Kitchens 4 Less
In these tough times, we’re all looking out for a bargain. And Linda Wright from Chirk is no different. She decided a year and a half ago to update her kitchen.
But months of problems and missing parts have now lead us onto the trail of Britain’s biggest kitchen conman, could he be a part of the problem?
X-Ray's Rachel Treadaway-Williams with Linda Wright in her kitchen
In November 2009 Linda thought all her Christmases had come at once when Doncaster company, Kitchens 4 Less quoted her just £800 for brand new units and doors. She said, “I've always wanted a house like this but it's taken a long time to save…it’s the worst thing I’ve ever done”.
She says that because 18 months on, it’s still not finished.
Linda told us the units had to be cut down because they were too big for her kitchen - despite it being measure up by the company beforehand, the legs they sent for the bottom units snapped, she’s missing drawer fronts and 21 door handles, and some of the doors have expanded because they weren’t watertight.
So of course she complained, “Every time I was ringing up they were saying “cut the cupboards down” or “there is nothing we can do”.
“The only way I could get through was to put on a posh voice and say I would like to buy a kitchen. Every time I would say who I was, my post code and my address, the line would just go dead”.
At this point, we got involved. We wrote to Kitchens 4 Less at their Doncaster address, but the letters were returned to sender.
So we called the Customer Services line and were told their Head Office was actually based in Oldham, at Maple Mill.
That rang alarm bells, because Maple Mill is owned by Britain’s biggest kitchen conman, Vance Miller.
Mr Miller was issued with a Stop Now Order back in 2002 by the Office of Fair Trading after his customers complained about shoddy kitchens and missing parts. It means he could be sent to jail if he’s found doing the same again.
In fact in 2003 he was jailed for breaching the order after a further 180 complaints were made against him. He then received a suspended sentence and a ÂŁ90,000 fine in 2008 for more breaches of the order.
And when we called Mr Miller’s sale number from his website and asked for Kitchens 4 Less, we were told they were the same company.
All of which is bad news for Linda, “I'm just too scared to ring up the company and be fobbed off with something else…it's just wore me out, 18 months of constant ringing and not getting nowhere”.
Neither Vance Miller nor Kitchens 4 Less has formally responded to our investigations.
