Tech support, who has it?

[Ballvalve]

Tech support, who has it.
What has been your experience with tech support?
Terry

No, parts for the Kohler.
They have so many parts that the distributors can't stock them all...
Hell they don't even stock most of them at the factory...
Most of the time the factory takes 3 weeks to ship back ordered parts.

The Toto parts commonly needed are sold at Lowes, and many other locations.

I have a obscure and "artistic" Kohler faucet that leaked at the packing a bit. After 12 years, rang them up, got a guy on the first ring WITHOUT an Indian accent, who explained in great mechanical detail the procedure, then sent the part fed ex for free.

Removed the comment that ballvalve wrote about his guess. Guesses don't mean a lot.
There are many manufactures that have good customer service, Kohler is one of them.
Terry

 

[Terry]

Tech support, who has it.
What has been your experience with tech support?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Terry]

95% (my guess) of Toto toilets sold here use commonly available parts, so there is NO problem finding replacments. More than one person here has had the big K tell them, sorry, buy a new one, we don't have the parts. On many things, manufacturers of certain durable products commonly keep parts around for awhile, but it costs money, and at some point, it isn't worth it to them...you maybe, but not them and their shareholders. Sometimes, the parts go to a wholesaler, sometimes to the recycler. Finding it can be a pain.
jadnashua

My primary source of dis-illusionment with Kohler is that they took 4-months to send a product, when they said each time they were called that it would be shipped next week. Plus, when I got it, they'd sent the wrong thing! I did some browsing yesterday and looked over some Kohler toilets and noticed that most of the versions on display had the waste make a sharp 90-degree turn as it exited the toilet as opposed to many of the others where there was a loop at the end to direct it down. One would wonder why they did this, as solids just don't like to go around sharp corners...part of their bolder vision?
jadnashua

That foreign toilet that you guys all live for has a pretty good turn at the end AND a nice inside lip as well.

Can't mention its sacred name as I get deleted.

So I will change my GUESS to a question: Twelve years after you guys bought your sacred foreign sourced throne, occasionally made in America, and you called customer service, did you get a very obscure part and installation instructions from a native english speaker? ... Free, delivered quick, from Wisconsin to boot.

While we are at it, I have 4 American Standard Savoy's one piece - called and pretty much got the same response - 4 new flush towers with a polite request that they not be charged for- no problem and delivered free.

Maybe there should be a forum here on telephone etiquette.
ballvalve

Ballvalve, your ignorance is showing.
TOTO Tech support is in California. That's a part of the United States, it borders on the Pacific Ocean. California has fancy places like Hollywood and Disneyland. You know, Southern Cal.
I can get parts for TOTO at a local hardware store, getting parts for Kohler can mean going to their web site and determining which year it was manufactured and ordering the part from Kohler. Plumbers know all about this, you don't. Ignorance. Plain and simple.

I've sold thousands of toilets, all brands, all price ranges.
You, on the other hand, combine two different brands together with a tube of Silicone.
Whatever floats your boat.
Terry

 

[Jimbo]

Savoy used to be an Eljer Model. AmStd absorbed Eljer, and is producing a Savoy model, which is nothing like the previous Eljer item. GOOD LUCK trying to get support on an old Eljer ( admittedly a basic toilet). AmStd had no conscience, and no qualms, about leaving all the old Eljer customers high and dry.

I had a fairly obtuse conversation with tech at Kohler this week. The shower, I deduced, was a Coralais...but as usual, Kohler produced that with at least 4 different valve bodies, at least 3 different cartridge combinations, and of course lots of different handles and escutcheons. After an hour or so on serviceparts dot com and studying the internals that I found, I did come up with the correct parts list.

 

[Ballvalve]

My comment was on a pretty much "one off" sink valve, fairly old. Not about Kohler toilets. Don't know about their toilet support, and did not refute anyones comments about toilet parts.

We all know about off shore tech suppport, So when you get US support in english and free parts, the MFG. deserves a thanks. I think it only fair the public know that Kohler can and does get it right often.

Tech and customer complaint takers are very human, and tired of being yelled at and abused by the public. I guarantee you get a better response if you seperate the guy on the phone from the company that is causing you to squat in the yard for a week. I have a friend in phone support and when he senses that the customer is "lost" for future sales, he is told to move them way down the line for help.

My Toto drake / Elger or Mansfield tank toilet without the front skirt flushes like a champ! Can spot a flange leak in a moment. Silicone is like baling wire to our forefathers. Maybe a tube of silicone and a Toto flush valve inside of one of those "no service" Kohlers would put them back in service. Always been proud of people that think outside the box.

How many of you have ordered an auto part to find that 10 versions are available? Why is that such a surprise?

Good on Toto for supporting a few guys in Los Angeles, and now I finally know where disneyland is!
When they start making toilets in LA, I'll buy nothing but that.

If anyone saved the paperwork that came with their fixtures, most of these issues would be moot.

 

[Redwoodvotesoften1]

Boy O Boy Soundz like ol brown got you all riled up son.
Wut I wanna know is wy ar you beefin wit Terry an Toto?
Soudz like ur barkin at the wrong tree the raccoon is up the uther one.

Ma be you jes need ta sit down n relax
Take urself a sippa sum of my corn juice n kwit cher bellyakin

 

[Ballvalve]

This dumb as a stump, moonshine making, wine imbibing, silicone loving, ignorant backwater Californian sure is swimming upstream against herd of grizzly bears when he diss'es the big T and loves up the ol K.

My immigrant grandparents taught me to save stuff, keep it working and fix broken things on your own, in whatever way it works. Kinda like those moonshine makers in North Carolina that could make a silk purse from a sows ear.

All those smart guys in the pacific north, I guess, are spoiled by Microsoft, Boeing, Starbucks that can afford a 2,000$ toilet that massages your privates with hot air and water.... I can afford it too, but would rather rap my kneecaps with a 6 pound hammer than give into such conspicuous consumption.

Yessir, I think I see a big ol brown grizz about to snatch me in his mouth and give me a good shaking while being disemboweled.

Maybe I can find a swim in Starbucks and get me a 5 buck cuppa before the ole teeth sink in.