I just wanted to share with everyone my recent problems with an American Standard Colony toilet. As with everything in a home, everything goes wrong at the same time. While I had the jacuzzi tub out of use due to sloppy installation with no mortar bed, we were using our other bathroom. On the 2nd day, my wife told me there was water on the floor around the toilet. I began to check it out. I was stumped. The water would slowly appear from under the base. There was no sign of water damage on the ceiling below. At first I figured the wax ring was bad.
I cleaned up the water and figured I would pull the toilet off the next day. Well, 2 hours later, there was more water on the floor and the water level in the bowl was almost gone. I spent the next couple days messing with the toilet, and discovered that even if I added a single glass of water directly into the bowl (still with the very low water level) the water would end up on the floor within a couple hours.
I did some researching online and figured I had a toilet that had developed a leak in the actual clay, or as one person called it, a sandhole. Upon pulling the toilet out, I found the problem and where it had been repaired at the factory, but to no avail as it leaked in my house. Here is a photo of the underside of the bowl.
So, here is the rest of the story. Our house had just been remodeled when we bought it in November 2007. The stamp in the toilet mold is June 27, 2007 (as you can see in the left of the photo) and made in Guatemala. I am the original owner of this toilet as everything was new in the house and it is within 1 year of our house closing, and almost one year from the stamp from Guatemala.
I call American Standard customer service and got absolutely nowhere. The rep said that without a receipt they will not do anything for me. I explained that I do not know who put the toilet in, as it was a remodel of an vacant home and everything was brand new when we bought it. The response was still that they would only do something if I had a receipt. The guy said they guarantee their products for 1 year, and I told him that the manufacturing stamp in it is from 14 months ago from Guatemala, so it is easy to guess that it was bought within 1 year. I explained what I found and that the toilet should never have been shipped. He said that American Standard does not do such repairs. I told him that I have photos of the internal repair. His response was always the same, without a receipt, they will do nothing for me.
I asked to speak to someone above him, and he told me, "no, they will say the same thing." I made it clear that I would not be buying another American Standard toilet if this is representative of how they stand by their products. The response the customer no-service representative said to my comment about not buying another AS toilet was, "if you buy another one, keep your receipt and you will have a 1 year warranty." I responded, why would I want to buy another toilet from a company that shipped out a defective toilet in the first place, and won't stand by their products. I will give my money to another company.
I guess that any homeowner that buys a new or remodeled house gets the short end of the stick, because without any receipts, you can't get anything replaced, at least not from American Standard.
I cleaned up the water and figured I would pull the toilet off the next day. Well, 2 hours later, there was more water on the floor and the water level in the bowl was almost gone. I spent the next couple days messing with the toilet, and discovered that even if I added a single glass of water directly into the bowl (still with the very low water level) the water would end up on the floor within a couple hours.
I did some researching online and figured I had a toilet that had developed a leak in the actual clay, or as one person called it, a sandhole. Upon pulling the toilet out, I found the problem and where it had been repaired at the factory, but to no avail as it leaked in my house. Here is a photo of the underside of the bowl.
So, here is the rest of the story. Our house had just been remodeled when we bought it in November 2007. The stamp in the toilet mold is June 27, 2007 (as you can see in the left of the photo) and made in Guatemala. I am the original owner of this toilet as everything was new in the house and it is within 1 year of our house closing, and almost one year from the stamp from Guatemala.
I call American Standard customer service and got absolutely nowhere. The rep said that without a receipt they will not do anything for me. I explained that I do not know who put the toilet in, as it was a remodel of an vacant home and everything was brand new when we bought it. The response was still that they would only do something if I had a receipt. The guy said they guarantee their products for 1 year, and I told him that the manufacturing stamp in it is from 14 months ago from Guatemala, so it is easy to guess that it was bought within 1 year. I explained what I found and that the toilet should never have been shipped. He said that American Standard does not do such repairs. I told him that I have photos of the internal repair. His response was always the same, without a receipt, they will do nothing for me.
I asked to speak to someone above him, and he told me, "no, they will say the same thing." I made it clear that I would not be buying another American Standard toilet if this is representative of how they stand by their products. The response the customer no-service representative said to my comment about not buying another AS toilet was, "if you buy another one, keep your receipt and you will have a 1 year warranty." I responded, why would I want to buy another toilet from a company that shipped out a defective toilet in the first place, and won't stand by their products. I will give my money to another company.
I guess that any homeowner that buys a new or remodeled house gets the short end of the stick, because without any receipts, you can't get anything replaced, at least not from American Standard.
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