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Monday, December 17, 2007

The Kabnoury Experience

Here I am about to strike again ... Here I am pointing a skinny finger at customer service and screaming "thief"!! Yes!! Thief .. a thief that promises what he cannot deliver .. a thief that robs us of our basic rights of being respected and answered!! OK .. before I begin ranting, I will tell you the story and I will let you judge.

I am living a very exciting phase in my life now ... I am a few steps away from literally laying my hands on my biggest achievement - my very own home ... a really nice home:)

I have a huge reception area and the kitchen is part of that space. I decided to get in touch with Kabnoury to design and build my kitchen; I wanted a rustic English kitchen to suit the fireplace and the stone library in my living area.

On Thursday 6 December, I called the short number 19088 and a nice girl answered. I told her who I was and I told her that I needed one of their engineers to take the dimensions of my kitchen. I begged her to make it on a Friday because I was busy all week and she was kind enough to accept. She told me that the engineer was going to call me on Friday to set the exact time.

So far, I was happy with my choice of such a dedicated and reliable company!!

On Friday 7 December, I waited and waited, then I panicked, and finally I began the chase. I called about four times to make sure that an engineer was going to meet me that day and the nice lady assured me that he was going to call me. Finally he called me, apologized for not calling earlier, told me that he was with clients and we agreed to meet at 4pm.

Engineer Mohamed Said was punctual, came with a catalogue, and took the measurements with utter professionalism. I was happy and so looking forward to seeing the design of my dream kitchen. Engineer Mohamed told me that it would be ready on Saturday 8 December. I told him that I taught on Saturdays and that I was live on OTV on Sundays and we agreed that I would go on Tuesday 11 December to the Maadi branch to check it out.

We met. The design was not ready. I was not very happy but later on we sat together and worked on the design together - a great experience ... I was involved in the details of creating my kitchen.

At the end of our meeting , he promised to send me two quotations the following day (Wednesday 12 December)

He did not.

I called.

He was busy with other clients.

The day after (Thursday 13 December) I called.

He had an accident but he promised to email me the quotations.

There was no email - not then and not now!

On Friday 14 December, I decided to drive to Maadi branch and pick up the quotations myself. I called on the way about 7 times ... he did not reply.

I arrived at the branch and his colleague, engineer Jacqueline, tried calling him but he switched his phone off.

She handed me four pieces of paper that made no sense to me and told me that he would call me.

One sheet quoted LE 37,887 and the other quoted LE 27,175. There were two others; one for LE 46,724 and one for LE 34,800 ... ahhhh and a bathroom unit for LE 4,712.

He never called back .. not on Friday, not on Saturday, not on Sunday ... I guess he will not call.

How would they have treated me had I paid the LE 40,000 + ? I now doubt their delivery promises, I doubt their quality, I doubt their integrity, and I am glad I did not commit!

So guys .. I need a kitchen ... any suggestions?

1:46 am December 17 .... I sent my post to the customer care email on the website - customercare@kabnoury.com

Guess what? It bounced back!!!!!!

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

wowowowowoow u r a great escalator marwa. this complain of about don't respect time or client is ordinary here :( also no team work that cover each other is another ordinary thing in our country. i advise u to check with amr helmy design. they have nice things and not so expensive.

Anonymous said...

forget kabnoury, u should check amr helmy designs :)

Wael Eskandar said...

Why does everything in Egypt have to be that way? I really hate this kind of service, why not just be honest and stick to what you say or not say it at all?

I'm a part-time carpenter, we can work on your design :)

Marwa Rakha said...

Fidodido .. I did not escalate this one .... I just know that I am a citizen who has some basic rights:(

Marwa Rakha said...

My Kabnoury experience ya Mando has ruined it all for me .... I will go seek a ghalban carpenter:)

Marwa Rakha said...

Will ... I am at a point now where I could believe anything:) ....

I posted this on facebook and one thing led to the other until I got an appointment with a carpenter who was recommended by an intelligence officer:)

Wael Eskandar said...

Actually I do a bit of carpentry as a hobby, but not enough to do a full fledged kitchen. It actually started with me looking for a certain kind of table I couldn't find.

Marwa Rakha said...

:) ok .... I still have use for you:)

I am serious:)

I used to workout a lot and now I want to get back into that routine

Can you do that wooden thing in gyms ... emmmm .. how do I describe that?

ok .. there are 2 vertical poles, and in between there are about 7 horizontal poles and the whole thing is solid, firm, and pinned to the wall ... am I making sense?:)

Wael Eskandar said...

vertical poles, yes, I know those.. gotta ask the right people though :)

Anonymous said...

Maybe they were concerned after reading your blog that your territorial nature might prompt you to pee all over your brand new kitchen.

:P

Marwa Rakha said...

Will ... I will hold you responsible for the vertical pole as of now:)

Marwa Rakha said...

LOL ... Vanilla BS ... you are pulling my leg:)

Unknown said...

balash tesawa2ee som3eet elnass... Entee kaman hateshteree we tet2amaree!!! haga gharebaa wallahee

Anonymous said...

Marwa, I would have recommended my husband who also dabbles in carpentry and single-handedly built our kitchen from scratch. But alas, not only is he a few thousand miles from Cairo, but he is a darn persnickety perfectionist and you'd find yourself living in a construction zone for the next two years, tearing out your beautiful hair while he worked on your kitchen!

Best of luck with the new digs.... be sure to broadcast the pics once everything's done.

Marwa Rakha said...

Thanks Viv:) I am sure your husband's skills come in handy ... wish I had them .... i would never ever need a carpenter:)

Will post the pics once I am done:)

Anonymous said...

Thanks Marwa - I stumbled upon your site looking for the Kabnoury website to buy a kitchen, but now thanks to you, they are off my list of places to check out today. I will be going to Contistahl, Taki and Amr Helmy - I have no tolerance for managing a carpenter and would prefer someone competent to manage the entire situation without me...
Thanks again!

Marwa Rakha said...

Thanks Sameh ... I wish you the best of luck:)