Arc Define

[Zambie 0]

Any comments on Arc Define?

[immunity 2]

Hi, anybody uses Arc Define before?? Mind share??? Thanks.

[Trickster 0]

my experience was not very good.

The designer was hard work to deal with and would not listen to what we were asking.  When it came to completing the kitchen he was using a design (colour of the cabinets) that we had not even seen or approved, and had proceeded to fit them. When we asked to change them he argued that we should keep them.

We asked and had quoted Blum fittings, but when they fitted the kitchen they used cheap Chinese imitations.  A drawer that was designed to hold saucepans used such flimsy fittings that it broke before we could even put all the saucepans in. Overall the drawers and cabinets were not good.  We ended up getting someone else to come in and fit the Blum fittings later as the fittings they had used were failing.

Despite asking for them to make use of a corner, they went ahead and basically blocked off an entire corner that could be used for cabinet space and it is now just a void.  The floor tiles that they used had some sort of stain in them.  They gave us a discount however in hindsight I should have asked for it to be free or relaid.

All the fittings (oven, Microwave, hob, taps etc) are cheap 'Italian made" rubbish - really made in malaysia with an Italian flag stuck on it.  My fault for not appreciating that they would use this, I had naively thought that they would have quoted branded goods. 

Being a sucker, we also had the bathroom fitted at the same time.  This was slightly better, though still the fixtures and fittings are cheap and a simple cabinet that they built with lights in it, is overly complicated and changing a light bulb in it is a task in itself. We also had an issue where they fitted all the mirrors as dark smoked mirrors.  We had asked for normal mirrors, it was just something that they thought they would do.

We had legitimate issues with their workmanship and quality but they ended up not taking our calls when yet another thing went wrong.

They used cheap material and fittings and are cheap for a reason.  It was my first experience of getting a place done and I learnt a lot about what to make sure is in writing prior to starting.  Agreeing everything before they go ahead and make sure that they are not compromising on the quality that you would expect.