Brookmans Avis 54

Do not use this company. We purchased a kitchen in 2022 under the Brookmans brand (one of several in the Lux Group stable, notably including Smallbone), which is made by the same people in the same factory. We have had nothing but trouble from the beginning. Every single deadline was missed, and the communication throughout has been diabolical. Appliances were delayed, installation was delayed, painting was delayed. The paintwork has worn within a year and following a further site visit, further painting has been agreed. Once again this has been delayed, with no communication despite multiple attempts. Senior team members seem ineffectual and uncontactable.

Customer services are difficult to contact. When finally in touch, all that is offered is a generic apology, with no solutions, and that awful condescending phrase, "I will reach out to...".

I have avoided a review up until this point in the optimistic hope that the company might redeem itself, but the catalogue of errors is relentless, now 2 years through the process.

It is brazenly obvious why they have pulled the Brookmans range from the market - many people have also had similar experiences, rendering the reputation so negative that trading has ceased.

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY - SPEND YOUR MONEY ELSEWHERE

Avoid at all costs - I wish I did!
Do not be persuaded by seeing Smallbone attached to the name or being put in touch with helpful attentive designers who are then not around to put things right when they go wrong - I previously wrote a rave review as the designer was so helpful but that was before the kitchen arrived dented,chipped, marked by packaging and partially finished with two different shades of paint - all very poor quality - our brand new kitchen looks second hand - customer complaints are ignored - complaints procedure worthless - Just read and believe the reviews and go elsewhere - Seriously poor experience.

Birthday party for 18, good food, excellent & friendly service cannot fault them . Our thanks to Gary & team for making lunch special

In a time where outstanding customer service is a rarity,
I want to express my gratitude for the exceptional experience I recently received from a member of Brookmans customer service team. Marco Toscano’s dedication and professionalism really stood out. His attentiveness, understanding, and positive approach went above and beyond to address my concerns for problematic issue with the company. His ability to create a sense of customer value and reassurance regarding the resolution of my issue was very welcoming.
In an age where automated responses often prevail, encountering a dedicated professional like Marco in the realm of customer service was a breath of fresh air. His efforts have made a significant impact on my perception of Brookmans.
As my concern is still ongoing, I remain optimistic about a positive outcome, largely due to the confidence Marco instilled in me through his interactions and I am thankful for the reassurance he has provided.

We went through a full year of pain and eventually have a completed kitchen. This review is not about the horrendously poor customer service, the many months of being lied to and the absolutely diabolical overall experience, it’s about the poor, poor quality of the kitchen paintwork.
We have a dark blue kitchen; They use a white undercoat which is now visible as the wood expands and contracts, also it’s very poor quality in respect of paint coverage. Paint has simply worn off on corners, edges and joints (even on areas that aren’t touched). The kitchen has been installed approx 18 months. It now looks white in areas due to the undercoat. Brookmans have confirmed they will honour the guarantee and visit our home to make good the paint defects. Another lie as since they confirmed they would undertake the repairs we have had all emails ignored and phone calls not returned. Rubbish, rubbish, rubbish and rubbish again. I genuinely hope they go bust. They deserve to.

Unless you're a confirmed masochist, don't touch this company with a bargepole. Our story is too convoluted and boring to detail, but it follows the rough shape of most of the tales here. Delay, mind-boggling incompetence and basically, the company just not giving a toss. It caused me tears, sleepless nights, and months of living with a conviction that we had paid Lux a lot of money but would never have a complete kitchen. The fact that we do now is entirely down to two people - Gemma, who left the company, and Gary, who finally sorted us out. They actually deserve five stars. The kitchen itself is ok - but the framework is particle board, just as IKEA's are. And not worth the year of pain we had just to get it in and functioning. There are many kitchen companies out there - I'd strongly suggest reading reviews and going with one which has a solid, established rating.

Believe all the bad reviews you see - because Brookmans by Smallbone really are this bad.
I foolishly read the reviews and thought it wouldn’t happen to me and couldn’t be that bad etc.
I ordered and paid a deposit for my Brookmans kitchen over a year ago in March 2022.
In December 2022 I paid in full and it was delivered.
It’s now May 2023, FIVE MONTHS later and I still don’t have a pull out bin, under unit lights or a towel rail. The stone island was installed the wrong size. Plinths are propped up and doors don’t close properly. It still looks like a building site.
If this wasn’t bad enough, the staff at Lux Holdings Knightsbridge HQ are terrible. Nobody cares - they either ignore you or take a high handed attitude with you. An apology is below them. I’ve asked for a weekly update, which I have to chase each week, and which always gives the same excuses.
Look at all the reviews here - you’ll see Brookmans only reply to good reviews and ignore any disgruntled reviews - I think that demonstrates their attitude.
AVOID THIS COMPANY.

Please trust the reviews here! How this company is still in business is beyond me. Fantastic front end sales until you sign on the dotted line and hand over your money. A simple install has taken six months!!! Half the kitchen was delivered and then the rest was drip fed holding up all other works. Bespoke cabinetry was the wrong size and even the wrong colour. The fitters for the most part were hopeless, installing our Island in the wrong place! The Bakers table was 30 cm too wide and had to be replaced. This took three months!!!
The customer service is shocking! Nobody responds and simply put nobody cares! If it wasn’t for one of their project mangers finally taking responsibility we would still be waiting!
Avoid the stress and do not use this company. Quality is not worth the money by any stretch and the entire experience has left us somewhat numb!

Horrendous!!!

Absolutely woeful customer service. Trying to get hold of someone to discuss delays to the installation is impossible. Worktop installed with holes miss drilled for kitchen tap but no one answering the phone to discuss a solution. If you want good service and a kitchen fitted this century go elsewhere!!

I cannot begin to describe how utterly awful our experience of Brookmans and their holding company Lux Holdings has been. They left the kitchen half finished for months and strung us along time and time again with false promises of completion.
We were forced to commence legal action to obtain a refund for their breach of contract (failure to complete when agreed). They failed to respond to a single letter from our lawyers, showed no remorse and then having (months late) allegedly obtained the missing appliances and worktops threatened to charge us storage costs when it was clear from our legal demands we just wanted our money back.

They know full well that court proceedings are very expensive for their retail customers and hence just ignore all legal correspondence on the expectation their customers will have no choice but to give up. In the meantime they will ignore any suggestion they have done anything wrong.

I even contacted the CEO directly to try and find a compromise whereby they refund us for undelivered appliances at a discount given they could easily sell them or use them for another client. I received no reply even though under this offer we would lose the value of the discount as well as receive no reimbursement for our now considerable legal costs. In addition they now don't want to engage with us directly about delivery options and have suggested we are "bordering on stupid".

They don't care about their customers - you will be completely at the mercy of their delivery schedules which based on the reviews posted could be several months or even over a year late.

This company will not survive treating its customers this way and you should avoid them at all costs. Please don't make the mistake we did which was a lack of due diligence over their history and the awful reviews you will find.

This is the worst company I have dealt with in my entire life. They have caused a lot of unhappiness and continue to treat us with utter contempt.

Following up on my review from early November, I am only marginally progressed forward and less than 2 weeks to Christmas, don’t hold out much hope of having a finished kitchen any time soon.
I’m still missing many cupboard doors, that were either made incorrectly or just missing from site. I still don’t have any of my appliances, and the latest annoyance is the worktop has been templated incorrectly so I can’t fit my hob. It also took 3 weeks to have my rubbish collected following my first installation which meant 7 massive piles of rubbish left festering in the winter weather.
It’s issue after issue and still no one proactively contacts me to manage my expectations.
I haven’t been given any dates at all on when my missing items are expected.
The worktop company they use despairs of Lux Group generally, and says they never get back to them so it’s not just clients who get ignored.
I’ve escalated so many times I’ve probably spoken to almost all the Directors in Brookmans.

Don’t use this company is my best advice. The products are good but in todays age their service is just shocking. You don’t expect to be completely ignored when you have shelled out so much for a kitchen.

Such a shame as I wanted to love this kitchen but each time I think of Brookmans, it just makes me want to cry with frustration now.

Its really difficult to know where to…

Its really difficult to know where to begin as our experience has been so awful, on so many different levels and for such a long period its hard to communicate just how bad it is! I will try.
Brookmans first delivered the kitchen on the 13th June and my kitchen is still in progress as we speak at 22nd November almost 6 months later. Many items were delivered damaged, many items were then damaged when installed by their installers, some items have never even been installed and some items have never been delivered and on some occasions I have bought the items separately myself to try and keep things progressing. I will pick out a highlight or two to put some meat on the bone, so you know what to expect: we had 3 different and incorrect basins delivered, some items arrived 3 months late, two items never arrived so I bought them myself, some items arrived that were not even ours, many items had multiple damages. I will now give you one example of trying to receive a larder door that we ordered: DOOR 1 was bowed so new one ordered. DOOR 2 was damaged in 3 places one with an actual hole through it in one place, new one ordered. DOOR 3 was wrong handed, new one ordered. DOOR 4 was bowed, new one ordered. DOOR 5 A few months later door 5 arrived. Now imagine multiplying that experience with numerous different items each with separate faults most of which are dealt with separately by different people who are completely unaware of what has happened before so you will often have new conversations about the same problems and still not get anywhere (even though it is all meant to be logged). And no this is not an exaggeration. Its quite staggering.
Less importantly they also installed the dishwasher incorrectly so it flooded the kitchen and damaged the units. Its sad to say this, but I gave up on that. Is it worth fighting with a company for a few thousand in such a shambles and lack of governance? Where will it get you and over what period of time?
Its really unusual for a company to be in this kind of state and still be operating.
To sum up they really should be ashamed of themselves by treating customers with such contempt. Be prepared to be completely blanked with no response to emails or calls not returned for weeks even if you call every day. I would urge you to carefully read qualified reviews before you are tempted (and you will be tempted) by their impressive kitchens, glossy paperwork and uber smart London showroom and genuinely lovely salespeople. Nothing will quite prepare you for the difference in approach once you have paid and the back end process begins. If they are saying to you they have changed - they have not - this is my experience right now 7th December 2022 and its perhaps worse than ever. As I look back on my decision to go with Brookmans I find I am somewhat embarrassed with myself, I was warned and read some reviews like mine, I still proceeded. It was a real mistake. I run a successful company and have a great B/S detector and rarely get caught out. Now I am warning you.

Update December 2022 still no contact. Nothing...
Further updates to come...

I am part way through my installation with Brookmans and am experiencing the worst customer service.

It’s not clear who is owning my project, the delivery arrived on the wrong day, the fitters showed up without any comms to say they were coming and now they are mid way through they have several key elements missing.

We also had to adjust the design part way through and they were only given the original designs. Their attempts to call back into Brookmans for guidance are being met with no response, which is exactly the same experience as I’m receiving as the client.

Both me and the fitters are shocked at the lack of support and ownership and I’m just lucky that the fitters are so good that they can problem solve well, but this is without any help from the team who have been working on my design.

Unfortunately this last weeks experience has been fairly typical of my last few months, where I’ve been pushed around various different individuals but it’s such a key time now, I would have expected someone to be taking ownership and returning my calls.

To say I am disappointed is an under statement and I only hope the end quality is good or else I’ll be taking this much further.

We have had the most terrible experience.
We have been waiting 21 months for our kitchen to be finished. Excuse after excuse, ignoring emails - yet still posting goods for sale ! I don't know what to do other than issue a small claim against them, it's so upsetting - i'd never use them again.

Very inspirational website, brochure and great customer contact from Gail. Could not recommend enough!

In thirty years of owning property and consequently having to deal with scores of outside suppliers - builders, kitchen installers, roofers etc etc - Brookmans is undoubtedly the worst company I have ever dealt with: inept, incapable of accepting responsibility, casually rude, uncommunicative, evasive, defensive and just plain atrocious. Highlight: one of their people turning up drunk on the day installation only to tell me I couldn't have the tops I'd ordered FOR A MONTH, thus taking me well past my move in date and thus me having to re-negotiate my deal with my builder (who couldn't finish his job until the tops were installed). This news, by the way, was delivered with an insolent, sloppy grin. Avoid at all costs. Run rapidly away from these losers. How would you react to the threat of a rabid crocodile being introduced into your house? You'd do literally anything to prevent it. Brookmans: just think of them as a rabid crocodile. And a slightly drunk one at that.

The worst customer experience that I've ever had.

It is hard to detail how unpleasant, stressful and difficult it was dealing with this company. Avoid giving them your money at all costs.

On the due date for delivery (after waiting 4 months), only half of the joinery was delivered and none of the appliances. The customer service team were evasive and difficult to get hold of and couldn't give me an explanation. After a couple of weeks someone told me that they other half of the kitchen hadn't yet gone into production. I continued to pursue Brookmans - constantly being told that someone would get back to me, but they never did. At one point I got through to their Customer Service Manager*, much to her shock, and she told me that she would come back to me with the answers that I desperately needed the next day. When I didn't hear from her I emailed her and got her out of office - she was now on holiday for two weeks and had knowingly lied to me.

I started legal proceedings as the delay to the kitchen was stopping from moving into my new house. Eventually I was offered a call with the Sales Director*. On the call he apologised for the terrible service and said he would do what he could to expedite my kitchen. I had requested £6000 of compensation for additional rent incurred in not being able to move into my house, which he said he would cover. I said I wasn't willing to agree the final compensation figure just yet until there was some progress on the kitchen and I could see that my costs wouldn't continue to rise.

To give Brookmans a little credit, the kitchen was completed over the next two months (still 3 months later than it should have been). I then asked for a call with the Sales Director* to agree the compensation, who this time was rude and combative, during the call he suggested that I should have rented somewhere cheaper during my house renovation (I was renting somewhere directly equivalent to the property that Brookmans were preventing me from moving into; furthermore this was none of his business). He said he would get sign off for the compensation from the financial director.

After this call, I never heard from him again. He ignored all of my calls and texts and I never received the compensation that he had offered me.

This company are genuinely horrendous. The company culture is one of dishonesty and deceit. All they care about is taking your money up front. follow up with disgraceful service. If I had my time again I would buy from deVOL in a heartbeat.

AVOID BROOKMANS AT ALL COSTS.

*In my original review I named these people but after the review was published Brookmans contacted me through Trustpilot and asked me to remove the names which rather demonstrates their total lack of accountability

DO NOT BUY A KITCHEN FROM THIS PLACE!!! My kitchen has been delayed more than 1,5 years (and I paid everything already). Customer service is appalling as no one gets back to me, there is no timeframe to have the kitchen completed. A complete nightmare.

Brookmans are short of installers and this is a major problem. They started my fit out in January and we still don't have a sink, a hob or a larder 3 months later. Noone has been on site now for 3 weeks. The installation manager is overwhelmed and never calls back. I'm probably going to finish the job myself and forget about Brookmans because more than 3 weeks of cold food and takeaways is enough already. As another reviewer pointed out, the lady at Heals in Tottenham Court Road was really helpful - she obviously realised what was going on and left the company.

After writing a review before on how disappointed in the service from Brookmans, it continued to get worse.
Nobody gets back to you, you are made to feel that you are a nuisance to them, they break contracts all the time, and after months of their tradesmans in my house, the stress, inconvenience and cost they have caused my family is just beyond belief and my kitchen still isn't finished. Deposit were paid April 2021!
They continue to sell their kitchens, the products are nowhere near what they promote.
We have been left with a door that when the cabinet light is switched on it shine through the side and you can see the magnets and the end of the shelf, this is the third door they have made and they still cant get it right!
There has just been a catalogue of error, never have I ever come across a company like Brookmans, it just show you they can have a fancy new showroom, with beautiful kitchens on view, but that certainly hasn't transpired into my home, I do not love my kitchen, and after paying what I think is a lot of money for a MDF, the company have shown no remorse in how we have been treated.
We are now at the stage where they want to sign off my kitchen which is unfinished and have been told l that if we want another door made we have to pay for installation, so I now have to pay for their errors!
I would never recommend this company to anyone and I know there is quite a few people who have gone through a disorganised process the same as us, and the person who wrote a review praising Brookmans all I can say is your very lucky!!
The only good thing to come from Brookmans were the fitters and finishers, but most of them were contractors.