There is nothing really wrong with my bathroom but after some 25 years I am fed up with the colour scheme and there is a loose tap on the wash basin. I discussed this with my husband and he agreed that it would do with a re-vamp.
We decided to get three quotes and I chose Dolphin as my first. One of my mates had used them and was very pleased with the outcome, but she did say they were a little expensive. Remember that word "Little".
I checked them out on the Net, ordered a brochure and booked a rep to come and measure up, discuss my ideas and give us a price.
I booked him for 2.00 p.m. last Wednesday and he duly arrived, dead on time and even took his shoes off before he entered. Wrong!!!! That was not a good start, I can't stand it if someone does that, especially if it is a man. (My immediate thought was that he is obviously nagged at home, and his wife is house proud). He didn't think of taking his trousers off incase they left marks on my brand new beige
leather suite!! He then went on to say that some homes he has been in even left his socks filthy. He quickly said "not yours of course". What a start.
Any rate he (Andy) went on by asking me what I had in mind and we duly went up to measure the bathroom to see if I could actually have what I wanted. Down stairs again he showed me the catalogue, picking out what he thought I would like. He showed me a shower assembly (just on the market he said), but later told me that he had been recommending it for a long time. We then went on to the tiles and flooring and I chose the ones I liked. At no time did we discuss prices, I just chose the things I liked the look of and he wrote them down on his quotation sheet.
I won't bore you with all the conversation, we went from table tennis, through football and ended up talking about fish keeping. It was 5.00 p.m. when he decided to calculate the price. While we waited I prepared the steak and dumpling casserole, peeled the potatoes and it was merrily cooking away in the oven. Three quarters of an hour later he was ready and we sat waiting with bated breath.
Our bathroom is not very big, only approximately 195 cm x 170 cm. I selected a bath and shower unit, toilet, heated towel rail and wash basin. Tiles half way up the wall all round and up to the ceiling in the shower area only. (I had originally wanted the room tiled completely and the floor). Taps, shower screen and bath panel were extra and I chose a vynl floor covering.
Andy explained, "Now you will realise that the price is an all-inclusive amount. I can't break it down into individual costs of equipment and labour charges." (Goodness knows why). That sounded ominous and at that point we both knew that it would be way above what we wanted to pay. We had £5,000 - £7,000 in our mind at the most. Andy looked at us and said, "The price to you will be £12,599.50, cash, it's a lot but don't forget this also includes an accessories kit free of charge." I wonder were the 50p came from!!!! Before leaving he gave us a copy of the quotation showing all the items "he" had chosen, but there was no sign of individual prices, only the final cash price.
After his "announcement" there was utter silence. I was thinking, "wow a soap dish, toilet roll holder, toilet brush and toothbrush holder all for free, big deal". My husband was thinking, "Oh God, please don't insist we accept it Barbara".
Andy could obviously see from our faces that we would not go ahead with this and made the following offer:
"Dont let anyone know about this as I am not supposed to tell you but, if you take out a finance agreement for say one or two years, and you pay it off in the first two months, I can get you 10% off the price".
Wow! again. He must have thought we came over of the last banana boat. 10% off; what would the interest rate be on the loan, he didn't tell us that, but I bet it would be at least 19%.
Of course we said we would think about it (tongue in cheek of course). Andy left without an order, taking his shoes with him.
Just out of interest I did a quick calculation for very similar products using a local wholesaler, these were as follows:
A bath, screen & panel, wash basin with vanity unit, toilet, shower and heated towel rail at approximately £1,600. Tiles I estimated at £500 and flooring at the most £100. If you allowed £1,500 for labour the whole job would be less than £4,000. Where did the other £9,000 go!!!!!
In conclusion I would never recommend this firm they are far too expensive. They wasted our time, if the prices had been available in the brochure we could have chosen items in our price range (if they existed). In my opinion the "all-inclusive " figure which is quoted hides a multitude of "sins" and I have since read a lot of the reviews members have written which also leaves me in doubt as to their workmanship and promises they give.
Well that's got that off my chest, thank you for reading it.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
OMG. There is no way I'd ever pay that for a bathroom. I only paid just over £4000 for my kitchen with all the appliances included!
weenawoo 21.03.2005 16:12
12K for a bathroom! it's outrageous! but I guess someone somewhere is willing to pay that bumped-up price or Dolphin would've sunk without a trace by now. You'd be far better off going to B&Q to buy the bath etc and then getting someone to fit them (you'd be lucky if you used the plumber who fitted our bathroom 3 years ago - he hasn't sent us the bill yet!!) Jo
sue.51 20.03.2005 23:31
Sorry for the rating, but feel the op would have sat better in the "buyer beware" category, whereas this is for people who have actually used them. We had a similar experience with StayBright and eventually had to physically remove the guy from the house. I believe my parents used Dolphin, I know they weren't cheap but neither were the choices. As for workmen who take their shoes off, bring them on, I am certainly not some houseproud wife, but someone with very little time and one decent room with a rather expensive new carpet in a house that need a LOT of work, I would like to keep that one room decent.
Sue
Advantages: Impressive finished product, great catalogue and TV advert, professional sales staff Disadvantages: Very expensive, sister companies featured on BBC1's Watchdog
exceptional by (2%):
very helpful by (72%):
helpful by (26%):
