We placed a large order with Home Hub for a number of external doors, windows, and roof lanterns. Whilst we have no issue with the quality of the products themselves, Home Hub managed to order the wrong sized frames, glass, and roof lanterns, causing considerable delay and costs to the project whilst waiting for the correct sizes to be delivered. There were also minor issues such as rusty screws being used. However, the main area of concern is the aggressive, threatening, and bully-boy behaviour employed by the firm’s management.Having placed an order, and following a site visit from the surveyor to take final measurements, a fitter was booked to supply and fit the back doors and windows for our extension. The builder had lined up a contractor to screed the new floor once the doors were fitted. At this point everything had been paid for in full, other than the cost of the fitting. However, the fitter cancelled on the day he was due to come because he said the frames and glass for the doors had been made the wrong size. A new date was scheduled several weeks later once the correct size frames and glass were ready.The fitter again called on the day he was due to come and said the frames were now the correct size but the glass was still the wrong size. The builder asked him to fit the frames in any case so we could at least get on with laying screed for the floor after weeks of delay. The fitter put in the frames and also fitted the wrong sized glass (too short) as best he could, making up the gap with some wooden boards as a stop-gap before the glass was replaced.Although we had paid up front for all the products themselves, Home Hub then aggressively chased us for full payment of the fitting, even though we were still waiting for the correct sized glass for the doors to be delivered and fitted, and a wrong sized roof lantern to be replaced. They threatened to refuse to send the fitter back until we had paid for all the fitting! Eventually we got them to agree that we would pay just for the fitting work that had actually been completed and that they would then send the fitter back with the correct sized glass. By now this was already several months after the order was originally placed.A fitting date was finally agreed after yet another few weeks of delay while the fitter was on holiday and Home Hub said they couldn’t send anyone else. Home Hub then called the Friday before to cancel the Monday appointment (due to delays in product delivery) and rescheduled for Wednesday instead.Eventually the fitter arrived to supply and fit the correct sized glass on the Wednesday as agreed, although not until quite late in the day. He also supplied and fitted some additional window panels we had subsequently purchased from Home Hub to allow the back doors to open fully without hitting the adjacent window sill. However, the new panels were about a centimetre too tall (measured wrong by Home Hub) and the sills did not therefore line up at the bottom. The fitter said he would come back on Friday morning at 8am to refit the windows a little higher in order for the window and door sills to line up. Moving the windows up meant that the windows and doors would no longer be aligned at the top, but by this stage we just needed the job finished, rather than waiting for new frames to be made. The delays had already set our project back by months and the builder was unable to swallow the costs of yet another cancellation.We had the builder lined up on the Friday to complete the re-rendering that would be required. By midday Friday there was no sign of the fitter. We contacted Home Hub to ask what was going on and then received a surprising phone call back from the MD of Home Hub apologising for the issues we had experienced to date, and apologising on behalf of the fitter for messing us about with the dates. He rescheduled a date for the fitter to return the following week and said he would look into the problems personally. He informed us that he had had to let several members of staff go due to similar complaints from other customers.The fitter came back on the date agreed, replaced the rusty screws, and raised the windows by a centimetre to allow the sills to align at the bottom. However, as soon as the fitter completed his work he informed us he was instructed to take full and final payment there and then for the balance. This was for a few hundred pounds of an order worth (and already paid) well over £10K. We asked for a final balance invoice to be sent and said that as soon as we received the invoice and had had a chance to check that everything was OK with the windows and doors, we would settle the balance.The fitter then called Home Hub to ask what to do and was instructed to remain on the property until he was paid, and if not, he was told to remove all the doors and windows he had just fitted! We called Home Hub and asked to speak to the MD. He called back a few minutes later and (in a complete about turn from his demeanour a few weeks earlier) quickly became aggressive on the phone demanding we pay the fitter there and then. After a few minutes of trying to explain that we would like an invoice and some time to confirm that everything was OK (after months of delays and problems from Home Hub), he demanded we hand the phone to the fitter, who he then told to leave.A week later, after still not having received a final invoice, we received an unbelievably rude and abusive phone call from the MD demanding payment for the balance by the close of the day. He swore aggressively on the phone and threatened to come round to the house within the next hour and remove all our doors and windows if we refused to pay, and then slammed the phone down. We called him back to advise that we would be reporting his behaviour to Trading Standards (which we subsequently did) and he again slammed the phone down. Trading Standards recommended that we report him to the police for harassment which we did. We then called back (speaking to another member of staff) and paid the balance, wanting nothing more to do with the company, and still having not received a final balance invoice.We strongly advise anyone to think twice before dealing with this company.PS. Home Hub tried to have this review shut down. If they would spend less time and effort trying to influence public review scores and more time actually providing a service to their customers then they wouldn't be in the mess they clearly are in.PPS. A few days after posting this review we received a phone call and written apology from Home Hub. This was prior to the attempt to have the review taken down. After the review was reinstated, we received another call from Home Hub reiterating their apology. Whilst it is hard not to be suspicious of the timing, the apology itself did seem to be sincere. We genuinely hope this is the case and that lessons will be learned for future customers.
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