Wren Kitchens is a privately owned British designer, manufacturer, and retailer of kitchens.The company has 64 showrooms in the United Kingdom, and its headquarters is in Barton-Upon-Humber in North Lincolnshire, England.
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History
Wren Kitchens was founded in 2009. The management team behind Wren traded for 10 years in the United States, before the business was sold, and the team moved back to the United Kingdom.
The company employs over 4,000 people and is one of the largest employers in the Humber region. In 2016, the firm reported record turnover growth as sales surged past £338 million. Wren Kitchens is owned by the group West Retail.
Maps Wren Kitchens
Manufacturing
Until December 2013, the headquarters were in Howden, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, United Kingdom, where it still operates a factory. Wren manufactures all of its kitchen units in its own production plants in Scunthorpe, Howden and Barton-Upon-Humber. The 180 acre Barton-Upon-Humber site was acquired in August 2013 from Kimberly-Clark.
Controversy
In 2015, Wren Kitchens was investigated by BBC Watchdog for providing customers with poor customer service. The investigation found that the company had provided partial orders to customers and was extremely slow to rectify issues. The firm responded by stating that they are heavily investing in improving their customer service department.
In Spring 2016, the firm was one of 12 kitchen brands researched by the consumer association Which?. WrenLiving came second from last out of the 12 kitchen companies assessed.
In November 2016, Wren Kitchens said it would honour any quote provided by Betta Living when the rival kitchen retailer went into administration "in order to maintain the public's trust in the UK kitchen market". The firm's "aggressive expansion" had been previous cited by The Times t as the reason for the collapse offor HomeForm Group, (parent company of Möben Kitchens & Sharps Bedrooms) Wren subsequently offered to protect the deposits of customers affected by the collapse of the group.
In March 2017 the firm was fined £12,000 after pleading guilty to breaking the Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, Regulation 9 and the European Communities Act 1972 Section 2(2), by misleading customers on kitchen pricing.
In August 2017, Which? undertook an investigation against companies within the kitchen industry to understand the differences in quote prices. The investigation found that quotes between stores could vary, with one discounted quote being 11% cheaper for the same kitchen at different stores. However, pre-sale/discount quotes were mostly identical.
In October, 2017, the firm featured on the television show Rip Off Britain.
Charity Work
In March 2014, Wren Kitchens donated £437,080 to charities supporting victims of the 2013-14 United Kingdom winter floods. The firm has also raised money for children's cancer charity CLIC Sargent and Macmillan Cancer Support.
Awards and achievements
- Best Kitchen Retailer - Your Home Awards 2018
- 23rd - 2017 Sunday Times Top Track 250
- 3rd - 2016 fastest growing retailers, OC&C Strategy Consultants and Financo Retail Growth Index
References
External links
- Wren Kitchens
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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