Old Delta stock at big box store

[SteveW]

I just special-ordered 4 Delta bathroom faucets - $200 each in pearl nickel - from one of the big box stores. Just got the faucets delivered to the house and they were the conventional Delta faucets, with the usual black rubber or silicone seats, plastic ball, and springs. I had really ordered Delta's new "Diamond Seal" faucet which looks the same but has a sealed cartridge, long Pex risers (so no additional riser needed).

Apparently the big box is still using up old stock -

I ended up ordering the faucets through an online source recommended by Delta - same price, but has the Diamond Seal technology. The new cartridge is diamond-impregnated and designed to last 10 times longer than the traditional ball and seat model.

Just a heads-up. The faucets from the big box were otherwise fine, and had metal drains (not plastic as some have reported).

 

[hj]

delta

One of the problems I had with a kitchen faucet is that the box did not mention it had the long risers with captive nuts and ferrules, and they were both 1 1/2" too short, and I was out of EVERYTHING I could have used to extend them and they did not send MIP adapters with the faucet so convention faucet flexs could be added to them.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Jimbo]

It sounds like you paid too much. The model number for the Diamond Seal is not the same as some other model, so probably the knucklehead who wrote up your order didn't know the difference. Blue or Orange do not typically stock those kind of items in their own distribution centers. They come from the vendor, in the case of Delta, from the Brasscraft Distributrion Center, who packages all that stuff for them.

SO either you ordered the wrong thing, or you got ripped off!

 

[SteveW]

Jimbo,
I think it was an innocent mistake on the part of the 20-year-old kitchen/bath advisor guy. I brought in the actual Delta brochure complete with model numbers but still didn't get the right one. We took 'em back today and did get a refund.

HJ,
How frustrating! Sounds like you had to make an unscheduled parts run. Not fun when you are in the middle of a busy day.

 

[hj]

delta

Especially when it was a Saturday and the customer had an appointment and had to leave. Meaaning I had to finish it Sunday. And, I have a difficult time believing that ANYONE at HD would correlate the number for the correct faucet with one of the same design if it had a different number to send the wrong one.

 

[Master Plumber Mark]

Not a fan yet

I think what you got is good.....I would keep it...

I have already had fun with their new diamond seal technology and have had to tear out a complete tub faucet becasue of it..... I am very leerey of it all


What you presently have is tried and true and will probably last you 35 years, and you will be able to get theparts anywhere...

why dont you just ask them for a discount for getting the old stuff and be happy that you did...

 

[SteveW]

I already took the "old" ones back and have the new style on order -

I have not had great luck with Delta's spring-in-the-rubber-seat technology, for some reason - seem to leak after a year in my house - so am looking forward to the new cartridges.

Mark - what kind of trouble did you have with the new stuff?

 

[Jimbo]

I already took the "old" ones back and have the new style on order -

I have not had great luck with Delta's spring-in-the-rubber-seat technology, for some reason - seem to leak after a year in my house - so am looking forward to the new cartridges.

Mark - what kind of trouble did you have with the new stuff?

The rubber seat and spring design is so good, it has been copied by almost every company on the planet, including the chinese.

Some would put it on a par with ceramic disc, which is what the diamond seal thing is. You may be the only plumber on the forum who doesn't like it!

 

[Valpohawkeye]

While I agree that many box stores have poorly-trained staff, HD does employ hundreds, if not thousands of licensed plumbers to staff their plubming departments. I know this because I'm a licensed plumbing contractor and I work full time for HD. Each store in my district has a licensed plumber on the payroll. Additionally, I have several people in my department who can easily distinguish faucets by their model numbers.

Especially when it was a Saturday and the customer had an appointment and had to leave. Meaaning I had to finish it Sunday. And, I have a difficult time believing that ANYONE at HD would correlate the number for the correct faucet with one of the same design if it had a different number to send the wrong one.

 

[hj]

Hd

You mean that you have the entire catalog memorized, and when someone gave you a number, such as this person did, you can, "Ah ha! That looks just like model so and so we have on our shelf so let's give him that one." Either you are pulling my leg or you don't belong at HD.

 

[Valpohawkeye]

Perhaps I misunderstood the intent of the quoted post. You seemed to suggest a box-store employee is too poorly trained to realize that "DST" in a Delta model number means diamond seal technology. I don't have the catalog memorized but I did manage to figure that out.

 

[Redwood]

So Valpohawkeye what happened to your plumbing business that made you opt for a Smockman Career?

Do ya think you could get your people to sort through the bins and get them in order. Everytime I go there the bin for the part I need seems to be an "assortment bin"

 

[Gelo30]

happened to your plumbing business

I can feel the crisis right now. Is there still future for us?

 

[Valpohawkeye]

Nothing "happened" really. I worked in a family-owned business for 6 years, but we all know that sometimes family and business can't be together forever. I went to a mid-sized HVACR company as a tech and did pretty well for myself there for several more years.

However, HD opened up their Master Specialist program which allows them to match what you made in the field (within reason) to work on the floor, as long as you have a license. It means no more being on call every third week, no more attics or crawlspaces, so I applied and got it.

Sure, some of the guys I worked with in the field think it's funny that I wear on orange apron, but it's a fairly secure job, I make good money and they give me a certain degree of autonomy to grow the business here.

Redwood, yeah sometimes the bins can be a mess. After I come back from a couple consecutive days off, they need a bit of TLC. I usually hit them in the AM to get everything where it belongs. HD is really emphasizing customer service and keeping things readily "shoppable", so hopefully you'll see some improvement in the near future.

 

[hj]

delta

Maybe you misunderstood the original question. He stated that he had chosen the diamond seal technology faucet and therefore should have used the correct model number, BUT that Home Depot had substituted faucets with the conventional seats and springs. The ONLY way that could happen is if the stocker KNEW that the two faucets looked the same and ignored the model number specified.

 

[Valpohawkeye]

Maybe you misunderstood the first post. He didn't specify HD, you did in a later post. I'm not trying to argue anything other than the fact that you implied an HD associate would be unable to ID the correct faucet because we're just "aprons".

Maybe you misunderstood the original question. He stated that he had chosen the diamond seal technology faucet and therefore should have used the correct model number, BUT that Home Depot had substituted faucets with the conventional seats and springs. The ONLY way that could happen is if the stocker KNEW that the two faucets looked the same and ignored the model number specified.

 

[Master Plumber Mark]

I still like the old stuff

The rubber seat and spring design is so good, it has been copied by almost every company on the planet, including the chinese.

Some would put it on a par with ceramic disc, which is what the diamond seal thing is. You may be the only plumber on the forum who doesn't like it!

we recently had to tear out a 1700 that has some sort of flaw in the body that you could not just change out the cartridge..

maybe it was just a fluke,
I had heard that they let the chinese make them for a while. I guess quality controll was hell and they pulled the line back to the USA.

I still wait for the day a bunch of crud goes up the pipe when someone installs a water heater and gets into one of those new valves... then that will tell the story.


.


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[hj]

Hd

When someone mentions "big box store" the most frequent one is HD. HD is becoming a generic term for poor quality and service.

 

[Valpohawkeye]

Wow, you just can't help yourself, can you. Aren't moderators supposed to maintain appropriate decorum and not fan the flames?

Besides, how many other "big box" stores are putting licensed plumbers and electricians in nearly every store to better help homeowners? Not exactly exemplary of poor quality or service.

 

[Redwood]

Besides, how many other "big box" stores are putting licensed plumbers and electricians in nearly every store to better help homeowners? Not exactly exemplary of poor quality or service.

The ones I have met have been less than impressive...

Here I made you an apron...