Sam Hussey-Smith
1/5
We had a highly regrettable and very frustrating experience with Prestige Metal Works. They quoted for an L-shaped stainless steel bench, sink and splashback at our home in Canberra. It took longer than expected to manufacture (about five weeks instead of two), and they came out to measure it no less than three times (which set some alarm bells ringing). When it arrived there were numerous defects, and a number of items we'd asked for not delivered (e.g. no tap hole, no holes for powerpoints etc). The workmanship was really quite poor. Not being experts in stainless steel manufacture, we got second and third opinions from people who were, and they were all in vehement agreement that the bench was not up to scratch and "not even suitable for a commercial kitchen". Prestige also came out to review the work and agreed that the workmanship was not acceptable. The join of the sheets was really shocking - warped and extremely rough, the sink looked terrible and hastily welded, and there were plenty of other minor defects, including a couple of sharp edges. In addition to this, the extent of the bench was not consistent, sitting flush with the cupboard handles along one edge, and then sitting behind them on another - and this is despite having measured the bench three times. We asked Prestige to address these defects, and we were told by them that they'd only attempt a repair if we paid in full and in advance of any repair. This was obviously unacceptable and highly unusual to demand payment before the product has been delivered. They sent us an invoice regardless and - to our surprise - had added an extra ~$1,000 for the integrated sink. We had asked for the sink in the original quote and this was the first time we'd seen a separate charge for it. The basis of us accepting the Prestige quote was the price they offered for the bench, sink and splashback, and if this cost had been included in the original quote, the fact is we would have gone with another supplier. So that was extremely disappointing. We then offered to pay half (of the original quote) in advance of the repair work being undertaken, which we thought was reasonable, but didn't hear back for days, despite numerous calls and emails from our end. Eventually we heard from a front desk/admin person that Prestige intended to remove the bench and cancel the whole order. They made appointments with us to remove the bench and then didn't follow through. When asked why they didn't turn up we were told they had "forgotten". When I finally got in touch with our contact at the company, he told me that the missed pickup was "nothing to do with me". I was really flabbergasted that no-one was taking responsibility. I finally had to say that I was going to personally remove the bench and leave it on the footpath, after which time they came within a day. Combined with the two weeks of fruitless negotiations following install of the bench, the whole regrettable episode took about three months. It was an absolutely terrible experience and prolonged our time without a kitchen by three months completely unnecessarily. We subsequently found a different supplier who measured, manufactured and installed the bench, sink and splashback within about two weeks. We are really happy with their work and service (Stainless & Co, based in Mitchell, Canberra). I can't speak for Prestige's commercial work, but I can certainly say in the strongest possible terms that you should not consider contacting Prestige Metal Works for any residential work. We've renovated our whole house and this is the only time we've had a bad experience. An entirely regrettable and frustrating episode for all parties, despite our best efforts.
