Opinion
Must the buyer beware? opinion // Nathan Damarell
When retailers go bust without deposit protection they don’t just leave distraught customers – they leave a dent in the reputation of the sector. Nathan Damarell of KF Kitchens in Plymouth says it doesn’t need to be this way…
A
few years ago, I collaborated with our local Trading Standards on an article for consumers outlining my ‘Top Tips For Buying A Kitchen’.
This had been prompted by two things.
Firstly, a local company with a poor industry reputation had gone under. The directors had shut it down, walked away from debts and left many customers out of pocket with unfinished projects. A lady I saw had given them a cheque for £20,000 before work started - best of luck seeing that again! Secondly, I was working on a kitchen project for
a local guy who had been in insurance his whole life. He was telling me how tough it was to run a local insurance business while conforming to all the necessary regulations, even when only selling a product for £200. It struck me that, in contrast, a kitchen customer can hand over a £20,000 cheque to someone who has no office, showroom, background or responsibility. Let the buyer beware!
Safety Fast forward to today: the market is hard and we
hear of another local company going to the wall. There was an eerie déjà vu as one of their
customers came in to see us. “We bought elsewhere and they have gone under leaving us £10,000 out of pocket with a half-finished kitchen. Would you help us out to finish it?”. Some of my fellow retailers seem to take delight
in these tales but I always see it as another arrow to the heart of the independent. These stories push the consumer to the perceived safety of the larger
nationals who are seen as more indestructible (tell that to the customers of MFI or Moben…). If we, as an industry of independents, allow
fellow retailers to guide consumers away from the safety of credit cards, or the backing of a deposit protecting body, we will all continue to be tarnished by those who take customers’ money and fold. I have been told that the consumer is aware of
the safety checks they should take when making such a big purchase. My experience suggests otherwise. I have never been asked if we are a member of a trade scheme, approved by Trading Standards or if their deposit is guaranteed. They
We all suffer from being
tarnished by those who take customers’ money and fold...
" 16 kbbreview
trust us and, during the euphoria of the purchase, they don’t expect things to go terribly wrong. They have simply not been educated to expect it. The lady who visited me most recently was an upsetting example: “But we had such a good relationship with them,” she told me. “They were lovely and when they asked us to pay directly online, I had no reason to doubt them.” Those “lovely” people simply stopped answering the phone. I have had many instances where clients have
asked to pay online and I have told them to pay by credit card. It needed me to prompt this and I do it so that when they look back they know I have given them the best advice. They aren’t aware of what they should do, and why should they be? They may only make a purchase of this size once. So, does this sector need more regulation?
Yes, of course it does. Nobody would agree that a professional, multi-billion pound industry can allow consumers to pay the price for companies that go to the wall. It makes it look amateurish and lumbers it with the status of a sales industry – not a skilled profession. Is it going to happen? Not in my time, I suspect. I think it needs professional bodies and individuals within our industry to come up with standards and practices that educate and advise the customer. As an industry, we can’t carry on assuming
that every consumer knows what safe practice is – they clearly don’t. If we collectively accept that lack of knowledge and do our bit to educate the consumer then the best will get better and the ones who don’t will disappear.
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What do you think? We always want to hear your views and opinions, so email
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September 2024
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