Moen Monticello faucet nightmare

Help!

Our 12 year old house has Moen Monticello 2-handle 8" spread lavatory faucets (4572P) throughout. Nearly all of the faucet handles have failed, at least once, over the past 5 years: drips, leaks, cracked stem extensions, stiff/frozen handles, frozen/unremovable handle hubs, cracked brass finishes...you name it. After replacing 6 flimsy plastic stem extensions (kit 94798,9), we now keep several extra replacement kits on hand, knowing that its only a matter of time before another faucet goes. We've spend hundreds of dollars repairing these faucets one-at-a-time. We're fed up.

Our new, knowledgable plumber says he's come across similar problems many times with this particular faucet. He says Moen may -- if pushed -- replace the faucets with their newer, upgraded version of Monticello, which they've redesigned to correct the problems. He says "they know they made a mistake." But he warns that, depending on who I speak with, Moen will first try to get me to accept a few (similarly faulty) replacement parts of the old type, rather than a new faucet.

Two questions: 1) Have others encountered similar problems with Monticello? 2) I'm new to this. How should I approach Moen, to ensure that I don't just end up replacing the faucets with the same defective parts we have now plaguing us 'til now?

Thanks, in advance, for any advice!

Desperate in Maryland

Moen

They have redesigned the handles so they should not seize to the faucet body, so that may cure that problem. The other ones are the reason I will not recommend, or furnish, Moen two handle faucets.

The Monticello handles, especially the widespread, but also on the centerset, have been extremely troublesome. Just a very bad mechanical design, and with plastic parts ( handle adapters ) which should have been metal.

I don't remember if 12 years predates the introduction of lifetime warranty, but they will resist that. Probably will ask you for receipts, etc. Basically, your 2 choices are to stock up on parts, or bite the bullet.

I am pretty sure that 12 years ago they did not offer lifetime warranty on the finish. PVD was not in widespread use, so plated polished brass faucets had very short life expectancy.

Thank you for such prompt replies.

Has anybody had any experience trying to get Moen to replace a acknowledged, defectively-designed product, with or without a warranty?

I would think that a big name, high-end company like this would want to protect their reputation. After all, this is not a matter of a single defective unit, but a defect in the design of a an entire line of products.