Advice on dispute with bathroom fitter

Maureen43

Hi All

Please can I have some general comments or advice about the following situation?

I had my bathroom re-fitted in March 2014. Earlier this month I spotted a hairline crack in the bath near the plughole.

I contacted my bathroom fitter to ask if he had the invoice for the bath. He said he had and would contact the manufacturer. He said several times that he was just the middle man and had no responsibility for the situation.

After a delay of some weeks I rang Consumer Direct who advised that my contract was with the fitter, and his with the manufacturer. On their advice I sent him a letter quoting the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982, saying the bath (after only 18 months) was not of satisfactory quality, and asking that he replace the bath and fit it at no cost to myself.

He is now very angry. Insists he is not "at fault" and that I must have dropped something in the bath. I haven't! I said the law determined that he was the supplier of my bath therefore I must claim from him, and him from the manufacturer. He has gone away to talk to the manufacturer.

Where do I stand if he and the manufacturer insist that I have damaged the bath in some way? How can I prove it either way? I have a horrible feeling I am going to end up bearing the cost for this.

Thanks
Maureen

Furts

It is your word against his. Baths should not crack without reason. Either something has dropped in the bath, or the waste was over tightened or not washered, or there is insufficient clearance under the bath. These all come to mind as examples.

Equally, you may have specified, or agreed to, a cheap, poor quality bath sourced from China. If so then you have a guilt in this dispute.

If the installer does not co-operate the pragmatic solution is for you to replace the bath at your expense and put this down to life's rich pattern.

Of course you could go to Court but with the cost of an expert report and the time and hassle you have to ask if it is worth it. The Judge will ask why you have left matters for eighteen months and what inspection was undertaken and signed off eighteen months ago. I suspect that these will be difficult questions to answer, so your case would be weakened.

martinsurrey

As its now over 6 months, its up to you to prove that the fault was caused by either a manufacturing fault in the bath, or a fitting fault.

So you would need to get an Independent plumber or expert to remove the bath, and report on what has caused the fault, they would have to be willing to stand up in court and testify that their conclusions are correct.

I think they would find it hard to say that the fault was definitely caused by a fault and not by someone jumping(or slipping and stamping to catch their balance) on the plug hole while getting in or out of the bath, so you would find it hard to win.

alan.t

sorry to say but completely agree with above, baths when fitted don't just crack for no reason, and if not fitted correctly you would expect them to crack very quickly if not immediately.
Hard to say without seeing the quality of the bath and the quality of the installation but first impression is that if a bath has cracked after a period of time its because something has been dropped in it, and once cracked you cant repair them.


Your contract is officially with the installer if you paid for supply and fit of bath, but he then also has a contract with the bath supplier and if you go legal on him, he has to go legal on them so he is a sort of middle man as he didn't manufacture the bath, and chances are neither did the shop that supplied it to him.


If the bath if from a reputable manufacturer you will have a long warranty on it against failure, if you can find the make and model and request help from the manufacturer or maybe even a site visit from the manufacturers rep you may have a chance of getting a new bath from them, but its a long shot.

Furts

I and others have made reference to the bath being cracked but there is an underlying principle here that all consumers should wise up on.

The bath waste will be screwed to the underside of the bath - a simple concept and on a simple waste this will have the overflow attached. This is a simple one piece component.

At Toolstation three are offered. The cheapest is of dubious origin and of dubious quality - probably made in a garden shed in India. Indeed if screwed to the bath it could cause a crack because of the poor quality meaning it cross threads, or it has rough edges. This waste costs £2.55. The other two wastes are branded, guaranteed and reputable UK and French made items. Of course these cost more so consumers will not specify these, nor will they check on what their fitter buys. These items cost £4.97 and £5.23 respectively.

So consumers risk the integrity of their baths, their basins, the water tightness and leaks for the sake of £2-£3. Yet they happily pay perhaps £5000 to upgrade their bathrooms. As the saying goes"you could not make it up".

It is buyer beware and consumers should get more involved in what they are spending their money on.

Now the difficult questions What waste did OP specify? What waste did the bathroom fitter supply, and OP happily accept and pay for?