Very disappointed with the quality of the Skinners Sheds (Canterbury) summer house we bought recently and their total lack of customer service. Our experience means that we will never use this company again and if you would like quality and customer care, think twice. I keep reading their website regarding quality of materials and workmanship and none of that was true in our experience.The joints of the timbers look like they have been sawn with a blunt saw, none of the joints actually fit properly together, nails were protruding inside the summer house, and the screws are put in at an angle so the heads stick out, causing cuts if you brush down them with your hands or your arms scrape them. Parts of the summer house are put together with 2/3 bits of odd wood instead of 1 and most look like off-cuts as they are very rough. The workmen even had a major problem getting the door to fit as it was badly made.On speaking to the salesman in Canterbury, because I could not find a telephone number for customer services, I was told to go online and input the information with photos which I did. I also sent the photos to the salesman as I did not know if they had gone through. All I got back from ‘customer service’ was an email saying a recall team would be out. I had no idea whether this meant they were taking it away or replacing it. I sent another email asking what this meant and had no response from customers services. Apparently, you cannot talk to an actual person.After more attempts to call the salesman, I finally got hold of a salesman in Ashford who said he would get the Canterbury salesman to ring me. On finally receiving a call back from the Canterbury salesman he explained there would be workmen arriving who would see what could be done. During the conversation the salesman used phrases such as ‘if I were being pedantic I could pick out things wrong in my office’ (the shed at the site he works from). I assured him I was not being pedantic and the photos showed this. He also said ‘it’s just a shed’ and if I wanted a higher quality I would have had to pay a lot more!… I gave up and waited for the workmen to return to find out what was going to happen to our summerhouse which was clearly looked on by the company as ‘just a shed’ now. Even if we had wanted it for just a shed, I would not have expected the quality of workmanship and materials. We have a shed in our garden which whilst older is much better quality.The workman who had carried out the summer house erection came with a new person and asked what was wrong. He then proceeded to say that it was not his work at fault. I showed him the areas needing work and he also said ‘it’s just a shed’ but removed the nails etc sticking out and sanded a couple of the worst areas. He then handed the sandpaper to my partner as he left.All we wanted was a nice little summer house to enjoy for the summer. My partner could have done a much better job for a few hundred pounds but we thought we would get a professional company in, spend a few thousand and make it a proper summer house and just do the painting ourselves. We are now having to sand down every angle and fix every crooked screw and infill bits of missing wood before we can even start to paint it. As well as that I thought we had bought a nice little summer house according to the description on the site example and on talking to the salesman at point of sale but now our dream little summer house is apparently ‘just a shed’.
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