EMPLOYEES' CORNER
This is a new page to let you see what those claiming to be
Moben employees and ex-employees have been telling me.
Currently these all relate to 'old' Moben (ie MKD Holdings
Limited)
Health Warning : As the information has been provided to me
by email from people I don't know and who have asked for
their identity to be protected then I HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO
VERIFY ANY OF THIS. You'll have to make up your own mind
whether or not it fits with your experience and knowledge.
Hi Malcolm
i used to work for moben in customer services dept and it
was the worst job i have ever had. the biggest scam they
have going is the fact that moben and kitchens direct are
the same company, same product, same fitter, same guarantee
EVERYTHING the only thing different is the difference in
price usually around £3000 - £5000 as moben aims for the
customer that is looking for reputation and kd at the
customer that has a lower budget. when the customers ring ,
before the new phone system was put in place, we had to
find out whether they were a moben customer or a kd
customer without arousing suspician. customers would cancel
moben orders and say "its cheaper at kd" not knowing its
exactly the same company! even fitters were instructed not
to tell them.
the customer service
dept is under so much pressure it cannot cope. they make
bonuses unachievable, theres no training structure and the
advisors are given so much responsibility they simply
cannot cope with the complex nature of the complaints. The
Managers are so lazy its untrue, they sit around
drinking coffee all day, they pass the book continuously,
the only thing theyre scared of is visits to the office,
and watchdog!. most customers that ring have reason for
complaint and most of the time calls are ended with "oh go
f*** yourself you silly cow" on secrecy of course so the
customers cant hear!
I wake up every morning and thank god i no longer work for
this incompetent bunch of cowboys!"
Dear malcolm
It's good to see that people like you are standing up to
companies like Moben that rip off customers that pay vast
amounts of money and not only recieve a very cheap and
basic product but also recieve an appalling service.
However, to fully understand why this company is so bad one
must see the complete picture of the company and how it
operates...
As someone that worked for them and have considerable
experience of the market I can explain why they are so bad.
One must firstly understand that the customers are not the
only people getting ripped off. The fitters that are taken
on by Moben (and Kitchens Direct) are promised "great" pay
deals. They are told that they can earn £1500-2000 per week
and that their delivery service for missing parts is very
fast etc. But as you can guess the opposite is true.
Kitchens are frequently delivered incomplete because Moben
bites off much more than it can chew. The fitter will not
get paid unless the satisfaction note is signed and of
course the the customer will not sign for an incomplete
kitchen. The fitter wants to do his job and get onto the
next one but is prevented from doing so in most cases
because of the company's incompetence. The fitter will have
nearly 70% of his money clawed back and has no incentive to
go back to finish the job. So, as the fitter will not go
back Moben now has to find a "remedial" fitter to do this
job. Moben will pay this fitter peanuts for the small job
and so no one wants to do it! This is where the problem now
gets worse. The customer is naturally pissed off and so is
the fitter. both feel cheated. I can tell you that the
turnover of Moben fitters is the highest in the industry
because the company lies to them, witholds their money and
so they leave. And this high turnover creates the next
problem...
Because so many new fitting teams arrive on the scene,
there is an acute lack of knowledge of the product. Without
experience and given only very basic knowledge of the
product, these fitters are literally thrown out there and
are expected to do electrics, plumbing, fitting the units,
tiling etc. Is it any wonder that they mess up? Why would
the good, experienced fitters stay in such an environment?
Moben has a constant turnover of inexperienced fitters that
like the customer are made false promises.
But the story goes on...
Now because of the constant problems caused there is a very
high number of calls to "customer services" (if you can
call it that). The "advisors" at their head office are
beyond demoralised by all the calls. on top of this you can
probably guess that they are paid poorly and recieve no
support from those that should be dealing with the issues
because they simply cannot cope with it all. It's not that
Moben employs uncaring people, it's that the system does
not support them, and they like the customer are let down.
The sales department of the company is in a similar
situation...
There was a cancer in the company that was terminal and it
led to their present state. And if they don't change that
this time round, history will repeat itself and they may
not be lucky enough to be saved by an investment company
again...
Regards
Dear Malcolm,
After watching watchdog last night i thought it was about
time i would give information on the unfortunate time i
spent working for Moben and the pressurised selling
techniques i was told to use.
I applied for the job via a local newspaper advert. The job
itself was based on being self employed and that's why i
took it, i wanted the freedom of not having someone over my
shoulders etc. How i was wrong! I had my interview (which
was basically a conversation on how much i could earn) and
was offered the position on the spot. Of course i was
thrilled. The sales manager told me i would have to start
training in three days because the next course (the one
where we are supposed to learn everything in Manchester)
had just passed and the January sale was not far away and
he wanted me to be ready for that. So my training was three
days at the local office with him. Yes he covered the
basics on how to measure and draw a kitchen using the
appropriate tools but he did miss out a lot of things that
would have been useful to the customer if i had known. Just
basic questions that i felt awkward answering because i
just didn't know. I am a very honest nice person and i am
from a customer background and i value my customers. But
please, i became a designer in three days!!!
So after three......yes THREE days training on how to be a
kitchen designer i was sent out to my first appointment. We
worked on a commission basis, nothing paid to us at all, no
expenses, just a lot of pressure from the sales managers.
The leads were sent via fax from them. We would then travel
to the customers house and as you know discuss the
customers needs, design, and sell. You are told that we
will be there a couple of hours. We are told that we should
be there a minimum of three. I remember coming out of one
appointment after two and a quarter hours. I phoned the
office to say no sale and the response i received was "why
are you out of the appointment now", i explained that the
customer already had designs drawn up and i was to
replicate it with Mobens products and offers which would
obviously take less time as i did not have to measure, draw
etc. "why did you not sell it", because the customer
already had cheaper quotes."even with our finance", yes i
took them through the finance. "rubbish, i cant even do
that, none of the managers can in that time". And that was
the pressure we had on our shoulders every time. I would
not call my self a salesman, i am a gentleman. The managers
are all salesman. Picture car sales managers with a
northern accent in an office. Very intimidating people!
It got to the point where i really needed a sale. Big
pressure on me, bills to pay etc. The customer explained he
would be getting three quotes which we are taught to ignore
and just deliver our sales pitch. I turned into somebody i
am not, i pressurised the gentleman and basically asked for
the sale. He said no and i left feeling sick as a dog.
After two months in the job i gave it up. I was a different
person.
Okay well now i would like to tell you a few things that
you probably didn't know.
- The moben sale is not a sale at all. 50% off in January, 55% off now in Easter i see. This is rubbish! There is no sale!whether it be October, June, whenever, there is no sale! There prices are the same all year round.
- You are told we will dispose your old kitchen as part of our all inclusive service. However when we cost it up we must add a RIP out charge of £450 minimum.
- Fitting costs are quite simply ridiculous. As part of the all inclusive package ever thing is fitted, but this comes at quite a large price, more than it should be.
- You never see the cost being added up. How would you know what anything costs?If you ask we are suppose to tell you. "if you bought a new car would you ask for a breakdown of every part". Of course not but that is very different to a brand new kitchen that only has units, appliances, and any extras. Ask for it!this way you will not be fooled.
- Finance. We would get an extra 4.5%commission for a finance deal. Let me just say one thing. Don't ever sign up a finance deal with them. It is a con. We were told to do a calculation that would make you believe you would save lots of money. However you would not realise that we added on the money you would be saving to your overall cost when we added it up.
Please respond to me, i am happy to ask any other questions and i am sure i have forgotten a few things that will come into my head. I am just pleased you have made this website because i was thinking of doing the same thing!
Kind Regards
Whistleblower
sorry for not giving my real name, i signed a contract with the company so i would prefer my information did not leak out.