Dolphin bathroom woes

russellm72

Hi,

Hope this is in the correct place. I guess it's to do with a house I moved into recently and also warning people before they sign the dotted line.

Ok I have just had a bathroom installed from Dolphin bathrooms and am not impressed by the whole package.

The salesman was quite agressive and to be honest seemed like he didn't want to leave the house until we signed. After his speel we thought Ok as he said we'd have a showroom type bathroom. This was £7000 which I thought was quite a lot.

Now their website and pack you get talks about a dedicated fitting team whereas 1 guy has had to do everthing from rip out to total install apart from fitting a light and a shaver socket but please see later. It has been two weeks now and he comes tomorrow just to polish the tiles and take away the rest of his things. 2 weeks! This doesn;t seem normal and I am sure would never of happened if we had children.

As you walk into the bathroom you have bath/shower on left then a toilet back left and a sink unit middle right. Now The salesman said all pipework would be boxed in and around the toilet and back wall they are and covered with a nice box then tiled over. My real problem is the back of the sink. As you walk in you can see behind it and see two flexible hoses and a waste pipe that then disappear into the box. I really don't think this is good enough.

What do other people think? Anyone had experiences like this?

I'd love them to come round and see their showroom type bathroom. I was going to fix it myself by batoning some MDF on either side of the back of the pedestal then tile over the top but I am going to complain first and see what happens.

Oh I also didn't know make good meant they fill any little bits of plaster that came off with the old tiles then leave the customer to sand down and completely re-paint the bathroom.

As for the whirlwind electrian who poped in one day to fit a light then disappeared. He cam back several days later and fitted the shaver socket but upside down!!! Can you believe it?!!!

Any comments welcomed.

Russell.

StuHolmes

Not any experience of them myself, and never will have due to what I have heard/read about them!
A quick google of "dolphin bathrooms complaints" will show you are not alone!

Sorry

Fashionably_Late

My friend had a similar situation with Dolphin and had to sue them. Left the bathroom in worse shape and it has a bad situation. Seems to be a lot of money for a lot of headache.

kingkano

£7000 for a bathroom!!! is it gold plated?!?!?! I thought £1200 was alot....

Doozergirl

You should have come before and we'd have told you how to get a better bathroom for less money.

Dolphin, moben, sharps, I wouldn't touch with a barge pole. Lord knows what you're paying for. We're pulling together 3 beautiful bathrooms and it won't come in at £7000 for the lot.

If you have kept a retention - keep it! Until they do it to your satisfaction at least.

bs0u0128

out of interest doozer, what would u recommend? or who?

nathanrh

As someone who works in the bathroom industry, I can only sympathise that you ended up with Dolphin, one of my colleagues is an ex-Dolphin fitter; just describing even some of their sharp practices in fitting / charging and most aspects of their business would probably render me liable to legal action so I'll refrain.

Complaining with Dolphin is the way to get it put right, especially if you back it up with professional estimates.

As for bathroom recommendations, well I could write a very long list of advice etc, etc, however for price conscious consumers and those with time to wait the big chains represent the best value, for a little extra haggling on the price and a lot more expertise, most independents are a much better option.

Regards

Nathan.

tartanannie

Doozergirl wrote: »

You should have come before and we'd have told you how to get a better bathroom for less money.

Dolphin, moben, sharps, I wouldn't touch with a barge pole. Lord knows what you're paying for. We're pulling together 3 beautiful bathrooms and it won't come in at £7000 for the lot.


Can you help me?I want to put a small toilet in a cloakroom downstairs - quite a small space.Also want to refit and tile an upstairs bathroom.Should I get in a firm or what?

olly300

nathanrh wrote: »

As someone who works in the bathroom industry, I can only sympathise that you ended up with Dolphin, one of my colleagues is an ex-Dolphin fitter; just describing even some of their sharp practices in fitting / charging and most aspects of their business would probably render me liable to legal action so I'll refrain.

Complaining with Dolphin is the way to get it put right, especially if you back it up with professional estimates.

As for bathroom recommendations, well I could write a very long list of advice etc, etc, however for price conscious consumers and those with time to wait the big chains represent the best value, for a little extra haggling on the price and a lot more expertise, most independents are a much better option.

Regards

Nathan.

Please do.

Alias_Omega

if you have not paid, dont pay until your happy.

if they wont fix it, take pictures and go to court. Fight your case there with the bad pictures.

Now, lets look at the light and the shaver socket.?

I assume the guy would need to be Part P qualified to undertake such was, as of after

Part P covers all electrical work in domestic dwellings. This includes the installation of a new circuit, any work in a kitchen or bathroom and any work undertaken outside the property (for example, in a garage or garden).

Therefore, if they are not qualified, i would like to think that you could get all this inspected at 'there' cost..

and more if you look into it, have they used the right cable etc

Alias_Omega

What is Part P.?

Well, 31st December 2004, Part P was brought into force to prevent work being carried out by unskilled people in the electrical industry. This was to reduce the work carried out by DIY people, and people that simply 'bodged thing. This involved people who are electrically minded, or qualified to undertake a short course for about £500 to get an annual certificate to say they were safe and carrying out the correct work.

There were 2 options.

1. You carry out the work, and the council for a fee of about £80 come and inspect the work.

2. You get qualified in this field, and your ok for a year.

Now, as this guy did all the work, you need to ask yourself is he qualified, and what work has he done, is it safe. Has he used the right cable, and connected it into the right circuit.

Obviously proving the work was carried out after 31st Dec 04 can be a problem, but in this case i think you could be onto a winner.?

Dont take this as gospel, please check whatever you read on the internet yourself and ensure you are right with what i said. I recommed putting 'Part P' into google and taking a look.

Regards,

Alias