Hello everyone,
Until now, I’ve mostly followed the topics here quietly, but I thought I might ask for your experiences this time 🙂
We are building with Schwörerhaus, and our current task is to plan our kitchen so that we also get the layout for the utility connections. We thought we’d get three quotes, compare them, and then decide. But it’s not as easy as we thought.
So far, we have visited two kitchen showrooms. Both told us they only plan and sell the kitchen with the appliances included, and during the consultation, we could only specify which functions are important to us for the appliances.
After all the planning, we got to see a finished rendering on-site and were given a price. However, we were not allowed to take any pictures or printed plans of the final kitchen. Also, no exact model numbers or similar details about the appliances were provided. We were told the brand, but a supplier usually offers more than one appliance of a brand.
This all seems quite unprofessional to me. The advisors’ argument was each time that they put in the effort, and then I might take the plan and get it done somewhere else. In the end, I determined the layout, number of cabinets, etc., myself at both places—and naturally chose the same for each to compare.
But without the details, I can hardly compare. In the end, I don’t really know which appliances are included. If company 1 says it costs 25,000 EUR and company 2 says 15,000 EUR, I have no way of understanding what causes the difference. Both kitchens are roughly identical in layout and the number of cabinets, so it must be the appliances? It would be nice to have that listed so I could maybe choose cheaper appliances in one kitchen or more expensive ones in the other if something is “missing” or however.
What are your experiences here? Does anyone perhaps know a good kitchen studio in Berlin/Brandenburg where you can get everything listed clearly?
I’m a bit unsure right now... I wouldn’t want to pay such an amount “just like that” without knowing exactly what I am paying for in the end.
Thanks in advance for your insights.
Best regards,
ElaVogel
Until now, I’ve mostly followed the topics here quietly, but I thought I might ask for your experiences this time 🙂
We are building with Schwörerhaus, and our current task is to plan our kitchen so that we also get the layout for the utility connections. We thought we’d get three quotes, compare them, and then decide. But it’s not as easy as we thought.
So far, we have visited two kitchen showrooms. Both told us they only plan and sell the kitchen with the appliances included, and during the consultation, we could only specify which functions are important to us for the appliances.
After all the planning, we got to see a finished rendering on-site and were given a price. However, we were not allowed to take any pictures or printed plans of the final kitchen. Also, no exact model numbers or similar details about the appliances were provided. We were told the brand, but a supplier usually offers more than one appliance of a brand.
This all seems quite unprofessional to me. The advisors’ argument was each time that they put in the effort, and then I might take the plan and get it done somewhere else. In the end, I determined the layout, number of cabinets, etc., myself at both places—and naturally chose the same for each to compare.
But without the details, I can hardly compare. In the end, I don’t really know which appliances are included. If company 1 says it costs 25,000 EUR and company 2 says 15,000 EUR, I have no way of understanding what causes the difference. Both kitchens are roughly identical in layout and the number of cabinets, so it must be the appliances? It would be nice to have that listed so I could maybe choose cheaper appliances in one kitchen or more expensive ones in the other if something is “missing” or however.
What are your experiences here? Does anyone perhaps know a good kitchen studio in Berlin/Brandenburg where you can get everything listed clearly?
I’m a bit unsure right now... I wouldn’t want to pay such an amount “just like that” without knowing exactly what I am paying for in the end.
Thanks in advance for your insights.
Best regards,
ElaVogel
M
motorradsilke17 Jun 2022 11:02ypg schrieb:
Oh sorry,… I forgot that everyone in the construction industry, including kitchen salespeople, are born pushy salespeople and basically “criminals.” All pigs, those ones :p
Who’s to blame? Always the industry. Or the others 😉
I find the tone here a bit too theatrical at times.Certainly not all, but unfortunately some. We experienced the same when looking for a general contractor. 2 out of 7 companies tried that trick.motorradsilke schrieb:
Certainly not all, but unfortunately some. This happened to us when searching for a general contractor. 2 out of 7 companies used this tactic. That’s true. But we are informed customers and can choose to go elsewhere. The market is large, and as shown in the kitchen thread here, many companies operate fairly. It’s fine to vent about bad experiences, but there’s no need to portray every contract situation as if the provider is using harsh pressure tactics. (Quoted statements from Musketier and Ysop…) Otherwise, it becomes unprofessional.
I believe the original poster has received some good advice here on where they can confidently go and won’t have to sign a contract without mentioning their preferred options.
Clients should not see themselves as victims but should also recognize that the planner’s work deserves to be compensated or at least acknowledged as unpaid work.
M
motorradsilke17 Jun 2022 14:27ypg schrieb:
.. and for the forum record: if _I_ had made one of these statements, you would have named the 5 out of 7 who do it differently :p You’re mistaken there. I was actually quite annoyed by the 2 who proceed that way as well. The others aren’t really worth mentioning, as that should be the standard practice.
But why do you use those annoying underscores so often?
I never claimed that all furniture retailers are dishonest. I have experience with others as well.
But when I see pricing with 40% discounts every third week, it no longer seems reputable to me. The whole back-and-forth of calling supervisors until you finally get a reasonable price feels more like a Turkish bazaar than a German retail store. It’s no coincidence that furniture shopping has often been a topic here.
Of course, you can always go somewhere else. However, if you don’t have children who need to be looked after so you can spend a few hours browsing offers at a furniture store, you wouldn’t do it five times—unless you have grandparents nearby. Two years ago, when we bought a bedroom set, we spent over seven hours in the furniture store until we found and put together a matching wardrobe for the bed we favored. We had time off, the child was with the grandparents, there weren’t many other customers, and the salesperson was very patient and offered good suggestions. But that was just for one bedroom. I really don’t want to think about the kitchen, which is still due for us in the next two to three years.
But when I see pricing with 40% discounts every third week, it no longer seems reputable to me. The whole back-and-forth of calling supervisors until you finally get a reasonable price feels more like a Turkish bazaar than a German retail store. It’s no coincidence that furniture shopping has often been a topic here.
Of course, you can always go somewhere else. However, if you don’t have children who need to be looked after so you can spend a few hours browsing offers at a furniture store, you wouldn’t do it five times—unless you have grandparents nearby. Two years ago, when we bought a bedroom set, we spent over seven hours in the furniture store until we found and put together a matching wardrobe for the bed we favored. We had time off, the child was with the grandparents, there weren’t many other customers, and the salesperson was very patient and offered good suggestions. But that was just for one bedroom. I really don’t want to think about the kitchen, which is still due for us in the next two to three years.
motorradsilke schrieb:
But why do you use those annoying underscores so often?They are not annoying, but a common method in text processing to indicate italics. Italics are used to highlight or emphasize something. If a forum or other text processing software on a device does not support this formatting, the reader still knows that emphasis is intended. Except for Silke. Now you know. It is also not automatically annoying just because, in your eyes, it seems “somewhat pointless.”Musketier schrieb:
But you don’t have children to take care of somewhere, so you can spend a few hours in the furniture store gathering offers.When nothing else works, the arguments about children come up 😉 … and exactly for this reason, one should use their time wisely, state their questions and requirements clearly, and get up and leave at the right moment. People without children don’t have more time either. We also had to earn the free time we spend in the studio or elsewhere.Musketier schrieb:
We spent over 7 hours in the furniture store the year before last when buying a bedroom, until we found and put together a wardrobe to match the bed we preferred.I wish I had your time…. Sorry, but somehow that seems contradictory coming from you 😉