The 29,000 dream refurbishment which turned into a ‘nightmare’ for distraught Benwell homeowner – Chronicle Live

A homeowner says her dream renovation turned into a "nightmare" when contractors claimed an "excessive" profit for "poor" standard work.

Joanne McDonough had hoped the work on her new Benwell house would transform it into the home she'd always hoped for.

Work was needed to update the bathroom and kitchen, and she wanted to spare no expense - for the "bespoke" fixtures and fittings she was imagining.

Instead, she says, she paid an eye-watering 28,906 for "poor design", "basic" fittings, and kitchen equipment which was discontinued by the manufacturer just months after it was installed in her home.

When a designer from Washington-based firm KitchensPlus visited her home, she says she was thrilled with the "beautiful" initial design she was shown, and agreed to pay 18,620 for the kitchen and 10,286 for the bathroom.

But Joanne claims what she had installed was "an absolute joke".

The company says it "tried extremely hard" to deal with Joanne's complaints but it was "not possible" to satisfy her.

A spokesperson said KitchensPlus was rated "outstanding" by customers on its website.

But Joanne, 45, said: "There's not a cupboard door that fits properly, there are gaps, spaces, nothing matches properly.

"There's dodgy tiling, there's a cheap fridge-freezer which was discontinued by the manufacturer after it was installed at my house, when they'd told me I was getting an 'American-style fridge-freezer' and it's nothing of the sort.

"There's a cheap, now-discontinued washing machine which doesn't even match.

"In a bespoke kitchen, is that what you expect? There's nothing bespoke about it.

"I've had nothing in my life, I've been a full-time carer all my life and I was given the money for this refurbishment by a friend as the gift of a lifetime. I will never again in my life have the opportunity to have a bespoke kitchen."

Joanne's complaints include a bathtub worth just 109.17, which she said does not fit the space well and is clearly not a "bespoke" option.

An independent report into the works, carried out by an expert commissioned by Newcastle City Council's Trading Standards department, noted the "very basic plastic panels" on the "very basic economy" bath were "poorly secured".

Overall, the report agreed aspects of the bathroom work, including the tiling, the ceiling and spotlight installation, were "in good condition" - despite a number of "problems" including "poorly, inadequately" installed shower doors and a toilet of a different make to the one listed on the costing sheet.

But the kitchen installation, the report said, was "of far lower standard/quality of work". Wall units were cobbled together from parts produced by different manufacturers and showed "notable, visible colour variations" with the plinths at the bottom of cupboards being described as "not fit for purpose".

Wall tiles were poorly applied at first and, after Joanne complained to the furniture ombudsman, were replaced but even after the second attempt the report still found "poor" tile application work.

The report said: "My examination of the bathroom and kitchen installations at this property identified that, overall, both are poorly designed and laid out particularly in regard to the fairly compact kitchen installation.

"In my opinion [the] level of profit reflects excessive amounts for work of this type particularly bearing in mind the very small overall size of the kitchen."

Joanne also paid just more than 4,000 for an attempted loft conversion, but she demanded this be ended and the room restored when she found out that the "death-trap-steep" stairs which had been installed required planning permission, which she had not been told about and which hadn't been sought.

She was refunded and given 1,000 compensation and the stairs were removed, but she says it was "an absolute disgrace" the way the room where the work took place had been left. KitchensPlus has pointed out this work was done by a subcontractor.

Joanne added: "I cry about this every night. It's been a nightmare.

"I wish they would just come out and look at it and admit what they've done.

"After 17 weeks of hell, I demanded to know what they had done with my money, where was my bespoke kitchen? I just want to know where my money has gone."

A spokesperson for KitchenPlus said: "We tried extremely hard to satisfy the customer and deal with her complaints but it was not possible to achieve an outcome which she considered to be satisfactory."

The spokesperson added the issue had been referred to the Furniture Ombudsman and the company had "complied with the relevant findings".

The company accused Joanne of being threatening towards staff "in contrast to the professional courtesy we extended to her".

Joanne denies being abusive or threatening, and says she has "always been courteous to every person who has been in my home" and said she had simply been upset and had demanded to know what had happened to her money.

The spokesperson added: "We are a professionally run and customer focused business.

"Many home improvement projects involve snagging issues for a variety of reasons. We are always happy to deal with issues reported by customers in accordance with the warranty in our detailed terms and conditions. We also have an official complaints policy."

He added: "We installed tiles for Joanne which she claimed to be delighted with initially, then rejected them.

"On a number of occasions we sent tradespeople to Joannes property to attend to work which had already been carried out and upon arrival they found that the work had since been undone.

"We tried to meet her expectations and did our best to perform our obligations in accordance with the contract."

More:
The 29,000 dream refurbishment which turned into a 'nightmare' for distraught Benwell homeowner - Chronicle Live