Defective American Standard Colony Toilet - no customer satisfaction

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lcuga13

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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.

badtoilet1.jpg


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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Redwood

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People often get on my case when I rant about Am. Std. Products...
This is why I rant!

May I suggest a Toto Toilet?
I have been installing them over 5 years and have never had a defective on or, a callback on one yet.

Toto is a Japanese Corporation with plants all over the world...
Including one in Morrow, Georgia!

No matter where they are made they all have great quality!
They are not sold in big box stores...

Click here to see Toto Toilets
 
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Terry

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He said that American Standard does not do such repairs.

We see repairs like that on American Standard a lot.
It's a little disturbing to order a special color in a 10" combination and see caulking inside a tank.

Or caulk under the bowl where they have ground it flat and cut into the trapway.

Oh yeah, it happens with American Standard.
 

hj

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toilets

Kohler does the same thing as far as repairs go, and theirs also sometimes fail after a few years. I had a Kohler toilet with a similar problem a few months ago, and had to call Kohler in order to get it replaced. It was two years old. Years ago I came across a Kohler toilet from HD, that the entire bottom of the trap was loose and they hadn't even tried to seal it. It was marked "defective" and should not even have left the plant.
 

lcuga13

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How did Kohler handle the repair?

When you came across the Kohler toilet that had a similar factory repair, how did they handle the replacement? In my case as the new homeowner without the receipts from the remodeling work done for resale, American Standard was not willing to do anything. Even as I pointed out the stamped manufacturing date, American Standard says that there is no warranty without a receipt.

I am a landscape designer and contractor by trade. If I were to receive a call from a homeowner that bought a house with some of my hardscape failing on them, I would gladly look at it and see what I can do. It is still my work that is failing.

With American Standard's policy requiring receipts, it leaves purchasers of new homes or remodeled homes, maybe a flip, without any warranty coverage. I simply find this to be an unacceptable business practice. In my case, the stamped date in the bowl proves the young age of the toilet.
 

Jimbo

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American Standard is not the same company it once was.

The old parent company American Standard is now the air conditioning company (Trane). The plumbing subsidiary was merged with Crane and Eljer, and sold to a leveraged buyout investment consortium. The results have been and will be predictable.

TOTO manufactures many of their products in America
 
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addictedtugolf

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I am here to share our story in regards to the American Standard COLONY toilet tank #4092. We purchased our townhouse NEW (year 2000) from the builder who installed the two piece American Standard COLONY toilets in the 3 bathrooms, therefore we do not have the original receipts which is required by American Standard IF a warranty even existed.

The first week of December 2010, noticed on the master bathroom tile, some water droplets. At first I thought the water supply valve was leaking since it only had the customized coil connection to the bottom of the toilet tank. I flushed the toilet, no leaks found at the water supply valve connection nor was it leaking at the connection to the bottom of the tank. I used my hands & felt around the tank, suddenly I could feel on the ceramic tank facing me what appeared to me to be a hairline crack? Could it be? I took off the lid & sure enough there was a crack that had developed from just below the HANDLE, used to flush the tank which ran all the way up to the TOP of the tank. The "BOX HOLE" cut out (used for the handle to flush) showed no signs of wear, yet the crack has zig-zagged up the front and through the "BOX HOLE" cut out!

Now that I found the leak, searched on the internet & found on E-BAY a used toilet tank #4092 but in the bone color, not the white color to match the commode. I've contacted American Standard directly (took 20 minutes to get a rep) and was informed that model has been discontinued & is no longer available, not even at hardware supply stores. Plus American Standard only warranties their products for one year!

I've purchased & installed a NEW Briggs Kingsley 6083 one piece toilet system for the master bathroom. Very happy with it so far.

Just two days ago (Dec. 13th) I just happen to look at the American Standard COLONY toilet tank located in the downstairs bathroom (1/2 bath) low & behold? Can it be? It too has a hairline crack developing almost identical to the crack in the toilet that was located in our master bathroom! I will attempt to attach pictures of both tanks. OBVIOUSLY it too will need to be replaced and as of this time the 3rd American Standard COLONY toilet located in the guest bathroom does not show any signs of cracks along the side of the tank...

What are the ODDS that AMERICAN STANDARD has discontinued the COLONY model and my builder bought 3 of them which were installed about 10 years ago?

I am POSTING this so other people can turn away from buying any AMERICAN STANDARD products....For some like us, it's too late.
Joking my wife says this is one way to stimulate the economy & it's perfect because right now the economy and our AMERICAN STANDARD COLONY toilets are in the "crapper"!
 

Ballvalve

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When all those American toilet makers competed against each other, the junk stayed at the plant. When the blue suits buy up ALL the competition and move the factory to Uganda, we all get screwed.

Its not about "American Standard" its about the american standard of sabotaging its manufacturing by combining small, caring companies into mega monsters.

Our POLITICIANS do not care, and NAFTA finished us off.

When this same "buyout- holding company" gang catches TOTO, they will close the American factories and move them to Romania. Then you will find chewing gum on their traps, and customer service will be in Pakistan.
 

hj

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You were dealing with the company directly. If I were a homeowner, I would have dealt with someone who sold that type of toilet. With Kohler, I dealt with a supply house, NOT Kohler.
 
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