A shower has one
job.
Give you a good soaking while keeping the rest of the
place nice and dry.
Alright, you got 10 seconds.
Hurry up.
At Clare's house, there is no lingering in their new shower.
Alright, time's up.
No, it's a strict one-minute wash for
little Malik and then, a bucket bail into the basin and repeat.
Alright, next one in.
So, big sister can have her 60 seconds.
Oh my gosh it's been so stressful just working in a
school as a primary school teacher as well and the demands
of the kids and going through COVID and then you come home
you can't shower properly.
Look up there's the problem bubbling
paint on the ceiling lights that suddenly died and a new
leak that seems to start from the shower upstairs.
I'm worried
about the water coming through my roof my ceiling it's just
been it's honestly been really really awful.
After saving hard
for a $5,000 replacement.
I wasn't really happy with the
result for the amount of money that I'd spent.
So she
contacted the company but it has pushed back.
The shower's
been in for six months why's she only raised it now?
Minute I
noticed that that's when I phoned up.
So yeah I felt awful
and because the blame was being putting on me.
I just thought
you know I started to question myself and thought maybe it is
my fault you know.
After the company owner made one visit to
patch it with more silicone sealant Claire is still worried
and still seeing signs of leaks.
Who'd have thought
something so simple like a shower would turn into this big
drama.
And but drama with who exactly?
Well an Auckland
company called Shower Solutions which has offered to patch
Clare's ceiling and now tells us it takes these concerns very
seriously and is endeavouring to put things right.
But not
just for Clare.
Further south the his and hers waterless shower is a thing for
the Luscombes.
Workmanship was horrendous.
They started with
one leaky shower and one good one.
After they finished both
of them leaked.
This has played out over two years.
They've
since replaced the showers at their own cost then sold the
house and moved.
We pulled these out of storage in their
garage.
Annoying reminders of the unpleasant dispute.
It's
quite difficult.
Once we complained his whole demeanor
changed.
When I told him he needed to come and a look at
them or suggested he could show and have a look at them.
Um he
just straight on the offensive and basically said oh they sent
me a photo they looked mint.
Few hardwares from your end as
well?
Yes.
With three expert opinions on their side
they took it to the disputes tribunal the case looked like
it held more water than the showers.
Finally in January the
tribunal ruled.
And it ruled in our favour to return the
deposit to us and the debt to be wiped.
No mention of the
shower units but the couple are happy for those to be
picked up as a goodwill gesture.
The solution for Shower
Solutions this time is simple: pay up, and since Fair Go got
involved it has in full $2,610 last week.
It says it never
received the disputes tribunal finding despite asking the
court for it repeatedly but things aren't all quite squeaky
clean yet.
Ferozza has a shower reno that wasn't exactly
child's play to begin with.
It was quoted for about four K we
ended up paying about five and a half with a bit of extra
stuff that was supposedly fixing some of our problems.
Rotten wooden floors and joists needed to be removed and
replaced.
I had a text message from him saying that would cost
$550 plus GST to "fix" the rotten wood underneath and I said yeah
that's fine and then I was under the presumption that that
was all done.
But that didn't happen instead the shower
installer patched it with ply put in the new shower on top.
That's what an independent building inspection found.
It
meant a very difficult rebuild from underneath to put it
right.
When we raised these issues, he became quite
defensive and it was just really hard and stressful to
deal with.
I'd just had a baby and I felt so pressured that I
ended up just paying the invoice because I didn't
want to go to debt collectors.
I didn't want to have any extra
additional stress.
Shower Solutions says it thought all this got
sorted two years ago and it'll get in touch with Ferozza to
check.
It says customer satisfaction and quality
workmanship is extremely important to us.
We
unreservedly apologize for any upset caused to each of these
customers.
It says it's now reviewing its systems like
making sure its subbies are more aware of the company's obligations
and double checking its materials with its suppliers.
Shower Solutions reckons it was supplied the wrong silicon to
put into Claire's shower but is that actually the issue?
It
looks like here is where the water's been coming out.
Fair
Go has called on a professional.
Reuben Cutts is a registered
plumber and a master plumber.
He can see a problem.
Bead of
silicone's been put at the base of the liner right around the
base here you can see that now.
That is actually going to act
as a water trap and any water get in gets in behind there,
it may not necessarily come out back into the shower base but
it could make its way into the wall cavity or under the floor
like it like it probably has been happening.
While he's handy
is it easy to put a shower in?
No no it's the installation of the
base and the connection of the waste pot to the base.
That's
the plug hole basically?
That's right so you need to be a
licensed plumber to do that however the rest of the
installation putting the liner on putting the door on you
don't... but you do have to be skillful.
He reckons everything
above the shower base needs to go and Clare is taking that
hard.
The shower doors have to come off.
The lining has to
come off.
The gib has to come off and the walls have to be
squared up correctly and then everything reinstalled with a
new liner and Auckland Master Plumbers is keen to do it for
you.
Okay and get it sorted.
Yeah.
Okay and yeah because
you can't go can't go on like this and we want to make it
right.
Thank you so much.
Oh it's our pleasure.
Thank you.
No problem.
So when can we get started?
Sorry it's been really
stressful so thank you.
Come and give me a hug.