MFI (a cautionary tale)

[R]

Hi,

One of those Victor Meldrew moments.....

We bought some fitted bedroom units from MFI in March this year. I declined their offer to fit them since it would cost almost as much as the units themselves! (and this is a diy group ;-)

Needless to say during fitting I discovered that the line of units were actually _longer_ than my bedroom wall! At first I though I had made a mistake but, no, they did not fit.

I telephoned the store and they admitted they had made a mistake in the design. I visited the store to sort it out but, by then, they had changed their minds and told me I would have to cut things down and leave out panels to fit it. I did not agree to this but all they would do was arrange a site visit.

Of course no-one turned up as arranged so I decided to resort to pen and paper and wrote to the MFI branch and their head office asking them to sort it out. They did not reply to either letter so I wrote a strong legal style letter, sent registered post. They did not reply to this either!!!!!!

" I DON'T BELIEVE IT!"

I am so annoyed with MFI at the moment that I thought I would recount my tale to as many people as possible. If, by chance, they decide to take their business elsewhere I would not be dissapointed ;-)

The irony is that this situation could have been sorted out quickly and easily at the beginning. However now I intend to use the law to its full to obtain as much out of them as possible.

Mark.

[woodglass]

And good luck to you Mark !!!

[Lobster]

Don't geddit, how come it's their fault? I must be missing something here. Or are you saying their brochure had the wrong dimensions printed in it or something?

David

[Tony Bryer]

I read it as the OP went along to the store with his room dimensions and the 'consultant' said "you need x, y and z" which now don't actually fit.

[Al Reynolds]

ISTR that when I did this with a kitchen, the responsibility was on me to make sure the stuff would fit unless they had done a site visit and were going to fit it. I think I even had to tick a box to that effect on the order form as well. I could have imagined this though.

Al

[R]

It wasn't designed from a brochure. They have a CAD (Computer Aided Design) package. I gave them the room dimensions. They 'designed' a layout which looked fine on the computer. They printed out some nice

3D pictures of how the room would look etc. They charged us and supplied the units for me to install. It's all modular flat-pack stuff.

However the units would take up more space than the size of the room. i.e. They don't fit. Since they designed it and were given accurate room dimensions then how could it not be their fault?

The only mistake I made is shopping at MFI. I won't make the same mistake ever again.

Mark.

[R]

Yes. That's about it -- but they used a computer!

Mark.

[T i m]

The chances are very much that it *is* their fault but you may find in the small print somewhere that they waive responsibility if *you* do the measurements?

Whilst we were having an extension put on this house I fitted double glazed windows. Most of the holes existed but many didn't (not built yet) so for those I had wooden frames made up to the appropriate sizes. I then got *their* guy in to measure all the holes / frames so there could be no issues when I came to fit them (and this was agreed in writing and it worked) and the builders built the openings round the frames.

I helped a mate fit 8 dg windows and he did all the measurement's himself (with me double checking afterwards as their consultant wanted £500 or summat). The supplier made him sign a disclaimer saying that if the frames didn't fit (but were correct to his dimensions) it was his hard luck. As it turned out they were all fine (including a bay) . ;-)

I nearly fitted my kitchen out with MFI units (15+ years ago) using their "Schreiber" range. I ended up going for the basic models of the real "Schreiber" stuff (at a bit more money) because of the better CS?

For your claim to stick you may have to pay for an 'independent' guy to come round and conform your dimensions are correct. All the best with your claim though ..

T i m

[Christian McArdle]

IANAL, advice is worth what was paid for it.

You'd have a substantial chance of getting such a clause struck off, as it is of sufficient unreasonableness IMO, to have required being brought to the OP's attention.

They have contracted to do the design work. The design work (provided it can be proved that measurements were correct) is demonstrably unsound. Clear breach of contract.

Christian.

[T i m]

I think there is such a thing as valuable free advice Christian .. re the majority of such seen on this ng ;-)

Indeed, but not impossible from a 'shed'? The place that made the windows to my mates dimensions *did* make it very clear that if they did not do the measuring they couldn't be held responsible for the fit (but would g'tee to make the frames to his dims of course). In the OP's case his measurements were correct and they made a mistake. I guess their first response to a non-fit could well be 'well you must of measured it wrong, so not our problem' (no so in this case but I guess this must happen all the time).

We took some dimensions into a Magnet store once, they 'designed' a kitchen for us (PC prog) and printed a copy for us to take away (all free). Had I bought and attempted to install a kitchen based on their design and it not fit, would they be responsible (genuine question)?

A follow up from the op mentioned that MFI admit to having copies of the orig (correct) dimensions so if they still surrender this info to (say) TS if requested then they will (may .. see disclaimers etc) have shot themselves in the foot. But what if such paperwork gets 'lost' when requested (in spite of the store admitting on the phone to having made the 'mistake')?

Maybe MFI (will formally) admit they are in the wrong and know it's down to them to resolve but are just being 'akward / slow' about it? (If I bury my head in the sand it might go away sort of thing) ?

FWIWIANAL either ;-)

All the best ..

T i m

[Lobster]

I wouldn't be surprised either, but surely to God they couldn't pull that one if said measurements were done correctly (and can be proved to have been

David)

[T i m]

Well, indeed David but they have his money and he has perfect but unsuitable goods.

You would have thought that these days (especially) these Co's would bend over backwars to keep out custom but it would seem that often they don't.

I ordered a £100 printer from Dabs and a week later nothing. I checked on their web sire and the order was 'pending' (they had stock etc).

I sent several emails asking for an update (you couldn't phone them) but nothing .. so the last email said summat like "if you are unable to process this order promptly I will be forced to cancel" and that one got a reply, with a 'canceling your order' link attached .. ??

All the best ..

T i m

p.s. I believe the 'reason' the order wasn't processed was that I had requested the item to be delivered to alternative address (an option on their ordering form) and the credit card ordering rules had changed or summat .. had they not had the option on the eform we might have been ok ... ? I drove to Watford Electronics and bought it from them instead ;-)

[R]

I know of no such "small print" in the contract. I have had no response at all from MFI so I have no idea what their position is.

Mark.

[PC Paul]

Go sit in the bit of MFI where they do their designing and warn people who bring measurements in.

All day. Every day.