Dolphin Bathrooms, any experience of them?

s@sha

Hi, I'm not sure if I'm asking this in the right forum, but Dolphin Bathrooms are advertising their January Sale at the moment, and as we want to get our bathroom re-done I'm looking for companies to get quotes from.

We've had one local company recommended to us & I'll get a quote from them, but I'd like to try two or three different companies if possible & I like to know if people can recommend them beforehand as I'm wary of just picking a company at random without knowing what they're like. I've asked for local recommendations in the Local Moneysaving forum, but not had much luck so far.
Has anyone any experience of Dolphin Bathrooms (good or bad) or can recommend any other companies?

wigginsmum

Dolphin redid our bathroom 3 years ago. Certainly not cheap (think we paid around £4k in my pre-MS days! Involved removing a redundant water tank from the roof which was a big job) but they did do a good job. First a guy came round to talk through the design and posted us the quote based on what we'd selected, then another came round to do the precise measuring (strange Polish guy who didn't speak much English and wanted to talk about cat flea treatment - at least I think that's what he was talking about, he kept mentioning cat 'flaus' and 'floosies' in broken sentences).

The contract workers complained that Dolphin never paid them on time, so some days we had fewer workers than we had anticipated. It took a week or so all in all to do the lot, and we were and are pleased with it. We had to do the final coat of paint ourselves after the plaster dried. So I'd recommend them but wouldn't absolutely rave about them particularly because of the cost - the quality of work would depend entirely on which contract workers were assigned to your job.

We're looking at getting the kitchen done and I'd opt for a smaller local firm if poss.

Jules

pandaonmyshoulder

Dolphin Bathroom I think were on some sort of builders from hell a while back. Over priced, poor workmanship etc.. but maybe it depends on the fitters etc. Have you tried your local Bathroom Shop as my hubby works at one in our town and they aren't much more expensive than say B & Q, much better quality and also have a list of local plumbers/tilers etc.. all recommendations.

carly

I have no personal experience of Dolphin bathrooms , but have heard several horror stories about them leaving jobs unfinished. If you type "dolphin "into google they are mentioned on several consumer complaint type forums so you may get better information from one of them eg;http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews13230.html

http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/home-furniture/dolphin-bathrooms-in-general/reviews/

chalky_bertie

Yes, bloody dear and that's an understatement. The guy came round and told us that their "average" price for a bathroom was about £6000. That was it, the guy didn't make it upstairs to look at the bathroom, out of the door he went!!

Katie_Bell

My friend used to work for Dolphin, the majority of their bathsuites are supplied by Jacuzzi, which many other companies use (including Homebase). You have to have their fitting and all their extras such as tiling etc which are very overpriced.

Another friend's parents were very pressurised by the dolphin people into buying their bathroom and were told which tiles etc they were to have. They liked the result, but it wasn't what they would have chosen and they paid far too much.

moneysavingplumber

Katie_Bell wrote:

My friend used to work for Dolphin, the majority of their bathsuites are supplied by Jacuzzi, which many other companies use (including Homebase). You have to have their fitting and all their extras such as tiling etc which are very overpriced.

Another friend's parents were very pressurised by the dolphin people into buying their bathroom and were told which tiles etc they were to have. They liked the result, but it wasn't what they would have chosen and they paid far too much.

I think the days are numbered (thankfully) for this type of outfit. People are getting much more savvy to these kinds of approaches and much more particular about what they choose, and so they should, they're paying for it after all.

Most towns now have several independent bathroom showrooms that often provide a fitting service or recommendations, and their ranges are often far more contemporary and reasonably priced than the bigger companies, and their staff are usually more knowledgeable and flexible.

If you are really on a tight budget, it's best to go to a plumbers merchant (not a showroom, e.g. PTS, Graham, Plumbase, Plumb Center) and browse the brochures first for ideas, and maybe take some advice from their staff. Brochures like Eastbrook, Claygate, Qualitex and Roper Rhodes really do have some nice stuff and it's usually far cheaper than showroom stuff, especially if you can negotiate a good discount from the merchant. It's worth having a plumber in to quote on the fitting before you order and have a spec. sheet with all the proposed product details so if there are any issues they can be raised before the stuff is ordered. It's worth considering the possible need for plastering and tiling, and flooring and electrical work before commencing also.

ManAtHome

Guy in my local would quite like to stuff their bathroom somewhere fairly rude (he probably offered this to their fitters, eventally got his cash back through small claims court) - avoid would be good...

beefster

Watchdog slated them.
Get a local plumber to do it - even local bathroom showrooms charge the earth.

economiser

Dolphin! Very expensive.

Standard of work depends on the installer who will be a contractor. You could be lucky, you might not.

jumping_j11

I had a bathroom done 3 years ago by a local firm for about 6,000. I had a quote from Dolphin at the time - they quoted 9,000 for a similar bathroom but without rebuilding the airing cupboard and redecorating, which were included in the cheaper quote.