Installing Customer-Supplied Shower Enclosures
From time to time I am contacted by a potential customer who has purchased a shower door or enclosure elsewhere. They have found a “great deal” on a shower door online, or at a local home improvement center. Now they need to find someone who knows how to install it for them. My policy is never to install a customer-supplied shower door. There are just too many things that can go wrong. Online suppliers and home improvement stores are there to sell shower doors to people who are capable of installing them. It’s just common sense that, if you don’t know how to install a shower door, you probably aren’t qualified to buy the right one in the first place. Chances are that the customer thinks they are going to save a little money by buying the materials from one store, and having it installed by someone else. This is a big mistake. A customer who is looking for the cheapest way to do something is a disaster waiting to happen!
I have been doing business with a number of different suppliers for many years. There are a lot of great products available from local manufacturers. On the other hand, there is a lot of cheap crap that is made in China. Odds are that the guy who has done a Google search for “the cheapest shower door on planet Earth” hasn’t come up with a very high quality enclosure. I learned early on that it was a really bad idea to get involved in partnering with people who want to go this route. There are few things less enjoyable then being in a stranger’s bathroom with a shower door kit from some far-off land… hundreds of little parts that are made of inferior metals (or plastic instead of metal!) Instructions that were written by someone who obviously doesn’t speak English, and having the materials crumble under the smallest amount of pressure. Great! Not only have I wasted my day trying to install this piece of junk, now I look incompetent, and have to buy this guy a new crappy shower door and try to get out of this mess! No thank you!
Recently, I let a customer talk me into installing his shower door (bought online). I told him that “I don’t install customer-supplied shower doors.” But he was such a nice guy, and practically begged me to do it. I have a soft spot for people who are in need, and it’s hard for me to say “no.” It had been years since I had agreed to install one of these things, and had forgotten what a nightmare it was to do this. I explained that it was going to be expensive. I went over the price with him a few times to me absolutely sure he understood how much it would cost. To make a long story short, after installing the shower door, the guy didn’t want to pay me. Go figure! It was just what I needed to remind me that my policy is a good one. Never install a customer-supplied shower enclosure.
