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A Tale of Two Toilets
Feb. 9th, 2010 10:59 pmHey, Internets. What up? Sorry for not updating in, like, forever, but I've been busy. Two jobs, husband, visitors, and oh, yeah, have I mentioned that we're renovating our bathroom? It's almost finished, but not quite, because we're still waiting for Home Despot to deliver our sink and vanity. But in the meantime we have a fully-functional, if not 100% finished, bathroom. New tub, new tile, new paint and a toilet that fucking works, OMG.
The Saga of the Toilet almost killed John and me dead. We had bought this fancy-pants toilet from Home Depot. It was a really cool space-aged one-piece dual-flush thing that the Jetsons would have envied. We even got a deal on it, because the company that makes it has decided to only sell via its webpage from now on, so HD was liquidating their stock. It was a $350 flushie, and we got it for about $125.
We had it delivered, along with our awesome new bathtub. And somehow, on the way to our house, Home Depot broke our toilet:
Not only did they break it, but they broke it spectacularly.
So we called them, and they were completely unsympathetic. The offered to refund us the money, which is fine, but there was no apology or anything. And they said there was nothing they could do because they were out of that model. We called head office, and went up the customer service food chain for a while, but basically, this model no longer exists at any Home Depot store in Canada. Home Depot offered to refund our money, but we had paid $125 for a high-end $350 toilet, and didn't want to get some standard water-waster. I tried to convince them that since they broke our toilet, they should replace it with one of similar value and quality, not similar price, but they weren't having it. (During all this, the plumber was in our bathroom demolishing our tile and making a ton of noise, which I hoped would lend a sense of urgency to our call.)
Eventually, Home Depot in Quebec City called us back and offered us their floor model. It was brand new, and although it had been out on the floor, they claimed it was in perfect condition. Since it was the only one left in the country, we accepted. I think someone from Head Office had been in contact with the store, because suddenly, the staff were unbelievably helpful. The manager of the department even drove the replacement over to our condo herself the next day. She said we could keep the first one, in case we needed parts or anything. Home Depot didn't need it back.
That night, John and I installed the toilet ourselves. It was a bit of a pain, because it's a huge thing, and it fit tightly against the wall. I had a hard time attaching the hose because my hand wouldn't fit in the space, but it finally got installed. We turned on the water, all proud of ourselves for our Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor-like powers, and watched as the tank filled up. It only filled about halfway, and then it stopped. But suddenly, the floor was covered in water.
What are the odds of having two broken toilets? Pretty good, it turns out, because the second toilet had a leak. On the underside of the base was a tiny pinprick hole that you could barely see with the naked eye, but somehow, water from the tank was flowing straight through it. So, we got on the phone to Home Depot again, and they offered to refund us the cost of the toilet, plus an additional 20%. I went on the website and found a new toilet. It wasn't as groovy as the original, but it's still pretty good. You know, for a toilet. And it's dual-flush, which is what I wanted. We had a friend drive us to Home Depot, and we inspected the new throne to make sure there was nothing wrong. Meanwhile, we now had two useless toilets in our living room.
(Note how John arranged them to be like the Love Toilet from SNL.)
It's a damn good thing we have a powder room, because we spent the better part of a week dealing with just the toilet issue. The bathroom is fully-functional, and it even looks presentable, now that we've cleaned up and (mostly) painted. We'll finish it off once the vanity arrives, and then I'll post before-and-after pictures. I am so glad we did this, because it looks amazing, but man, what a hassle. It only took a week, but it felt like a year.
The Saga of the Toilet almost killed John and me dead. We had bought this fancy-pants toilet from Home Depot. It was a really cool space-aged one-piece dual-flush thing that the Jetsons would have envied. We even got a deal on it, because the company that makes it has decided to only sell via its webpage from now on, so HD was liquidating their stock. It was a $350 flushie, and we got it for about $125.
We had it delivered, along with our awesome new bathtub. And somehow, on the way to our house, Home Depot broke our toilet:
Not only did they break it, but they broke it spectacularly.
So we called them, and they were completely unsympathetic. The offered to refund us the money, which is fine, but there was no apology or anything. And they said there was nothing they could do because they were out of that model. We called head office, and went up the customer service food chain for a while, but basically, this model no longer exists at any Home Depot store in Canada. Home Depot offered to refund our money, but we had paid $125 for a high-end $350 toilet, and didn't want to get some standard water-waster. I tried to convince them that since they broke our toilet, they should replace it with one of similar value and quality, not similar price, but they weren't having it. (During all this, the plumber was in our bathroom demolishing our tile and making a ton of noise, which I hoped would lend a sense of urgency to our call.)
Eventually, Home Depot in Quebec City called us back and offered us their floor model. It was brand new, and although it had been out on the floor, they claimed it was in perfect condition. Since it was the only one left in the country, we accepted. I think someone from Head Office had been in contact with the store, because suddenly, the staff were unbelievably helpful. The manager of the department even drove the replacement over to our condo herself the next day. She said we could keep the first one, in case we needed parts or anything. Home Depot didn't need it back.
That night, John and I installed the toilet ourselves. It was a bit of a pain, because it's a huge thing, and it fit tightly against the wall. I had a hard time attaching the hose because my hand wouldn't fit in the space, but it finally got installed. We turned on the water, all proud of ourselves for our Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor-like powers, and watched as the tank filled up. It only filled about halfway, and then it stopped. But suddenly, the floor was covered in water.
What are the odds of having two broken toilets? Pretty good, it turns out, because the second toilet had a leak. On the underside of the base was a tiny pinprick hole that you could barely see with the naked eye, but somehow, water from the tank was flowing straight through it. So, we got on the phone to Home Depot again, and they offered to refund us the cost of the toilet, plus an additional 20%. I went on the website and found a new toilet. It wasn't as groovy as the original, but it's still pretty good. You know, for a toilet. And it's dual-flush, which is what I wanted. We had a friend drive us to Home Depot, and we inspected the new throne to make sure there was nothing wrong. Meanwhile, we now had two useless toilets in our living room.
(Note how John arranged them to be like the Love Toilet from SNL.)
It's a damn good thing we have a powder room, because we spent the better part of a week dealing with just the toilet issue. The bathroom is fully-functional, and it even looks presentable, now that we've cleaned up and (mostly) painted. We'll finish it off once the vanity arrives, and then I'll post before-and-after pictures. I am so glad we did this, because it looks amazing, but man, what a hassle. It only took a week, but it felt like a year.
