood the urgency of my situation and worked tirelessly to recover my lost funds. With their unwavering dedication and expertise, they successfully retrieved what I thought was lost forever. Don't waste your time else where. They are the real deal when it comes to recovering funds from fraudulent brokers trust them to get the job done!”
“Lights returned at the Magnet fitters direction as they were the wrong ones. Three months later still waiting for the refund of £350 despite many calls to Customer Service who have done nothing to help. Disgraceful service”
“The kitchen cupboards and worktop were good but the experience was unpleasant. The design included products that were completely superfluous but I was unable to return eg: end panels costing in excess of £500. Communication with the customer was terrible eg: warning of Christmas closures and change of payment date with 24 hrs notice to pay the balance. Worst of all, a bullying and rude manager at the Holloway Rd branch who was unable to apologise for any company errors, let alone sort them out. He just left me shaking. The experience was very unpleasant.”
“We went with flat pack, which my partner was fitting. He has fitted 7 kitchens before. When I started to assemble the units the instructions were very poor, the diagram does not match with the units. There are three counter sunk holes in the main piece, however only two in the instructions and it makes no mention of plugging these. Because of this third hole, you cannot place a dowel because it pushes in to the negative space too far down to be useful. I was told it was a universal cabinet and to try and plug it. Later telling me that wasn’t the case and stating well I’m not a fitter, why fob off with wrong instructions if you didn’t know that was correct then? Can’t just make stuff up.
Next both cross battens were not drilled to depth so would not accommodate a cam lock, so the whole unit cannot be built. I was told that fitters just drill them out if not drilled and blamed it on us not being professional fitters. I’ve never had to further bore out holes in flat pack before. If this is the case what is the point in selling flat pack? They’re just two bits of chip board at this point requiring carpentry/fabrication.
When I explained nervousness that they would all be this way they refused to do a site visit even though head office promised me one.
I mentioned we’d never had any of these issues with our Wickes kitchens, store manager replied “they’re ours, we make Wickes kitchens”. Head office said the Wickes units are the less superior ones. Why am I paying magnet prices for a Wickes kitchen,. The Wickes flat pack we had last time had solid backs and thicker units, are much better quality and cost less. Magnet are 16mm and have flimsy board on the back the like of which you get on the back of ikea wardrobes.
When I said the kitchen is not worth 9k store manager looked at me quizzically. I paid £4k yes, but it was supposed to be 9k without the discount or are they lying about the real value?
Whatever, the same like for like kitchen at DIY kitchens is at least 1.5k cheaper.
If magnet don’t want customers to build and install their own kitchens don’t sell flat pack. They continually tried to put it on us for not being professional installers when it’s clearly manufacturing faults at play.
Asking us to bore out faulty pieces to make them fit is unreasonable and comes with issues as the material can split and invalidate any warranty.
I have only opened two units so far and issues. There are 9 more.
Head office don’t call you back.
Store doesn’t apologise and blame the customer.
I am disabled and have been treated with contempt.”
“How are Magnet still trading? We have had incompetence, more incompetence and yet more incompetence.
To be succinct, which our problems have not been, they incorrectly measured our kitchen, gave us plans that wouldn't fit, then after we insisted that they wouldn't fit, they attended again and told us the plans would fit. Again, we insisted they wouldn't and they agreed. They then promised to reimburse us for the changed plans, which was a couple of thousand. This was chased up over 2 weeks, after they assured us it was sent 3 times in a phenomenaly patronising way, they conceded it hadn't been sent as it hadn't been authorised.
Just the start of the farce....
We took delivery of the kitchen. Well, most of it. The fridge freezer was on route to a builder in Birmingham.
Wrong drawers, insufficient cornice, wrong design on work top, no corner piece, the 2 cookers were different colours, one graphite, one stainless silver.
Trying to speak to someone at branch was tricky. Trying to speak to someone who cared was largely impossible.
They did re order one of the ovens. Exactly the same colour oven arrived. Yep, you wait for 2 weeks, and take a day off work, and they go and further tarnish our feelings for them even more.
We have had to plead with our kitchen fitter to hang on whilst we wait for the rest. We have told him it shouldn't be too much longer, but I'm not so sure. Haven't got a clue how much more this will cost us, but it will cost us.
This evening we have just found out that even the cutlery drawer is too big for our drawers and doesn't fit. And we find that Magnet no longer answer our calls or e mails, not that they did much anyway.
Just so it is in open forum, the sales branch at Leamington Spa shut soon after taking our money. We were told that Stratford upon avon would be our point of contact. We have been caught in the middle of a massive headache. If we weren't the recipients of this massive joke, I would be sat down chuckling at this review. But no, we are the victims who will never, ever dream of using or recommending Magnet to any one. Ever. You should be ashamed.
The one shining light, has been Scott at Stratford. He has tried to put a really wobbly wheel back on a really wobbly bike. Unfortunately, too little.”
“Dave Berry's attitude, the manager at Cannock, was appalling, customer care was non existent, avoid Magnet for your kitchens, wrong kitchen ordered, doors and hinges missing when it did arrive, waiting for damaged drawer front and Dave Berry didn't even acknowledge our complaint he had the audacity to blame us. Enquires have emailed me saying they can't deal with us because our builder dealt with them, we paid for the kitchen in full not our builder so we are the customer, they took our money but now they want to avoid dealing with us, disgraceful company, do not use them.”
“Magnet disappoint me a lot, and the company as whole. We meant to finalise the whole design and the designer to confirm the quote, first it took her months and months to get to this point, which is not my fault. Second, she gave me a quote in April including a promotion they had and it was about £23k after our last conversation we remove some of the appliances and changed the back splash and that was all, just guess the difference in the final quote before we actually complete the order.... Her new quote came to £48k (including 65% discount on cupboards) no explanation where the extra £20k came from.
Every time I call the store the designer is on her day off or on Holiday, today was the final straw when I call the they told me she is on her day off and on her holiday at the same time.”
“Here is my actual email to Magnet Kitchens.
I am writing to you concerning my dealings with Magnet Kitchens in Kingston upon Thames. KT1 3AY
My husband and I decided to have a completely new kitchen and our builder (who had used your kitchens many times before and was very satisfied with them) suggested your brand. We then proceeded to visit the Kingston branch and chose the Nordic model. Sitting down with one of the designers there, we dually designed the kitchen and were very happy with that experience. Shortly after, the kitchen was ordered.
Our builder then set about preparing our room ready for the kitchen. The kitchen then arrived and the beginning of the assembly began.
Generally speaking all of my complaints following fall into three categories - competency in the design, receiving incorrect parts or no parts and customer service.
All of these problems severely impacted on the time taken for us to have a kitchen and the time taken for the builder to finish.
Design
1. The first problem with design involved an internal corner shelf unit for saucepans etc that pulled out in the wrong direction and made it impossible to use. Having discussed this with our designer we were told that a replacement shelf would cost almost as much as a new cupboard but we could have a complete cupboard and take out the shelf to use on its own, obviously having to pay for this again.
2. This involved my choice of a porcelain sink. This being very heavy was totally impractical fo the Nordic frame but my builder managed to create supports for it. None of this had been pointed out by the designer at the time.
3. During the designing process, I had asked whether there were any shelves that Magnet sold to hang either side of the cooker. Two were pointed out in the shop that looked great but when an order was made our builder found out that the two shelves had just been made by the shop fitters from left over wood.
Receiving or not receiving parts
1. Sent not enough decorative strips for around the space between laminate and draw tops
2. Taps with one rubber part missing
3. Plugs that did not fit correctly
There may be other things …
Customer Service
This was not good. The majority of phone calls made (and there were many) were made to our designer. At no time were there any apologies. Nobody seemed to be bothered or take overall responsibility. Everything was seen to be one individual problem after another with the builder following up everything. Surprisingly, our build did not seem to be flagged up as an urgent priority- a bit of a disaster. In the end our builder began to talk with the manager and then received apologies and offers to deliver parts straightaway.
All in all, a kitchen that should have taken one to two weeks to install took 5-6 weeks. This put us to great inconvenience as you can imagine.
This is such a shame as I am delighted with the kitchen itself, it looks beautiful.
So, I would say that at the very least we deserve a proper apology for all the issues on the project as a whole. It also doesn’t seem unreasonable, having spent £12 000 on the kitchen, for you to provide some financial recompense in order to recognise the inconvenience and increased installer time.
No reply obviously
Many of these problems seem to directly mirror the ones mentioned above.
A very disreputable company”
“Absolutely a no go the company is a absolute joke avoid at all cost please do you research before you go I'm sure this will make your mind up there a Facebook page just on magnat please take alook”
“Over one year and still they have not finished my kitchen.
1. they dont tell the truth
2. they ignore complaints
3. there fitters are appalling
possibly the experience is different depending on the store but Acton should definitely be avoided”
“i had my kitchen about 4 years ago about a year ago the plastic and the door fronts stared to peel and then the woodchip is showing through about 5 upboards and i drawer front my daughter had a budget b and q kitchen 9 year ago and it is still perfect”
“Worst experience ever I had as a fitter. Pls avoid those scumbags. Wow,I still can't believe what I have experienced. Pls see in picture how looks my costumer kitchen for now:D the kitchen won't be finished until May”
“I had the worst experience from this company.
After several days of fitting my kitchen,I noticed there was a leak in the cabinet under the sink .
I called them ,they changed the cabinet but they said the leak was from my washing machine pipes.
I called someone to change it but they said there is no problem from my washing machine pipes.
Then after changing them still there was a leak.
I continued in this situation for 9 months they send people and can't recognize where is the leake from.
In the end they decided to blame it on me of leaving too much water on the surface.
In the end I contacted the head office which they were dishonest and refused to help.
In the end I contacted the ombudsman and I found two different qualified people from different company which they from the first look they diagnosed the leake was from sink as it was fitted without seal and clips .
In the end I won the case and they had to send someone to fix it for me .
They are bunch of liers dishonest people.”
“Poor quality kitchen, appalling customer service both in store and over the phone from head office. They do not respond to emails and refuse to come out and look at the quality of the kitchen, I used their installer, just a complete waste of money. Avoid Magnet at all costs they are crooks!”
“Terrible quality of units and a low guarantee on the medium range. Terrible customer service and terrible aftercare even after paying for a premium fitting service. Their fitter even swapped my new integrated fridge for a cheaper one before we realised. Avoid!!!”
