There is an old saying that goes "You Get What You Pay For." I can tell you that I have always been a bit skeptical about this saying because it was my belief that some items that cost more then others are not necessarily better or worth the extra cost.
This is certainly not the case when purchasing Grohe plumbing fixtures as I have found out over the many years I have had them installed in my home. My first experience with Grohe goes back almost 25 years ago when I purchased a faucet for my bathroom sink. Some years later, we added a second floor on our New Jersey ranch home and once again decided to go with the top manufacturers at that time. The water basins and sinks were made by Villeroy & Boch, all the faucets, showers and tub hardware was Grohe. Now over the years, I have always loved my Grohe items, because the quality is beyond compare. The faucets are made by Grohe in Germany and they have been engineered to last a lifetime and look as good 20 years later as they did the day they were installed.
A couple of years ago I purchased a Grohe kitchen sink faucet, it wasn't inexpensive and I think I paid almost $400 for it, but even the Home Depot units from China were over $150 and they just didn't compare. The chrome finish is flawless and is hard and shiny as a diamond. All you need to do is spray it from time to time with a mixture of plain white vinegar and water and wipe off any white lime deposits. For a higher shine, use a high quality chrome polish and it will look new.
Getting back to my sink faucet...I noticed my water flow had diminished a great deal in the kitchen. A friend who is a plumber took the head off and the water was fine so we realized the head was probably clogged up. I called the Grohe, dealer where I had purchased the faucet and he took care of getting me a free replacement. I didn't even have to send the old part back and Paul Stewart at Richmond Tile was my dealer and he knew me well. Now if you think this is great, wait until you hear this story.
I decided it was time to update my downstairs bathroom again. We actually did it about 12 years ago, but had some water damage and couldn't replace some of the tiles on the wall and had to use different tiles on the fix and it never looked right. Add to this my work changing all the doors on all my downstairs rooms from the flat panel doors to the 6 panel raised doors. When replacing these doors, I had to pull out all the doors and the frames and this ended up damaging the tile floor in this bathroom...so here we go again, doing it one more time.
As I shopped for new tile, vanity, sink, water basin (toilet), lights, fan, etc. I also thought of replacing some of the Grohe fixtures with new ones. The dealer also showed me Jado another upscale company that also makes a great product, but after seeing the cost to replace it all, we decided to simply use the existing Grohe fixtures and just purchase a new sink faucet (Grohe of course) to go with the updated sink/vanity.
As I took the fixtures down and began to demo the walls, I noticed that some of the Grohe parts had worn out. The hot and cold water cartridges were not working properly and were all clogged up with lime deposits. The hose on the shower was showing some wear on the top and a cap on the bottom of our shower bar was not staying in place due to a broken part.
I called Grohe and spoke to their warranty department. Mr. Michael Montalbano who works in their International Customer Support area was my rep and he asked me a few questions about my products and asked me when I purchased them and then asked me to send him some photos of the parts that were not working properly or damaged. Since I am a professional photojournalist and the president of International Press Association, taking those pictures was simple for me.
I shot the photos and uploaded them to my server and send Michael the list of what I needed and a link to the photos. Once he verified I was the original owner of these items, he began the process to replace them. I received the replacement parts in about 3 days total. I was shocked to say the least...how could a company operate so efficiently and really live up to a Limited Lifetime Warranty as Grohe did?
They didn't ask me to return the defective parts, they didn't require me to dig up a 10-15 year old receipt for the product and they didn't take 4-8 weeks to make the replacement as others have done before. The process was so painless and Mr. Montalbano was such a helpful gentleman that I know I will become one of their best evangelists. Not only have they produced quality products and have put their money where their mouth is (their warranty), but in the event a product does not live up to a customers expectations (or theirs), they step up to the plate and make it right.
Now that I have all the parts needed to reinstall the shower and other items in this bathroom, I have gone upstairs to my master bathroom and noticed my shower head shows some peeling on the chrome head and the knob on my shower which is a crystal like lucite has some small defects, so once again I will contact Michael and ask for his help. I am sure he will once again prove the old adage "You Get What You Pay For." So I would recommend that before you go to Home Depot or Lowes, think hard and fast and check out the Grohe line of bath and kitchen items and spend a bit more (or a lot more) and enjoy every day you use you sinks, baths or showers and you will never purchase any one of those rip off extended warranties the stores try to sell you. There is no need to do so with a Grohe product, because this company will take care of you for your lifetime on any one of their products, no matter what goes wrong.
By the way, I asked a bit more about their Limited Lifetime Warranty. Michael explained that it covers the original owner of the product only. If you sell your home, then the Warranty on those installed items is no longer in effect. Glad I decided to continue to upgrade my home over the years and keep it current, nice to know that their are still companies that value their customers and stand behind their products. Kudos to Grohe and their staff for a job well done.
Visit their web site and find a dealer near you.
Special Thanks to Paul Stewart at Richmond Tile, visit their showroom in Staten Island, New York or their web site at: http://richmondtile.com/
International Customer Support
Grohe
Tel: 630 582 7711
Fax: 630 872 5669
I have had a conpletely opposite type of interaction with Grohe. I have also used Grohe products in my bath for the past 8 years. Last week we remodeled the bathroom and installed new Grohe products along with the body jets. I thinkthe contractor sprayed the tiles etc with CLR bath and Kitchen cleaner and now all my new faucets are black. I have been contacting the Grohe Customer Service (which was a futile effort) and the Sales Rep in N. California with pictures.
ReplyDeleteThe Sales rep called me after several days and said my contractor used Acid and that is why the faucets tarnished. The Contractor swears he used only CLR and the Tile Lab sealer on the tiles. I have used CLR before and the faucets were intact. Some of the pieces are from the 8 year old faucets and they are not affected by this CLR or acid that Grohe says was used. The old pieces are shining like new and the brand new pieces are all black. Wonder if the quality of finish has deteriorated at Grohe?
Grohe is unwilling to agree and replace the faucets. They want me to spend another $1000 and buy new faucets - they will not replace the brand new ones which are tarnished.
Why would I spend another $1000 on a product that does not live up to the warratny or the expectation. I could have spend half the price and installed Kohler or something cheaper.
I am very disappointed with Grohe warranty (or the lack of).
Before I would fault Grohe, I would do some more research on the product you used. I did a search and found it at:
ReplyDeletehttp://tinyurl.com/kun9ae
This is what the product claims: safely tackles the toughest calcium, lime, rust, and hard water deposits
Now I would go to the CLR company and complain to them and let them know that Grohe has claimed their product damaged the fixtures and this is not covered under the Grohe Warranty.
See what they say, they may offer to replace the items for you, unless in the fine print on the CLR it clearly states is cannot be used on certain chrome plated items. Many Grohe and other products now use a chrome type plating on plastic parts, I wonder if this might be the issue here.
Please go to my article on How to Write a Complaint Letter either here or on eHow at:
http://www.ehow.com/how_5086736_write-letter-read-corporate-executive.html
I can only confirm that over the years Grohe and their support team have been nothing short then fantastic. I have a feeling your situation may require further investigation to determine exactly what in the CLR caused this problem.
I have seen chrome turn black when hit by some acids, this product might have acid in it because if you remember your High School chem, to neutralize alkaline you add acid. So if it fights Lime which is an Alkaline chemical, then adding acid should neutralize it, but that acid applied to their plating could have caused this problem.
I happened upon your blog while researching information on Grohe’s warranty. I am having the opposite of your experience…my kitchen faucet is about 10 years old and the finish on my $400+ Lady Lux faucet is bubbling (not horribly, but enough) and Grohe tells me that it has a “limited” lifetime warranty of 5 years. Gee I wish I had known how short the lifespan of a $400 faucet is because I would have run in the opposite direction. Talk about limited…that is the lifetime of a small rodent (not even a Guinea Pig which has a lifetime of 8 years). I am more than angry and very frustrated.
ReplyDeleteAny suggestions as to how to go about resolving this problem? With your marketing and sales background, I thought you might be able to provide me with some ideas. I have a call into the Northern NJ Grohe representative—this after spending countless frustrating time on the phone without finding a way to speak to a human (you wouldn’t believe the phone system there—it is set up so that you cannot talk to anyone, only get into voice mail boxes if you know the name of the person you wish to leave a message for)—I got his name from the plumbing company from which I purchased the faucet. I do have several emails from a customer service rep saying that although the corporate website clearly states that the lifetime warranty is for all residential faucet products purchased after 1997 (as mine was), I fall into an undisclosed limited lifetime warranty of 5 years for this particular finish (which they have since discontinued--hmm, wonder why?). I find this deceptive advertising to say the least.
Thanks for any suggestions you can provide.