Anyone ever use Bathfitter?

[Sincraft]

Honestly, I would go see one personally before you make the commitment. Get a quote for a Sterling product, then get a quote for a retro fit system. Personally, for the ones I had seen - I couldn't tell immediately they were retrofitted systems, but then after further inspection it was obvious. The price is what turned me off. For the same price, you can have a new tub put in, have the plumbing done correctly - but it will take a bit longer to have it done. I think those retrofit places do it in ONE day. I personally took a week to do my bath, put the drywall up and finish it, if you break down the timeline with just those in mind for the project.

BUT be careful, once you replace a tub - they often aren't the same size and you might have to redo your floor!

Personally, if it's an old home I would rather they rip the old sucker out, put down a cheap floor and replace the old gunky plumbing around the tub with a new faucet valve and faucet etc - than to have a cover up slapped over what could be a ticking time bomb.

For the 3 bathrooms I've done in the past 6 months, 3 of them were leaking at the valve or the drain. Floor damage was present as was black mold and rotting supports. I replaced all that, put in access panels for 6month - 1 year inspections of the work, and am very happy I chose to do it 'the hard way' rather than slap something over an old problem.

I think retrofit baths are a GREAT way to flip a house...put down some cheap linoleum floor, new $150 toilet (cadet 3 of course) and a off the shelf vanity from lowes or home depot that looks designer , coupled with fresh paint, new fan/lights - and you have a $9k looking job for about half that price.

[Cookie]

A friend who used them, had to have them out 2 times to try to fix their work. It still looks awful, and was very costly.

[tbrazil]

I had a motel for a customer once who had them installed over all their tubs. After a year or so, a lot of them felt like you were walking or sitting on a water bed because water got between the two tubs and could not get out.

I had both a shower and tub liner installed 6 months ago. The drain is clogged up, feels a little like a water bed, "no slip" tub floor is slippery, and there is a bubble between the shower liner and the wall.
Also, I can't return my hamper to wall on other side of tub because tub liner now extends too far. To make the matter even worse, the tub now touches the vanity, which means the shower curtain must sit on top of the end of the tub rather than hang loose as it always did. There is a half inch difference between the top of the shower liner and the bottom of it, and the rod is up crooked. I'd like to have them simply remove the whole mess, but don't know how much of a problem it would be -how difficult it is to remove this material, what it would involve. Can't get any satisfaction from the company or the owner, although the man who did the installation was gone within a couple of weeks after he did the job. Can anyone offer info on how difficult it would be for them to remove both liners?

[hj]

That must have been a "one size fits all" liner, because even the poor installations I have seen usually use a liner that fits over the old tub quite
"snuggly" so it doesn't change the size of the tub to any appreciable extent.

[Redwood]

I have repaired a waste & overflow that was leaking after their work.

In my house I would go with a new tub!

[Dunbar Plumbing]

I'm bookmarking this thread for future use.

I'm going to do a search through all of my plumbing invoices where a job was performed by the above and indirectly caused problems with the existing plumbing system (clogs, incorrect drain retrofits, faucet trim extensions that did not correctly work)


My latest was a clogged shower drain where they refused to pay for the drain cleaning after they did the work. The installer was careless and loaded the drain with debri from his work, ignoring the standard practice to cover the drain.


Am I upset? Never. $140 for 15 minutes to clear the drain. Still, didn't put a dent in their profit margin for the job. The guy at most was making $13-$19 an hour tops, was there 12 hours........so his labor was minimal. The installer is usually a small part of the equation when costs are calculated in bidding these jobs.


BathFitters did pay for the expense when the homeowner threatened legal reprimand for failure to deliver customer satisfaction.

[lat]

Horrible work was done by Bath Fitters on my parents home.

My mom contracted Bath Fitter to install a tub and wall liner in their main bathroom for $3500. This is a high price for this amount of work.

A Bath Fitter employee measured the area with a laser. The employee measuring assured my dad that the liner would "fit like a glove".

When it came time to install, a number of weeks later, the installer (who told my dad that he had been working for the company for 4 weeks) took the existing lino off the wall and some of the plywood that was behind, replaced the faucet/shower controls and put drywall up, without the existing shims that had been installed behind the original plywood. This caused the drywall to be recessed in relation to the surrounding wall.

In order to bring it back flush with the surrounding wall, he used 5/8" thick strips of soft putty spaced about 8" apart on top of the drywall, which was supposed to support the flexible plastic liner. There is no way soft putty will properly support the thin, flexible wall liner.

Then, he said there was a problem with the tub, and needed to call his supervisor. The supervisor came on site and told my dad that the tub needed to come out 1/2" in order for them to install the liner. Maybe they would have caught that when they measured?!?

According to the supervisor, this would require removal and replacement of the tub with a new one, for an extra 700-1000 dollars.

He also said that the existing wall was too flexible. He said it was 1/4" plywood. My Dad said it was actually 3/8" plywood. After hearing that, the supervisor didn't say anything.

He then said they would have to reschedule the work since the job scope had changed. He said he would call back at 8:30 the next morning. That was over a week ago.

He also told my dad that he had two options, either pay them the extra money to finish the job, or cancel the work and they would leave the job as is. They are trying to pressure my parents into forking out more money for nothing.

lat,

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

[plumbtired]

To Lat in Edmonton:


That is simply horrid tale about a Bathfitter franchise...and I STRONGLY suggest you contact Bathfitter's corporate office (I assume it is also the correct contact point for Canadian customers) about this at: Toll-free: 1-800-892-2847 or via email,
infobath@bathfitter.com

My previous experience with Bathfitter corporate has been very positive. Your parents have not been treated like valued customers and you certainly should contact Bathfitter's corporate office about this despicable situation.

Good luck!

[master plumber mark]

I once worked for a company like this....installed the faucets for them for about 6 months.. told them to take
a hike....didnt need the greif.

I was impresed with the product but I was never impressed with the installers putting up the product.

I would tell them to give you back all your money and just install a fibergalss Sterling tub....if it all has to be torn out anyway...

..

[krow]

The bath fitters are not plumbers. The only license that they have ,is a driver's license, and even then it should be revoked.

[Basement_Lurker]

lol nice one

[Cass]

We enjoy a better than 99% customer satisfaction rate and are working hard for that last fraction of a percent.

This sounds very good BUT...

#1 - I am curious as to how you come up with the 99%?

#2 -How long of a time period and how many people do you track for that 99%?

[master plumber mark]

What I was impressed with was the fact that these
fellows would come out to your home and in only
one day they would usually have the whole job done
from start to finish..

a couple of them acutally would stay way past dark if necessary to get the job done in one day.....


I finally had to ask the owner of the company where he found fellows willing to work this hard for so little money
cause I could not get my plumbers to even consider
working that long.......

I wondered what made them so loyal to this jerk???.

I asked him if they were on some sort of work release program from the local prison....

he was not amused......

LOL..

[Ian Gills]

I had an acrylic bath solution fitted by a small, independent contractor a few years ago. He did an excellent job, for a lower price.

It took him a week. He was clear what he could and could not do. I did some plumbing (replaced the toilet & vanity), hired a licensed plumber to do some other plumbing (the tub drain and shower faucet), and left him to retile the floor and fit the tub and wall liners...not in that order but you get my jist (it went plumber, tile floor, acrylic solution, me).

Shop around. There are alternatives.

[lat]

I am very happy to report that Bath Fitter is standing behind their product.

My parents and I met with Dale, who did a fabulous job of making time for us and listening to our serious concerns. He acknowledged that errors were made and that they will provide my parents with a new tub and install the wall liners at the initial price my parents agreed to. Dale was very professional and understanding about the situation my senior-aged parents were in.

The products should be installed within a couple of weeks, and I will update my report based on the outcome of the actual installation, but based on my experience with Dale, I am far more optimistic about a positive outcome.

Thanks Dale!