Consumer Report
Bathing Solutions
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REPORT 2

Getting a new specialist bath fitted & its aftermath.
Another exhausting experience!

Observations on the company
Bathing Solutions seems to operate in the same way as double-glazing firms in that the sales staff quote a sky-high price, then let thousands of pounds melt away in 'discounts' until they reach the maximum price they think the customer will pay.
The people at head office are no good at returning phone calls.
The people doing the work seem to be up to the job but one gets the impression that there aren't enough of them and the people in the office think it's okay to tell the customer something (anything) and hope he/she will believe it to fill in the gaps in the service.

The Road to the Fitting, 2007
The customer had already signed a non-cancellable contract when the surveyor arrived to look the job over. The bath with a door in the side for easier access, and shower, had been sold on the basis of a single day's upheaval to get everything into place. There is even a timetable in the Bathing Solutions brochure to let a picky client keep score.

The surveyor announced that the saleswoman had failed to measure the width of what was obviously a narrow bathroom doorway and the bath wouldn't go through it. She had also failed to spot that the hot water tank was too small and it would have to be removed and replaced with a larger model.
   The one-day job would now take 3 days, and getting the bath and the larger hot water tank into the bathroom would mean removing the wooden 'furniture' from around the doorway and the wooden framework!

After further discussion and agonizing, the customer decided to go ahead with the operation.

Thursday September 06th
The bath & its fixtures and fittings, and the new tank, were delivered on time, but the delivery bloke had to struggle in with everything as the fitter was still working on a previous job and he didn't arrive until 3 p.m. But he did a very neat job of stripping off the bathroom doorway's woodwork to make it wide enough for the bath.

Friday September 07th
The bathroom fitter had an electrician to help him hump everything upstairs. Most of the work was done today, but there was some left over for Saturday.

Saturday September 08th
The customer was told: "You won't be able to tell the bathroom doorway has been ripped to bits!" (Or words to that effect.) Not from across the road, maybe, but by the time all of the gaps had been plugged with wood filler, you've have to be blind not to notice what had happened.

Monday September 10th
Vast amounts of wood filler applied to the bathroom door. Having given the sealant on the bath plenty of time to cure, tested the shower and it worked.

Frame pictureFrame picture

Wednesday September 12th
The sanding operation completed, white undercoat applied to the bathroom doorway. The shower is still working.

Friday September 14th
Completed painting the bathroom doorway with a coating of white gloss. Okay, it looks quite respectable again; but this is achieved only through either the customer's own DIY efforts or the added expense of bringing in a painter & decorator. Now working on the shelving in the airing cupboard above the new hot water tank.

Saturday September 16th
Tested the bath. Not a howling success. The water in the tank was at the right temperature for use but it ran out with the level at around the seat. What is really needed is hotter water, which can be diluted with cold to provide a full bath.

Monday September 17th
The skirting boards in the bathroom repainted and the carpet tiles returned. The place is looking quite respectable again. Except, the damaged plaster around the bathroom doorway still has to be bodged up, and either the entire bathroom will have to be re-papered or some sort of border will have to go around the doorway to cover the scars.

Tuesday September 18th
The Bathing Solutions plumber returned to fit a new thermostat to the hot water tank, providing washing-up water needing diluting with cold and shower water ditto. Brilliant!

Friday September 21st
Disaster! No hot water. More calls to and from Bathing Solutions. Checked every fuse in sight and all working. But neither the system for switching on the immersion heater during the cheap-rate overnight period nor the daytime booster has any effect on the water temperature. We were told that the plumber would be back. Then we were told, on second thoughts, that the electrician would phone us on Saturday morning.

Saturday September 22nd
No phone call from Bathing Solutions electrician and still no hot water.

Monday September 24nd
The customers phoned Bathing Solutions in the morning and were assured that the electrician would phone 'this morning'. That didn't happen and the customers have now been without hot water since Thursday of last week.
   15:25 Phoned the service manager again, he said the electrician was supposed to have called us this morning right after he'd spoken to him. He said he would call the electrician right away and get him to call us.
   A call from the electrician! He said he'd be with us at 9 a.m. the following morning. Strong suspicion that he'd only just been told to call the hot-waterless customers.

Tuesday September 25th
The electrician arrived and did his stuff. Hot water restored.

Friday September 28th
The hot water is excellently hot after an overnight session with the immersion heater and one tankful lasts 2 days unless someone has a bath instead of a shower.

Sunday September 30th
Bloody great! No hot water as the immersion heater has packed up again, prompting an outbreak of graffitism.

The water is not hotter

Monday October 01st
Phoned Bathing Solutions, assured that the electrician would phone this afternoon. That didn't happen.

Tuesday October 02nd
Phoned Bathing Solutions again and actually put in touch with the electrician today. He arrived at lunchtime and turned down the wick on the immersion heater, which was at its top setting. In theory, this should prevent the localized overheating which was causing the safety cut-off in the immersion heater to trip. We'll see!

2008

Friday, February 08th
Oh, no! No bloody hot water again!

Monday, February 11th
Phoned Bathing Solutions. We were told they would send an email to the electrian, who would phone us today.

Tuesday, February 12th
Phoned Bathing Solutions again to remind them we're expecting to hear from the electrician.

Wednesday, February 13th
The Bathing Solutions' phoned at 9:00 a.m. to say he would arrive at 11:30. He was 10 minutes early. He checked the electrics; everything okay; and pushed the trip switch on the immersion heater, which is hidden away inside the housing. His conclusion was that if the heater switches off again, we'll have to get Bathing Solutions to send their plumber round to fit a new heating element. In the meantime, we're hoping the immersion heater will decide to work now.

Sunday, August 03rd
Oh, no! No bloody hot water again!

Monday, August 04th
Phoned Bathing Solutions. We were told they would send an email to the service manager, who would phone us.

Wednesday, August 06th
Heard from the electrician, who came and restored our hot water. The question of replacing the temperamental immersion heater remains unresolved as that's a job requiring the plumber, who has to drain the hot tank to do the job.

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