Customer Issue

ArmstrCarpentry

I did a bathroom renovation last summer, Installed this shower:

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?actio...#oipCommentTop

anyway if you read the reviews (that are all after the date we installed the shower), my customer also cracked his base about 5 months after with a dropped shampoo bottle. The shower base was thin, thin like a cheap throw away plastic cup...

I worked with Aquaglass and Lowes and got the customers money refunded on the shower (without having to rip it out) - mostly due to the multiple complaints about cracked bases on Lowes own website.

The customer was laid off at the time and could not afford to replace the shower so I did a temporary patch to hold them over. I moved to a new property about an hour further north.

The customer now demands that I replace his shower with a "custom tile" shower (base and surround) at a discounted rate, he wants me to eat 1/3 labor, not to mention fuel and drive time - I recomended he hire another contractor... I didnt crack the tub and I already ate time and gas documenting the shampoo bottle shaped crack and dealing with the manufacturer and lowes to get his money returned.

Customer is mad now and threatend to contact BBB and "possibly sue" - I have done a lot of bathrooms and I value my customers and my reputation. I run an honest buisness and I stand behind my work, if it were somthing I did wrong I would have fixed it immediatly and ate the cost.

I am not to worried about getting sued really but the threat to my reputation as well as the unhappy customer kind of bums me out.

I have vented

genecarp

Sometime you have to stick to your guns, you have gone above and beyond already, If he complains to the BBB, as long as your license is in order, they will not give you a hard time. G

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Proud Plumber

Didn't you say you were able to get him a refund?

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Bill

"I'd rather die while I'm living then live while I'm dead".... Jimmy Buffett

480sparky

My first question would be: "Who supplied the shower & base?"

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Site : the area or exact plot of ground on which anything is, has been, or is to be located.
Sight : The power or faculty of seeing; perception of objects by use of the eyes; vision.
Cite : To mention in support, proof, or confirmation; refer to as an example.

ArmstrCarpentry

Yes he got a refund on the shower, he does not want the same shower not that I can blame him.

willworkforbeer

I put in one of those and cracked the bottom where it starts to roll up, standing inside it with soft sole tennis shoes. Luckily HO was okay with patch I did, not quite the right white but it was on the backside. I never never screw up like that. Never did get response from manufacturer. Wont put in another one.

ArmstrCarpentry

My first question would be: "Who supplied the shower & base?"

It was one of the options presented in the estimate - There were no negative reviews on the unit and I looked at it before I considered it for an option, at $500 it was also the lowest price option. Customer went to Lowes and looked at it a couple of times, once with me and once with his wife - they approved it before we purchased it

willworkforbeer

Same deal, went shopping with the HO, had to have it, this a little over a year ago, nice little display setup in Lowes. Really didnt understand how flimsy it was until I started putting it up.

kevjob

was the base set in mortar? all my non tile pans get a layer of non shrink grout. hepls with leveling as well. no mortar means cracks.

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Kevin
Basement Finishing Highlands Ranch Colorado
Littleton Colorado, Basement Remodeling
Kitchen Remodeling Denver

Wolfgang

Had an old timer doing a shower install with one of the above described units. He had done the mortar base and pulled out the pan from the box, looked at it and shook his head. He took a can of expanding spray foam insulation and sprayed all the open voids and crevices. After it dried he trimmed it level and installed it. Turned out nice and solid.

JonM

genecarp

Structo lite, never put down a pan without it.

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Splinter

I ripped out one of these for a customer last summer.. It was only 3 months old. The base has a waffle shaped styrofoam pad underneath. The bottom of the foam is flat, the waffles are directly under the ridiculously thin acrylic.

Mortar wont help here unless you break the glue bond between foam and pan, fill the waffles and reassemble. Of course who would know those waffles are there in the first place?

It's just a horrible design.

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- Alex

Long Island Remodeling Contractor

willworkforbeer

Setting the base in mortar would do no good trust me, you just have to see one of these units to understand. Acrylic not much thicker then a drink bottle over foam. The foam flexes and the acrylic cracks.

Mike Finley

In theory the manufacturer should be paying you for installation of a replacement of the product to make the customer whole. Then comes the issue of if the product is defective or you just had a bad version of it.

Theory is one thing and good business is another.

We aren't the cheapest company a customer can hire to do their project and part of the reason we charge more is because we stand behind complete customer satisfaction and customers don't get put in the middle of situations like this.

If it was us, we would replace the product with a similar one at no cost and deal with the manufacturer on our own. If the customer wanted to upgrade to another more expensive product we would work with them to make it happen.

Like I said, we don't do things cheaply for just this reason, there is more to a successful renovation then just how nice all the shiney stuff looks when it's done, there is the customer's experience with the process.

However like I've said a million times, when customers think construction is a commodity and look to the lowest price as their decider and think that no matter who they hire the end results will be the same, then this is what they get to put up with if things don't go perfectly.

SelfContract

I also agree with this approach. If you want customer respect your business reputation & expect to build the best from your business, this is the way you do it properly. Otherwise, just stick with a CHEAPO customer/product base and your company will stink down further with CHEAPO services as well.

willworkforbeer

Agree 100%, but in my situation I had eaten so much stuff and bent over freakin backwards so much I was about to lose my mind. Most hardass, worst, cheapest, pickiest, obnoxious customer I have dealt with in my entire life. Spent nine monthes in their house and everything tits except that stupid shower base, unbelievably they were fine with the fix so I did not replace it. But I did learn a few lessons, never too old for that I guess.

480sparky

So you, in effect, supplied it. Then I'd say you're on the hook for it, unless your contract states something different.

It would be a totally different story if the HO said, "Here, install this shower & base we have sitting here that we bought last week."

__________________
Site : the area or exact plot of ground on which anything is, has been, or is to be located.
Sight : The power or faculty of seeing; perception of objects by use of the eyes; vision.
Cite : To mention in support, proof, or confirmation; refer to as an example.

WilsonRMDL

glad I came across this post. I'm currently finishing a basement and the HO supplied all bathroom fixtures, including shower. Of course this is the one they picked. got it at HD though but its the same brand/model I believe. I was wondering how long it was going to take to crack it looks like its made as cheap as possible. I will definetly be pointing them to the reviews on the lowes website so they can pick out a new shower before I install it.

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Innovative Remodeling LLC
Licensed and Insured

willworkforbeer

If you do install it, dont wear shoes and step carefully on flat part of bottom when doing sheetrock etc. No joke its flimsy.