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Bathstore quality - is it OK?

35 replies

FishfingersAreOK · 20/07/2012 18:51

My builder suggest I go for Twyford or Ideal Standard bathroom stuff - but we had already seen and liked some Bathstore stuff which are nor replicated by these two manufacturers. Is Bathstore stuff OK? Or should I go back to the drawing board and find something I like from the others? Please advise/share experiences.

OP posts:
Hodge234 · 18/11/2015 13:18

We spent £197 on a new towel radiator. Our house is presently being refurbished. Because of this many items are delivered and are stored by the builders awaiting a suitable time for installation. I signed acceptance of the order from Bathstore (an order total approx £1165, 19 items). These were place carefully in dry storage of our attached garage by the builders and left undisturbed for 4 weeks. Apparently the delivery document I signed stated I should have checked the items within 7 days otherwise I seemingly have no rights!
The radiator was opened yesterday revealing a deep scratch on one panel and a small chip to the enamel. I am quite certain the radiator was damaged prior to delivery.
Bathstore were really not interested. Quoting that I signed a delivery note stating I would inspect within 7 days. I did sign this but had no idea such a condition was being made.
Bathstore have even admitted they do believe me that the item was delivered with damage but as I didn't report within 7 days all they would offer me was a further radiator at half price. I spoke to the director of customer services (Martin Guest) who was incredibly unhelpful and just kept repeating the mantra that I had signed a document and failed to examine within 7 days.
In law they may be correct but morally this is the actions of a poor quality business not interested in those reasonable exceptions that reasonably require a reaction/replacement.
Beware - if you cannot easily examine goods from Bathstore on delivery then do not sign anything, or if you do sign stating accepted but score out the 'examine within 7 days section.'
Better still DON'T USE BATHSTORE

1Lollipop · 23/01/2016 16:44

Just had a bathroom fitted & ripped out again as it was so badly done. Fingers crossed for the 2nd attempt. Also had to have a different basin as there was an explosion in the factory in China. Wish I'd gone to a local firm. Not cheap either.

Newenglandinthefall · 23/01/2016 21:43

Where would you guys recommend?

paulrdonnelly1978 · 22/08/2016 15:20

Absolutely the most appalling company I have ever had the misfortune to work with. Don't waste your time, money and sanity on them.

5 weeks after my order, 7+ attempted deliveries and I still don't have my bathroom product. At every opportunity they will find a way to make a hash of your order. They will forget to book delivery, they will delivery the wrong items, they will lose your items, they will give your items to other orders and be out of stock. They will take your money and leave you stranded.

Lies, incompetence or a combination of both, I'm not sure. Avoid avoid avoid at all costs.

user1475069626 · 28/09/2016 15:36

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

roversaloon · 20/10/2017 19:58

There appears to be a number of Bathstore threads here and so I am 'covering all the bases' by posting this message on all of them. That way, anyone considering a Bathstore purchase should be given the chance to read about my views and experiences. I class myself as a very knowledgeable and competent DIY'er and have installed 7 bathrooms from scratch in my time. I set myself a high standard of workmanship and feel therefore I can speak from a position of a fair amount of experience.
The quality of Bathstore products is typical of the mass production methods they employ. The carcasses are melamine faced chipboard so are no different to many other suppliers. Therefore, when you look at their prices, they appear to me to offer poor value for money. After discount a typical cupboard carcass is over £100 which, when you consider what it's made of and the quality of the finish seems a lot.
Move on the the fascias and things only get worse. The one I have just installed on behalf of my daughter was the Portfolio range and a 600mm fascia pack (two small pieces of veneered/painted chipboard), after discount was £228; an absolute rip off in my opinion.
I suspect they really want you to use one of their approved fitters. Therefore beware if you are planning DIY or using an independent. The installation instructions are incomplete and fail to cover all of the processes required. There is no dedicated support team; instead you need to speak to the supplying store. In my experience, the two stores I used were staffed by teams who knew nothing about the installation process. If you're lucky, you might get to speak to one of their fitters if they are in the store at the time of your call. However, don't count on that solving any problems; the gent I spoke to seemed to know very little and gave the impression that he wasn't to happy to help 'an amateur' anyway.
To sum up, in my opinion, Bathstore initially impress with their showroom displays but drill a little deeper and they seem to offer very poor value for money and are not 'tooled up' to give quick support during independent installation. So, shop around and you will almost certainly find something better.

AnInterstedBathroomParty · 08/08/2018 12:50

roversaloon I think doesn't have anywhere near as much clue as he/she thinks they do. But Like him I'm going to post a touch all grounds here as I believe customers don't have a clue about "value for money" or have a single clue about bathrooms in general. This is non-biased, I was a supply administrator for B&Q and a sales manager for Grohe and have spent most of my working career in the bathroom industry and I think you all need to wise up as not all companies are out there to sell you good quality bathrooms at cheap prices. I have done 13 project managed bathrooms with Bathstore and I've learned everything down to the nitty gritty.

Service - when I enquired about this with a manager of 10 years at bathstore. He explained the customer services were removed to make after care more personal and familiar and so was localised to the store you bought it from. They have access to everything they need to deal with your problems, a very knowledgeable technical team who has helped my lads out an awful lot and a very lenient and understanding problem process. Throughout 13 bathrooms I have had 6 problems that have been solved straight away. Can't complain about anything here as they have been very pleasing, I feel bad service is down to personal incompetence rather than company.

Installation help : From my experience, everything ordered had perfectly simple installation instructions and bathroom fitters getting confused by them shouldn't be bathroom fitters. Not only that but bathstore have loads of videos on youtube and their website demonstrating the installation of their products. I feel the guy above needs to re-evaluate whether he should be fitting bathrooms at all as my fitters have never struggled.

Price and Quality : Now here is where most of the people on this thread don't have a single clue. There are tons of quality differences between the products sold by bath store and the ones I sold at B&Q. Brand new brassware instead of recycled, solid strong frames, anti-foxed mirrors, thicker ceramics, thick acylic... The list goes on. All these companies... B&Q, Victoria Plumb, Plumb Centre, Better Bathrooms, plumbworld, soak are all LOW QUALITY product suppliers. There absolutely is a reason the prices are more expensive! Bathstore is a Medium - High Quality supplier. If you think you've "beaten the system" because you got it cheaper online at Victoria plumb then bathstore then you couldn't be anymore wrong. You have paid less money, for products of far worse quality and you will find that out months or years down the line.

As I said, this isn't biased. But as a bathroom fitter project manager. It Is my job to make sure customers get a good quality bathroom that'll last. That means paying more. If you want to compromise money, that's your choice but long term you'll pay more.

roversaloon · 05/11/2018 17:41

I felt my above post was too long already but didn't go into specific detail about the problem I experienced and the solution I had to find myself because Bathstore were so useless. One component (the Cistern fascia came with a template that was clearly wrong. (They hadn't allowed for the fact that the piece sits on a plinth and so, had I used it, the cut out for the aperture for the pan outlet was in the wrong place. Thankfully I spotted this before using it otherwise I'd have ruined a piece of veneered mdf which cost £180 after discount!!
I attempted to get a corrected template from Bathstore but, as I have said above they were totally useless. It was actually very easy to make my own and I subsequently sent a copy to BS head office for which they thanked me for spotting the error!
So - yes; I am very experienced in fitting kitchens and bathrooms, I have never ever seen an installation installed by a 'professional.' that is close to my own standards and I wasn't necessarily saying that B and Q were better/the same as BS. All I was saying is that BS appear to lull you into thinking their quality and prices match up but I suggest you look carefully at all the components and compare them with other quality suppliers for quality and price competitiveness. Then make an informed choice.

HisBetterHalf · 05/11/2018 19:18

Avoid! Their matched white suites turn different colours, shower valves break after ridiculous amount of time and Bathstore say its because it hasnt been internally cleaned (wtf), slipper bath shower taps broke and only one tap works- just shit- really shit. Plus their recommended fitters in our store attempt to fit going against building regs. Avoid

wowfudge · 06/11/2018 07:55

My neighbours had Bathstore's fitters (probably contractors rather than staff, but @AnInterstedBathroomParty sounds well-placed to confirm) fit their Bathstore bathroom. They've had so many problems, I won't go into details as it's outing, that they've had to take legal action against them.

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