| Answer:
When it isn’t what you though you were getting.
Worse still,
you might not even have planned what you wanted.
The strange
thing is, when somebody’s buying a new pair of shoes, they generally
try on quite a few pairs before they even consider making a purchase.
The scary thing is that a new kitchen costs 100 times more. You
need to do the boring thing and ‘break down’ the kitchen into
its individual components – you need to make sure that every ‘bit’
is right for you.
A kitchen
designer will put the ‘bit’ in that’s the cheapest option. It’s
natural for you, the customer to get enthused about the design
for your new kitchen – to be tempted to make an emotionally led
decision regarding a purchase. The designer cannot bring oven
samples to your house though. The additional problem that he has
is if he shows you too many pictures of appliances, the selling
process from his standpoint will get ‘bogged down’ – you won’t
be able to make a firm decision
‘on the night’ about the appliances required and the designer’s
chance of making a sale at the same time goes down the drain.
So what can
the designer do? Simple. Make sure that the customer chooses one
of two options. Either they take one of the ‘basic’ oven packages
– one of the ones in the ‘half price sale’, or they get their
own oven. If a designer establishes that a customer hasn’t made
a decision on the particular oven that they would like, all he
has to do is ensure that they make a decision before the price
is presented.
What the designer
can do in this instance is make sure that the customer knows approximately
what they will be spending on their own oven.Also, the customer
has to be extremely confident that the designer has the ability
to advise them on the exact size of space that their oven is going
take up in the new kitchen. Then, and only then will the customer
consider conducting business with the kitchen company in advance
of purchasing their own appliances.
Possibly one
of the most logical ways of you being involved in the design of
your own kitchen is to consider the types of appliances that are
best for your lifestyle before hand – go into the large appliance
stores and ask for their advice. Collect catalogues. Research
what’s new on the market. Have a look at Internet costs. There
are always websites available offering you the appliance that
you require.  The
unscrupulous kitchen designer might however tell you that he can
get the best possible appliance for you at an incredible price
due to a ‘limited promotional quantity of stock’ that they have
been given by their supplier. The unscrupulous designer might
then after he ‘wins’your contract realise that he has two choices
– either make sure that the customer gets the special oven that
was offered and takes a big hit on his commission -
OR puts
the product ID number of the more basic oven model on the contract,
giving the him his full level of commission.
A customer
who signs for a contract with the wrong product ID number on it
is in a poor position. And the designer doesn’t care. He’s never
going to see the customer again. The argument is between the customer
and the company. The company in time will probably either bend
to the side of the customer or cancel the contract though. The
negative publicity just isn’t worth the hassle.
As a generalisation,
you’re better off buying your own appliances – the ones you want
from a specialist – but not until after you finalise the design
for the kitchen.
An oven is
the heart of a kitchen. It can get used for many hours a day,
seven days a week. Customers often tend to buy the cheapest one
available though. The static electric model still sells far too
many units. Have one if you want one – but make sure that you
make the decision and not the designer.
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