Shower Tray cracked - lifetime warranty

Ejog

About 18 months ago I bought a fairly expensive stone resin shower tray, which was part of a conversion from a pokey little en-suite bathroom into a very smart en-suite shower room.
It wasn't a cheap conversion, fully tiled floor to ceiling with the shower tray built into the stone tiled floor.

A couple of days ago while having a shower there was a loud crack and a 2ft crack appeared down the middle of the tray. After doing a bit of research I found that the tray had a lifetime warranty. I contacted the fitters (who I know quite well) and the tray was installed to the manufacturers' exact specifications. So I contacted the vendor and said that I needed to make a claim against the guarantee, they advised mke that they would take it up with the manufacturer... and now I wait.

2 questions:
How long do people think I should reasonably wait for some response?
It's going to be expensive to rip out the old tray, and replace it, then retile everything etc, so how much of that cost should the manufacturer cover (assuming the warranty claim is upheld)

Furts

Look at the small print in the guarantee. A lifetime warranty covering what?

Millions of people have replacement windows and doors and the warranties can be ten years but there is a catch. The warranty is parts only so labour and all other costs are not covered. If your warranty follows these principles then nothing you can do to change this.

A likely cause is inadequate installation, or a defective floor underneath, even if the installation has been thorough. So again there will be little you can go back to the tray supplier over here.

There are companies who offer a supply and fit, proper, lifetime warranty - Roman Showers is one that comes to mind. However it is apparent you did not follow this route because your fitters and your supplier were two different entities. This makes it difficult to pursue matters because one will tend to blame the other.

The upshot is you have to determine why the tray cracked, and then see what is covered under the warranty. None of us on the forum can answer this because we have not seen either item.

I_have_spoken

Write a "letter before action", sent 1st class signed-for, to the vendor giving them 10 working days to resolve the matter including supplying a new tray and covering your costs (inc. a quote from the fitters).

spadoosh

As above. I think youre likely to get in to a debate about whose at fault. The fitters will obviously say they fitted correctly and manufacture will obviously say theyre product is good.

Ultimately shower trays dont crack easily.

My OH slipped and fell in our shower and broke our tray. I say she did, im sure it was my fault as fitter. My thinking being if fitted correctly it should be like falling on concrete which you wouldnt expect to crack. Upon investigation turns out i was right, i had been over zealous with the silicon which left a void and consequently allowed enough movement for it to crack.

Good luck, i suspect this wont be sorted in a few days.

As a temporary fix you can use gaffer tape (white is less obvious). You can also get repair kits but id only ever think of them as temporary too and its something you want to be certain nothing is seeping through.

spadoosh

I_have_spoken wrote: »

Write a "letter before action", sent 1st class signed-for, to the vendor giving them 10 working days to resolve the matter including supplying a new tray and covering your costs (inc. a quote from the fitters).

Lol what do you do when they ignore it?

I_have_spoken

>Lol what do you do when they ignore it?<

Start the process of make a claim via the courts

Ejog

Furts wrote: »

Look at the small print in the guarantee. A lifetime warranty covering what?

Millions of people have replacement windows and doors and the warranties can be ten years but there is a catch. The warranty is parts only so labour and all other costs are not covered. If your warranty follows these principles then nothing you can do to change this.

A likely cause is inadequate installation, or a defective floor underneath, even if the installation has been thorough. So again there will be little you can go back to the tray supplier over here.

There are companies who offer a supply and fit, proper, lifetime warranty - Roman Showers is one that comes to mind. However it is apparent you did not follow this route because your fitters and your supplier were two different entities. This makes it difficult to pursue matters because one will tend to blame the other.

The upshot is you have to determine why the tray cracked, and then see what is covered under the warranty. None of us on the forum can answer this because we have not seen either item.

Fair comment.
I'm not sure whats covered in the warranty, I only realised it had one when I checked the manufacturers website.
This was actually the 4th tray received by the vendor, as the first 3 were all damaged on arrival and rejected. All 4 trays were sent direct from the manufacturer.
If they claim that their product is well made and sturdy enough to do the job, then I do have a long correspondance trail to show otherwise.

Ejog

spadoosh wrote: »

As above. I think youre likely to get in to a debate about whose at fault. The fitters will obviously say they fitted correctly and manufacture will obviously say theyre product is good.

Ultimately shower trays dont crack easily.

My OH slipped and fell in our shower and broke our tray. I say she did, im sure it was my fault as fitter. My thinking being if fitted correctly it should be like falling on concrete which you wouldnt expect to crack. Upon investigation turns out i was right, i had been over zealous with the silicon which left a void and consequently allowed enough movement for it to crack.

Good luck, i suspect this wont be sorted in a few days.

As a temporary fix you can use gaffer tape (white is less obvious). You can also get repair kits but id only ever think of them as temporary too and its something you want to be certain nothing is seeping through.

I have gone for the temporary "Gaffer Tape repair" option.
Using white tape as suggested... not ideal but it will do for now.

Ejog

spadoosh wrote: »

Lol what do you do when they ignore it?

I do have the mobile number of the Chairman of the manufacturer.
Because of the nightmare I had over the original delivery of the tray I went into "Social Media Public Shaming" mode. Their Chairman phoned me within 30 minutes and asked me to take down my posts, which I agreed to do only after he resolved the situation.

It's quite a large and prestigious group, so he was very keen to preserve the companies reputation.

spadoosh

I_have_spoken wrote: »

>Lol what do you do when they ignore it?<

Start the process of make a claim via the courts

Ok, so you pay for that and go to court. What do you do when the respondent supplies evidence it isnt their fault?

spadoosh

Ejog wrote: »

I do have the mobile number of the Chairman of the manufacturer.
Because of the nightmare I had over the original delivery of the tray I went into "Social Media Public Shaming" mode. Their Chairman phoned me within 30 minutes and asked me to take down my posts, which I agreed to do only after he resolved the situation.

It's quite a large and prestigious group, so he was very keen to preserve the companies reputation.

Sorry i was refering to the previous posters suggestion to take them to court without any idea on whose liable. It could be the manufacture, it could just as easily be the fitter. Do not send a letter before action until you are more clued up on whose liable.