DM Design

My DM Design experience started when I found a website showing funding was available as a help to buy option to have an old kitchen removed and a new fitted. As a first time buyer in desperate need of a new kitchen this appealed to me. I filled in my details and waited That afternoon I had a nice chap from DM Design call me he explained we have been selected by the government to receive funding that allows us to offer massive discounts on new kitchens in Scotland, bla bla bla, can I book you in for an initial no obligation visit from one of our designers? I explained that the house was in my family and I was planning on buying it soon and I would be happy to have a designer visit but to understand that it would be for a quote as we were not in the position to buy at this exact moment. He asked when we would be looking to buy and this being in November I explained we would probably be buying in January with hope of moving in March so work done in between this time. He saidthis is not a problem, the quote will be held for 6 months and you can arrange to order when it suits I say okay, book me in We arrive at the house and meet the designer *R*, his opening lineI??™m not going to Bulls**t you here, I??™m in my seventies, I??™ve been doing this for 40+ years and it??™s all about getting you what you want within your budget. I was taken aback by the bad language and thought it wasn??™t the best start to the appointment. He didn??™t seem prepared for the appointment in my opinion, he couldn??™t find the right brochures, he complained after offering to show us a unit which he had in his van, that it was heavy and we would get the idea from the brochurehe drew out a design (which was pretty much what we wanted, but we were telling him what we wanted so it??™s not hard!) and he said he would do us a quote. He hilariously told us he would be good to us and give us a dishwasher for ??217 (the next day on their website I see they are offering them for free), while he sat and did the figures he gave us a folder with complimentary reviews from previous customers the latest dating 2012. We asked if there was more current ones and he said they were in his van and he couldn??™t be bothered getting them. During this whole appointment he made jokes about my partner not being the man of the house, me being the boss, he swore a lot and left a couple of times to smokenot something you should be doing in a sales pitch. It was time for the quote, the initial was ??18000. This was for 12 units, It??™s not a massive kitchen. We were shocked, especially after this was advertised to us as a help to buy schemehe asked us what we thought I told him straight off we would not even consider thisturns out he hadn??™t taken any discounts off it yet, so he went back to his sheet and talked us through some discounts showroom discount, government help, manager discount and took it to ??11000. The next 15 minutes were spent pressuring us into making a deal with him there and theneven after us explaining we didn??™t even own the house at this point, again he told my partner to be a man and make a decision, he told us it was only going to stay this price for that night, even though the chap on the phone told me a quote was held for 6 months, we just wanted him to leave now and we had to make another appointment with him later in the week for this to happen. He told me that if DM Design phoned to lie and tell them he hadn??™t given us a quote yet and he asked me to repeat what I would say on the phone to them 3 or 4 times. By this point I had had enough, I wanted nothing to do with the company. But sadly it doesn??™t end there I phoned the next morning to cancel the appointment later in the week, the lady on the phone asked why this was and I explained we had felt uncomfortable and pressured into a sale we weren??™t ready to make, I explained he made out we were getting a deal with the ??217 dishwasher when it was being offered free on the website (she told me maybe the designer wasn??™t aware of the deal yet), she apologised and said she would pass on my feedback. A week or 2 later *A* calls, she is very sorry about our first experience with the designer/salesman, I tell her what was said, how we felt and one of her reactions was that he is old and probably should be retired and has been making a few mistakes lately. She asked for another chance, she was going to speak with the managing director and explain the situation and wanted to prove to us that they were a good company. She called me back and said the director was willing to offer us a price we wouldn??™t be able to say no too, that a senior project designer would come visit us and do a drawing and give us a new quote. I agreed, I thought I would give them the benefit of the doubt. Between now and our new appointment we had been to a couple kitchen designers more local to us and found the kitchen we wanted and within our budget so I gave DM Design a curtesy call to say I wasn??™t interested now but *A* was persistent, she promised I was going to be offered a quote that we wouldn??™t be able to turn downso I went ahead with it. We arrived at the house to meet *I*, a project manager seemingly, but actually works in manufacturing or something like that so didn??™t really make sense to me him coming to give us a quote. He did a quick drawing (same as the one before)and asked us what the problem had been, seemed surprised to hear what we were saying about the previous appointment, assuring us he was a good salesman/designer, he gave us a quote of ??7000 (funnily enough this was what I told *A* would be our top budget) and said that was the best he could do, I asked if that was from the director who was seemingly giving us a great price and he looked at me like he had no idea what I was talking about. I assume he was just told to come visit us and give us that price, he was in our house for 10 mins at the most, not exactly enough time to design a kitchen and price accordingly. He told me he would hold it for 6 months and left me his direct number and to call him directly if we wanted to go ahead. We heard nothing from them throughout December; I was expecting *A* to check how this appointment wentbut nothing! On 16th January I got a call from *A*, she asked how everything was and if we went with the design, I told her no we hadn??™t we had went with someone else, she asked who and I told her someone more local, her response wasoh I thought you were using us, shows you how much I know yes it really does show me how little you know. I was so angry by the whole experience, I have read so many reviews and articles about this company and I just wish I had never put my details into that website now. They cold call, they pressure you, they lie about the discounts they offer, it is embarrassing. I just want to warn people as I would hate anyone else to experience what we have endured.