It's Not The Product, It's the Installer.

A customer purchased a complete shower set which included a new thermostatic valve.  After about two weeks, the customer called me to say that the shower valve was defective.  I asked him why he thought the valve was defective.  He said he was not able to get hot water when using the shower.  Upon hearing this, I asked him who installed the product.  He told me his "contractor" installed the valve and even he said, "it's the product, the product is defective".  Since it is Kitchen Bath Warehouse's policy to repair or replace any product sold in our store, I offered a replacement cartridge to him at no charge.  He came and picked up the part, then called the next day to say he still was not getting hot water.  I told the customer I would send the manufacturers national sales representative go to his house and take a closer look at no charge.

Upon that visit, the vendor rep. immediately found the reason for the valve not functioning properly.  The customers "contractor" (who previously blamed the product) installed the valve upside down and thus the cold and hot water inlets were reversed; which caused the valve to malfunction.  The client was very happy to finally know what had been the problem, however, he was very saddened when he was told that the only way to fix it was to remove the newly installed tile, remove and reinstall the valve properly.

The lesson here is: I cannot stress enough the importance of hiring qualified people to install your products. If you do not know of a company, Kitchen Bath Warehouse is happy to provide you with the names of several licensed and insured plumbers.  Every product we sell in our store that contains a cartidge is water tested for leaks and functionality prior to leaving the factory.  This insures that your product is in perfect working order when you receive it.