I just had a bad experience with American Standard. Three years ago I remodelled both my bathrooms, and purchased two American Standard faucets. One was a high end faucet sold at the Expo, the other was a cheaper (but not cheapest) model sold at HD. Both faucets came with a supposed "lifetime warranty" on the finish. The total cost of both faucets was about $120.
After a year, the cheaper faucet began to develop permanant black stains. I didn't concern myself much, until after another year went by and the second one also began to develop the same kind of stains. At this point, I decided to take action and file a claim under the warranty.
The American Standard people were resistant right from the beginning, requiring that I submit the receipts, UPC codes, and photos of the faucets. No problem - I had saved all that stuff. So I took photos and sent them in.
After about three weeks a customer service rep called and said that American standard was not at fault, and that "some sort of chemical" had fallen on the faucets and that voids the finish warranty. I explained that this was unlikely, as the faucets were in different bathrooms, and is is not likely a chemical could damage both faucets. The rep claimed that the chemical could be soap, or possibly even cologne or hairspray! I would suspect if one were to design a faucet for bathroom use it would be resistant to this kind of stuff. But the rep insisted that the damage was caused by "abuse."
Well, I can't prove that it wasn't "abuse" according to a aribtrary definition of the term. But I did at the same time purchase a Moen faucet for the kitchen, and a symmons pressure-balancing valve for the tub/shower. Neither of those have developed such problems, so I cannot recommend American Standard to anyone. They don't stand behind their stuff, and their so called 'warranty' is meaningless.
Contrast the service I seceived from American Standard with that I received from Symmons - a difference of night and day. I called Symmons because I suspected their valve had developed a problem, and the rep diagnosed the problem over the phone in a few minutes and sent out a replacement part the same day. They definately get a thumbs up from me.
I haven't had to call for customer service on the Moen yet. But so far, the same "chemical" which has damaged both my American Standard faucets has apparently done nothing to the Moen.
BTW I did tell the American Standard rep I will be writing this review. His response was - go right ahead! I guess enough people buy their stuff that they don't care. Be aware - don't get burned by these guys. Seriously, they don't give a hoot if their customers are unhappy with their product.