What to watch out for
- Poor quality kitchen units or none at all
- No customer service from the company that sold the kitchen
- No way of obtaining missing parts or to chase issues after delivery
- Paid by cash and were unable to claim any form of refund
Please don't let this happen to you!
Basic Trust Factors
When buying from an online UK company, the following basic information should ALWAYS be available somewhere on the website.
- A UK phone number
- A company registration number
- A VAT registration number
- A registered office address (This is a legal requirement in the UK - Companies Act 2006) The registered office address is not always the business address.
You can read more on this by following the link below
https://www.starting-business.org.uk/index.php?q=registered-office-laws
Companies House
All UK businesses should have a Company Registration number like the one shown at the bottom of our website (Our Company Registration No: 01918871). Once you have this number you can visit companies house on the link below and check that the company exists and they are who they claim to be and not dissolved.
https://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/
If a company claim to have been around for x amount of years, look at the date of incorporation. This is the date in which the company was legally formed. The status of the company should also be Active.
Registered Address
The registered office address is not always the business address, it can sometimes be an address of an accountant.
If there is manufacturing part to the business that creates the kitchen units, then there is no reason to hide this address from the website.
If you place the postcode of the registered address into Google Maps, you'll be able to see where the registered address is located.
If you're not happy with what you see then go and visit the company, if possible.
Our postcode is WF9 3NR and you can see us on Google Maps here.
Copycats
Sometimes you will see copycat websites where the URL is virtually the same as our domain name below.
Our URL/Domain Name is - www.diy-kitchens.com
The domain name above is the only DIY Kitchens website that belongs to DIY Kitchens. We are not affiliated with any other online kitchen manufacturer that has virtually identical domain names.
From time to time we also see websites that have stolen our content and sometimes the entire design. To the untrained eye, you may be thinking that you are buying from us when you are not. If in doubt, watch the whole of the video above. It could save you from making a big mistake!
Pay By Credit Card
If you use your credit card to make your online purchase then you have extra protection if something was to go drastically wrong. Pay by cash and you could be left high and dry
If you pay by credit card, under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, your credit card company is jointly liable if something goes wrong.
Section 75 is also useful if a retailer has gone out of business or you are totally unable to contact the seller of the goods.
In a worst case scenario situation, you can put a claim in with your credit card company to help resolve any issues that you are having.
Section 75 covers purchases ranging from £100 to £30,000.
You can read more on this by following the link below.
https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/problem/can-i-claim-on-my-credit-card-when-something-goes-wrong/
REMEMBER - If in doubt, check them out. Don't throw your hard earned cash away!
You Get What You Pay For
The saying, "you get what you pay for" should not be forgotten. At DIY Kitchens we can provide great quality kitchen units at a much discounted rate than the prices that you would pay on the highstreet. We run to tight profit margins and the prices we are offer are some of the best in the industry for the quality that you pay for.
This is the example kitchen the the following prices are based on.
We can provide a 13 unit shaker kitchen complete with doors, cornice and pelmet for £2,493. We have no middle men, high street stores and can pass the savings directly on to you.
The cheapest kitchen we could find from a reputable outlet on the high street was £3,438.
If you are buying from another online kitchen company that are only charging you ~£1000, you may want to ask them a few questions regarding exactly what it is that you are getting.
Also, please ensure that your quotes are what we call "Apples for Apples" i.e. you are not comparing a 7 unit kitchen price with a 13 unit price.
