Screwfix toilets

[cr0ft]

Just finishing a nice refurbishment of a house today. The customer decided she wanted a cheap toilet and basin for her cloakroom. I don't normally fit cheap toilets and basins, now I remember why.

Bought it from Screwfix. First mistake. 2nd mistake was assuming it would all be fitted within 4 hours max. No such luck. Every single seal on both items leaked. Lots. No matter how much I tightened them up. Both items are now held together with plumbers gold.

I will never, mark my words, never, fit cheap sanitaryware ever again.

 

[jase158]

Cheap ain't the problem, screwfix is the problem. For instance. Toilet 2go, I have bought 6 plus from wickes £50. I bought one from screwfix £60, doesn't seal, float valve faulty etc.
bought a bath from screwfix, edge is broken, lots of scratches and dents, delivery is 7 days so can't take it back without massive delay to myself. Luckily all scratches and cracks covered by tiles.
Bought the float valves from screwfix, fluid master, bottom entry which are suppose to be good 1. Doesn't shut, take it apart and clean it up, works fine. This is fine once but I bought 2 more and both do the same, exactly the same fault. Exactly the same thing to sort it out.
I asked staff if there items were rejects, no comment.
went to Plumbbase last week did a quote and saved £130.

 

[Ray Stafford]

At the very bottom of the sanitaryware market, an extra twenty quid or so makes an enormous difference.

Its like a cheap bottle of wine. I can't remember the exact figures, but someone once told me that it cost about £3.50 in tax, transport, bottle, cap, label etc to put an empty bottle of wine on a supermarket shelf. So if you pay £3.99, you have got 49p worth of wine. If you pay £5.99, the bottle, tax etc still costs £3.50, so you have 5 times as much value in the wine.

I think its the same with sanitaryware. The absolute rock bottom that I could buy sanitaryware in china, ship it to the UK and put it on my shelf would be about £50 +vat for a 4 piece set. About £35 of that would be transport, import duties, freight clearing fees etc , so add a few quid in profit, and you are left with about £10 to actually make the pottery. It will therefore be complete ****.

Spend £75 instead of £50, and the £35 for transport, duty, clearing etc is still the same, but there is now 3 or 4 times as much money to actually make the product. So whilst it won't be perfect, it might actually work.

We get offered the complete **** product every week by some clever clogs who thinks he has discovered the secret that will make his fortune. Usually they have imported several containers of stock before they discover all the pitfalls, and most of that stock ends up on ebay.

 

[cr0ft]

Cheap ain't the problem, screwfix is the problem. For instance. Toilet 2go, I have bought 6 plus from wickes £50. I bought one from screwfix £60, doesn't seal, float valve faulty etc.
bought a bath from screwfix, edge is broken, lots of scratches and dents, delivery is 7 days so can't take it back without massive delay to myself. Luckily all scratches and cracks covered by tiles.
Bought the float valves from screwfix, fluid master, bottom entry which are suppose to be good 1. Doesn't shut, take it apart and clean it up, works fine. This is fine once but I bought 2 more and both do the same, exactly the same fault. Exactly the same thing to sort it out.
I asked staff if there items were rejects, no comment.
went to Plumbbase last week did a quote and saved £130.

Yes,

I am coming to that conclusion now. To be honest from now on the only thing I am going to buy in there is tools when they are on offer.

 

[Kyle87]

I fitted a screwfix bog to go a year ago and the float valve was rubbish. Ended up putting a fluid master in

I did another a couple of months ago as an outside toilet and I was actually impressed that it had a wirquin float valve supplied. Didn't have any trouble fitting at all. And to be honest I wouldn't hesitate to fit another if customer wants cheap bog.

 

[REDSAW]

At the very bottom of the sanitaryware market, an extra twenty quid or so makes an enormous difference.

Its like a cheap bottle of wine. I can't remember the exact figures, but someone once told me that it cost about £3.50 in tax, transport, bottle, cap, label etc to put an empty bottle of wine on a supermarket shelf. So if you pay £3.99, you have got 49p worth of wine. If you pay £5.99, the bottle, tax etc still costs £3.50, so you have 5 times as much value in the wine.

I think its the same with sanitaryware. The absolute rock bottom that I could buy sanitaryware in china, ship it to the UK and put it on my shelf would be about £50 +vat for a 4 piece set. About £35 of that would be transport, import duties, freight clearing fees etc , so add a few quid in profit, and you are left with about £10 to actually make the pottery. It will therefore be complete ****.

Spend £75 instead of £50, and the £35 for transport, duty, clearing etc is still the same, but there is now 3 or 4 times as much money to actually make the product. So whilst it won't be perfect, it might actually work.

We get offered the complete **** product every week by some clever clogs who thinks he has discovered the secret that will make his fortune. Usually they have imported several containers of stock before they discover all the pitfalls, and most of that stock ends up on ebay.

but how can you tell those who are selling the goods are not just putting 4x the profit on the ****e goods giving the impression there better than they are?

 

[Ray Stafford]

but how can you tell those who are selling the goods are not just putting 4x the profit on the ****e goods giving the impression there better than they are?

Thats where brand, expertise and reputation come in. Its unlikely that someone like Eastbrook (say) will risk damaging a brand that they have spent £millions developing by selling sh!te at all, never mind at an inflated price. Its simply not worth the few quid they would make in the short term. And since they have the expertise to know what they are doing, it probably won't happen.

However, it doesn't always work out this way. A well known heating brand branched out into sanitaryware for a while. Now this brand in heating was definitely budget, but I would normally expect their heating products to work. But they lacked expertise in the sanitaryware market and caught a cold. I remember them sat in my office with a cheap 4 piece set. Our sanitaryware buyer took one look at it and told the salesman exactly which Indian middleman he had bought it from, where the factory was, and what would be wrong with the SECOND container when it came in. This Indian bloke was well known as a dealer in seconds - the sample and first shipment would be good quality, but subsequent shipments would be quality rejects. No one with any experience would buy from this guy.

Thats where you rely on the reseller's expertise and reputation to protect you. Retailers selling bathroom to the DIY market know that any problems with it are likely to be put down to the buyers lack of plumbing experience, and he won't be in the market for another one for 10 years anyway. Merchants need to sell to experienced trade customers every day, and plumbers are not normally shy about telling us if they don't think a product measures up.

 

[turnpin]

Having done a ten stretch behind the ramp of an independent merchants I hear your fine words of wisdom Ray .....regards Turnpin:21:

 

[jefaz]

At the very bottom of the sanitaryware market, an extra twenty quid or so makes an enormous difference.

Its like a cheap bottle of wine. I can't remember the exact figures, but someone once told me that it cost about £3.50 in tax, transport, bottle, cap, label etc to put an empty bottle of wine on a supermarket shelf. So if you pay £3.99, you have got 49p worth of wine. If you pay £5.99, the bottle, tax etc still costs £3.50, so you have 5 times as much value in the wine.

I think its the same with sanitaryware. The absolute rock bottom that I could buy sanitaryware in china, ship it to the UK and put it on my shelf would be about £50 +vat for a 4 piece set. About £35 of that would be transport, import duties, freight clearing fees etc , so add a few quid in profit, and you are left with about £10 to actually make the pottery. It will therefore be complete ****.

Spend £75 instead of £50, and the £35 for transport, duty, clearing etc is still the same, but there is now 3 or 4 times as much money to actually make the product. So whilst it won't be perfect, it might actually work.

We get offered the complete **** product every week by some clever clogs who thinks he has discovered the secret that will make his fortune. Usually they have imported several containers of stock before they discover all the pitfalls, and most of that stock ends up on ebay.

Howay Ray. The wine you drink has a 3-4 figure price tag.

 

[Ray Stafford]

Howay Ray. The wine you drink has a 3-4 figure price tag.

whatever Tesco's has on at two for a tenner

 

[Dotty]

whatever Tesco's has on at two for a tenner

Can take the boy out of Fareham.......

 

[acecharly]

First thing i do if i have one is throw away the foam dohnut and swap for a rubber, god knows which idiot came up with that idea.

 

[Ray Stafford]

Having done a ten stretch behind the ramp of an independent merchants

In which of her majesty's independent merchants were you incarcerated for your ten-stretch Turnpin?

And what on earth made you leave the relative cultural sanctuary of a merchant to become a turd-strangler?

 

[turnpin]

In which of her majesty's independent merchants were you incarcerated for your ten-stretch Turnpin?

And what on earth made you leave the relative cultural sanctuary of a merchant to become a turd-strangler?

Little outfit called Mercury discount plumbing and heating in the east end of London......made redundant when the landlord of the shop sold up to a cash and carry co for redevelopment......so went back on the tools been plumbing/pipe strangling since I left school over 40 years ago...regards Turnpin:lol:

 

[Centralheatking]

In my humble opinion fitting bathroom/shower/bog stuff is so time consuming
and really very low profit compared to heating we tend to avoid - UNLESS its high end
stuff with an in built profit CHKing

Just finishing a nice refurbishment of a house today. The customer decided she wanted a cheap toilet and basin for her cloakroom. I don't normally fit cheap toilets and basins, now I remember why.

Bought it from Screwfix. First mistake. 2nd mistake was assuming it would all be fitted within 4 hours max. No such luck. Every single seal on both items leaked. Lots. No matter how much I tightened them up. Both items are now held together with plumbers gold.

I will never, mark my words, never, fit cheap sanitaryware ever again.

 

[Ray Stafford]

In my humble opinion fitting bathroom/shower/bog stuff is so time consuming
and really very low profit compared to heating we tend to avoid - UNLESS its high end
stuff with an in built profit CHKing

And you would have to change your name to Bog-king. Does't quite have the same ring to it!