Sabetec

After our first Kitchen fitter was hospitalised we desperately searched for a kitchen fitter who could get the work done before we moved in. We were reccommended a fitter, but he couldn’t start till the following Saturday. At this point we put our moving date back to 9^th September.
Meanwhile I contacted Sabetec and met Stephen who gave us a quote. They said they could do the work, they would put 2 or 3 men on the job, start on Tuesday 30^th Aug. and it would be done by Friday 9^th Sept. ready for us to move in. They told me they weren’t a flyby night company, yet asked for the payment to be in cash, with £250 payed on the first day. Which I thought strange, but we were desperate.
Things looked ok to start with but it soon became apparent that the one man from Satetec working on the kitchen was unable to do the electrical or plumbing side. I was assured other people would be brought in to do that, and that other men would join him.
Saturday came and we were starting to get worried, the work was not finished. The fitter, again on his own, came in on the Saturday we thought to finish the work but he told us that there was still work to be done. This installation was now 5 days long we were told by Sabetec it would be done in 2 – 3 days initially.
This fitter then went on holiday and Brian, the manager told me that someone else would be there on Monday to finish the work off. Monday arrived no one there.
Tuesday I was told someone would be out at mid-​day, which did happen. He looked at the work and said it would be done by Thursday and they would start that afternoon. I left for work and by the time my wife returned they had gone!
Again I was given assurances that someone would be there on the Wednesday. No one turned up.
Thursday I was assured again by Brian, the manager that the kitchen would be finished by that night. No one turned up in the morning. My wife was waiting at the house for them and called repeatedly. She was told that their van had broken down. No one arrived in the afternoon. Brian then assured me the fitters would be here early Thursday evening and the kitchen would be finished that night.
During one of my wife’s phoned calls to Brian he asked her for more money to do the work, saying that it was becoming a longer job because more things were involved. We thought this was strange, it had become a longer job because they had only put one man on initially, there were no extras they had seen what needed doing and had given the quote. We now also had to pay another electrician and plumber to do the neccesary work. He had us over a barrel and I reluctantly agreed We were paying more for less work!
Two fitters turned up as promised. They looked at the job they had to do and apologised saying that they had been told it was a small job just the worktop to be fitted. They reckoned there was another couple of days work, but also they needed to rectify the mistakes already made by the Sabatec fitter e.g. cupboards all fitted at different heights, doors on the wrong way round, cabinets not level and there was more. They left with no work being done.
We were also told that by the fitters that this was the first time they had heard of Sabatec, who must have picked up their business card at Magnet kitchens. We also found out that their van had not broken down, it was just that they never could have got to us till the evening. So we were lied to.
So on the evening of the move we had no kitchen, in fact it was a building site. The move couldn’t be cancelled again, so Friday we moved. Rooms became full of boxes for the kitchen. We had no cooking facilities. I rang Brian the manager and he tried pinning the blame on the fitters who had arrived on Thursday evening. I told him we no longer trusted him and he was off the job. He seemed fine with this untill I told him that I would be putting this review on the site and would also be seeking recompense through solicitors. His attitude changed and he came back with ‘an offer’ to send a couple more of his people to do the work that day. I told him that he had made the same offer at the beginning of our contract, so why couldn’t he have done that then? I didn’t trust him or his company.
We employed new fitters, and the work took till the following Thursday, in that time we had to live in a house that was still a building site, full of boxes and no cooking facilities. This caused great distress, which was heightened when our cat ran away because of the disturbance which was of course planned to have been finished well before we moved in. And the irony is that if we had gone with the man who could have stated a couple of days later than Sabatec it would have been done.
In conclusion, I’m sure Sabetec have done good work in the past. But I would warn you away from them because we found their workmanship shoddy, their customer service lousy, and their financial practice dodgy and of course they are liars. Avoid at all costs.