To start the new year well, our hot water system blew up on Friday 2/01/2015. Rang a couple of plumbers but none were answering their mobile phones. It was after all the new year long weekend for many. On Saturday morning I rang the big energy companies who supposedly guarantee a 24/7 hour turnaround for gas water systems as specified on their website. One recorded answering message was that I was calling outside business hours and the other couldn't organise anything until Monday.

Finally I called GD Master Plumbing Service at around 11:00AM and Gino advised that he would be here within the hour. As clock work he arrived and replaced the hot water system, took the old one away and cleaned up after himself.

Very pleasant to deal with and couldn't fault the service.

Approximate cost: $1,800.00

Lessons learned from Direct Kitchens

In mid November 2013, my wife and I visited the Direct Kitchens showroom in Moonee Ponds (Vic).

As their work looked quite impressive and they were offering a 20% discount, we accepted an appointment with one of their designers. A week later we met with this lady (call her J) at our house. As our kitchen is adjacent to the laundry which had some extra space, we explained that we wanted to move a wall by about 35cms to expand the kitchen. J did a first sketch and suggested that we reduce the laundry to the minimum and turn around the washing machine and trough so it would now be accessible from the kitchen. Apparently it's called a Euro laundry and is the latest craze in kitchen design!

A week later an appointment was made at the Moonee Ponds showroom where we had to select the various finishes and be given a quote. We were showed different materials and among other things were the soft close doors and drawers. We were told that they came at an extra cost but as we wanted a quality kitchen we accepted this fact. After two and half hours we were presented with the quote which amounted to around $53,000. Our kitchen isn't very big so we thought that it was rather expensive and asked about the 20% discount.

In typical used car salesman technique, we were told that the discount was only available if we signed on the spot. We wanted to think about it and come back to her later in the week but that was not an option. The fine print clearly stated that it was valid on the day only.

The other benefit we were sold on was the fact that they took care of everything: builder, plumber, electrician, cabinetry, glazier etc. This appealed to us a lot as we are well aware how unreliable tradespeople are. They highlighted the fact that they were a HIA builder and the work came with a 7 year warranty.

After the discount and some minor adjustments, we agreed on a total price of $44,435 excluding appliances.

Mistake number 1: We gave in and paid a deposit. We were assured that they would manage the whole project and work would be completed in 5 weeks and a note was made on the contract.

Another appointment was made with their tech man (call him G) a couple of weeks later. G made a detailed plan and left us with a copy. Another deposit of $7,665 was made and the work was booked to start in early February 2014.

Fortunately there was Christmas and New Year in between and we had time to think about the new design they were proposing. It dawned on us that it was pointless to make the laundry open in the kitchen behind what they called bi-fold doors. We already had a laundry and the logical thing to do was simply move the washing machine and trough forward and gain exactly the same space in the kitchen area. So we designed our own plan and emailed it to them. G came back and took some measurements and confirmed that it made sense.

A few days later we noticed that the whole warranty was a 5 word statement: “Product Warranty – seven (7) years.” That's it!

We asked J about it and she acted very surprised that we would question this as none of her clients had ever raised this question before. Since structural work was being done we insisted that a more specific guarantee be extended to the wall, plumbing, electrical work etc. They wouldn't have a bar of this and at one point G told us that if we didn't like it we could cancel the order. Great way of handling a customer query!

Subsequently, we spoke directly to the builder who agreed to send a separate letter guaranteeing his work.

On February 10th the builder turned up and removed the kitchen and the wall. Worked progressed quite well and a couple of weeks later the kitchen cabinets and new appliances were installed.

As the kitchen was being put in we realised that the doors were not “soft close” only the drawers were. We phoned J who said that soft close doors are not mentioned in the contract as we never specified it. We questioned why she showed us these doors in the first place and her reply was that none of her clients wanted them anyway and we were the first ones again to ask for it. In any case she said would check her notes and get back to us. We're still waiting!

That was mistake number 2: Not having the time to read the contract properly and signing under duress to get the 20% discount.

For different reasons and delays aligning the tradespeople, the temporary connection they had promised never took place and we remained without water in the kitchen and cooking appliances for 4 weeks. By then we realised that there was no Project Manager and the two ladies we spoke to in their Bayswater office had no idea what was going on.

Lesson number 3: We quickly learned that we had to collect the various tradespeople mobile phone numbers and follow up the work ourselves.

At that point we were asked to make the final payment to Direct Kitchen as the kitchen was in. Glazier and stone mason would be paid directly by us.

Lesson number 4: We made full payment of the balance owing although work was still in progress.

After the stone benches were installed, we waited a whole week for the glazier to come and measure. As there was no glazier in sight, and after several phone calls to Direct Kitchens, we called the builder who organised for another glazier to come. Two weeks later, the glass turned up however one large piece had been cut too small and they had to take it back. It would take another 2 weeks for a new piece of glass to be cut and painted.

Yesterday 2 April 2014, the final piece of glass turned up, cut to size this time. As soon as it was put on the wall, we noticed that there was a slight difference in colour to the piece that had already been installed. We pointed it out to the installers but they both said that they weren't very good with colours. We doubted ourselves and let them finish their work and made the payment.

After looking at it for 2 days it is very clear that the colours are different, but we are so sick of the whole thing that we can't be bothered chasing them up.

There are several finishing touches required as in filling gaps around the flue, gaps between the glass and window, and fixing the tap installation in the laundry etc. which we will now do ourselves.

During this whole process, we haven't had one phone call from Direct Kitchens or from J or G to check that everything was OK or otherwise.

One thing we must admit Direct Kitchens were very good at: that was to phone us the day before a progress payment was due to make sure that we didn't miss that.

Lesson number 4: We should have withheld part of the final payment until ALL of the work was completed to our satisfaction.

Lesson number 5: The 20% discount is allegedly just a gimmick. It is a permanent feature of their pricing to allow pressure selling.

Hopefully our experience will save someone else from making the same mistakes and avoid the disappointment. The 2 bathrooms renovations that we had discussed with J will now have to wait until we find someone competent.

Approximate cost: $45,000