J A Bathrooms

shirlgirl2004

I want to warn others against using this company. They are JABathrooms based in Westcliff (about and hour from me). I ordered a bath from them which was ordered on the 25th November. Much to our surprise it arrived on the 31st November with no warning. Fortunately we were in, however the waste which is speciic to the bath was missing. The driver told us it would be coming direct rom the manuacturer as they had forgotten to include it.

As their prices are so good on the 2nd December I ordered by phone lots of other bathroom bits including a shower door and various taps. When I ordered I checked when delivery would be and was told the week beginning the 7th December. I told them it was important as I needed the bits as the builders were already working.

By the 8th I hadn't heard anything and I didn't want them just arriving on my doorstep again as I couldn't be sure someone would be in and I didn't want the builders signing for it all without checking it. I was then told it would be arriving the week beginning the 14th. Obviously I told them it wasn't on and that I needed it as originally agreed. I was put on hold for 10 minutes and then spoke to someone else who said it would arrive on the 9th or 10th. When I asked which as I needed to know to be there he said he'd call me back. The call never came.

Late on the 9th I called and emailed again. Everytime you call it either just rings or you get answer phone so I left and sent a message saying if I didn't have confirmation by 10am the next morning that it would be coming on that day then I would cancel the order. I got an email reply saying that I already had some of the order (I didn't) and that the rest would be arriving shortly. I pointed out that I hadn't had any of that order and I wanted to know when it would be arriving. By 10am I had heard nothing so called (left message) and emailed to cancel the order.

Whilst sitting in City Plumbing I got a call from the OH to say the van had arrived with most of the bathroom stuff. The bath waste was still not there and they had also failed to deliver some taps and the shower door. He was told the bath waste would arrive the next day and the taps and door would be next week. He moaned to the driver about the lack of communication which must have been relayed back to the store. Within 15 minutes he'd had a call from Dan who told him the taps are out of stock until January (thanks for letting us know earlier!) and the shower door would be with us Tuesday 15th. OH told them we would buy the shower door else where and we wanted to cancel it. Dan told us it was special order so we couldn't cancel. At no point had I been told it was special order (it's and of the shelf product not made to measure) and I never receieved a copy of my order (despite requesting one).

I bought the missing items from City Plumbing who were brilliant. They cost a few £ more but the service was fantastic. However J A Bathrooms keep insist I have to have the shower door. I have emailed, phoned and sent recorded delivery a letter of cancellation quoting Distance Selling regulations and they emailed back to say as I'm local DSR doesn't apply .:rotfl:They say they are delivering the door Tuesday but obviously I won't be taking delivery. On the positive the bath waste arrived on the the next day. So the saga will continue. Hopeully they will see sense and refund within 30 days but I hope this goes as a warning to others.

shirlgirl2004

Just as an update the door didn't arrive Tuesday but I did get an email on Thursday telling me the door was in stock and awaiting delivery. I didn't bother replying, they know I don't want it so they can waste their time emailing/delivering if they want but I'm not wasting mine. Can't see the refund is going to come easily though.

shirlgirl2004

Well the shower valve we bought through them has been fitted and the tiler came to do his thing. It transpires that the valve they sent doesn't match the front plate and handles that were sent with it. The front plate and handles look as they're supposed to. This means the shower valve that has already been fitted is wrong. The tiler couldn't finish the job. The valve is now going to have to be taken out. I spoke to someone on the 'phone and he said he'd get someone to call me. They didn't call back. I decided to cut to the chase and sent by email and recorded post a letter requesting a refund as it is not "fit for purpose". I've also sent a claim to the credit card company requesting a refund for the door, taps and valve. This is all turning into a nightmare. Because of JAs mistakes my ensuite is not finished for xmas and I have to stand under a trickle of water in the main bathroom instead of a luxury shower for another 3 weeks.

sujac

Would just like to say we bought our bathroom from J A Bathrooms. We visited the store and found the staff helpful, knowledgeable and not pushy in the least. They helped us find exactly what we were looking for and delivered promptly and on time. We found the communication from them good, they called us the day before to check delivery address and time.

I found there service good and have recommended them to a couple of friends and even my mum.

shirlgirl2004

I'm sure like any business they can offer good service but what a business does when things go wrong is important too.

shirlgirl2004

Well an update to our saga. After sending the letters to Egg we have success. Egg have refunded our money for the goods not received. They spoke to JABathrooms about the shower valve and JA requested that they deal with us direct. Well there's a change they want to speak to us now. They called late yesterday and asked us to give them time to investigate and to call Egg off the case. Yeah right like we'd do that so they could just ignore us again! We told them that wasn't going to happen. They claimed to not have any correspondence from us despite;

the fact I had spoken to someone,
they replied once to an email concerning the problem and
they signed for the recorded delivery letter detailing our complaint and request for a refund.

The upshot is we were told they would deal with our complaint today but we haven't heard anything back so it looks like we may have to go back to Egg next week. Egg by the way have been fantastic.

bennem_2

shirlgirl2004 I completely sympathise. This is my first post on this forum as I was going to advise others to think very carefully before using this company. Having read your posts I can see that we have had very similar problems.

Goods have arrived damaged, goods have arrived late (very late), some deliveries did not happen at all. In short this company is a nightmare to deal with if you have a problem! The only time I had any satisfaction was by visiting the store itself - on three occasions and by communicating directly with their suppliers.

On reflection I think the problem rests with the internet side of the business. They are very competitively priced but as with everything in life you get what you pay for. They discount the price but at the expense of customer service. Contact them if you can but no not expect them to return your calls or emails in a prompt manner allow several days at least.

My advice to anyone out there who considers using this company is visit the store, the people working there are friendly enough, buy a little at a time, buy stock items if possible so you can inspect the goods before you get them home, read the terms and conditions on both sides of the invoice (it is in your best interest) and pay by credit card to give yourself that extra peace of mind.

shirlgirl2004

Sorry to hear you suffered too.

We still haven't heard from JA concerning the shower valve. The problem is now compounded. The bath we bought has an unusual waste system. As the plumber installed it a couple of little securing lugs broke. I contacted Ideal Standard but they told me it requires a whole new bath. I left a messagee for JA but obviously they haven't got back to me. This is going to mean another credit card claim all because they won't solve problems in the proper manner. :mad:

peedorf

That's bad news - we're hopefully almost done with this company. Similar story - ordered a whole load of bathroom bits, for delivery before christmas. Much chasing and lies (from them) later then most bits are now here - however, each time we've had to refuse to get off the phone until we speak to the boss - we then go through the same routing - i.e. goods tomorrow, or chargeback, and it eventually kicks them into action to send the pieces they have. This has been an ongoing saga for eight weeks now - i've been trying to figure out if they're dishonest or just disorganised - i'd come to the same conclusion as bennem - i.e. the internet side of things is a shambles.

I haven't seen anything broken yet, but if i do and if they do not resolve swiftly i will have no hesitation in going via the credit card.

Overall comment, though, would be to save your sanity, don't touch them - keep a wide berth - it's not worth it for the money you would save.

shirlgirl2004

The OH has had enough of the hassle. Against my judgement he is going . to pay Ideal Standard to come and repair the bath at our cost. I can't believe he is going to do this but he has had enough and just wants the bathroom up and running. Annoyingly it is just a simple bit that needs replacing but it is not a universal part and Ideal Standard insist it is normally factory fitted and needs to be fitted by a specialist.

peedorf

don't egg also have some sort of cover for damaged items? surely you could go through egg for the damage to the bath?