JANUARY 2007 NEWS from www.kitchenhell.co.uk (FEBRUARY NEWS BELOW)

6 January 2007 The new version of the website (the one you're looking at) is progressing nicely.

8 January 2007 I wrote to Moben to confirm that I'd be taking them to the County Court.

10 January 2007 Moben replied saying that the file was being closed. They'll soon re-open it when they receive a County Court summons.

20 January 2007 I wrote to Moben to report some newly discovered problems with the kitchen electrics.

23 January 2007 I relaunched www.kitchenhell.co.uk

25 January 2007 BBC Watchdog contacted me to tell me they are doing a feature on Moben Kitchens and that they're particularly interested in my kitchen and website.

28 January 2007 Some light relief! This picture was 'borrowed' from the BAD CATS 2006 calendar (link to publisher) :

grout_cat


FEBRUARY 2007 NEWS from www.kitchenhell.co.uk

Moben Sale!

1 February 2007 Thank you to those who have provided comments on the new website. I'm glad you appreciate it.

4 February 2007 The Sunday Times reports that the Homeform Group (Moben, Kitchens Direct, Dolphin Bathrooms, Sharps Bedrooms etc) has been put on sale because of its losses.

5 February 2007 The Manchester Evening News also reports the sale.

5 February 2007 I visited the local County Court to obtain the necessary forms and guidance notes to enable me to sue Moben. It's also possible to do it via the internet.

5 February 2007 Moben contact me to arrange for an electrician to visit on 6 Feb to see what can be done about the electrical problems I informed them about on 20 Jan. I wonder if this helpful response from Moben is anything to do with BBC Watchdog - or maybe Moben take electrical problems seriously. (My money's on it being Watchdog).

6 February 2007 Moben's electrician (a subcontractor) arrived at 8.00am as promised and quickly diagnosed the electrical problem and then he remedied it. This is one of the few occasions I've been impressed by a Moben subcontractor. (In brief, the cables on two circuits needed to be swopped over in the fuse-box so that they could both use appropriately rated cut-outs. Moben's original electrician appears to have left the wiring in an inappropriate, but not necessarily unsafe, condition.)
Moben had promised to ring me today to discuss the outcome of the electrician's visit - but they didn't. Am I surprised?
BBC Watchdog tonight featured a kitchen company much worse than Moben.

19 February 2007 Moben rang me to check I was content with work carried out on 6 Feb (I am) and to apologise for not ringing sooner.
It was clear from the conversation that we would be unlikely to agree a mutually acceptable level of compensation. So it seems to me that I'll have to go to court to get fair treatment.

26 February I filled in the Claim Form for the County Court and printed out several copies. I should be able to fit in a visit to the Court sometime this week. See Mar 2007 News