Cracked toilet tank

Well I picked up my very expensive Vitra toilet today. I was in a rush, I thought I inspected the toilet at the Plumbing Supply. I get home and the tank is cracked in the back(I don't think it can be repaired but it is not all the way through, but 3 inches). Also a piece chipped off on the lid on the interior(not a bifg deal). The real kicker is my friend was with me and saw the chipped interior piece. He did not say anything because he thought I saw it. The Plumbing Supply will not take back the tank. They said all special order sales are final, no returns after inspection.

I know this has happened to some of you. Any possible recourse for me? This toilet was $450 with tax. Funny thing is, they make you sign a touch screen. They don't tell you what for. When I look at the final receipt it states their policy, NO Returns in big letters and shows my signature, even though I had not yet seen the toilet. The sig is to confirm acceptance and take full responsibility. Also there were no signs in the store or shownroom. The sales person never mentioned anything of their policy.

I'm afraid I have little experience with a plumbing supply. I always go to Home Depot, and with good reason it would seem. I feel like I was swindled. Hoping someone has some good news I can try a charge back with my credit card company, but there printed receipts don't make me think I have a good chance of winning.

I would personally make a BIG stink over that... and would not let it go till they switched the tank for me. I have never had an issue with returning items to my wholesalers, they are always accomodating and are always willing to accept the faulty product back. Maybe contact either the shipping co or the manufacturer and see if you can get results from them: the manufacturer in particular is not going to want to have such an unhappy customer holding their product out there. Unless they too don't care about their reputation. I would also let them know how unhappy you were with how the wholesaler representing their product handled the situation... but then again, I'm an extremely assertive consumer

Hi Kristi,
I can be fairly assertive. I am going to go there on Monday with the toilet. Now that I look at it closely, the crack is serious. The corner wil eventually split all the way down. I have no idea how I missed it. I suppose I just didn't think of looking at the back of the tank. There wasn't much I could do on the phone. If they don't exchange the tank I will first try to call Vitra. If no love from them, I will call Visa.

I guess a lot of people bust toilets up every day. I have never seen such policies . I just don't see what the big deal is. It's not like they ship items where this is a standard policy. If I had knew their policy, I would not have purchased anything from them. I am just so used to HD and Costco liberal return policies.

I too have returned numerous items to the supply houses I use without issue though each store has a sign posted prominently which reads "special order items sales are final" or something of the sort. If the supply house wont take it back and you paid for it with a credit card, you can dispute the charges by contacting your credit card company. What the next step in the process is after that, I'm not sure.

Good luck!!!

Frankly I just don't see what the big deal is for them. I will certainly dispute the charge if I need to. I will just show up there tomorrow(they are closed today).

Well the big deal is that it is a special order item that they do not routinely stock. For example, I can order a powder blue toilet through Ferguson Enterprises....special order item. If I take it back and they accept the return, they are stuck with it and the market for powder blue toilets is soft to say the least. They may surprise you though. Give it a shot and I wish you luck.

tank

Part of the "big deal" is that, unless the box was obviously damaged, they also signed for "receipt in good order", which Vitra could use to deny a return. In addition, they may have to purchase a new tank, pay for shipping, and then wait for Vitra to send a credit after they inspect the tank. If Vitra denies responsibility, they will be stuck with the cost of the tank and shipping, and I am sure you will not be willing to come back and pay for those items, assuming the damage was not done after you took possession.

this really boils down to customer satisfaction, and whether any parties involved want you to experience this feeling with them. Most companies get pretty anxious about losing your business, and they need to cut their losses on a fairly regular basis. You're dealing with fragile stuff, you only want your expensive special order powder blue toilet in (lol), and you shelled out the bucks at the end of the consuming line. Obviously Vitro bangs these things out for a living, and it shouldn't be a hassle for them to provide you with an operational tank, special order or not. I would tell the wholesaler that you certainly don't purchase toilets every day (as you're not a contractor) and don't really know what to check for in the first place - if they can't help/won't help you with this, then send your appeal to Vitro... and tell us what happens!

Thanks. Well the tank was damaged when I took it. I did not damage the tank. The packing for the tank is ridiculous, just a box and a thin piece of bubble wrap so that the lid has a little cushion. The tank actually moves inside the box, it sits on it's flange.

So how does this change what the plumbing supply needs to do? They have a damaged item. Why didn't they check it? She said she did, but the tank box was sealed

tank

Their only reason for checking it would be if the box was obviously damaged, which yours apparently was not. You are experiencing one of the reasons wholesalers should not be selling to "civilians". They sell you at a low price, possibly the same as they charge their regular plumbing contractors, which means they are not making a lot of profit, and then have to deal with "damaged" goods, which eats into the little profit they did make. If you had bought it at Home Depot or similar, you probably would have paid a lot more for it and that is why they have "liberal" return policies, besides having the economic clout to dictate to the manufacturer what they will return.

"You are experiencing one of the reasons wholesalers should not be selling to "civilians". They sell you at a low price, possibly the same as they charge their regular plumbing contractors, which means they are not making a lot of profit, and then have to deal with "damaged" goods, which eats into the little profit they did make. If you had bought it at Home Depot or similar, you probably would have paid a lot more for it and that is why they have "liberal" return policies, besides having the economic clout to dictate to the manufacturer what they will return."

I'm a bit baffled by this I paid $458 for this toilet. There was no discount. And this place is no wholesale operation. They aremodeling a 8,000 square foot showroon for the "public". As for HD, they were slighty cheaper on every plumbing fixture I had inquired about. Which was 15 items. However, they do not carry Vitra. I guess if I was a plumber, this would not be an issue. But I have a stack of 10% off coupons, plus my Credit card give me an additional 3% off as well. I will deal with them tomorrow. Hopefully they will either do what's right. If not I will call Vitra. If not I will call Visa. If not, I will order the tank from another supplier. Can't imagine if the price of my toilet comes out to $700. Some toilet ay?

Well I went last week to the plumbing supply. A worker takes a look at the tank. He tells me this is an old crack. He emphatically states that the fissure could not have been made recently. He says this tank has been sitting around damaged for a while. I was relieved. I knew I was not entirely crazy. Then the manager comes over and says no way, says I dropped it(I knew he was going to say this. I asked him why his employee disagreed. Then the sales manager comes in and says the same as the manager. She says the other guy is an idiot and it doesn't matter what he says. She said she inspected the item when she picked it up from the ditrbutor. I asked her, if that was the case, then why did I receive a cracked tank? I then asked her, how she inspect it when the tank box was sealed? I actually broke the seal on the box when I was looking at it. She said she retaped the box. I asked how did she retape the box with the same exact piece of tape, no tape rip marks on the box and all staples in tact. I said, I have never seen such a thing. She proceeded to yell at me, telling me how she was doing me a favor and picked up the tank on her death bed, yada yada yada. I kindly told her to bring the tank to the distributor and get back to me within 2 weeks.

tank

All I can add to this is that if you had had a plumber furnish it, he would either have not received a cracked tank, or if he had he would have returned it and received a new one and you would have a toilet instead of two weeks, or more, of aggravation. But this is one reasons many plumbers like to have the customer furnish the sinks and toilets, so they do not have to deal with issues like this, and let the customer do it himself.

Well I just wanted to followup and let you know justice was served. The Plumbing Supply told me there was nothing they could do and that the distributor denied a replacement. The Plumbing Supply offered $50 off a new tank. I called Vitra, explained my delimna and they were happy to arrange a replacement for me.

small claims court is good up to $5000

tell the judge you signed before the toilet was inspected

you WILL receive a check in full good luck