B&Q faulty tap

[muncho]

Hiya

 

im new to this forum and was hoping to get some advise.

My sis bought a sink from B&Q which came with a tap. A few months later, she had several leaks in her flat and has had issues with the elcetricity in the communual areas.

A plumber has confirmed the tap is faulty. As a result of this faulty tap she has been charged over £500 for the electrican, plumber etc etc

 

She has also suffered ill health was seeing a specialist doctor during time, and all the stress has not helped the situation

 

Im in the process of writing to BQ now to claim for all the costs she has incurred and also compensation for the stress etc

 

Any advice from anyone, is it possible they will pay up?

 

thanks

[muncho]

where?

[electron99]

I am loss to understand how a faulty tap can cause electrical problems in a communal area, and lead to stress,and, presumably, claims for compensation.

 

The only way a tap can develop a fault is if the ceramic disc or washer fails, which would lead to water coming out of the spout and into the sink. Any other leaks would be down to faulty installation, not the problem of the shop.

 

Any competent plumber would check for leaks after installation. You say a plumber has confirmed the tap faulty.In what way is it faulty, and why was this not spotted by the person who originally fitted the tap.

 

I suspect that B and Q will only replace/refund the cost of the original tap.

 

It is possible to claim for consequential loss, but is not as easy as you appear to think it is.

[andydd]

I am loss to understand how a faulty tap can cause electrical problems in a communal area, and lead to stress,and, presumably, claims for compensation.

 

The only way a tap can develop a fault is if the ceramic disc or washer fails, which would lead to water coming out of the spout and into the sink. Any other leaks would be down to faulty installation, not the problem of the shop.

 

Any competent plumber would check for leaks after installation. You say a plumber has confirmed the tap faulty.In what way is it faulty, and why was this not spotted by the person who originally fitted the tap.

 

I suspect that B and Q will only replace/refund the cost of the original tap.

 

It is possible to claim for consequential loss, but is not as easy as you appear to think it is.

 

I have to agree....Unless there was a crack in the lower threaded part then any fault is almost due to the installation.

 

I have this week installed a new bathroom, im no expert and there were a few leaks here and there that I managed to fix, I fail to see how a leak can cause £100s of pounds of electrical damage, surely all the joints should be checked before turning the mains water back on ?

 

Andy

[muncho]

yes i cant believe it either!

 

2 plumbers have confirmed its the tap - so i need them to give me a report. tp pass to B&Q.

 

Water must have gone into the electrics, hence the lights went off. electrican came out and fixed it, then the next day it starting triping, so he had to come out again and said there was still water in the electrics..

 

so far i have been charged for 2 plumbers, electricans and the management comany have charged me for the inconvenince it has caused them - liasing with the contractors. they would not let me deal with it!!!

 

thats why its been stressful, the bills keep increasing, im finally getting a new tap fitted on Wed!

[Conniff]

yes i cant believe it either!

 

2 plumbers have confirmed its the tap - so i need them to give me a report. tp pass to B&Q.

 

Water must have gone into the electrics, hence the lights went off. electrican came out and fixed it, then the next day it starting triping, so he had to come out again and said there was still water in the electrics..

 

so far i have been charged for 2 plumbers, electricans and the management comany have charged me for the inconvenince it has caused them - liasing with the contractors. they would not let me deal with it!!!

 

thats why its been stressful, the bills keep increasing, im finally getting a new tap fitted on Wed!

 

It's of no use saying "water must have gone into the electics", you would have to prove it did and that it came from your tap.

 

What happened exactly, did the sink overflow??

[muncho]

i dont know where it leaked from, but my sis also has home emergency cover , so she called someone out who confirmed the tap was faulty, he turned the water off. the plumber later came and confirmed the same thing. Thats 2 independant reports!

The plumber was the contractor from the management company

 

yes the electrican has confirmed it was due to a leak from my flat

im refusing to pay subsequent bills now as i think the management company are taking the mick and keep throwing all the bills my way which i am refusing to pay now. They wont give me the telepphone numbr for the electrican to talk to him

 

but the new tap is being fixed today, so that shoudl be the end of it...abut £500 later!

[andydd]

i dont know where it leaked from, but my sis also has home emergency cover , so she called someone out who confirmed the tap was faulty, he turned the water off. the plumber later came and confirmed the same thing. Thats 2 independant reports!

The plumber was the contractor from the management company

 

yes the electrican has confirmed it was due to a leak from my flat

im refusing to pay subsequent bills now as i think the management company are taking the mick and keep throwing all the bills my way which i am refusing to pay now. They wont give me the telepphone numbr for the electrican to talk to him

 

but the new tap is being fixed today, so that shoudl be the end of it...abut £500 later!

 

Seems like you have disputes other than B & Q. How is a management company involved ?

 

Andy

[Conniff]

You are being a bit sparse with the details muncho.

 

Did you have to clean up your flat, had the sink overflowed, you must know at least that.

[electron99]

muncho. If we are to help you with your claim against B & Q, we need more information. Start with the tap.It was reported as faulty.What EXACTLY was the fault. This is a question B&Q will be asking. Did a plumber fit it originally - if so have you contacted him for his opinion.

[muncho]

i have just spoken to the plumber and he tells me that glan inside the tap has gone (the tap is only 2 months old), so the quality is poor.

 

he also confirmed that the water has gone through the floor boards hence the electrics going off the in the communual areas

 

The management company are invloved as the residents complained about the lights etc and they are dealing with the electrican and plumber. So they have charged me £52 for the inconvenience it has caused them. i ahve tried arguing it, but the directors have made a decsion that they are going to charge and we cannot claim through buildings insurance as the premium ill go up next year and its not fair on the other residents...i thought that what insurance was for, especially now that we now the leak was due to a fault

 

Does this help?

[Conniff]

Your not answering the question muncho - how did the water get on the floor, did it run over the edge of the sink ie; did the sink overflow because the tap was leaking????

 

Also, you cannot be charged for 'inconvenience', only for the cost of putting it right.

Edited June 23, 2009 by Conniff

[muncho]

sorry!! i ahve not spoken to the electrican to find out, but the sink didnot overflow as then we would have known there was a leak. so im guessing it was more internal (in the sink unit) and went inot the floor boards

 

Management compnny wont give me the tel number for electrican, but i spoke to them and she said he will give me an invoice stating what the problem was and confirming it came from the flat..

 

ill try and speak to the electrican again

[Conniff]

Ok - the sink didn't overflow, which means the tap did shut off properly. That means that any fault will have been in the joint connecting the tap to the supply.

 

This is where the difficulty comes in, 'who connected the water pipe to the tap'?

[muncho]

the plumber who originally installed it, but 2 reports have said the same thing, The tap is faulty, not the installation...

[electron99]

A modern tap usually has an 'O' ring or ceramic disc as gland packing. See here for details

DIY Help & Advice : Taps Washers Supataps Glands : Plumbing : DIY How To

 

When gland packing is faulty this means that when the tap is turned off water still drips out of the spout.

 

The only way water can leak out of a tap and onto the floorboards is if the connections to the water pipe are faulty, or there is a crack in the metal of the tap.

If it were a faulty gland, you would see the water dripping out of the body of the tap near the handle.The water would then run into the sink.

 

It might help if you could say which B&Q tap it was.

[Conniff]

I am not saying the tap is not faulty, but I can't see how any water can get out of the tap if the pipe is connected properly and using ptfe tape unless there is physical damage to the body of the tap. I cannot see where gland failure will cause water to come from where the pipe connects to the tap unless it is as I said 'damaged'.

 

Gland failure would mean the water was leaking into the sink from the top of the tap or from it's spout.

 

Keep the tap safe as B&Q will want it returned for an examination and report. They will not in any way consider any further action without it's return.

[muncho]

thanks, ill ask the plumber the questions you have just asked.

[muncho]

another question regarding the electrican:

he came once the lights went out and fixed the problem. the next day the lights went off again, s he came out again and said there was a problem that he did not detect. the plumber has now confirmed the leak was not present the 2nd time he came to the property.

So how can he charge me another call out charge to tell methere was still a problem and once the plumber has fixed the tap, the electrican is going to come out again to fix the lights and charge me again!

 

shoudnt he have picked this up the 1st time? he says he couldnt, i cant prove it beacuse the management agent wouldnt allow me to send someone to give me a quote

does that make sense/

 

the whole thing is a nightmare

[andydd]

another question regarding the electrican:

he came once the lights went out and fixed the problem. the next day the lights went off again, s he came out again and said there was a problem that he did not detect. the plumber has now confirmed the leak was not present the 2nd time he came to the property.

So how can he charge me another call out charge to tell methere was still a problem and once the plumber has fixed the tap, the electrican is going to come out again to fix the lights and charge me again!

 

shoudnt he have picked this up the 1st time? he says he couldnt, i cant prove it beacuse the management agent wouldnt allow me to send someone to give me a quote

does that make sense/

 

the whole thing is a nightmare

 

I think you have too many questions on here, it started off on taps then management companies and now electricians, it prob needs to be broken down into seperate questions.

 

Andy

[electron99]

I think I know what may have happened. Many mixer taps come with copper tails. The narrow end screws into the base of the tap with an O ring to seal, the other end is 25 mm dia to fit a standard water pipe.

 

It seems that this O ring may have been faulty, causing leaking from the base of the tap, which would normally be out of sight below the sink.

 

If this is the case the O.P should contact B&Q with this information and listing the consequential damage, and see what their reaction is.

[borisbeaver]

However, a bad installation may have damaged the O-ring seal.

[electron99]

However, a bad installation may have damaged the O-ring seal.

 

Agreed - in which case the O.P should be claiming from the plumber who did the original installation.