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On June 19 2010 I was visited by a rep from Bettaliving for a free quote on a kitchen. The kitchen was expertly drawn up, we were happy with the design, it was well presented to us. It would cost £8,600, a reasonable price, using their finance. We agreed to this at first, their rep having explained about the 7 day cooling off period. A deposit was paid of £860 via credit card.
The next day, after a rethink, we decided that part of the design was not really what we wanted, more of what had been proposed. The rep revisited us, and we explained the situation. It was agreed that we could alter the design: during this I asked for a simple small extra cupboard to be put on a wall. After a bit of computer work, and the calculator, it was shown on the design, along with the other alterations. I asked what the change to cost would be: I was told the price had gone from £8,600 to £9,500, for the addition of the cupboard - however, we were told the other alterations to the plan would be done in the original price.
Somewhat shocked, we agreed to forego the new cupboard, and the alterations would go ahead. The surveyor was scheduled to arrive later in the week (he was to be paid £80 in cash on arrival).
After this, we sat down and began to rethink our decision. We visited the showroom on the 25th June to speak to the rep: we suggested to him that before we went ahead, we would like to consider cash rather than take out the finance. This meant that the price of the kitchen rose by £1,000, and that 2 weeks before the kitchen was delivered to the house for fitting we would have to pay up approx £7,000, the cost of the kitchen minus what we had to pay to the fitters. This was before we even got delivery of the kitchen. My wife was shocked, saying that it was unthinkable to pay out £7,000 before we even saw a piece of furniture in the garage for storage, let alone in the kitchen.
It was decided that the deal would be stopped, six days after the initial meeting with the rep and the design initiated. Finance company were contacted by us, and they immediately agreed to stop any process of funding. I asked about getting the £860 back from the company as soon as possible. I was referred onwards and upwards. I contacted the credit card company who confirmed the deposit transaction was complete on Sunday 20 June, the day after the initial meeting with the rep.
I was referred to the Regional Manager, Pat O'Brien, who informed me that they only do "trips to the bank" twice a month, and that the earliest time of refund would be 16 July, almost 4 weeks after the deposit was taken. He said he would try to get the matter dealt with quicker. I told him that I needed the transaction dealt with before 15 July, as the credit card bill would come with the bill for £860 on it. He said he would "send an e-mail" to the accounts dept to see if it could be hurried up.
A number of calls followed, me chasing Mr O'Brien from store to store, asking for updates. Today, 12 July, I got hold of him at the Warrington showroom. I was told again that he had informed me of the company only doing bank work twice a month: I was angry at this, rightfully so, informing him that his transaction on 20 June was done electronically, this was a Sunday, not a banking day, proving that the transaction could be done immediately. I admit I raised my voice, I was angry, I did not resort to bad language, nor make any threats.
At this point Mr O'Brien told me that it was not his place to deal with "stroppy customers", and that he would only talk to me if I calmed down: I told him I had a right to be angry with him, I was being fobbed off with excuses concerning my money, but I was told that he would hang up if I did not calm down. I told him I would come to the showroom to speak to him if he hung up, he stated that I would "be invited to leave" if I attended the store.
Mr O'Brien said that he had sent an e-mail to the accounts dept to see if the refund could be hurried up, they had yet to get back to him, but he would send me an e-mail that I could refer to my credit card company to get them to "hold off" on the bill until 16 July when it would be repaid.
I said fine, and hung up, as I could feel my temper rising. I received the e-mail about 20 minutes ago confirming they would refund the money to me on 16 July, but not before: I therefore have to hope that the credit card company will agree to hold off on that aspect of the bill until the refund.
What is so difficult about refunding money to customers? Why sit on the money for almost 3 weeks after the deal was cancelled? A simple refund transaction would take seconds.
In my opinion the cavalier attitude towards customers and their money is inexcusable. It may be said that £860 is not a great deal in the scheme of things, but the fact is it is my money, not theirs. Rest assured, I have spoken to lots of people about the company, and they are not impressed with the manner in which this matter has been handled.
We had a kitchen fitted by Bettaliving in January 2010. We had negotiated a further 1K off the price of the kitchen. We were informed that the money would be transferred into my bank account. Well we waited and waited. So I began calling and calling and no response from the sales manager. Eventually, I got fed up and rang the managing director who said he would look in to it. I heard nothing for around 10 days so called him back. He informed me that one of his managers had called me. I responded that no head not. Again had to wait and eventually got a cheque. During the first week one of the cupboard uplighters blew. The fitter returned and said that it had not been connected properly. I also noticed a dent in the expensive Blanco sink and asked for a new one. (One was eventually delivered and has been sitting in our dining room for nearly a month, despite numerous calls for someone to come and install it).
Around 4 weeks later we noticed that the joins in the cupboard supports were coming away. I rang and after leaving several messages and not getting a response I finally spoke to manager at the Head Office who said that they would send replacements. Around a month later the fault was rectified.
On Saturday 26th April 2010, I had to call out the emergency gas service to deal with a smell of gas which emanated from the kitchen draws. I had been smelling gas intermittently, but was unsure if it was in fact gas. The gas engineer came and in his report he stated “found leak on the compression fittings, one on the insulation tap and one on the join to tap. Failed test completely. Dropped out over the test. Cut pipe and capped off then retested after”. The engineer also discovered that the gas tap had been located illegally behind a panel. He stated that this was categorically against the law.
The engineer said that when he tested the system, it dropped 6mb in 40 seconds. They would expect to 2mb over a couple of minutes and over a longer distance.
I contacted the managing director this time by registered post and informed him of this fact and the fact that at the time of installation I had a 14 week old baby. He had been having respiratory problems and been coughing. This I put down to the gas leak.
I also informed the company that I had not received the electrical certificate. The surveyor had insisted that we had to have a new fuse box. I am still waiting for the certificate. The gas certificate has never been seen for the work carried out.
The join in the support cupboard by the sink had gone again by this point, and we discovered that they had not connected the waste pipe under the sink and water was overflowing in to the cupboard below and this was the causing of the joints blowing. This and the fact that the fitters had just sawn the boards to fit and placed the freshly cut side on to the tiles with no plastic trimming.
At the same time, our dishwasher stopped working. However, the jury is out whether it was due to the leaking from the overflow tap.
By now througly fed up (and having discovered a crack floor tile due to the installers moving the washing machine). I demanded compensation from the company for all the stress, worry, numerous phone calls and waiting around - as well as wanting to inflcit a financial penalty for subcontracting work to ill trained fitters who could have potentially killed my family with shoddy gas fitting). I have been waiting and waiting and yes you guessed it made numerous calls to the installations director and the managing director but to no avail. I urge anyone who is thinking about getting a kitchen from these people do not! If you have, and you have unresolved complaints, contact the trading standards agency, watchdog and the BBC's dont get done get Dom, which is what I am in the process of doing. Will it take a injury or death before Bettaliving deals with its customers with respect?
Bettaliving? Bettanot!
My husband and I had a kitchen fitted - over £10,000 worth - in August 2007. In April 2008 one of the two joins developed a fault in that it "blew" - became distorted and separated. The company suggested we used supaglue to effect a seal and "even out" the uneven surface.
In June 2009 the second join developed an 8" distortion.The company agreed to replace the worktops. Then the problems, counter toConsumer Law (Sale and Supply of Goods and Services Act) began.
I wrote to the company, on the advice of TradingStandards, to say I wanted the site cleared and any consequential loss paid for by the company. It is stated in theSale and Supply of Goods and Services Act that the consumer should not be out of pocket for consequential loss.
The company did not respond to the letter, nor acknowledge its content.
The work was done and I had to pay a tiler to repair the tiling. I have had copious telephone calls to the company,many of which they have not had the courtesy to return, saying that as stated in my letter, I wanted the site cleared or I would send them the bill from theCouncil to clear the site, or the hire of a skip.
Despite numerous empty promises from Mr Steve Godden and a man called James, at Head Office in Werneth, the work tops are still here and no arrangements have been made to clear my drive of their detritus or pay me for the consequential loss.
this week the company had the audacity to state that they had done more than they were required to do as I had been responsible for the fault. Apparently it is deemed that moisture has got into the join and I have been responsible by wiping the worktops. My contention, and that of Trading Standards, is that the goods, their quality, the seal or the competence of the fitter, is not fit for purpose. A worktop is meant to be wiped and it is not as if I have taken a hose and flooded the worktops. If moisture has entered the join then the join has allowed moisture in.
The company either cannot, or will not, accept this principle.
After 9 phone calls, unacknowledged and unanswered today, my husband and I plan to take the worktops, inch by inch, into theTeesside Retail Park showroom and dump them there. It will take us about 9 trips and we trust the showroom will be busy and would-be customers will be warned away.
DO NOT TOUCH THIS COMPANY WITH A BARGE POLE. THEY ARE ARROGANT, DISMISSIVE AND OPERATE OUTSIDE CONSUMER LAW.
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Visitors to the site are reminded that the details contained within user comments are uncorroborated and as such should not be read as fact but as the opinion of the person who left the comment.
Comments:
The next day, after a rethink, we decided that part of the design was not really what we wanted, more of what had been proposed. The rep revisited us, and we explained the situation. It was agreed that we could alter the design: during this I asked for a simple small extra cupboard to be put on a wall. After a bit of computer work, and the calculator, it was shown on the design, along with the other alterations. I asked what the change to cost would be: I was told the price had gone from £8,600 to £9,500, for the addition of the cupboard - however, we were told the other alterations to the plan would be done in the original price.
Somewhat shocked, we agreed to forego the new cupboard, and the alterations would go ahead. The surveyor was scheduled to arrive later in the week (he was to be paid £80 in cash on arrival).
After this, we sat down and began to rethink our decision. We visited the showroom on the 25th June to speak to the rep: we suggested to him that before we went ahead, we would like to consider cash rather than take out the finance. This meant that the price of the kitchen rose by £1,000, and that 2 weeks before the kitchen was delivered to the house for fitting we would have to pay up approx £7,000, the cost of the kitchen minus what we had to pay to the fitters. This was before we even got delivery of the kitchen. My wife was shocked, saying that it was unthinkable to pay out £7,000 before we even saw a piece of furniture in the garage for storage, let alone in the kitchen.
It was decided that the deal would be stopped, six days after the initial meeting with the rep and the design initiated. Finance company were contacted by us, and they immediately agreed to stop any process of funding. I asked about getting the £860 back from the company as soon as possible. I was referred onwards and upwards. I contacted the credit card company who confirmed the deposit transaction was complete on Sunday 20 June, the day after the initial meeting with the rep.
I was referred to the Regional Manager, Pat O'Brien, who informed me that they only do "trips to the bank" twice a month, and that the earliest time of refund would be 16 July, almost 4 weeks after the deposit was taken. He said he would try to get the matter dealt with quicker. I told him that I needed the transaction dealt with before 15 July, as the credit card bill would come with the bill for £860 on it. He said he would "send an e-mail" to the accounts dept to see if it could be hurried up.
A number of calls followed, me chasing Mr O'Brien from store to store, asking for updates. Today, 12 July, I got hold of him at the Warrington showroom. I was told again that he had informed me of the company only doing bank work twice a month: I was angry at this, rightfully so, informing him that his transaction on 20 June was done electronically, this was a Sunday, not a banking day, proving that the transaction could be done immediately. I admit I raised my voice, I was angry, I did not resort to bad language, nor make any threats.
At this point Mr O'Brien told me that it was not his place to deal with "stroppy customers", and that he would only talk to me if I calmed down: I told him I had a right to be angry with him, I was being fobbed off with excuses concerning my money, but I was told that he would hang up if I did not calm down. I told him I would come to the showroom to speak to him if he hung up, he stated that I would "be invited to leave" if I attended the store.
Mr O'Brien said that he had sent an e-mail to the accounts dept to see if the refund could be hurried up, they had yet to get back to him, but he would send me an e-mail that I could refer to my credit card company to get them to "hold off" on the bill until 16 July when it would be repaid.
I said fine, and hung up, as I could feel my temper rising. I received the e-mail about 20 minutes ago confirming they would refund the money to me on 16 July, but not before: I therefore have to hope that the credit card company will agree to hold off on that aspect of the bill until the refund.
What is so difficult about refunding money to customers? Why sit on the money for almost 3 weeks after the deal was cancelled? A simple refund transaction would take seconds.
In my opinion the cavalier attitude towards customers and their money is inexcusable. It may be said that £860 is not a great deal in the scheme of things, but the fact is it is my money, not theirs. Rest assured, I have spoken to lots of people about the company, and they are not impressed with the manner in which this matter has been handled.
Not a company that I would recommend.
Around 4 weeks later we noticed that the joins in the cupboard supports were coming away. I rang and after leaving several messages and not getting a response I finally spoke to manager at the Head Office who said that they would send replacements. Around a month later the fault was rectified.
On Saturday 26th April 2010, I had to call out the emergency gas service to deal with a smell of gas which emanated from the kitchen draws. I had been smelling gas intermittently, but was unsure if it was in fact gas. The gas engineer came and in his report he stated “found leak on the compression fittings, one on the insulation tap and one on the join to tap. Failed test completely. Dropped out over the test. Cut pipe and capped off then retested after”. The engineer also discovered that the gas tap had been located illegally behind a panel. He stated that this was categorically against the law.
The engineer said that when he tested the system, it dropped 6mb in 40 seconds. They would expect to 2mb over a couple of minutes and over a longer distance.
I contacted the managing director this time by registered post and informed him of this fact and the fact that at the time of installation I had a 14 week old baby. He had been having respiratory problems and been coughing. This I put down to the gas leak.
I also informed the company that I had not received the electrical certificate. The surveyor had insisted that we had to have a new fuse box. I am still waiting for the certificate. The gas certificate has never been seen for the work carried out.
The join in the support cupboard by the sink had gone again by this point, and we discovered that they had not connected the waste pipe under the sink and water was overflowing in to the cupboard below and this was the causing of the joints blowing. This and the fact that the fitters had just sawn the boards to fit and placed the freshly cut side on to the tiles with no plastic trimming.
At the same time, our dishwasher stopped working. However, the jury is out whether it was due to the leaking from the overflow tap.
By now througly fed up (and having discovered a crack floor tile due to the installers moving the washing machine). I demanded compensation from the company for all the stress, worry, numerous phone calls and waiting around - as well as wanting to inflcit a financial penalty for subcontracting work to ill trained fitters who could have potentially killed my family with shoddy gas fitting). I have been waiting and waiting and yes you guessed it made numerous calls to the installations director and the managing director but to no avail. I urge anyone who is thinking about getting a kitchen from these people do not! If you have, and you have unresolved complaints, contact the trading standards agency, watchdog and the BBC's dont get done get Dom, which is what I am in the process of doing. Will it take a injury or death before Bettaliving deals with its customers with respect?
Bettaliving? Bettanot!
In June 2009 the second join developed an 8" distortion.The company agreed to replace the worktops. Then the problems, counter toConsumer Law (Sale and Supply of Goods and Services Act) began.
I wrote to the company, on the advice of TradingStandards, to say I wanted the site cleared and any consequential loss paid for by the company. It is stated in theSale and Supply of Goods and Services Act that the consumer should not be out of pocket for consequential loss.
The company did not respond to the letter, nor acknowledge its content.
The work was done and I had to pay a tiler to repair the tiling. I have had copious telephone calls to the company,many of which they have not had the courtesy to return, saying that as stated in my letter, I wanted the site cleared or I would send them the bill from theCouncil to clear the site, or the hire of a skip.
Despite numerous empty promises from Mr Steve Godden and a man called James, at Head Office in Werneth, the work tops are still here and no arrangements have been made to clear my drive of their detritus or pay me for the consequential loss.
this week the company had the audacity to state that they had done more than they were required to do as I had been responsible for the fault. Apparently it is deemed that moisture has got into the join and I have been responsible by wiping the worktops. My contention, and that of Trading Standards, is that the goods, their quality, the seal or the competence of the fitter, is not fit for purpose. A worktop is meant to be wiped and it is not as if I have taken a hose and flooded the worktops. If moisture has entered the join then the join has allowed moisture in.
The company either cannot, or will not, accept this principle.
After 9 phone calls, unacknowledged and unanswered today, my husband and I plan to take the worktops, inch by inch, into theTeesside Retail Park showroom and dump them there. It will take us about 9 trips and we trust the showroom will be busy and would-be customers will be warned away.
DO NOT TOUCH THIS COMPANY WITH A BARGE POLE. THEY ARE ARROGANT, DISMISSIVE AND OPERATE OUTSIDE CONSUMER LAW.
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