Howdens - Rotherham Reviews 

Outstanding service from the Howdens Barbott Hall Rotherham team . The customer service at this branch is by far the best of all Howdens branch's that I have visited . I even travel many miles out of my way to collect materials from this branch as I know the service I receive is far greater than all the others combined . The staff are highly knowledgeable in Howdens products and nothing is too much trouble for them . Everyone is treat as equalls there . There is always a friendly welcoming atmosphere when you walk in 9 times out of 10 the product I need is always in stock and if not it can be ordered and be in stock very quickly .
The branch is a true credit to the Howdens business .

Great service

great service from the staff

Excellent service, always willing to help and very friendly staff

Talked me through my options and ordered everything on time

Lady who sold us Kitchen was excellent. But as is expected a part was not needed so I tried to return - but also wanting to buy something else. I wanted to return a Base Corner Fillet (circa £48 value) and I wanted to purchase 2 x 2.75m lengths of Plinth (circa £100 value). Therefore, Howdens would have profited by around £50. Kitchen I bought was termed a Landlord's Special (supposedly discounted), I was told I could return Base Fillet but whole of Kitchen would have to be charged at an increased price. What A Deal Eh ! Who would enter into that. If this is Howdens Policy, then I want nothing to do with a company like that. This was my first purchase after just setting up an Account. I took Base Fillet back and told them I would get the Plinth from another company. I will now be closing the Account.

Do not buy flooring from Howdens.
I recently bought a lovely kitchen complete with washer, dish washer and fridge freezer from Howdens. The whole lot and have to say I'm very pleased with the result. However I also bought laminate flooring from them. When it was fitted it was creaking horrendously. Long storey short on Howdens instructions the contractor came back, took up the floor, boarded the floor and refitted the laminate. Although it is not creaking as bad you can still hear it when you walk across the floor.
Howdens said if it was still causing a problem they would take a look. However, when I rang them they said they would send out a flooring specialist at a cost to me of £800. Yes you read that correctly. They obviously wanted to wash their hands of it. I refused to pay £800 and I have heard nothing further from them.
Their after sales service is non existent and no one has had the courtesy to contact me since. What was a very pleasant experience has now been soured by their lack of interest in solving a customers problem.
I would not use Howdens in any future purchases.

In March I ordered the Chelford Pebble Kitchen, I ‘naively’ trusted that the colour would be accurately represented by Howden’s marketing team and I chose this colour based on the photos used to advertise it in the brochure and online. I was heavily pregnant and chose to move to my parent’s house while my kitchen was being installed. At the earliest opportunity I went to review the progress and was shocked to see that it was a much darker grey colour than the kitchen I had chosen from he brochure. I immediately contacted my designer and sent photos to show her the kitchen I had received, she agreed it looked very different to the brochure and thought that the wrong colour had been ordered by mistake. After reviewing the showroom we agreed that the photos in the brochure were a better representation of the Chelford ivory kitchen.

She escalated this to the Howdens Rotherham Branch Manager (Barbot Hall) who along with other employees, agreed with the misrepresentation and assured me that they could ‘sort it out’ after gaining approval from senior management. I waited 4 working days for any response and confirmation of a resolution from the branch manager (for which I was liable to pay my joiner’s labour fees). Eventually I contacted my Designer to ask for an update, she told me to ask my contractor to bring the pebble kitchen doors back to branch (another wasted days labour) and if they are in a good condition they will exchange the kitchen for an ivory one. On 15th March 2023 my contractor did as they asked, Howden’s staff inspected the doors on arrival, unloaded the van and returned the pebble doors to the warehouse. They told my contractor that they were happy with the returned doors and preceded to load the replacement ivory kitchen on to his van, they explained that some items needed ordering in to complete the job. As I had received no formal communication from the branch manager, I asked my designer for further confirmation that everything was sorted before allowing the joiner to begin installing the ivory kitchen. She said the branch manager had given her authorisation to replace the kitchen like for like and asked her to order the outstanding ivory items. please note; at no point did anyone inform me or my contractor of correspondence from senior management suggesting we may be liable to pay for the returned doors.

My contractor began the installation and for the next few days I was travelling back and forth (heavily pregnant) from the branch collecting extra items that had been ordered to complete the ivory kitchen. I met the manager and other employees, in person, on a number of occasions and still, no one mentioned that there had been any further information from senior management or that we were liable to for the returned doors. The installation was complete by 11th April 2023.

In May 2023 my contractor received an invoice for the Chelford ivory kitchen, which was paid in full (£6000+). We were shocked to hear that in addition to this bill, he also received an invoice for the pebble doors that we had returned in March (800+).

We thought this must have been an administration error so he contacted the branch manager to discuss it. She then told us that head office had decided the doors were not in a good enough condition and that we are liable to pay for them!

My contractor and I met with the manager in person, after providing her with of all this information and evidence, She could not offer an explanation for the miscommunication and asked for more time to look into the evidence we had presented. During the meeting she also told us that the doors had been ‘packed up and kept in branch waiting for us to collect them’ (again this was never communicated to us despite ample opportunity in person and on the phone). She also confessed that she has now ‘chucked the doors away’! So, Howdens expect me to pay £800+ for doors that had been misrepresented by their marketing team, returned in good condition, held in their warehouse since March and have now been thrown away!? It really is quite unbelievable, but the dispute continues because the response we have received from the accounts team this week states that the branch manager is still in pursuit of the money for the returned doors and threatening legal action.

The branch manager should not have replaced/ordered the ivory kitchen nor given authorisation for my contractor to install it before receiving all necessary approval and clearly communicating the costs I was liable to pay. If I had known the retuned doors would cost me £800+ ( + another wasted days labour) then I would have kept the pebble doors and had the whole thing sprayed for less than £800!

INCREDIBLY FRUSTRATING – BEWARE!

As a business owner I have used Howdens a number of times. The last experience I have had with them has led me to never using them again due to poor marketing representation, aftercare and appalling customer services.

One of my customers selected her kitchen cupboards from the Howden’s brochure. This was then delivered and we began to fit this. When my customer saw the cupboards she questioned the colour as the colour represented in the brochure was an ivory colour, yet the one that had arrived was a grey colour. After multiple conversations with Howdens Rotherham (Barbot hall) it was arranged that we could collect the kitchen cupboards which were the ones that were actually represented in the catalogue which were the ivory colour. After awaiting response to see if we could return the partially fitted (but in good working order) doors, we finally got the say so to proceed. At not one point did anyone tell me (or the client) that we would have to stand for the original doors as well as the replacement. I have since received an invoice for the doors which were returned and I have later found out that these doors have been disposed of, without prior consultation.

Since then the website pictures have been updated, and now the pictures of said kitchen do reflect the actual kitchen, not a different colour completely.

I have had multiple overdue invoices through the post and despite being in touch with Howdens accounts department with detailed accounts and proof of misrepresenting advertisement to dispute the claim and monies owed for items returned.

The accounts team have been extremely unhelpful to resolve the matter. They have disconnected calls to me and not returned them. I have also been into the branch to discuss the matter with the manager. Both departments will not accept any liability. They have insisted that it is down to manager/accounts discretion and vice versa.

After ignoring our claim dispute for 2 weeks, we have finally had further correspondence which informs us that our dispute has been rejected and we must pay within 2 days.

I understand that the small print states that the pictures may not truly represent the actual kitchen and Howdens have iterated this is my dispute.
However, at no point did anyone tell me that I would have to pay for the doors that we returned or I would not have authorised for my contractor to return the original doors.
Howdens rotherham branch staff sent us away with a new kitchen, confirmed that the manager had agreed to replace like for like and gave us the thumbs up to fit this with no indication that we would have to pay for the original doors. All of which we have proof of to support our claim yet howdens are insisting that they informed me the original doors were chargeable and funnily enough after reviewing all my correspondence with them on the matter, I can find no evidence that I was ever informed of this.

And finally, if Rotherham Howdens really believe that these were indeed “my doors” that I had purchased and still want me to pay for, why have they not sought my consent prior to disposing of them 3 weeks ago.

Update - it’s been 4 days since Howdens assured us that the matter is being addressed, unsurprisingly we have yet to have any further correspondence from them.

The person who served me was very helpful & professional, went through in detail witch items I needed.

The Designer, Lesley, was brilliant. She made our kitchen look amazing. Nothing was too much trouble. So pleased with the price and quality of the kitchen and appliances.
So easy to register the appliances online too.

What a great experience from start to finish. Lesley was outstanding from planning to design and when I needed anything the whole team were friendly and helpful .
We are highly satisfied with our new kitchen and would not hesitate to recommend Howdens as the primary supplier.
Thanks
Bob

Ordered a door picked it up from the depot , and guess what they got the wrong size that I ordered , might be a good idea for your staff to carry a measuring tape around for future reference , no offer of picking up the wrong door and replacing it with the correct size door , had to go back and pick up the door again,
Since the nearest depot with the door in stock was Rotherham and my job was in Sheffield it cost me time and money , plus I had to rebook the joiner two days later which meant i couldn’t put my invoice in til the job was complete, all in all it cost me an extra 100.00 pounds in fuel, and lost time , thanks
Latest update
Was contacted by Jane the manager at Rotherham who generously refunded the price of the door , which I was pleasantly surprised by . So just want to say that it’s nice to be treated as an individual and shows that Howdens do look after you despite them being a massive firm , thanks for sorting it out

Really lovely warm & very helpful staff.

Staff are simply the best, knowledgeable, friendly and efficient. Can’t fault. Plus great prices.

Staff at Rotherham branch are really friendly and helpful

What a fantastic experience from start to finish! Gregory is amazing, he listened and advised us every step of the way, felt very comfortable with him and just a very down to earth nice honest guy that we would definitely recommend to friends and family. Thank you for making our kitchen purchase seamless :-D

Kerry and Richard