End Panels

We have received a number of decor end panels with our kitchen unit design. It was our expectation from looking at the showroom set-ups that the end panels would be 30mm wider that the unit it is being attached to, which is fine for us. For tower units and wall units this is the case but for base units, the end panels are 48mm wider, which means that to fit in with the rest of the kitchen, 18mm has to be taken off the width of base unit end panels. This is a real nuisance. The excuse from Wren is that the extra 18mm is to deal with out-of-true wall which is totally nuts because it does not apply to the much higher tower units.
Their excuse is rubbish.

First problem issue - 9th.June cont.

Well I had a reply from Wren Customer Services in 2 working days and the issue I had was partly due to the fact that Wren had enclosed the wrong instructions for the sliding mechanism. Wren enclosed instructions for a Vauth-Sagel HSA470 whereas they should have enclosed instruction for the HSA500 model which was the one actually fitted to the pull-out tower. After adjusting the screws the door does now fit uniformly, well near enough, but there is a huge 7mm gap at the top of the unit. There is no way of adjusting that out, it is simply careless fitting at the Wren factory. The only way out of this is to packing shims under the bottom rail I think.
This is the main problem I am having with Wren, the factory fits are a bit slap-dash, so most items, door and drawers need adjustment, sometimes reworking to improve clearances.

Instructions

Wren don't make it easy for anyone fitting their own units in that the instructions enclosed are somewhat lacking. This is probably because they assume their fitters will be doing the job. Below is the instruction leaflet enclosed with all our tower units, just how to attach the feet. One of our units is for a built-in cooker and another for a built-in fridge but no advice whatsoever on how to accomplish that.
By contrast, they produce a detailed Noddy's guide on how to stand up doors in a chunk of expanded polystyrene...neat idea but a full A4 instruction leaflet for the obvious?

First Problem Issue

We purchased a 300 wide Infinity+ Pull-out Tower, Second unit to be installed and have hit a big problem in that  the door will not close properly, there is a 7.4mm gap at the top of the door when it is flush at the bottom. The soft close mechanism is working correctly. 

An instruction leaflet was enclosed with the tower for a Vauth-Sagel HAS 470 mechanism and as far as I can tell the installation instruction dimensions seem to be correct. However, the installation booklet is for an adjustable frame unit whereas what Wren supplied was a fixed welded frame unit. Basically the door seems to have ‘sagged’. There is quite a lot of slop in the bottom pull-out mechanism and by lifting the door up with the handle it can be made to close properly but when the handle is let go the door sags back again to the state illustrated in the photos.

There is adjustment provided to move the door side to side and up and down but no adjustment to correct the misalignment problem. I have spoken to Customer Services for advice and they requested pictures so these have been sent so we will see how long they take to reply.

What surprises me is how this unit got out of their factory in the first place……don’t they have any QC inspection?

Initial Preparation

We have 4 Tower Units to install so I started with them. The units come pre-assembled and there is a massive amount of cardboard to collect and eventually dispose of. Personally I prefer flat packed but that is another issue and the pre-assembled units is a Wren sales feature. Initial impressions of the units is that they are a bit flimsy and the quality is average, Construction material is chipboard not MDF. Couple of things I noticed. One  is that the hole drilling for the legs is done with blunt drills, there is a lot of chipping, holes not clean. Doors are not properly aligned in most cases and pull-out self-close drawers don't fit very well, see photo. There are no instruction whatsoever oh how to  get the drawer to close flush, either on the Wren website or in the unit itself....this I will have to figure out later. However, the first task in the Wren instruction is to remove doors and drawers prior to fitting the units to the walls. IMMEDIATE PROBLEM.........Wren do not provide instruction anywhere on how to remove self-close drawers. Yes it can be done but it is not at all obvious.

From what I can see so far, the lack of proper instruction seems to be a general criticism of Wren and there is really no excuse for that.

Kitchen Delivery

Well the units arrived on time as specified, checked all items were present but everything is packaged up so impossible to examine the units during the delivery.  However, no packaging was damaged so assume units are OK. In the Wren installation instructions on-line it states that the purchased has 48 hours to report problems......well look at the photos, how can you easily examine this lot in 48 hours? And there were other units as well. Now on one of the packages we found an alternative notice which suggests that the 48 hours is now 'during the installation process' BUT Wren require all damages etc to be reported at the SAME time (once only) and replacement is FOC.  For any subsequent notification of damages to their Customer Services they will charge for the replacement items plus a £40 delivery charge per item on top! How MEAN can you get?