B & Q Taps fail after 2 years

sevenhills

born_again said:

I wonder if the reason the tap is discontinued, is that B&Q have realised it is costing them ££ so have replaced it with one that is more robust & lasts longer. 
So how could the OP get the same tap that had failed?

Sadly the Op may just have shot themselves in the foot here.

If that is the case, then the tap is not of merchandisable quality.

knightstyle

A plumber friend will only use Hansgrohe taps and shower mixers. They may cost a bit more but as he says you fit and forget them, over the years he has only had 1 call back to one.
I got a pair when I put  new basin in our house and the water feed was from the loft tank so low pressure, I rang Hansgrohe and they sent a special low pressure nozzle, for free, which worked a treat.

Diamandis

If it doesn't matter what quite of account it was purchased on then is there no repurcussions on the OP breaking the terms of the Tradepoiint account at all? They can just use the account outwith the terms they agreed to and also claim as a consumer?

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Diamandis said:

If it doesn't matter what quite of account it was purchased on then is there no repurcussions on the OP breaking the terms of the Tradepoiint account at all? They can just use the account outwith the terms they agreed to and also claim as a consumer?

If B&Q wish to decline to do business with an individual in the future then that's up to them. 

These companies don't care what you are, they care about profit and limiting their liability, if they cared about "trade only" it would be much harder to get an account and those who had one wouldn't be able to afford to lose it (because they'd require it for their own income). 

born_again

sevenhills said:

born_again said:

I wonder if the reason the tap is discontinued, is that B&Q have realised it is costing them ££ so have replaced it with one that is more robust & lasts longer. 
So how could the OP get the same tap that had failed?

Sadly the Op may just have shot themselves in the foot here.

If that is the case, then the tap is not of merchandisable quality.

Which will be why they no longer stock it... 
So B&Q have resolved the merchandisable quality issue.
Op simply threw toys out of the pram over not getting the new replacement, which was different to the previous one 🤷‍♀️

Bradden

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

outragouslylongusername said:

Having recently completed renovating my house, I have bought 5 new taps during the last 24 months. 4 of these taps were purchased from B & Q Stafford on a Trade Point  account. When the first tap began to fail, I looked at B & Q’s website and the reviews on their own taps. Upon reading the reviews on the taps that have been sold by B & Q over a number of years, it seems clear to me that B & Q taps fail after about 2 years. 

Finally our en-suite basin tap which had become stiffer and stiffer broke completely, just short of the two year prediction. Being extremely wary about replacing it with a B & Q tap I bought a replacement tap from Screwfix. The replacement tap was only £40 yet seems far superior to the £80 B & Q tap. 

The B & Q tap has a 10 year warranty so I took it back to B & Q. The young lady who was serving at the TradePoint counter said that she could not refund the £80, that I had to accept a replacement tap. I told her there was no way that I would accept a tap which would cause me have to go through this replacement nuisance again in another two years. I offered to accept a credit note but I will never again fit a B & Q tap in my house. Even though the tap in question is now a discontinued line, I was told that I had to accept a replacement tap or nothing.  I refused to accept what I was being told. She asked would I like her to get the manager and said yes. The manger was called and it was obvious from the moment that he appeared from around the corner that he had come to lock horns. This man was more interested in his own ego than in customer relations. I asked him if he had read the tap reviews on their own website. He told me he had. I asked him why he thought I would be happy with a replacement tap that I would be bringing back in another 2 years. He said that it was company policy to only replace taps with taps. I was irate! I told him to immediately close my TradePoint account, I left my tap on the TradePoint counter and walked away. The assistant asked if I wanted my tap. I said, what for? My wife went back to B & Q the next day to retrieve the tap. 

Surely if that tap is discontinued, B & Q must be obliged to give a credit note at the very least? I have 3 more of these unreliable taps in my house, it seems highly likely that I will be having the same problems with these too. 

Since I now have the faulty tap back in my possession, can anyone please advise me of the best way to proceed?

Dear oh dear...

1. If you buy on a trade account, you don't have consumer rights legislation protection.

The OP made a consumer purchase, the type of account they’ve purchased via doesn’t affect this.

How is a purchase made on a trade account considered a consumer pruchase under the law?

cymruchris

sevenhills said:

born_again said:

I wonder if the reason the tap is discontinued, is that B&Q have realised it is costing them ££ so have replaced it with one that is more robust & lasts longer. 
So how could the OP get the same tap that had failed?

Sadly the Op may just have shot themselves in the foot here.

If that is the case, then the tap is not of merchandisable quality.

Merchantable... 

Retailers often have range changes, so it's not unheard of for something to be discontinued, and a replacement listed instead. There are many reasons for this, including quality issues as outlined, but can also be through supplier availability of product (It's been a right hoo-haa over the last couple of years getting reliably sourced product from some parts of the world), change of supplier for better contractual terms, improving profit margins, poor sales history, high theft levels, regulatory compliance - the list goes on. So just because a retailer no longer stocks an item, it's not necessarily because it was 'rubbish'. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Bradden said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said

1. If you buy on a trade account, you don't have consumer rights legislation protection.

The OP made a consumer purchase, the type of account they’ve purchased via doesn’t affect this.

How is a purchase made on a trade account considered a consumer pruchase under the law?

There are places that are obviously open to the public for consumer purchases, supermarkets, Amazon, high street stores, etc, etc.

There are places that are clearly trade only, if you have a trade account with Lego to purchase from them directly you will be a business, they will not accept your custom otherwise, they don't want every Tom, Richard and Harry buying from them as trade, the spend required alone would show you are trade only. 

These so-called "trade only" places saying well we're trade only doesn't mean consumer rights doesn't apply as what dictates whether you are a consumer or a business for a particular purchase is the purpose for which the purchase is made. 

Now you could say well if you have a Lego trade account and buy a set for yourself consumer rights would apply but the type of people Lego are dealing with won't be running to them about rights and that is the point, trade only is just that, trade references, bank references, VAT numbers, high spend expectations and a business who only wants to deal with serious trade in significant volume. 

It is the responsibility of the business to ensure they do not deal with consumers however these places that sit in the middle are happy to take anyone's money for anything rather than placing effective barriers to consumer spending. 

I've used the example of the food places on here before, if you run a business selling cakes why would Bookers let you buy sausages? Maybe you are branching out so if that's the case where is your business plan to get permission to buy meat? Now Bookers don't want to faff about with all that and fair enough but by doing business in this way they need to accept that their trade customers may make consumer purchases as well. 

As I said if OP is a plumber and spends big on pipes, taps, etc every year they are of course going to find it hard to argue those taps were for their home.  

born_again said:

sevenhills said:

born_again said:

I wonder if the reason the tap is discontinued, is that B&Q have realised it is costing them ££ so have replaced it with one that is more robust & lasts longer. 
So how could the OP get the same tap that had failed?

Sadly the Op may just have shot themselves in the foot here.

If that is the case, then the tap is not of merchandisable quality.

Which will be why they no longer stock it... 
So B&Q have resolved the merchandisable quality issue.
Op simply threw toys out of the pram over not getting the new replacement, which was different to the previous one 🤷‍♀️

I think the OP saying they should get a refund if the tap is discontinued was a hypothetical, i.e there can't be a hard policy on replace only as there may be situations were they can't replace.

Given OP was told they have to accept replacement with the same tap it makes sense B&Q had stock to make that replacement and thus it's not discontinued.

If the OP were told we have to replace but can't because it's discontinued this would be a different thread  

MikeJXE

Interesting story but surely the moral of it to read reviews before buying not after 

cymruchris

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Bradden said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said

1. If you buy on a trade account, you don't have consumer rights legislation protection.

The OP made a consumer purchase, the type of account they’ve purchased via doesn’t affect this.

How is a purchase made on a trade account considered a consumer pruchase under the law?

There are places that are obviously open to the public for consumer purchases, supermarkets, Amazon, high street stores, etc, etc.

There are places that are clearly trade only, if you have a trade account with Lego to purchase from them directly you will be a business, they will not accept your custom otherwise, they don't want every Tom, Richard and Harry buying from them as trade, the spend required alone would show you are trade only. 

These so-called "trade only" places saying well we're trade only doesn't mean consumer rights doesn't apply as what dictates whether you are a consumer or a business for a particular purchase is the purpose for which the purchase is made. 

Now you could say well if you have a Lego trade account and buy a set for yourself consumer rights would apply but the type of people Lego are dealing with won't be running to them about rights and that is the point, trade only is just that, trade references, bank references, VAT numbers, high spend expectations and a business who only wants to deal with serious trade in significant volume. 

It is the responsibility of the business to ensure they do not deal with consumers however these places that sit in the middle are happy to take anyone's money for anything rather than placing effective barriers to consumer spending. 

I've used the example of the food places on here before, if you run a business selling cakes why would Bookers let you buy sausages? Maybe you are branching out so if that's the case where is your business plan to get permission to buy meat? Now Bookers don't want to faff about with all that and fair enough but by doing business in this way they need to accept that their trade customers may make consumer purchases as well. 

Doesn't B&Q have retail checkouts and a trade counter though?

For the likes of Toolstation and Screwfix etc - you walk in buy what you want even though they say they are 'for the trade'.

If B&Q have retail checkouts for regular customers, and a trade counter with trade accounts/trade cards - isn't that different to a retailer that says they are trade - but open to anyone?

(I'm interested to know whether as they have distinctly different counters within the same shop whether what you've mentioned would still apply - or whether as they do have retail checkouts, in this case, a trade sale could be classed as a trade sale - even though it's joe bloggs off the street that's bought it)