B&Q Cooke & Lewis Bathroom Opinions Please

jimmytboi

Hi people,

Me and my partner are looking at buying a b&q cooke & lewis helena suite including a basin, bath and toilet as well as a cooke & lewis cascada offset quadrant enclosure. They are offering 0% finance for the year and have a few offers on at the moment which lured us in as we're first time buyers.

Visually the parts look stunning and I'm kinda excited about it however I seem to read up bad reviews online quite a bit and wanted some feedback to my own thread.

Any feedback is appreciated. Big thing for us

Thanks,
Jamie

T_T_2

I'd never buy a bathroom suite that wasn't made by a very narrow selection of manufacturers, namely :Twyford, Armitage Shanks, Roca.

The reason being that if I buy a particular suite from any of those named above, if one part of it fails in 5 years time I know that I will be able to get replacement parts without issue. If I buy a bathroom suite from B&Q that is a brand I have never heard of then I can say with confidence that in 6-12 months time if I crack the pan or basin then I will NOT be able to find a replacement.

B&Q, Homebase and the likes typically import bulk runs of a bathroom suite from the far-east. They are limited runs and extended support will not be offered in excess of the warranty. Now that is fine for a lot of people, the price of these suites is often significantly cheaper, but you also need to consider the cost of installation. You can pick up an entire bathroom suite for as little as £299.99 but to get it professionally installed will cost an awful lot more. So you have to say to yourself, yes I can afford to buy a new bathroom suite every few years, but can I afford to have it installed every few years? If the answer is no then a B&Q suite is not for you.

jimmytboi

Thanks for the quick reply which I've taken on board.
Does your statement apply to the cooke & lewis range or just the bog standard b&q range.

The price quoted for shower, basin, taps, wastes, valves, toilet and bath was around £2500 supply only which would then be fitted by a local plummer.

T_T_2

jimmytboi wrote: »

Thanks for the quick reply which I've taken on board.
Does your statement apply to the cooke & lewis range or just the bog standard b&q range.

Taken from the Cooke and Lewis website...

Cooke & Lewis is brand owned and registered by B&Q Plc.

http://www.cookeandlewis.co.uk/terms

It is just a brand name used by B&Q, there is no way of determining the quality or provenance other than what is stamped on the goods, e.g. Made in China.

paidinchickens

I worked for them for years dealing with complaints..........I was very busy

problemcashback

cooke and lewis is actually just another B&Q brand so dont read to much into it been a special brand. We bought a top of the range suit from them 5 years ago, effectively the same as the cooke and lewis range. In the 5 years we have had to replace the push buttons on the toliet 8 times, 3 of these at the cost of 20 quid a time before that B&Q replaced for free, in the end managed to source a better quality replacement. A few months ago the mono blok tap gave up the ghost, lucky this was on the sink and not the bath or we would have been snookered as the bath was a centre tap one. bath plastic has developed small cracks in it.

So would I recommend any B&Q suit......

milliebear00001

That is an extremely expensive bathroom suite!

I had a very nice bathroom suite from B&Q a few years back - it was fine in term of quality as far as I remember, although I only lived with it for a few years before selling. I paid about £800 and paid a local fitter about £300 to fit it.

jimmytboi

This isn't looking good, i'm truely gutted as the pictures look so good but with so many bad comments I can't see how I can possibly part with so much money....

£1000 + is the shower cubicle and shower though.

cddc

Can't vouch for B&Q, but at the more expensive end of shed bathrooms, both Wickes and Homebase source from reputable campanies who can provide spare parts. They both source showers from Aqualux for instance who are normally excellent when it comes to spares. Wickes to order bathroom range is made up of products from the likes of Vitra, Twyford, Roca and Sottini for instance but nobody knows this as "It's got our name on it"! Sometimes sheds own branding works against them.

The idea that because something is made in China it is therefore rubbish is a bit misleading too. It is now virtually impossible to buy any brassware (taps,showers etc.) for anything like a reasonable price that is not made in China. Most of Bristan's range for instance is chinese made but they ensure a good supply of spares and range continuity.

Would suspect that for Cooke & Lewis, that B&Q do something similar but I do not know for sure and would not vouch for them. Certainly if you read forums such as this they do not seem to have the greatest reputation for quality or after sales service.