Kent & Stowe Reviews 186

My K&S Stainless steel edging tool head snapped at the plate and metal handle. Had it from new for 2 years but used it only a handful of times. 15 year guarantee is a joke.

Updated review from original posted on 30/03/24: changed from 1 to 4 stars. Please see why at the end of my review.

The name Kent and Stow is supposed to be a good quality product, but it seems not anymore!

A while ago my husband got gifted a Kent and Stow Fork, which has now broken and split between the fork prongs and the handle. We thought this was a one off, but bought a different make in case. However, he needed a spade, so we bought one of Kent and Stowe's spade from a garden centre, however only a month in of using it, he has noticed that it has a big patch of peeling off paint on the back of the spade and is now full of rust!

Given the current climate and the competition they have, they should address their manufacturing processes and quality assurance teams!

Also they should be more easier to find on the internet to complain to. A reviewer mentioned they couldn't find the details on how to complain. This isn't a surprise as the company does not come under their name, but Garden Health or Westland products (you'd never know) it took me a while to find them to complain to.

Their contact form didn't work, as I kept getting an error message, so I emailed them.

They have replied and said that their products have a "no quibble return guarantee". They asked for my purchasing details, the product description, photos of the damaged items and my address to send the replacement items to.

They also said they have regular meetings to monitor quality of their items. This is all well and good, but they need to be more easier for customers to find, so customers have somewhere to complain to for the company to get a true reflection of their products performance (I see now on their replies they have given out their email address, which is great). The company also need to monitor Trustpilot reviews and learn from them and answer the negative ones. I have informed them of this too. (Since emailing them, I noticed they've replied to some of the reviews).

04/04/24: I've now heard back from Jo who has been very helpful and professional. They are now going to kindly send a replacement fork and spade to my grateful husband. Thank you Jo and Kent and Stowe for restoring my faith and confidence in your company.

Purchased the stainless aerator today. Completed about 20 rows in soft ground and the handle snapped clean off the head.
The handle is tapered down to much and as a result it weakness the joint at the head.
Quite disappointing quality. More about appearance than function.

Edit:
Thanks for the offer of contact.
The following day, the wooden shaft/handle cracked and bent on a K&S stainless serated edger I purchased at the same time. Same weak point, where the wooden handle is tapered into the steel head.

Both have gone back the the retailer and were refunded without question. Seems to be an accepted issue.

15 year guarantee on the label, neither tool lasted 15 minutes.

It took me an age to find out how to get my Kent & Stowe secateurs repaired.

I finally found Westland Horticulture who immediately recognised the problem from the photos I'd sent,
then posted me the spare parts needed and I've now got them working perfectly again.
Special thanks to Kayleigh
Technical Advisory at Westland Horticulture

K&S - long handled trowel - weld snapped where handle joins trowel. Less than 2-years-old. Certainly heritage looks but not heritage quality, clearly defective manufacturing. Reading reviews, seems I'm not the only one experiencing weld failures. Will never buy another K&S product.

Bought a small bulb planter but it broke on first use, and that was in soft wet soil. Very poor quality metal and design.

The K&S 3 in 1 lawn rake is not fit for purpose. Despite having strong hands, I could not detatch the separate plastic rake hands by pressing the plastic levers in the middle. It looked like a good strong plastic rake with the additional advantage of being able to detach one or both rake sides to use as a narrower rake, but I challenge you to try and do this just with your hands. me and the garden centre assistant tried 5 different ones, and they were all the same. We managed to shift one of them - but only one side, and we all had sore fingers from the sharp plastic configuration. As a one-piece rake it looks OK (but expensive at £24.99) but as a 3 in 1 tool, it is useless. Sorry

Cant find K&S website (other than facebook) - I wonder why. Don't reveal that their tools are 'designed in the UK' but made in China. Given a garden spade as a gift. Shaft snapped after two uses. Can't find how to get a replacement. Avoid the 'heritage' branding and fake up market promotion - the tools are lightweight rubbish.

I recently purchased a K&S border hand fork but when I first used it found the head was slightly loose. Not a high issue but not what I wanted from a premium brand. I emailed K&S (part of Westland), sent a video of the problem and without further ado, a replacement arrived. Thanks Kathy at Westland

Purchased the single-handed grass shears approximately three months ago :(.
First, the locking button fell off; refitted. Then the top handle came off; refitted. Then the nameplate fell off covering the locking mechanism; refitted. Then the top handle came off again; refitted. Then the bottom handle came off; refitted. Then the handle's return spring came off; refitted. Now the handle's return spring has broken. So much for quality garden tools :( :(
Can't find a Kent and Stowe email address either ):|

UPDATE 15/09/2023
Contacted manufacturers and they sent me more springs :) :)

I have hand shears that I have used once and now the pin that hold the cutting mechanism has come out of its hole and won't stay when put back in. Total waste of money.

Purchased a gardening fork a couple of months ago which has been used for light digging only.

It has completely bent out of shape despite having a 15 year guarantee, and being a lot more expensive than pervious forks i've owned which have lasted for years

Have not been too unhappy with the telescopic loppers, but yesterday the spring came off (somewhere!!) and we can't find it. Trying to find a replacement spring for this expensive tool has been tricky.
Firstly - who and where are Kent & Stowe? Turns out they're www gardenhealth dot Com / kent-and-stowe
(who is actually Westland) This is just weird and feels like they're trying to make themselves hard to find.
Anyway, the spring should not have come off, and trying to find a replacement should not be this hard.
I wish I'd read the reviews here before buying this Kent & Stowe tool.

Anyway, I will update this review if/when I get any response from contacting them. I'm not hopeful!

EDIT: I contacted them and they responded after about a week. Their customer service assistant was extremely helpful and after an exchange of emails, they are sending replacement springs for my loppers. For those who have had poor service, I'm sorry, but contact them on the details below (which I have copied from their emails to me) and hopefully they will help you too. I'm really happy now and am changing my rating from 3 stars to 5.

Their contact details:

E: customerservice at westland.com
T: 01480 443789

Purchased a Long Handles Kent & Stowe Garden Fork.
Snapped clean off on neck of fork after a couple of uses. Supposedly has a 10 year guarantee but unable to locate company to honour this

Handle on soil rake is loose after 5 minutes of light use

Bought a Kent & Stowe Stainless Steel 4 Prong Lawn Aerator from Marshalls online. Great price and fast delivery. I also wanted to give feedback on the aerator. It works pretty well, but it was quite hard work on my small lawn. I had to stop to clear the prongs after two insertions in my lawn, which was really monotonous. The aerator would work much better if the gap between the top of the two middle prongs and the bar above them could be made a little bit bigger. That would mean that the prongs would be less likely to clog up and a user would not need to keep stoping to clear the prongs.

I bought a long handled trowel, very expensive and it broke where the metal bit of the handle joins the “spade” section. Absolute rubbish, I’m moving to Niwaki, more expensive but real quality.

I was given a K&S garden fork and spade for Christmas by my in-laws. 2 weeks ago i used the fork for the first time to dig out some snowberry bushes. The handle broke almost immediately - might just be poor timber but not impressed. I havent tried the spade yet.
I cannot find a Kent & Stowe customer support page anywhere on the web.
My parents also gave me a fork and spade made by Stapleford - still going strong.

We purchased a stainless steel rake and a few months later the head welds broke.
I contacted customer services (Susan) via email with photos and literally a few minutes later she had emailed back saying a replacement would be sent.

UPDATE.
I was thoroughly impressed by this company's after sales service. One can often only judge when things go wrong. As I mentioned below my seceteurs' handle covers fell off very quickly (within 4 months). I wrote to the company. To be honest I was not expecting much. How wrong could I have been! That very morning I had a reply from Kathy saying a new pair would be posted to me. Amazing service. Thank you.

ORIGINAL MESSAGE
Both handle covers fell off from a pair of seceteurs we bought not 4 months ago. I have written to the company so let's see what they can do.