Howdens - Torquay

Very helpful advice. Impressed with product knowledge.

Staff very helpful and knowledgeable. Quick with answers and service. But if you think that's good, go and have a perv at the warehouse! Bravo! The tidiest looking warehouse I've ever seen!Everything stacked square and straight.

Good customer service. Quality kitchens and Ash F is a great kitchen designer who made the most of the space we had in 2 kitchens and gave good solid advice

Excellent service. Great products. Very helpful regarding choices and planing kitchens etc. Highly recommended.

Jake Cornforth Carpentry Services (zero star rating) a kitchen fitter who has an account with Howdens and who installed no end of chipped and dented items in our kitchen without giving us or Howdens a chance to replace the damaged items, he didn't finish the job almost three months after he started and wouldn't put right things he did with many areas of poor quality workmanship, and after showing hostility and anger towards me he said nothing was good enough for me which shows a disregard for my right to have a new kitchen without damage, he caused my family and I extreme stress, anxiety, and distress, and showed no insight, responsibility, and remorse.James Morris (five star rating) our designer at Howdens who has been consistently kind and considerate. I thank James for his exemplary customer care.Regarding Torquay Howdens (one star as shown in the ratings) Howdens blamed the fitter and the fitter blamed Howdens for the damaged items which left me stranded and unsupported. The overall business model also places the customer in between the retailer and the fitter which is not good. Communications were strained and lacking. They replaced some damaged items and may have replaced more if the fitter gave them the opportunity. But like the fitter they portrayed an underlying approach that I was being fussy. When I showed Pat Bevan, the manager photo evidence of Jake's poor work there was simply no comment which speaks volumes and shows a poor culture of customer distain and disregard.Howdens delivered copious amounts of damaged items, and damaged items to replace damaged items. There was even a water damaged unit suggesting it had been left out in the rain. The quality overall was poor. I suspect the fitter also caused some of the damage before or during fitting. Both Howdens and the fitter were happy to shift the blame onto each other and bizarrely onto me as it felt like they were suggesting I was being fussy and expecting too much.I will not be recommending Howdens and Jake Cornforth Carpentry Services based on my experience.In response to Howdens reply; ensure your trade only account holders are competent to fit your products, make sure fitters understand they must not fit damaged items, stop labelling customers fussy when all they want is undamaged items, Howdens through me blamed the fitter and the fitter through me blamed Howdens with neither engaging in honest communications with each other, Howdens supplied damaged goods and quality overall was poor and the fitter Jake Cornforth fitted them without giving Howdens or us a chance to get them replaced, and Howdens investigated themselves internally with a biased unsatisfactory investigation that was not impartial.My advise, buyer please beware and consider alternatives.

Went in today to sort out countertops and a tap. We were a bit confused and Adam came to the rescue, soothed our feverish brows, and walked us through all the various options. Adam was friendly, honest, and humorous, and we now have our countertops and tap. High marks!

Really good experience. Getting a new kitchen can be a pain but the planners at howdens know their stuff. They're not on commission so they will save you money by good design and product choice if they can. You'll need to know and trust a fitter/carpenter with an account there though. Don't buy without the trade discount. Would 100% recommend Howdens

Thank you for your response to the below warning re your warranty service. I have emailed several times and had inadequate answers that range from the engineers are not our responsibility to there is no one in a management position willing to be named or contacted, then my emails have been ignored. Do you really want me to email or is this just your way of ignoring me again whilst trying to protect your public face.Warning. Our Lamona dishwasher, bought from Howdens Torquay, broke down whilst under warranty. The number you are told to call is Howdens in Torquay, they contacted the engineer and someone called Pete arrived. He told us the fault was not covered by the warranty, without really looking at the machine. Cutting a long story short, he was wrong about the fault, it was covered and was eventually fixed four weeks after first calling and after a visit from another engineer. Also eventually got the money back for the other engineer after a lot of chasing. I was offered a new dishwasher at a good price after the original assessment. So beware what you are told, ask for a second opinion. Or don't buy from Howdens.

Had a design appointment with Ashley, he was great and happy to help us find our dream kitchen. We are still in the process of looking around and deciding what we want. This being said we have only had the design appointment so can't comment about the delivery process.

Good range, cabinets appear to be good quality, and quick lead time, but they won't give you any pricing unless you go through a registered tradesperson, who will get varying levels of discount depending on how much trade they put through Howdens. Very shady business model.