Knowles Skirting

In May 2017 I placed an order for sapele skirting board from E. & S. W. Knowles and I was very happy with the product I received and I left a positive review. The skirting board was exactly the shade of deep reddish-brown as advertised on their website.

A little over a year later, in July 2018, continuing my refurbishment project, I again placed an order for sapele skirting board. Their website says "Sapele is a reddish brown timber ... similar in appearance to Mahogany ... dark, rich colour" and the accompanying illustrations reflect this. However, this time, the product that arrived was a pale light blonde colour, closer in appearance to pine and in no way a representation of the product advertised on the website or in any way similar to my first order. The product I received was not as described.

I contacted E. & S. W. Knowles about my disappointment and dissatisfaction with the product I had received, emailing them a photograph of the difference between the two orders. I politely asked if my order could be exchanged. I even said that I was willing to pay for the carriage for this, so long as it meant getting the skirting board I was expecting. I was told that they were not prepared to exchange this product siting that natural wood can vary in appearance and also that the order was a bespoke cut. In respect to these points, I fully accept that natural wood has variations but I think there is an acceptable range for this, and that the product I received was well outside that of a reasonable variation. I think that E. & S. W. Knowles should be able to have a stronger level of quality control with their timber supplier to ensure a greater consistency of product which broadly matches as advertised. With regards to my order being a bespoke cut, this is only from the preset dimensions they provide, so hardly that unique.

In terms of customer service, both employees I spoke with were courteous but offered no more than referring to the company's returns policy. As a returning customer, and previously a happy one, I felt that E. & S. W. Knowles could have shown a greater level of willingness and creativity in their customer service, to go the extra mile and resolve the situation to the customer's satisfaction, especially given that I think I have a more than reasonable grievance in the product I received and that I tried to meet them halfway by offering to pay for the carriage. As it is, I am left with a product that I feel is no use to me and I am upset because I am considerably out of pocket, as for me this order was a lot of money.

Got delivery date for about 2 weeks after ordering, which was fine , on day of delivery had a phone call from sales rep to say product had been forgotten to be loaded

Ordered on the Bank Holiday Monday, Received a call on Thursday advising of delivery next day,Skirting arrived on Friday very well packaged and the quality was superb.

I would have no hesitation to use Knowles again, highly recommended.

The really positive aspects of my experience was the ability to rectify a short order, hence the four stars but I would give five stars for customer service and fantastic communication regarding expected delivery times.

I don’t usually write reviews but I have just received my 2nd order from Knowles and like the 1st order it was delivered promptly when they said it would, it was well packaged and delivered by a decent courier firm.
I am based down in Devon and for some reason getting deliveries down to this end of the world is a nightmare but Knowles managed it with ease.
Good selection of skirting and architraves which is good quality and reasonably priced, excellent service.
Other companies could do with taking a leaf out of Knowle’s book, big thanks to all the team at Knowles skirting I look forward to placing my next order.

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