Swindon family get new Wickes bathroom months after fitter walks out

Chris Martin, wife Kat and son Ethan from Oakhurst ordered their bathroom from Wickes at the beginning of June 2023 but said it was fitted badly and that the fitter walked out.

Months passed with no work done to the bathroom and Chris voiced his concerns in the Adver earlier this month.

Wickes have since sent out a new fitter to complete the job and the family now have a working bathroom for the first time in months.

Chris ordered the bathroom from Wickes in June of 2023. (Image: Dave Cox)

“It feels good and it is a relief, a weight off of our shoulders,” said Chris.

“It doesn’t leak so that is brilliant compared to how it was before of course and the guy who did it was amazing, chatty and friendly as well as doing a cracking job on the bathroom.

“My wife is absolutely delighted with it and is over the moon with it as it feels like a luxury to be able to do things in a bathroom and not in the kitchen.”

The 42-year-old software engineer and his family spent £11,000 on the bathroom but were forced to wash in the garden, kitchen and swimming pools after it was left unfinished.

The new bathroom has been installed seven months after it was ordered. (Image: Chris Martin)

“It's had a negative effect on our family I don't think Wickes quite appreciate,” said Chris.

“The embarrassment it's caused my son, my wife felt I wasn't pushing Wickes hard enough to get them to finish the bathroom and the inconvenience of not having a bathroom.

“I've lost so many hours of my life researching and trying to figure out how to hold them responsible by looking at my legal options, contacting the ombudsman and contacting Barclays, our finance provider; it's time I'll never get back.

“I'm not sure how Wickes plans on compensating us for what they've put us all through yet.”

Chris was previously having to wash in the garden and sometimes at swimming pools. (Image: Chris Martin)

Wickes has independent installers that are subject to their approval and the company used a previous installer of the year to sort the bathroom.

“This guy was brilliant and luckily we got a good one this time but it seems to be a lottery at the moment as the last guy somehow got rubber-stamped by Wickes,” said Chris.

“I can’t really boil it down to one particular issue, it feels like there’s so much to unpack.

“There just seems to be so much wrong within the company nothing works well from deliveries to installations and communication between customers.

“Wickes and installers just doesn’t seem to work and each of the departments I’ve had contact with seem completely detached from one another.

Chris does not advise others to use Wickes in the future. (Image: Dave Cox)

Chris feels lost after the experience and has warned others of the possible pitfalls of using Wickes for work in the future.

“The experience with Wickes has been abysmal, I definitely wouldn’t ever trust them to do anything else for me again or encourage anyone ever to use them,” he said.

“During the first install, I had to coordinate the installer, the customer experience team and the in-store team.

The bathroom originally cost Chris and his family £11,000. (Image: Chris Martin)

“It was a full-time job trying to make sure people were actually talking to each other.”

The Adver contacted Wickes following the completion of Chris' bathroom.

A spokesperson for the company said: “We’re sorry to hear of Mr Martin’s experience.

"Our Customer Relations team has been in contact and the matter has now been resolved."