Raw Deal: Mum was simmering with fury at half-baked kitchen installation

Sriwong Taylor has had her kitchen cancelled after it was half built. (Chris Austin)

A PRIMARY school teacher is delighted after Raw Deal cooked her up an £8,400 refund for a fitted kitchen that never arrived.

In August, mum-of-two Sriwong Taylor paid to have a new kitchen supplied and fitted at her Edinburgh home.

National firm Custom Made Luxury Kitchens quoted her almost £8,500 to have everything delivered and installed by October 15.

But it wasn’t long before Sriwong, 53, ran into problems –and to date, still no work has been done at her house.

“I was reassured that the company would arrange an installer for the units and also supply a builder who would be required to carry out structural work on a wall,” said Sriwong.

“But all I got was excuse after excuse and it became clear that the kitchen wouldn’t be arriving by October.

“All I wanted was to have a new kitchen fitted by Christmas but instead I got a catalogue of let-downs.”

Sriwong said her frustrations worsened after she had to chase up workmen herself.

“Builders and surveyors were coming and going to the house to measure up but nothing was moving forward,” she said.

“I was concerned about the lack of progress and I was mad with myself for paying the full £8,400 up front. I was only really required to pay a deposit of £99 but I had no idea I would run into all these issues.”

Sriwong said new dates agreed for work to be done later in October came and went and the same thing happened last month. She said numerous phone calls and emails to Custom Made Luxury Kitchens, whose head office is in London, went unanswered.

“The whole thing was turning into a nightmare,” she said. “During the school holidays in October I spent all my time off dealing with this.

“I was envisaging that my family would be living in a building site over Christmas instead of enjoying our new kitchen. I had started to dismantle our old kitchen in readiness for the work starting but fortunately we kept the sink, cooker and oven.”

Sriwong then wrote to the operational director of the firm to complain that the company had failed her twice between August and November – and this had caused her a lot of money, stress, time and inconvenience.

“But again all I got was excuses and nothing was actually being done about it,” she said. “I was appalled and frustrated by the service and have now got another builder in to look at doing the kitchen.”

At the end of her tether, Sriwong wrote to Raw Deal for help and we asked Custom Made Luxury Kitchens to investigate.

As a result, the company wrote to Sriwong offering her an apology and a refund of the full £8,400.

“After taking everything into account, I feel the best action is to cancel your contract with us and give a full refund,” she was told. “This would allow your builder to supply and install your kitchen.”

Sriwong said the has now put the project on the back burner until the New Year and she thanked Raw Deal for stepping in.

“Enough is enough,” she said. “It is big relief that I don’t have to deal with this any more. Without Raw Deal I could have ended up with no kitchen and no money.”