Life, The Universe and Small Things all covered in one friendly blog.
Remember DON'T PANIC! .

06 April, 2012

Stuart Turner Pumps

The other week I read an article about how the furniture industry pay for "independent assessors" to turn up when people have a problem, they then write reports saying there is nothing wrong,  I was disgusted that customers are treated this way.
Then I had a problem with a Stuart Turner shower pump and experiences the situation first hand.

Initially I was extremely pleased, when I phoned up their pump assist line to say I had a problem with a pump that is only 16 months old,  the guy took details and within the week an engineer was attending, it all seemed so easy.

I had expected the engineer to come in with a new pump or at least a tool box so I was a little bemused that he only had a clipboard and pen. A pleasant enough chap I showed him to the offending pump and without even looking at it he started ripping off the pipe lagging in the cupboard. Next he asked to go into the loft and on the way up asked "are you off the water tower" , "not a clue" I replied.

He clambered into the loft and lifting the top of the 100 gallon tank there exclaimed that was the problem, my tank fills too slowly, "you have really low pressure downstairs don't you?" " um no, really good actually".

He explained that what was happening was I was running the tank empty taking a shower and causing problems with the pump. I don't think I used that much water, not for a shower!

He proceeded to turn on both showers on full and hot and let them run for 10 mins to prove my tank would empty. After using my days supply of hot and costing me a few quid in water he clambered back into the loft, I could almost hear his disappointment, the tank had only gone down about 5%.

OK so can't blame it on the water the next thing was to start on the pipework, jackpot, look this is 15mm pipe it should be 22mm and oh look another bit of 15mm here too. I could hear the joy in his voice.

He hadn't even looked at the pump and during the whole visit the only time he touched it was to stick one of his company adverts onto it, it was at this point I realised the way it works.
Unless the pump is fitted 100% to a load of details in a booklet that comes with it then even if the pump was manufactured with half its bits missing its not their fault, its an "installation problem".

The guy was possibly a very good plumber/engineer but his only purpose on behalf of Stuart Turner Pumps is to find a get out for their warranty to be void.

I had been told that the pumps are so well made you can "run them with the valves closed" , yet when a section of 15mm pipe is found where they say it should be 22mm in their booklet, not matter what any plumber on earth may say your warranty is void.

"Its usually installation faults that cause the problem" , yes I bet it is, I also bet he didn't have a replacement pump in his car and probably not even a spanner. I can imagine him telling all his mates how in 10yrs of being contracted to Stuart Turner Pumps he hasn't yet not managed to find a reason to void the warranty.

Maybe they do sell thousands of pumps that have no problem, but I wonder how many of the people who have a problem ever manage to get it fixed under warranty. Oh and did I mention a huge call out charge if they don't find a problem with the pump.

The moral of this entry, don't waste money on an expensive pump with 5yrs warranty, go buy something cheap, then when it fails after a few years you can chuck it out and buy another and still be in pocket.

No comments:

Post a Comment