Company sent me the wrong part and put me to expense

Ayrton

I had a concealed shower fitted as part of a bathroom refurbishment 7 years ago. Recently one of the outlets has started dripping heavily. I've seen this before with our other shower, it needs a new valve. I contacted the company I purchased the shower from because I couldn't find the right part on their website, sending them the original invoice to make sure they had the correct shower to advise on. They sent me back a link to a part which at £72 was more or less half the cost of the shower in the first place. I was a bit disgruntled, as valves for other showers are commonly less than half that, but I just wanted a working shower, so I bought it.

When it arrived I could see that it didn't look like the original part. I hadn't taken the old one out because I didn't know how to, but I could see that the bit that was in the wall was brass, and this one was black plastic. Additionally there was a large brass donut on the end of this one, although that did screw off to leave something that looked like mine, so it wasn't out of the question that they had cheapened the part, maybe it was shared with another shower, and that it was indeed the right one. Nevertheless, I contacted the company again. I expressed my reservations, showed them pictures of new and old, and said I didn't want to call out a plumber only for him to tell me it was the wrong part. I was very specific on this, and it (like the whole correspondence here) was in writing. They gave me a second assurance that this was the part.

The plumber came last week, and you know how this ends… it's the wrong part. I now have a bill for calling him out and having him investigate this, and I still don't have a working shower.

I am here to get a clarification on what my consumer rights are. I think the supplier here is duty bound to take back the part which they have supplied, with a full refund. Furthermore, I am holding them responsible for the call out charge, because I asked them TWICE, specifically with reference to plumber's fees, to make sure they had this right, and they misled me.

I have studiously not named the company here. You can make a guess if you want, and I bet you are right. I have emailed them this evening to give them one last chance to make this good. If they do not, then I will confirm your suspicions later in this thread. If my ground is firm I am willing to go as far as it takes to get my money back from them, all the way to small claims if needs be. It's not just the money, the email thread back and forth extends to about 20, they've put me to a lot of effort on this.

At this point I don't even want a new part. The plumber says it's "Chinese rubbish", and "you're always going to get these problems". I just want to get back to where I was when the dripping started, and fork out to get a new shower in line with his recommendation. To be fair to him he told me not to use company X 7 years ago as well, but at that time I was spending £30k on the house and I took a shortcut too far here. Bless him, he hasn't said "I told you so" 😆

tacpot12

If you have home insurance, check to see if you have legal expenses cover as part of this. If you do, call the legal helpline provided by your insurer to ask what law you can sue the supplier under for their negligence, then send them a Letter Before Action in the post.

If you don't have legal expenses cover, you will need to ask a solicitor for the law that would allow you to sue for negligence.

The supplier may try to claim that their mistake was due to erroneous information from the manufacturer of the shower, but if so, they need to show this evidence, and you need to ask your legal advisor how to prevent them wriggling out of their responsibility just because they didn't have the correct information for no fault of their own. (There is a question here as to whether they acted in good faith or negligently).

Grumpy_chap

"The supplier may try to claim that their mistake was due to erroneous information from the manufacturer of the shower,"

Any such claim would not affect the OP' consumer rights which remain with the retailer.

Alderbank

Two issues here…

You were very specific about the item you wanted to buy. Under s(10) of the CRA (goods to be fit for a particular purpose) you are entitled to a full refund of what you paid the trader. That's your lot as far as CRA goes but s(19) of the Act points out that you might additionally be able to claim for other costs through other legislation.

From what you've told us I'm not sure what responsibility the trader has for your plumber refusing or not being able to fit the part. Your plumber is biased against that maker's products and dismissed the new part as 'Chinese tat'.

The trader owes you a refund for the £70 part (which I don't think they will deny) but I think they will push back against your plumber's fee, which could be more than double that, without further evidence.

What exactly is in the contract of services between you and your plumber? Did you express your concerns to him before making the contract (the new part didn't look right to you, it was plastic replacing a brass component)? Do the instructions for the new part make it clear that it will replace your faulty valve? Are other parts such as a threaded adaptor or other modifications needed? Did he contact the technical department of the manufacturer for installation advice?

I think that if the trader disputes your claim for consequential damages that you will need a report from an independent plumber saying that your plumber acted with reasonable care and skill.

Edited to add:

Not much help to you now, but the advice usually given here is to contract your plumber to supply and fit the parts to fix your shower as one job. No wriggle room then about who is responsible for what.

Ayrton

I think this post impunes my plumber a little. His aversion to unbranded products from the supplier in question is not any sort of prejudice against the Chinese, simply a value judgement based on his experience. It is far from bias and to say he "dismissed" the part puts a spin on the matter which is unwarranted. These unbranded products are built to a price, not to a quality, and the availability of parts when needed is questionable. As has been borne out. I'm sure the likes of Bristan, or Mira etc. also have parts made in China, but when they put their name on it, it is presumably in the knowledge that they have assured certain quality standards that are likely absent when no-one's name is on it.

I have known this guy for years and trust him implicitly. However when this arose I knew he was not available, being involved away from home on a construction project. I did call several other plumbers with "supply and fit" in mind, and sent them photos, but I couldn't get any of them to come out. The best offer I got was "you get the valve and I will come and fit it". The process of getting the valve was so protracted that by the time I was ready for a plumber, my regular guy was back.

I don't have a "contract of services" with him, but I have absolutely no objection to him billing me for coming out. His bill is by no means excessive, and if he comes to me then that's work he's not doing elsewhere.

VICTORIAN PLUMBING (for it is they) have refused to pay the bill on two grounds. Firstly, their terms and conditions state that it is my responsility to ensure that parts are correct before booking a plumber. Secondly, that this part does not need a plumber, it is supposed to be user serviceable for maintenance.

I'll deal with the second part first. They also sent me a link to a self help video. I should remove my valves periodically, they say, to clean them in vinegar and prevent limescale buildup. The problem is that the video they sent showed the valve on a regular tap. I know how to deal with the valve on a tap, as it goes, but that is beside the point. They've sent me something useless again. The valve in the shower is nothing like the valve in the tap. The part you'd turn is so recessed, I wouldn't even know what tool to use to get it out - this is far from user-serviceable. I have looked, and it goes without saying that there is no video guidance anywhere on their site that shows how to remove a shower valve.

Addressing my earlier point, I suggest they can say what they like in their terms and conditions - I have told them, specifically and TWICE, that I am about to call out a plumber, and being unable to remove the old part, I need to be sure that this is the right replacement. To which they have answered yes. In these circumstances I don't care what is in the terms and conditions, their specific and written answers to me trump the stock text in the T&Cs.

None of this is me saying I have a case. I don't know that and that's why I came here to ask. What I do know is that VICTORIAN PLUMBING have treated me abominably. Their customer service is demonstrably awful, the only question is whether it is so awful that it constitutes negligence.

My instinct is to take them to task. I don't think they should get away with it. They've driven me to a consequential loss. It's not that big, but the money is not the issue. It will cost plenty more to go to Small Claims. And that's the thing. I don't want to throw good money after bad. And do I want to spend any further mental energy on them?