Shower Tray cracked - lifetime warranty

Ejog

It's a Simpson shower tray. Part of the Crosswater Group.
Just to stress again that I don't know if the tray is defective, or the cause of the break, but it is the component that's broken and is one the things that I need to explore.

I'm unable to find a personal guarantee but it does state on their product page that it has a lifetime guarantee and that it is "load bearing" whatever that means.

Furts

You should contact Crosswater and get a definition of the lifetime guarantee. Get this in writing.

If your fitters had approved contractor status, you may have some leverage even if the fitting is the fault. So also establish a yes or no here.

Furts

You also need to have a careful, diplomatic, word with Crossland, after you have sought your guarantee. Along the lines of - clearly I need another shower tray, I have bad experiences with four resin shower trays, so what should I be selecting in order to receive a satisfactory, durable product? If you end up buying another tray, and go through Crossland there is no reason why you should not be given accurate advice.

Ejog

Found the guarantee at last online.
Predictably it does only cover the part and not consequential fitting costs etc. It also includes a caveat that a site survey by them will be required at my cost, refundable if the part is at fault.

Good suggestion about asking Crosswater for their advice on a replacement.

ryder72

You could be on very delicate ground here.

The manufacturers warranty/guarantee is most likely against manufacturing defects and limited to a replacement item.

First off, under Sale of Goods Act the onus is on you to provide that the product was faulty (month 7-72). You may not have to go that far with it as the manufacturer will probably provide a FOC or a highly discounted goodwill replacement.

Such a replacement will most likely not cover installation costs.

Stone resin trays are very robust but not infallible. Just having marine ply doesnt mean anything. Was the marine ply level? Was it screwed down properly. Was there any flex in the ply? Was is bedded on sand and cement base or flexible adhesive base. Assuming the tray was perfect, any of the above could be a reason for failure. I am not surprised your fitter is claiming they installed it perfectly in accordance to manufacturers installation. I cant see them saying they ignored instructions and did their own thing.

Again the onus will be on you to establish who was at fault.

So unless you have unlimited time and resources, the court route isnt the clever one. Courts arent about standing there and having a rant. Evidence is required and this costs time and money.

In summary, you are likely to achieve a lot more by either doing ground work establishing facts that will stand up to reasonable scrutiny OR coming to some sort of arrangements with the involved parties as well as taking a bit of a hit yourself, putting this to bed and moving on with life having learnt valuable lessons.

The most lesson important being - if you get too many parties involved in a project like this, the money saved may be false economy unless you are prepared to use this savings as a fund to rectify problems. Pinning the blame on any one of the parties involved is not always as easy as you think it is.

Ejog

Thanks for the points you make.

You're right, this is going to be difficult to establish blame, and I'm fairly sure I will end up out of pocket to some extent. I'd like to minimise that obviously.

I didn't choose separate installers and components to save money really, it was more that I knew the fitters very well, and it seemed a lot safer than hoping to find a reputable fitter by chance. By buying the components myself I was able to make sure everything came from a reputable manufacturer. It has backfired for sure, but hopefully my choices will reduce the financial hit in the long run.

We'll see.