With all the customer changes we go through it is nice to have a mistake go the other direction.
Have a customer we have done a few small jobs for. Hung a 3 new doors, bath tub faucet set etc. We have worked for them 3 times and I was the guy each time. The last two times he asked about changing the toilet. Unusual model with a wall discharge that some but not all in his developement have.
Both times I checked and priced the unit at $400 which is the manufactures listed price and my labor rate of $50 an hour plus the seal, bolt kit and a flange repair if needed. Each time he said he would wait. I knew his wife was the one wanting this as someone had painted the old toilet and it looked like crap but worked ok.
He calls last week and asks if I will come out and install a new toilet and put new base trim in the bathroom. I said sure. I show up and ask where the new toilet is and he says in the garage. I ask did you look at it to make sure they are the same and he said “yep, we all ok and ready to go”.
I remove the old unit and set it out front and find I don’t have the type of seal it uses on the truck. I ask for the new unit and he shows it to me, unopened. I said “I thought you opened this and checked it out”. He says “No the one in the picture is exactly the same as the one I have and thats what Lowes ordered”.
Now unlike many of you I like my local Lowes. But I wouldn’t trust them to order a special order item that needed to be a specific fit without holding their hand till it was in the computer. I open the unit and guess what? Wrong unit.
So I tell him, he turns red and asks what will we do now? I say well I better get a seal and reinstall the old one since you only have one bath. Then we need to get another toilet, maybe they will get the right one this time.
He mumbles mayber I had better get the new one. I say sure and order it , install the old one, write out the bill for $100 and said I didn’t charge him for the seal and bolt kit this time as it was too bad to go through this and get little done. He sighs, pays me and asks if I can get it in right away when it arrives. Little woman seemed annoyed. DanT
Replies
LOL, " it looked like crap but worked ok."
What else can we expect from a crapper?
Welcome to the
Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
where ...
Excellence is its own reward!
A few lashes with a wet noodle for not opening the HOs box before taking out the old unit.
You must have missed the part where I asked him if he checked? That is why I asked as he claims to be handy. If he had said no I would have done that first. Then again maybe I should just figure him to not be handy in the first place. DanT
"You must have missed the part where I asked him if he checked? "
Knowing Murphy's law as well as I do, I would have put my own hands on it first.
If you filled a toilet bowl with water from the Bermuda triangle, would it eliminate the need to flush?
I feel bad for handy guy.
Yep big lesson learned. I learned the hard way years ago to check and layout all parts before going further.
This approach works good in the kitchen. Nothing like getting half way through a dinner creation to find you ain't got sage and it's late on Christmas day and everyone's closed.
Be Anal....?
That wouldn't happen to me? At least now it won't. Wanna know why?
A couple of years ago I picked up a new Kohler toilet from my local plumbing supply for a client of mine. It was a special order. I removed their old toilet, installed the new bowl and tank and filled it with water. The last thing I had to do (or so I thought) before I left was to secure the toilet seat to the bowl. Went I went to tighten the two plastic bolts that fasten the toliet seat to the bowl, I noticed the toliet seat was voer approxiamtely one inch to the left from where it should be. Initially I thought they must have mounted the hinges to the toilet seat in the wrong place. Upon further inspection of the bowl, both mounting holes for the toilet seat were off center by one inch. At Kohler, whoever had set the mold up for that toliet apparently got careless. I had to remove all of the water formthe toilet, disassemble it, go get another one, and repeat the installation. Never again.
To make a long story short, now I open the box to inspect visually inspect the toilet before leaving the supply house.
By the way, what do you guys think of Toto commodes? A designer that I do quite a few projects for is hooked on. Have you seen their toilet seat that will not slam down, but slowly closes?
- Steve
A friend of mine bought a toilet at home depot. Got it home and opened the box to find a nasty old used toilet inside. Then they gave him a hard time about returning it suggesting he was the one trying to pull a stunt
That reminds me of a client who purchased a small T.V. from a local Builders Square when that chain was closing. When she got home, all she found was a full bag of birdseed in the box. Must have been one of the employees who snagged a bag of seed from the garden center. Amazing what some people will do. Fortunately they believed her when she went back.