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Hygena - a quiet word

Posted: Tue 20 Oct 2015 13:08
by GrahamC
For those of you renovating, or thinking about a new kitchen I thought I'd share my thoughts about Hygena.

We used their branch in Narbonne. We specified and bought one of their kitchen in March 2015. As of today (20 Oct 2015) we still await their return to install the hotte, fix the under cabinet lights which have never worked, reglue the credence which fell off the wall the day after it was installed, and replace the cabinet doors which can't open unless you remove the handles.

Aside from those teething problems the quality of the installation was apalling. Incorrectly positioned cabinets, crudely put together work surfaces, clumsy sealing and finish all over.

Hygena use 3rd party contractors to do the installation but, in our experience, they don't bother to come and check the quality of their contractor's work.

For our arriere cuisine and utility we used units bought from Leroymerlin and installed by Rob Morley (who advertises on this site). Rob's work is orders of magnitude better than Hygena and all was done for a fraction of the price.

Hope our experience may help those considering kitchen work ;)

Posted: Tue 20 Oct 2015 15:35
by Sue
I agree Rob's work is superb and he can multi task. Electrical, plumbing, tiling, plaster boarding and more.

Posted: Sat 21 Nov 2015 16:19
by GrahamC
An update to my quiet word about Hygena Narbonne.

8 months after ordering my kitchen from them they finally came round to do the final missing bits.

1. Came without the necessary tools to fit the hotte to the wall - had to borrow mine.
2. Installed a hotte that doesn't vent to the exterior despite that being what I had ordered. Instead they installed a recirculating type that filters through a charcoal filter. They failed to bring a filter of course.
3. Tried to drill holes though the new tiles using the hammer setting on their drill. Pretty much guaranteed method for de-tiling a wall.
4. Blew all the the undercupboard lighting system by installing the wrong transformer.
5. Delivered AND FITTED (!) three damaged cupboard doors to replace the ones that had been damaged during the initial install

Never in my 30 years of house owning have I come across a more inept, useless, disinterested, incompetent and downright idle organisation.

Posted: Sat 21 Nov 2015 16:42
by opas
I feel you need to let the company know, in writing, recorded AR.

Posted: Sun 22 Nov 2015 10:39
by Kate
Our neighbours have just had a kitchen fitted by Cuisine de la Grone in Le Boulou ( and Argelès). Lovely people, father and several sons, competitive prices and neighbours apparently delighted with it, though I haven't actually seen it yet. The 3D planning was meticulous, the service impeccable. They do advertise with PO Life but those who know me on the forum over the years, know I rarely push or endorse products from advertisers - but really liked these guys.

Posted: Sun 22 Nov 2015 21:06
by mrob343
GrahamC wrote:An update to my quiet word about Hygena Narbonne.

8 months after ordering my kitchen from them they finally came round to do the final missing bits.

1. Came without the necessary tools to fit the hotte to the wall - had to borrow mine.
2. Installed a hotte that doesn't vent to the exterior despite that being what I had ordered. Instead they installed a recirculating type that filters through a charcoal filter. They failed to bring a filter of course.
3. Tried to drill holes though the new tiles using the hammer setting on their drill. Pretty much guaranteed method for de-tiling a wall.
4. Blew all the the undercupboard lighting system by installing the wrong transformer.
5. Delivered AND FITTED (!) three damaged cupboard doors to replace the ones that had been damaged during the initial install

Never in my 30 years of house owning have I come across a more inept, useless, disinterested, incompetent and downright idle organisation.
Just to reiterate on Grahams post i witnessed all of the above with my own eyes ! And was repeatedly told "we're just the installers"A total and utter shambles ! Totally and disgustingly un professional to the core !!
I thought the team from rogue traders would appear to catch them or at least i was hoping so ..... :roll:
As Deb Said i think the best way forward would be a letter of complaint to their head office Graham.My wife will be more than happy to translate it for you.

kitchen

Posted: Mon 27 Mar 2017 11:05
by ssyson
It really is amazing the difference from one job to another. As you may have read from my other post we have an on-going problem with Cuisine de la Grone which is very similar to your experience with hygena although in our case I must say the fitters were good it was mainly that the wrong things had been ordered or not ordered 26 mistakes on 16 items. The fitters did their best but it looks like it is going to end up in a court case. Our kitchen was ordered 21 Sept 2015 so only 18 months so far with a provisional worktop and second hand sink. We can't get new ones until the kitchen is actually located in the correct place with the right size cupboards.