Victorian Plumbing, worst customer services...ever!

MaxM

Placed an order for over £1000 with Victorian Plumbing for a freestanding bath, shower ring & waste pipe. To chose the right colour I searched extensively on the internet. I used the manufacturers website which stated clearly which colour the bath in the image had been painted. When I sourced the best place to purchase the bath I found the exact same images had been used on the Victorian Plumbing website, what a stroke of luck...NO! Sadly for me, these images are apparently not to be used as a representation of the colours available, Victorian Plumbing do use the exact same name 'French Gray' as I'd seen on many websites as the perfect colour for me, but actually mix their own colours and call them whatever they like, so it's a case of order French Gray and hope for the best!
So I have had a green cast iron bath sitting in my living room for over 2 months as Victorian Plumbing will not accept responsibility for painting it green instead of French gray and are refusing to collect it. They very kindly offered to refund me for paint to repaint the over £800 bath myself or I can pay over £120 to return it.
I took Moneysavingexpert's advice and contacted creditdisputes@rbs.co.uk who are looking into my case but as more weeks & months pass by there's still no good outcome for me as yet...Merry Christmas Victorian Plumbing, thanks for ruining mine!

unholyangel

Given you've had them sitting in your house for over 2 months, does this mean that the contract was entered into before the 1st october?

If so, the soga says this:

(2A)For the purposes of this Act, goods are of satisfactory quality if they meet the standard that a reasonable person would regard as satisfactory, taking account of any description of the goods, the price (if relevant) and all the other relevant circumstances.

(2B)For the purposes of this Act, the quality of goods includes their state and condition and the following (among others) are in appropriate cases aspects of the quality of goods—
(a)fitness for all the purposes for which goods of the kind in question are commonly supplied,
(b)appearance and finish,
(c)freedom from minor defects,
(d)safety, and
(e)durability.

(2C)The term implied by subsection (2) above does not extend to any matter making the quality of goods unsatisfactory—
(a)which is specifically drawn to the buyer’s attention before the contract is made,
(b)where the buyer examines the goods before the contract is made, which that examination ought to reveal, or
(c)in the case of a contract for sale by sample, which would have been apparent on a reasonable examination of the sample.]

[F11(2D)If the buyer deals as consumer or, in Scotland, if a contract of sale is a consumer contract, the relevant circumstances mentioned in subsection (2A) above include any public statements on the specific characteristics of the goods made about them by the seller, the producer or his representative, particularly in advertising or on labelling.

Are your bank dealing with this under a section 75 claim? If you paid by credit card and the item is over £100, your card company have joint and several liability (meaning you have the same rights with them as the retailer) - they should not be passing this off to the retailer to deal with (although its not uncommon for card companies to try)

Ikamva

The bath looks green (exterior only) on their website. It looks really nice. I take it the green/french grey is made to order which explains why they will not take it back and so have offered an alternative solution. I'd call that good customer service.

This reminds me of the blue or gold dress

unholyangel

Ikamva wrote: »

The bath looks green (exterior only) on their website. It looks really nice. I take it the green/french grey is made to order which explains why they will not take it back and so have offered an alternative solution. I'd call that good customer service

This reminds me of the blue or gold dress

Selecting from available options does not exclude it from the consumer contract regulations - even if they have to order it in. Its only goods that are made to the customers specification (rather than the customer choosing from possible manufacturer/retailer specifications).

But if you look at the colour of french grey on the colour card, its miles away from the colour of the bath in the picture. The two aren't even close.

Poppie68

If you put their French Grey next to another shade light or darker grey on their site the French Grey does look more green than grey...Our summer house is painted with F&B French Grey which also looks a greenish grey, F&B do say French Grey is more green than grey.

OP wouldn't it be less stressful if you accepted their offer of paint, it's a very easy job,that way you can get you bath up and running and hopefully in time for Christmas?

hollydays

I've got farrow and ball French gray paint too-it's definitely green not grey.
What's in a name?

wealdroam

hollydays wrote: »

I've got farrow and ball French gray paint too-it's definitely green not grey.

Yes, and Farrow & Ball's website confirms that:

French Gray is really much more green than grey.

The problem is that they go on to confuse things:

It [Farrow & Ball's French Gray] creates the most relaxed rooms when used in interiors and has the magical quality of changing between green and grey, depending on the light conditions and time of day.

So is it green or gray... who knows?

unholyangel

I was less focusing on the name and more on the colour guides provided by them.



If the tub OP received is as green as the one I saw.......it doesn't match the above sample colours even remotely.

ETA: This is the colour I suspect OP has been supplied with. And I personally wouldn't describe that as any shade of grey - french or otherwise.

hollydays

unholyangel wrote: »

I was less focusing on the name and more on the colour guides provided by them.



If the tub OP received is as green as the one I saw.......it doesn't match the above sample colours even remotely.

ETA: This is the colour I suspect OP has been supplied with. And I personally wouldn't describe that as any shade of grey - french or otherwise.

You could be right about him having being supplied with the wrong colour, but looking at the French gray there , it's not dissimilar to the farrow and ball colour and to me ( maybe because I've got this in my living room) it's more green than grey-but probably only because I know the colour. Others probably would say it's grey. I think if you are buying an item from a colour chart on a screen its a big risk .The company would be advised to explain that French gray isn't grey or sent out a paint chart to the customer before purchase.
From someone who sells on eBay , I always try to put lots of other colours next to my item to show what the colour is really like.in fact the op could ask them to send a colour swatch of their French gray paint they have mixed directly to them to compare.
Ps their online reviews on trustpilot look fake to me.

MaxM

Thanks everyone for the comments. I have to say that offering me money for the paint is hardly good customer service. It may be easy to paint but for it to last it should be done professionally and for a bath of this price I shouldn't have to even consider repainting it.
Victorian Plumbing don't use Farrow and Ball, which is the problem. They use images of baths which have been painted with Farrow and Ball, so totally misleading, hence my complaint. Yes, I am aware about French Gray being a slight green shade, but my bath - as has been said already - is a completely different colour. I have Farrow and Ball 'Lichen' green in my living room and the bath matches it perfectly. If you look at the 'Jig Baths' website you'll see the Farrow and Ball painted bath in French Gray, it's a different style but it shows the colour perfectly. The manufacturer actually told me that if it had been requested, they would have copied this colour but Victorian Plumbing did not request it. They also stated that the bath they painted for me is nothing like French Gray! Therefore, once again, they should not be using the same images and calling any of their colours French Gray if it isn't anything like the colour.

Poppie68

The French Gray on the Jig bath site doesn't seem to have a hint of green at all, to me it looks a beige/ Gray or I might just be imaging it.....on close up though it is definitely a shade of Gray....How complicated can one colour be?
Did you pay by credit card if so have you tried a Section 75 claim?