Oxford Ironmongery

We had been looking to change our front door for a while and obtained quotations from a number of sources, including some national companies. When a person on our street told us about Oxford Ironmongery being a local supplier, we were immediately interested and went to have a look. They have very nice and good quality supplies of doors and furnishing and, although a bit pricey, we decided they had what we wanted. They don't however fit any of their doors, but they recommend a single carpenter that they assure will do a good job. This is where things go wrong. The carpenter, Adam Witney, is pleasant and will come to take measurements to give you a quotation. He is very prompt with his replies and leaves a good impression. And here is the end of the positives. His work was amateurish at best, incompetent at worst. Our front door was fitted in a very approximate way and had to be rectified a couple of times because the alignment of the keeps was wrong and the door would not close and open properly. This is an expensive solid oak door with oak frame and German security lock and there were no reasons for the job to be so incompetently carried out. We are now left with a door that has an obvious draft and cannot be fixed without some professional intervention that risks further damage. While carrying out remedial work, Adam and his associate Alan, damaged most of the screw heads around the lock strip and the keeps, making any further work much harder. To add insult to injury, we were quoted for a decorator to paint the exterior of the door, but we liked the colour of the door so much that we decided to leave it with just a varnish. Adam said that the cost was going to be the same, so we agreed for that option instead. Instead of a professional varnishing job, Adam and his associate carried out the job themselves, missing out entire areas and failing to apply a second coat to the internal side if the door. They did come to rectify, but the job is clearly NOT well done. In all this, Oxford Ironmongery took the stance that Adam said he did a good job (who appraises their own job?) and would not carry out any remedial work unless we paid for it and that's what they would go with. When we refused they said that we could find a carpenter ourselves and ask them to carry out the repairs and, if reasonable, they would pay for it. This is a clear example of a company that splits the work between independent contractors and therefore is able to take no responsibility for the finished product. We have no way of enforcing any warranties/guarantees because Adam Witney is refusing to admit his work was badly carried out and Oxford Ironmongery refs to take responsibility for it. If you are planning to use them, make sure you have a trustworthy carpenter yourself. Do not go down the Adam Witney's route. I haven't even mentioned the damage he did to my parquet flooring and the shabby job on my internal doors... not worth my time