Sharps v Hammonds Furniture

A question about : Sharps v Hammonds Furniture

I am looking to get some nice wardrobes. Has anyone used Shapes-bedrooms or Hammonds as they deliver then fit the wardrobes/bedroom furniture in (first they send round a designer). Now are they good quality? Any advise would be great? They don't quote prices - anyone have costings of what theres came to ect... Or shall we stick to old Ikea and 'build it yourself'?

Many thanks!! Claire

Best answers:

• We found that Sharpes were cheaper then Hammonds.
  It was just after Christmas last year when all the deals were on.
  The wardrobe we wanted was 3.3m long IIRC with a basic inside, I think sharpes were Ј2000ish, hammonds Ј2500ish.
  In the end because all we wanted was a basic inside to them we just had sharpes fit the front and we fitted the insides. (Ј80 from b&q)
  This brought the price down to Ј1400ish.
  The quality is great and now we have just had an extension built we may have them again for the new bedroom.
  We did consider MFI but they were more expensive! and their fitting service is basically a plinth fitted above a standard size wardrobe. It doesn't look as half as nice as a properly fitted wardrobe.
• Hi,
  After we moved into our house last year we got Sharpes in for a quote. They wanted £4500 for a fitted wardrobe & 2 chests of drawers. This was in their 50% sale This was much more than we could afford and were put off having it done for a few months.
  Deanes wardrobes were recommended to us and we had the wardrobe done for about £1400. These are a local company to Portsmouth. But I'm not sure how big of an area they cover.
  They were really good and we are really pleased with the wardrobe.
• Like BennyB says, you're better off looking on the internet for a DIY option. Spaceslide are a good option - Ј1000s cheaper than Sharpes!
• sharpes are known as the double glazing salesmen of the fitted furniture world.
  copied this from the web. ive heard similar stories.
  quote:
  re Sharpes Bedrooms. more like sharks bedrooms......
  I did not go through with this company quote and a lot to do with it was the attitude of the company, in stark contrast to the only other review on this website which I would like to suggest is a fake. I was quoted Ј9000 for one wardrobe, with 'special offer' this week only of Ј3000. I was told if I did not sign and agree to it, the offer would be gone the next week. That was blatantly untrue as it transpired. I was told I was unable to have jewellery drawers or lingerie drawers. This was laziness by the rep. who visited me at home as the draft drawings he left me specifically had tick boxes if the client wanted them. I then went to the nearest store in Kingston to see the doors I wanted and was told that there was none to view. I was told the reason for this was that they were brand new, also untrue as I found a magzine dated 2006 that featured them. Use them and get ripped off. I got a builder in instead and bought doors online. What was going to be Ј7000 for two wardrobes if I had gone to Sharps, I got for Ј3000 the lot.
• We had a quote fro sharps a few years ago fo 2 double wardrobes and some shelving for the basic white option 4500 and that was the sale price! We then about a year later had a quote from a local company 1400 and that was for any colour any handle etc They came measures up made the units and 3 weeks later job done in about 3 hours no mess just really good quality furniture . In fact I think they are much better than sharps. Why not try a local company or carpenter it will be much cheaper.
• Had designers from Hammonds, Sharps and Strachan round.
  Didn't really like any of their sales tactics. I found the Strachan man too pushy, the Sharps one a bit clueless and the Hammonds one had rubbish drawings.
  Went to all of their showrooms too.
  The salesmens samples all looked about the same quality but when I went to see the finished product in their showrooms I found Sharps to be disappointing, Hammonds a bit better but Strachan felt special.
  Price came out to be Sharps least expensive, then Hammonds and then Strachan.
  Quality was lowest with Sharps, then Hammonds, then highest with Strachan.
  Value was probably Hammonds in third, Sharps in second and Strachan tops.I worked out that Strachan give a 10 year guarantee and the others just 5 but were probably 30% more expensive.
  I dismissed Hammonds first as they didn't offer much more quality than Sharps but were quite a lot more money. I couldn't afford Strachan and was a bit miffed with the salesman's mannerso dismissed them. I couldn't really justify Sharps over Ikea!
  SO still stuck with Ikea until I can afford it!
• I've had a couple of built-ins done over the years. Had one in our old house built by Sharps and while it looked great in the brochure and the salesman was very slick and persuasive, the quality was a bit lacking over time. I think the bigger companies don't really talk about what materials they use because they actually use the same stuff that Ikea use (particle board). In our new flat we went with a small local company (customfittedwardrobes.com) and we are pretty happy. They used medite mdf which is apparently the best quality if you want painted mdf wardrobes. With the big companies you are probably paying for the substantial marketing.
• We had a run of Sharps Wardrobes fitted some years ago. We have no complaint with either the quality or the fitting. As to price, well that is generally a matter for the purchaser. You either accept the price or you don't. We went to the showroom and we knew what we wanted, so it was not a question of "pushy" salespeople. It was simply a question of accepting or refusing the quote given, for the specification that we required.
• I booked an appointment with Sharps, the gave me the date and the time however their company representative never turned up for the booked appointment, nor they called me to say the reason for not turning up.
  I sat at empty house for four hours waiting for them, after four hours I decided to call the company ask them why no one turned up or why nobody called me to say they won't be coming....
  The lady on the phone told me that the designer will call me asap to explain the reason for not turning up.
  Four days later, still no phone call from Sharps!!
  Perhaps Sharps are too big to fulfil their promises and can't provide the service they undertake.
• Read all your replies and just decided to post on my expirience. A mate of mine recommended Bravo London sliding door wardrobe company. Was a totally great experience with de guys. The choice of designs, styles was so large that it was hard to make a choice. me and my most of all my wife are very happy
• We booked a Hammonds salesman visit on 1st Jan 2012. Alsolooked at Sharps and, despite poor online reviews, went with Hammonds primarilydue to the better quality of product. Subsequently their surveyor paid a visit to draw up the final plans -total bill Ј6000+.
  We advised Hammonds that we planned to strip out the oldfurniture and paint and decorate during the 1st week of the school Easterholidays and would like them to fit the furniture during the second week - butthat our carpet fitter was due on the Friday (13 April) - and during term timethe house is empty. So we thought theTue & Wed would be best - with the Thursday as an option if things went wrong.
  Hammonds chose to fit on the Wednesday and Thursday. By the time they advised us of this we hadparted with over Ј5000 and when we suggested that Tue/Wed would be better incase of unforeseen problems, they sent a very terse email drawing our attentionto a clause in their ‘customer handbook’ which says we should not book carpetfitters etc immediately after Hammond’s fitting dates ‘in case of unforeseendifficulties’.
  Well…. Today is Thursday 12th. It’s noon. The fitter(who has done his absolute best) is about to leave. The bedroom is barely started. A complete mess from the word go!
  He arrived yesterday and soon discovered that two key panelshad the wrong colour veneer – dark instead of light. He made phonecalls. Replacement panels were 153 miles away. I offered to drive there and back to collectthem in my estate car. Hammondsdeclined, saying they would arrange delivery at 8a.m. this morning. He thought the fitting might drag on intoFriday, so we contacted the carpet fitter and put back his appointment from ‘firstcall of the day’ to ‘last call’.
  The Hammonds fitter arrived here at 8a.m. The panels arrived at 10:10a.m.! Exactly the same panels as before!!!
  So the fitter has put all the component parts in the bedroom and is about to leave –there’s nothing more he can do. We havecancelled the carpet fitter until further notice and may have to pay a latecancellation penalty.
  Next week the house will lie empty all day. Our son (it’s his bedroom) will have to makedo in the spare bedroom. No one seems tobe sure when the room will be completed – or even if it will be the samefitter.
  Hammond’s attitude is uncaring. Once they have your order, and in particular,your money, they seem to think that so long as you eventually end up with your ‘dreambedroom’ the process can be protracted, chaotic and stressful - it will all be ‘made better’ by theirsuperb product.
  That is not the case. Even if the bedroom turns out to be the most amazing one ever, each timeI go to it, I will remember the unnecessary stress and inconvenience we wereput through.
  I will not entertain them to install another room – even ifthey offered to do it free of charge!
  They advise me that this sort of thing is very rare! The point is – their management of it is sopoor.
  1. They should have taken advantage of the extraday – as I advised them to do.
  2. They should have taken advantage of my offer todrive to pick up the panels (I would instantly have recognised that they werethe wrong colour)
  3. They should have been much more communicativewith us about how they plan to resolve this chaos. They haven’t been in touch AT ALL.
  Our advice is to heed the many negative online reviews of thiscompany – they all point to shoddy management – not shoddy goods. Get your bedroom furniture elsewhere!
  I will return to write a further review on completion of thework.
  P.S. In the interests of fairness, I emailed a copy of thisreview to their customer support team at 12:30. It’s now 3:30 and they haven’t contacted us to apologise… advise what weshould expect as a resolution. Nothing.
• New build property with wardrobes as an extra. I was initially told that the wardrobes would be fitted by the time I moved in. Then I was told that work could not start until after financial completion. Finally that they would be fitted before I moved in and before completion.
  During April I was told that there would be a delay due to a problem with parts and therefore fitting would be after I had moved in.
  Beginning of May someone called to measure the room.
  An appointment was made for fitting on Monday 28 May. I emptied the room of furniture.
  I took a day off work but nobody came. I contacted House Builders at midday and finally got a call from Hammonds at 2pm to say there was still a part missing so the job could not be done. I replaced all furniture.
  Hammonds agreed extra hangers in wardrobe by way of compensation.
  Further appointment made for Friday 1 June, albeit with the missing part.
  2 fitters came on Friday 1pm with no plan or any idea what was to be fitted where. They were unaware of what part they were supposed to be missing.
  Fitters left at 8pm for Bank Holiday weekend. My vacuum was used but the room was still left in a total mess as the wardrobe was built on site (in bedroom). There is some damage to walls and every wall and ceiling had to be washed down to remove dust.
  Some finishing on wardrobes is poor.
  My main concern was the depth of 66cm. This has left little room either side of my standard double bed. I have replaced the curtains with blinds to give a little more room.
  I was not given any idea of the size of the wardrobes as I was never contacted at all to discuss this. Had this discussion taken place I would have opted for a standard 60cm depth at the most, probably even going smaller, or to have forward facing hangers.
  I contacted House Builders again w/c June 4 regarding the depth of the wardrobe but had no response.
  Friday 8 June I had a call from a Hammond’s fitter to say he was calling with the extra hangers. No appointment had been arranged so I was not expecting anyone. I advised that I was waiting for House Builders to respond and asked him not to call.
  Monday 18 June I had a call from Hammonds to say someone would visit to ‘have a look what went wrong’ and he would call me back to arrange as he knew I was now back from holiday. Nothing heard from him for a week.
  I now sincerely wish that I had arranged my own wardrobes as I feel very unhappy about the whole thing. Clearly Hammond’s communication process is poor if it exists at all. I am very annoyed about taking a day off work for nothing. I cannot understand why measurements were taken and not discussed with me and then my house used to cut the parts to size .
  28.06.12 – Man from Hammonds called and agreed that wardrobes are too big. Agreed to reduce to minimum size of 55cm and have rails forward facing.
  10.07.12 I emailed as I had heard nothing since the visit. Reply informed me of visit planned for 21.07.12.
  I called back to suggest different fitter but ‘too much hassle’ to rearrange.
  21.07.12 - returned from weekend away to find reduction from 66cm to 57cm and rails in same place. This despite the signed job sheet(by fitter) stating what had to be done. Room had to be deep cleaned again.
  Pathetic service. Feel like ripping it out and leaving in the road as a warning to others on the development!
• Its a shame to hear bozm1 and sleeplessinsuffolk have had bad experiences with Hammonds. We had a much better experience by going through the route of starting by visiting the Leamington Spa store and getting everything set in stone before the fitters came to our home. I'm not sure if this is a better approach, but we are happy with the fitting and service. Hammonds weren't the cheapest quote we had, but they ultimately were the design we wanted.
• We ordered fitted bedroom furniture from Hammonds in Jan 2012, for installation 14-15 June 2012 (total cost Ј5400, we have paid Ј4536 to date (84%)) of two triple door fitted wardrobes (Verve range), two free-standing bedside tables and one large free-standing chest of drawers.
  A few days before the scheduled fitting Hammonds called to say the order was missing 2 wardrobe doors but they insisted on proceeding with the fit, even though we said we would wait until everything was in place (it turns out that they had forgotten to order the 2 doors!). Once the doors were finally ordered we arranged with them for them to be installed on Saturday 28th July. At 5.30pm the night before they left a message saying that the fitter would not be able to make the appointment on the 28th July, no explanation was provided. I (I will point out here they never try to call us to explain) called them on the following Monday and firstly I was told the doors had failed quality control and had been rejected, and later I was informed that they had gone missing – what to believe? Missing doors finally re-ordered and installed 7th Sep 2012, 12 weeks late.
  After the initial installation date (14th June) we had raised issued with Hammonds re: the three free-standing units. These were of very poor quality, terrible alignment and glass tops that did not colour match. I was promised numerous times on the telephone that this was all to be rectified, in one visit, on 7th Sep 2012. When the fitter did visit on the 7th Sep he was supposed to finally finish fitting the doors to the wardrobes, replace the glass tops on the free-standing units and correct the terrible alignment of the free-standing units. The fitter only knew about wardrobes, he was completely unaware of all the other issues I was expecting to be resolved at this time, and clearly not best pleased that he was at ours on a Friday evening. During the 3 months from June to Sep Hammonds had repeatedly reassured me that everything necessary had been ordered and that my bedroom project would be completed on the 7th Sep 2012.
  After the visit on the 7th Sep I requested that they send someone from Hammonds to assess the furniture and on the 18th Sep a senior technician came out and confirmed the units were sub-standard and that bedside units needed adjusting, large unit needed replacing and that glass tops needed replacing. After a member of their team confirmed the units were sub-standard I returned to Hammonds and asked for them to take the three free-standing units away and refund me to their value (I was satisfied with the fitted wardrobes and said I was happy to pay what I owed for these). They aggressively and flatly refused to refund me saying ‘it was not their policy’ and that I ‘had to allow them reasonable opportunity (they won’t define what this means but I think 4 months is more than reasonable) to rectify the problems’. Interestingly they did offer take the units away and not give me any money !?! - a very interesting policy indeed!
  My understanding of the Sale of Goods Act (1979) is that I, the customer, can choose whether I ask for a refund, replacement or repair, it is not for them, the retailer, to insist on any one of the three options. However Hammonds flatly refuse to offer a refund, is this not my legal right? As they insisted they would only rectify the three units I was left being bullied into accepting a further site visit on 13th October 2012 (when I clearly stated this was not how I wished to proceed) for their technician to attempt to rectify the issues with the three units. If I failed to agree to this visit they said they would close my account and demand the remaining 16% I owed them, and if I did not pay they would initiate court action against me.
  The 13th October came, no technician appeared between 8-9am as advised. I called the customer service team at 10.30am and was notified that when the technician went to collect the goods on the 12th they failed quality control, hence no visit. However, no one at Hammonds had bothered to communicate this to me (they have four telephone numbers and three email addresses) so I was left waiting in for someone that was never going to show, what a waste of my Saturday. This is a completely unacceptable way to treat customers, especially when I was forced into accepting this visit in the first place! Do they think I don’t have better things to do with my time?
  I asked the customer service lady to ensure the Head of Customer Services called me on Monday 15th October as a matter of urgency, it is now 4.30pm and still no-one has called to apologise or explain. I sent another terse email on the 14th Oct clearly stating that I would like a refund for the three free-standing units, stating my rights as a consumer under the Sale of Goods Act, and how they were failing to comply to my legal rights. I have not had a response to this either.
  I sent letters, including photographic evidence and copies of the emails and telephone calls I have had with them, to the Head of Customer services and the Managing Director by recorded delivery. I know these were received on 1st October 2012 but I have not received any acknowledgment from Hammonds. I additionally sent details of my experience with Hammonds to BBC Watchdog at the same time, and I received an acknowledgment from them on the 10th Oct. If they can take the time to reply to me why can’t Hammonds?
  At this point I am fed up of dealing with Hammonds, their customer service team are aggressive and bully you into accepting decisions that clearly break the law. I don’t understand why they are being so unreasonable. I have said I am happy to pay for the wardrobes, I just want the free-standing units taken away and money returned to cover the cost of them (value ~Ј2000), I am not asking for a FULL refund of Ј5400. I just want my bedroom finished, the dream has become a living nightmare. My bedroom has been in disarray since I began decorating it in April 2012, I have belongings distributed over three other rooms and with Hammonds flatly refusing to refund me, when will this end? I have not experienced the ‘stress-free’ process as promised in their glossy brochure and certainly not a bedroom ‘fitted to perfection’. I have additionally failed to experience any of the ‘exceptional quality and a truly personal service’ also promised on their website.
  We will soon be instructing a lawyer to act on our behalf and will also be sending a report to the Furniture Ombudsmen.
  Do not deal with this company, you have been warned.
• I Initially called Ha****s out to measure for new bedroomfurniture, they quoted Ј14000 then within 20 mins they dropped it down toЈ11000. I was pretty insulted that they could try it on to quote such a high figure and then dropit so quickly.
  A friend of mine recommended that I should try Elegantbedrooms as they have recently had their bedrooms fitted by them, so I did.
  The surveyor turned up, (very polite) measured the bedroom,even suggested a much better way of laying out the room that worked muchbetter, showed me a computerised plan, gave me the price that was less thanhalf of what H*****S had quoted and we gave him a deposit there and then.
  Three weeks later on the agreed date the fitters turned up,they were nice quite boys, and very polite, they never stopped all day and evenasked me for the hoover at the end of the job so they could hoover up.
  My bedroom is gorgeous and I would recommend Elegantbedrooms to anyone!
  They are based in Liverpool but Travel all over, the fitters told me that they had just installed in London recently!! great service
• Hammonds has asked to give a response to spencerdog. MSE doesn't endorse anything a company says on the forum.
  Good morning,
  I am very sorry to hear about your recent disappointment with Hammonds.
  We take all feedback seriously and we would like to apologise if we in any way insulted you.
  Thank you for bringing these concerns to our attention.
  The Hammonds online team
  
• All the same, but Sharps are lowest priced, but Strachan are by far the most expensive and possibly not the best value. We had Strachan and the workmanship is certainly not of a craftsman, rather a mere installer. we had a tricky loft to deal with, but with a Ј1000+ premium, I expected quality installation.
  However, the paint surface, hinge quality and drawers are as good as new 9 years on. so materials are great, but installers are extremely average at best.
• Just looking at the same options. Visited Sharp showroom and the quality of the hinges on the cheaper ranges is very poor - IKEA is much better. We have a very large bedroom and the Sharps comes in at Ј8000 in their 50% sale. IKEA + local builder to infill and put in new cornices comes to around Ј3000. I personally think it is only worth paying more if you are going for much better quality bespoke furniture.