Help! New Bathroom Leaking - Who pays?

keystone

simonj007 wrote: »

What has happened is the pipe from the overflow (push fit) had come away (fallen away) from the back of the bath overflow under pressure of the bath water...this then caused the leak.

99% of the time this is because it wasn't fitted properly. Sorry.

My point is that shouldn't they have said at time of fitting that in their opinion it looked poor quality?

Indeed.

Do I go back to the retailer now and complain?

No because all you'll get is a "how far can I get it up the wall" contest with them. A case you would have had if it was taken back after opening the packaging and found to be of "poor quality". If he's suggesting that the spigot should have been ribbed and the pipe also to form a good mechanical connection then that would be poor design rather than poor quality but I'm splitting hairs.

Who knows if it just wasn't fitted correctly in the first place and they're telling me this to cover themselves?

Nobody but on balance of probabilities.....................

So this is why he's now secured it with a jubilee clip.

Well that might probably work if its a rubber hose but if its rigid I can't tell. Its down to him to advise you and make the connection a good one so you don't call them back again. All in his interests see.

Cheers

simonj007

I wish I could attach a photo here - is there a way?

Anyway, I've just had a heated exchange with the pair and ending up asking them to leave.

The leak has been fixed so they say, with a jubilee clip around the push fit joint onto the bath overflow.

As they didn't supply the parts they wanted a mornings pay.

My argument was that for all i know it had been incorrectly fitted in the first place and that my trust in his work throughout the job had gone...so he could forgive me for thinking that!

He disagreed.

So according to him, we're just very unfortunate that we seem to have had a faulty part!

Yet, would a qualified plumber have then fitted it in the first place?

So, we have the leak fixed hopefully, the stain blocker over the stains on the ceiling but they left without re-fitting the bath panel and tiles to it.

Thoughts on wastes - are they prone to have faulty push fits?

Leif

simonj007 wrote: »

As they didn't supply the parts they wanted a mornings pay.

They sound like chancers. To be honest I would get a respected plumber in to inspect the work, and rectify it if need be. Why take a risk with something that could cause damage. You can then go to the Small Claims Court to get the money back, although I suspect that would not be worth the effort.

keystone

simonj007 wrote: »

As they didn't supply the parts they wanted a mornings pay.

Thats gnab and very silly of them IMHO. Whats your joint position on their workmanship guarantee on the job now?

Regarding pushfit overflows if that were the case there would be hundreds failing all over the country on a weekly basis. So there remain two options. Once is a rare manufacturing fault and an even rarer QC failure in letting it out and the other is that it was fitted incorrectly or just not fitted at all. What's your guess?

Cheers

BTW I wouldn't 100% trust a jubilee clip on a fairly rigid (although thin-walled and probably corrugated) pipe. You might want to get it checked. Did they test their fix?

keystone

There is no such thing as the Small Claims Court. Small claims is a process in the County Court in front of the DJ in informal surroundings. Pedantic I know but I keep saying it.

Cheers

simonj007

Quite right Keystone - my guess is it was incorrectly fitted in the first place or like you say, we're extremely unlucky to have been supplied that rare faulty one!

They did test it and all seemed fine.

Funny thing was that while they were out I popped up and took a photo and on looking at the pipe in question I see it is perfectly vertical and not fallen over at all....would bath water pressure leaving the bath be enoght to force water out of the top of this pipe I wonder?

I'll still hold them to acount for the workmanship and probably best that the panels haven't been replaced as for peace of mind I can monitor things below for a few days.

keystone

I'm nolt entirely sure that chancers is an entirely appropriate epithet. Heres a scenario based on OPs description oif the way they carried out the work.

Dad does the plumbing during the day and either just slips the thing on for finishing in the morning or just plain forgets to push it on properly.

Son turns up at 16.00 as usual having finsihed his day job, says "all done Dad?" (who is on way home), Dad says yes, son starts tiling in the bath side panel - goes hom later.

Dad arrives in morning goes "Err!" and phones son. "Not sure if that waste is fitted properly now". Reply - "well I'm not breaking into the access panel now to find out 'cos the tile addy won't have gone off yet. Then it got forgotten as time went on.

If thats the case (and its only one of a myriad of possibilities) then thats bad orgsnisation and project management.

Just a thought.

Cheers

keystone

simonj007 wrote: »

Funny thing was that while they were out I popped up and took a photo and on looking at the pipe in question I see it is perfectly vertical and not fallen over at all....would bath water pressure leaving the bath be enoght to force water out of the top of this pipe I wonder?

A pic would be nice as am off out now and not back til late tonight. Whats perfectly vertical? How does it make the (assumed in this case as I don't know yet) 90 degree turn to go onto the horizontal spigot on the waste? Normally you'd have a nice curve in it (hence the corrugated nature of most). Oh I wonder if its been cut too short, popped off anyway as a result and the J clip was the only way of getting it to stay in place?

Cheers

Leif

keystone wrote: »

There is no such thing as the Small Claims Court. Small claims is a process in the County Court in front of the DJ in informal surroundings. Pedantic I know but I keep saying it.

I know, however, given that we all know what it means, and countless organisations such as Which and solicitors use the term Small Claims Court, I think it reasonable to continue to use it. Any idea where I can find a 'blowing a raspberry' icon?

Leif

keystone wrote: »

I'm nolt entirely sure that chancers is an entirely appropriate epithet.

[snip]

If thats the case (and its only one of a myriad of possibilities) then thats bad orgsnisation and project management.

Just a thought.

I would say you are being pedantic, although you might argue that you are in fact just quibbling. You could well be right, but surely good workers avoid such !!!!-ups by being methodical, and careful.