Customers - banging my head against a brick wall!

[A.Lee]

I fitted a new bath last week for a customer. All went well, and she was pleased.

Got a call today at 7:50am - there was a problem with the bath, could I come and have a look. OK, I was working just up the road, so called in to see the problem, expecting a small leak, or maybe a tear in the silicone seal etc.

The first thing she said was "you've put it in the wrong way" Like I'm going to put a bath in the wrong way!

Anyway her complaint was that the shower was the opposite end from the bath taps, and the mottled bath surface was at the tap end. So they now slippped when having a shower. It was my fault it was like that!

Anyway, I'm going back next week to refit the bath the opposite way round, but she really thought it was my fault, as "I should have noticed when I put it in". Sometimes I wonder if it's me! Alan.

[diy-newby]

Just buy her a bath mat!

[Tim Downie]

You mean the mottled surface that is there to give you extra grip when you're showering?

Surely that's the end you're supposed to have the shower?

Tim

[Lobster]

Yes TBH I'm afraid I'm with the customer on this, too. Bath is often a bit wider at the tap end, as well. At the very least it would have been something worth querying with her before installing?

So presumably the taps in the 'old' bathroom were at the same end as where you've put the new ones? And the shower is a new addition?

David

[A.Lee]

Well, yes. An electric shower was the other end from the taps. The grippy surface is at the tap end. It is my fault that I put the new bath in the same way as the old one. You cant win with some people, so I just told her I'd swap it round next week, and would only charge for the parts, though I should have been a bit sterner, and told her she'd have to pay for my time as well. I'm too soft. Alan.

[Fred]

Why should she have to pay for your mistakes? Common sense would suggest that all the pipework for the taps and the shower be at the same end, just as common sense would suggest that the mottled non-slip surface that's at the tap end - the one that's there to help stop you slipping while you're stood having a shower - should be at the shower end.

Incidentally, the smooth, non-mottled end is away from the taps so that you can sit comfortably in the bath and lie back against the end of the bath. You wouldn't be very comfortable with taps sticking in your back and a non-slip surface scratching your arse, so common sense would again suggest that the non-slip surface, the taps and the shower all go together at the same end.

Too soft? You should own up to your mistake and put it right at your own expense.

Fred.

[A.Lee]

Hold on, it wasnt my mistake. I put the new bath in exactly the same way and position as the old one. The new one is obviously a lot smoother, so they say they are now slipping in the bath. If there is any complaint, it should be against whoever fitted the shower at the opposite end. And yes, the old bath also had its mottled surface at the tap end. If I was charging a fortune to fit it, then I could understand, but as I charged £100 for a like for like replacement, which is what I had quoted for, then really, the customer should either say what they want before work commences, or during, when they see what I'm doing. If they wanted the bath the other way round, then I would have galdly done it, albeit at an extra cost to cover the extra 12 foot or so of copper pipe and 6 foot of waste needed. She was quite happy when it was finished. Alan.

[Fred]

Well, fair enough - maybe. Thing is, she may not have a clue about anything DIY, mechanical, electrical or whatever and may only have a job like that done once or twice in her lifetime. You on the other hand, are a professional, doing this for a living and at the very least should have asked, suggested, guided or otherwise made sure before you started.

Fred

[Tim Southerwood]

A.Lee coughed up some electrons that declared:

I think, in all fairness, the last sentence is the crux. It patently wasn't blindingly obvious otherwise she'd have commented at completion or before. It might be "obvious" to a fitter who'd come across this exact problem before, but all the baths I've seen have had uniform bases - either smooth or bumpy all the way along. Personally I would have considered it odd to have the shower the "wrong end" but that was a pre-existing condition.

Alan, I would chalk it up to experience - confirm *everything* with the customer. But if the customer asked for a straight replacement, then, unless you had seen the problem before, you did what they asked for. If I was the customer, I would have been exceptionally pleased if the fitter had pointed out the potential problem, but I wouldn't blame them if I'd failed to specify the job exactly and they made a reasonable interpretation of the job requirements. Maybe I have low expectations, but there you go.

Putting it right at materials cost is good customer relations and more than fair IMHO.

Cheers

Tim

[John Rumm]

It sounds like he did it the right way - bobbly end at the same end as the taps. That way you can sit in the bath and not end up with a waffle imprint on your arse or a tap poking you in the back. I presume it was the customer who wanted the shower at the other end of the bath from the taps and did not think through the implications.

[Fred]

The bobbly, non-slip surface is usually at the tap end, and the tap holes are at the tap end -all part of the bath construction and can't be changed. But that end with the taps and the non-slip surface should be at the same end as the shower - or the shower should be at the same end as the taps/non-slip surface, but Alan put it in the other way round.

Since this thread was started, it got me thinking. I'm now 50-years old and I've *never* been in any house where the shower is at the opposite end of the bath to the taps/non-slip surface - not getting at you Alan, but just realising that I've never seen it done any other way than taps/non-slip/shower all together at the same end.

Fred

[S Viemeister]

My house has the taps at one end, and the electric shower at the other. We didn't do it this way ourselves - it was like that when we bought the place.

[S Viemeister]

Hmm.... that looks odd - it's the _bath_ in my house, not the house itself, that has the taps and the shower at opposite ends........... I need coffee.

[sm_jamieson]

I've seen this a few times. If the bath is sandwiched between a solid wall (tap end) and stud wall, builders would take the easy option and put the shower pipes in from the back of the stud wall, thus avoiding taking any tiling off, chasing walls etc. It strikes me as a kind of bodge. But a reason I heard: a customer wanted the shower the opposite end to the plughole, so the water would run past their feet taking the suds away and thus making it *less* slippy. Hum. Folks is funny. Simon.

[Andy Burns]

same here (well mixer shower) but the bath doesn't have a non-slip area, it was more convenient that way.

[Frank Erskine]

'Zactly the same here.

[The Medway Handyman]

And here, knobbly bits at tap end.

[Mogga]

Same here. But we really have two showers. The one at the taps end runs off the hot water and the one the other end is electric.

[R D S]

My shower is at the opposite end to the taps. It needs to be attached to the wall obviously and I would rather sit in the bath, head at the wall end facing into the bathroom rather the other way around.

Its not ideal admittedly, especially when the shower decides to have a dripping episode.

[geoff]

In message , A.Lee writes

I suppose you should have asked her exactly what she wanted

but hindsight's a wonderful thing, isn't it