Cranky Customer

I have been told by a friend who is a plumber by trade to avoid cheap toilets in which the porcelain is not glazed through the entire "throat". One can tell this easily at the store by running your hand into the the "throat", past the first bend below the bowl. A good toilet,fully-glazed, will have smooth porcelain all the way; cheaply-made toilets will feel rough. It does make a difference in how easily waste flows out of the toilet.

This reminds me of the problem we have had for years. When our new toilet was installed, the plumber failed to VENT it at all. For those who don't know, toilets need a large pipe which extends up to the roof. This pipe allows the toilet to suck air into the sewer line to make the waste flow properly. When
the work was inspected, this problem wasn't noticed and now it's necessary for us to use a plunger almost every time the toilet is flushed. Unfortunately, at present we don't have the funds necessary to rectify this situation.

I have to admit, that was the most disgustingly hillarious example of crappy customer service I have ever heard of. I work for an Commercial Insurance Broker and I see claims from unsatisfied customers who have sustained damage as a result of a misinstallation or just plain stupid moves. It is ALWAYS important to be sure your contractor is licensed and bonded/insured. You have every right to request a certificate of insurance showing their coverage to keep on file in case you need to file a claim for damages. Good luck to the Homeowners of America!

How absolutely aweful! Do you have Angie's List http://www.angieslist.com in your area? I've been a member for about 6 years now. I do my research on the List before calling any service providers, and have been getting great services since I joined!

A few years ago we moved into a new home. The dishwasher wasn't working properly, and the hand sprayer oon the kitchen sink would only pull out 4 inches. Reluctantly, (I like carpentry and electrical work, but hate plumbing) I explored under the sink. The feed pipe for the dishwasher came off the cold water line and passed through the loop of the hand sprayer.

The plumber was on site since other houses were stil being built. I showed him the problem. He insisted that the problem was that the dishwasher wasn't heating the water. He insisted that he was right for several minutes. I ended the argument by showing him the sticker on the dishwasher that said that water had to be at a temperature of 140 degrees for proper functioning. He finally admitted his error and said, "Oh. I installed all of them this way."

My brother has a rare medical condition (caused by his medication) that results in his having very large, well formed, long, and incredibly hard (and painful), ah, er, "offerings". His toilet (a very good one otherwise) can barely handle them. So, he too, keeps a "heavy duty breaker stick" by the throne. He is always complaining about it. I was able to get this article on paper for him. I gave it to him, URL and all, and this has made him very happy. Not that he is pleased by another human being's suffering, but just seeing proof that another person can have "problems" has removed some sort of psychological load from his mind. This misadventure has, serendipitously, done him a lot of good.

This may be a slight diversion, but reading these tales makes me thankful we spent extra money for the Toto toilets in our master and kids' bathrooms. They are astonishingly efficient at flushing, using a tiny amount of water. The company says they did a lot of research on the best design for optimal "throughput", and it shows. You'll pay at least $300 for one of these, but it's worth every penny.

A very funny but sad story. I too have had less than satifactory service from a plumbing company. Our sump pump in our basement stopped working in the middle of a deluge. I called Brant Plumping, a reputable plumbing company in the community I live. They arrived, recommended a new sump pump because the one the builder had used was cheap and "was known to have problems". So I had the state of the art pump installed and tested for $200. Ah piece of mind in knowing that my basement was secure from flooding. Two weeks later some remnant of a hurricane came through and I went to check to ensure that the pump was keeping up. NO!!! It was not operating. The depth gauge was near the top. I placed a call to the company and asked them to send someone right away. They came the next day. I bailed out the water. You know what the problem was? The pump was fine. The previous pump was fine. It was a little flap that got snuck in the pipe going out to the drain outside. I would expect that the plumber would have checked for something like that before replacing the pump. I never made a point of it but I learned a very lesson... don't assume the "expert" knows what they are doing.

I can understand the initial response from the plumber. I work in a new three story office building with 2 bathrooms per floor. According to code each bathroom has a 1.6 gph toilet. Because of the size and hardness of my "droppings," I would plug up at least one toilet every day. No amount of plunging or flushing would clear the blockage. Only time or a snake would work.

One day I had managed to plug up three toilets, causing panic among the staff. Note: this was a also a problem in many public restrooms. I started getting diet suggestions and calls from people asking when I might be using the bathroom so that they could plan accordingly. I finally stumbled upon the solution. Flushmate, www.flushmate.com, makes an air powered water system that mounts inside a toilet. You can also purchase them from Gerber, Kohler, etc. I passed along the info to my boss who had one installed in the bathroom closest to my desk. By popular demand, I may now only use that bathroom ;-). I cannot say that it is perfect but over the course of a year I have only managed to block it up twice. Five or six "power" flushes later though, things were flowing smoothly. Employees no longer run screaming to the bathroom when they see me heading in that direction.

(Sheesh: the things my new site has wrought. -rc)

HAVING BEEN IN THE PLUMBING INDUSTRY FOR THE PAST 40 YEARS, I TAKE UMBRIDGE AT THE COMMENTS MADE ABOVE. A RIGHT ANGLE CANNOT BE CAST INTO A TOILET, TOTO IS NOT THE BEST OUT THERE AND A FLUSHMATE PRESSURE ASSISTED FLUSH TANK CANNOT BE USED ON ANY STANDARD TOILET BOWL. SO I GIVE LITTLE CREEDANCE TO THE ABOVE STORIES, MOST LIKELY FABRICATED JUST FOR THE AMUSEMENT VALUE ONLY...