About me.
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I joined the John Lewis Partnership in 1994. Early on and throughout my career, it became apparent that I had exceptional customer service skills. I don't just say so. The feedback from customers filtered through to my managers. Customers quite regularly sent letters of appreciation for how I had dealt with their queries, and solved their issues, and sometimes very frustrating problems.
These skills, together with my desire to learn and drive to improve, pushed me forward through my career at John Lewis, culminating at the Fitted Kitchens Department. Whilst working in the Customer Service office of this department, I observed how the kitchen planners worked. One day I gained access to a spare laptop and taught myself to produce plans and design kitchens. I became very proficient in producing CAD drawings. This, together with my technical knowledge and experience in sorting out problems, gave me the confidence to plan and ultimately sell kitchens. I saw the need and the opportunity to prove myself. I was not recognised as a kitchen planner. So I had to be bold and do the unthinkible. One day a customer visited our department. She was not happy when she was told to come back another time. No kitchen planners were available to speak to her. She had come a long way. So I was asked to step in. She knew what she wanted and selected a German made kitchen. I booked a planning visit to come and see her. I knew what I was doing, It was my responsibility to visit her, listen to her requirements, take measurements and produce an accurate, functional and aesthetically pleasing kitchen plan for her. In the end she was very happy with my kitchen design and commissioned me and our department to supply and install her kitchen for her. This caught my manager’s attention at the time. She saw the potential and decided to support me. There was a high demand for planning visits, but the existing Kitchen planners were not able to cope with the demand. From this point on, I formally started training with planners. I had gone out with them on may visits before. In all reality I had already developed my planning skills, and I was helping more experienced planners with technical issues, whilst they offered me advice and support in return. After selling my first kitchen, I planned and sold many more kitchens for John Lewis. The Partnership and I shared the same belief in honesty, product knowledge, exceptional customer service and good value. All the right ingredients were in place. I had the knowledge, the drive and desire to help , and I was provided with a top quality product to offer to customers, in which I fully believed in. I loved designing and selling kitchens for John Lewis. This was the golden period in my time at John Lewis. Unfortunately I was never officially appointed Kitchen Planner, despite having applied for the position many times. For some obscure reason that defies logic, I was never appointed. I was arguably the best candidate, I didn't need to be trained and I had the experience. So I was always short listed for interviews, but never selected. The irony was that I was asked to assist with the training of the applicants that were selected. One morning in February 2018, all Customer Service admin staff in all 26 John Lewis Branches were made redundant. It was a cost cutting exercise. None of us thought something like this could happen in The John Lewis Partnership. After all we were supposed to be partners and have job security. We were sure that a role as important as Customer Service wouldn't be diluted. We were wrong. Although I was actively planning and selling kitchens, I was under the Customer Service Admin pay roll, so I too lost my job. Whilst working out what to do after being made redundant, I dawned on me that I still had the passion for Kitchen Design and its multi skill process. I realised that the best use of my time would be to put my skills, knowledge and experience to good use. I also had the contacts, and desire to continue my own path. So I took a leap of faith and decided to start my own business. This time it was going to be my way. Curiel Kitchen Designs was created is in my view a much better alternative to the same old 'default' retailers and offers much better value. |
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Please see images below for samples of kitchens I have designed and supplied for my clients.
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