‘Help! My new kitchen has failed'
Do you have an issue you need put right?
Which? is here to help get your consumer problems sorted.
Dear Which?,
I bought a kitchen from Howdens, but after six months the cupboard doors bowed significantly. This has affected the appearance and use of the cupboards, and it keeps getting worse.
I’ve contacted Howdens about this, and it inspected the kitchen and carried out tests. It found that the humidity in my home was the reason for the bowing cupboards and offered to replace 10 of the worst-affected doors as a goodwill gesture.
I've declined this because I’m worried about the problem repeating itself, as the same type of door will be reinstalled.
My kitchen was newly renovated at the time of installation, including a Howdens extractor fan, and the room didn’t show signs of damp or mould. It is a 1930s house and, as a result, you should expect the humidity to fluctuate more than in a new build, for example.
Is there anything Which? can do to help?
Carl Townley
Put to Rights
Tali Ramsey, Which? consumer rights expert, says:
We found your case quite curious as we hadn't come across this particular issue before. After speaking with some experts, we agreed that the response you had from Howdens didn't seem fair.
Howdens has a guarantee that provides up to five years for its doors and up to 25 years for its cabinets. However, as it had concluded that the doors were not faulty but had bowed due to ‘unsuitable site conditions’, it didn’t offer a resolution under its guarantee.
I contacted Howdens, and it repeated that environmental conditions had caused the bowing doors. It said that this was confirmed by the inspections and atmospheric tests carried out.
Howdens then later agreed to replace and upgrade the kitchen fronts and other visible elements to one of its solid wood ranges and cover the fitting costs.
Under the Consumer Rights Act, goods and services should be as described, fit for purpose and of satisfactory quality. They should also be supplied with reasonable care and skill, and this applies to materials too.
If you’re unhappy with the quality of a new kitchen or how the kitchen was installed, your rights are against whoever you paid, as that’s who your contract is with. So you should complain to them with all the evidence you have of the issues, including photos.
Need to know
- If you suspect it’s a product quality issue, you should contact the retailer that supplied the kitchen. You can follow the fitter’s or retailer’s formal complaint process, if it has one. You can build a complaint letter using our free faulty goods complaints tool.
- Unsatisfactory resolutions can be escalated to an Alternative Dispute Resolution scheme or a trade body if the company is a member of either of these.
- You can try to recover your money by making a Section 75 claim if you paid by credit card, or via the small claims court if your complaint is against how the fitter installed the kitchen. You should seek legal advice before you go down this route.
Get in touch. If you've got a consumer rights problem you need put right, email us at yourstory@which.co.uk
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