Chipped enamel bath

We recently had 1 and a half bathrooms up-dated (I am getting too long in the tooth for this sort of work) and when my wife came to clean the bath a week after it had been installed, she called me up there to look at 2 tiny chips in it. It s a pressed steel bath, by the way.

I took photos of the chips. They did not come out too good, but I can see a coloured ring around the chip, that to my eyes suggests that the enamel has been blown off. Could I be right here?

When I cleaned it, just after installation, there was no evidence of any chips. The chips are tiny and are about 7 or 8 mm apart on the side where the bath is just starting to curve towards the bottom, about one third from the end.

My wife tells me that she has used a supermarket trigger spray bath cleaner and a cloth to wipe it. I have no reason not to believe her, but I have doubt about what may happen next.

Plumber who did the job handed my wife a letter from the bath manufacturer (Roca) that was forwarded by Travis Perkins, who I assume provided the bath. It states that their sales manager will come to inspect the chips and an £80-00 charge will be levied if the chips prove not have been caused by faulty manufacture.

Now, how can I tell that I am not being ripped off by false information from the sales manager? Is there anything that I can throw into this to convince him that we have not even begun to do the 'make good' due to both of us having temporary bad heath, let alone dropped anything into it other than a bar of soap or a plastic container of shampoo.

TIA

Dave

Reply to
Dave
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Do you have accidental damage on your buildings insurance as an alternative ..??

Stuart

Reply to
Stuart

Yes, we have all the cover we need, but I don't want to be ripped off if it is not our fault.

Speaking in my local at lunchtime, the same subject of being ripped of came up.

First person, who must be worth at least a million said much the same as me.

I don't mind paying, if I get what I am paying for, but I will not be ripped off.

His son said much the same.

I said the same as the other two, but I am not in the same financial world, by any means.

We all share the same love of real ale though :-)

Dave

Reply to
Dave

So how are you going to explain how the chips came to be there .. consdiering what you say ......

When I cleaned it, just after installation, there was no evidence of any chips. The chips are tiny and are about 7 or 8 mm apart on the side where the bath is just starting to curve towards the bottom, about one third from the end.

Reply to
Stuart

have you got a claw hammer? if so measure the claw hammer up against the chips, if the claw end matches then you have your argument! i did a job on saturday where the fibreglass bath was cracked from overtightening the taps' fittings, when i removed the bath to turn it round the customer noticed the hairline crack and said i had caused it! yes possibly by disturbing the already tired bath and resituating it but i had no doubt that it was there before but had just waited for me to tamper before rearing it's ugly head! good job this bath move is only a temporary move or i could have worked for nothing all day!

Reply to
Gav

This location sounds like it may corresponds with the position of the fittings for the legs under the bath.

On the Roca steel bath, I believe the legs are mounted over lugs and a bolt is tightened to hold the legs in place. Tightening the legs on installation may have resulted in the steel deforming slightly causing the enamel to fail on the inside of the bath.

If this is the case its then down to your plumber and the supplier to argue whose fault it is. The supplier agues that the plumber has overtightened the legs. The plumber argues that it must be possible to thighten the legs securely without expecting to damage the bath so its a manufacturing/design fault.

Of course this might not be the cause of your particular problem anyway.

Good Luck Bill

Reply to
BillP

I had hoped for a better input to this problem.

The bath can chip for three reasons, to my mind.

  1. Enamel badly coated and blows. (This is the one I want information on. How is it recognized?)

  1. An object dropped onto the surface. (This should be easily recognizable, to the expert.)

  2. The bath might have been stressed during manufacture or fitting. (This is the one factor that I can not imagine what the results would look like.

I also said... I took photos of the chips. They did not come out too good, but I can see a coloured ring around the chip, that to my eyes suggests that the enamel has been blown off. Could I be right here?

No one has answered that question yet.

Dave

Reply to
Dave

I am trying to find out how to tell accidental damage from built in faults. Thanks.

Dave

Reply to
Dave

It's not close enough to convince me though. Thanks for the input. Dave

Reply to
Dave

Guy drops a hammer on it in the factory. You drop a hammer on it at home.

Essentially impossible to prove which happened unfortunately.

Reply to
Ian Stirling

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