So industry is moving so fast it is tripping over it’s feet. Multiple versions of the same product or part. All in the name of ‘continual improvement’ (ha ha), or part sources drying up.
A great example of what should have a simple faucet purchase and install ending up being clumsy and aggravating. I realize the fact that we live in an age with running water at all is a blessing and miracle, but the myriad of small aggravations make me wonder if past nomad people were not happier. Not more comfortable, just happier. Who can say.
So hopeful that Moen is a trusted and reputable name I purchased the following to replace our Pfister faucet. Don’t get me going about that faucet and its poor design issues. https://www.homehardware.ca/en/adler-single-handle-kitchen-faucet-with-side-spray-3-holes-chrome/p/3229538?
After an hour or so of removing the old one and installing the new it is discovered that the Hose Guide Nut has different size threads on either side. And both those threads are designed to fit in the same Hose Guide. I hope everyone can appreciate that that is impossible.
Other quibbles would be the confusing, and often incorrect, installation instructions. I believe this is intentional to make the installer believe that they are in error, and not Moen’s product parts.
I called on Saturday and guess what, Moen support is not open on the weekend. What kind of idiot would install a faucet on the weekend? That is not very supportive.
So I call Moen on Monday confident in their promise that they will make it right.
I explain my issue to someone who has never installed a faucet in their life. We agree that they will send both the Hose Guide and the Hose Guide nut as they are supposed to fit together. But they don’t. So not knowing which part if any is wrong, they will send both.
I get an email 10 min later stating that only the Hose Guide has been ordered.
Ok, I get to enjoy another 20 min wait to talk to someone.
If they are to be believed, the order for a Hose Guide includes both parts as on an engineering diagram they are under the same part number. Instructions list them as separate. The image in the installation instructions, the parts list and what I get in the box look nothing alike. I look forward to the surprise coming in the mail between 10 – 15 business days, or longer. Why not just tell the truth and say, who knows when you will get it? Apparently they are busier than usual. Maybe because they keep putting parts that don’t fit together in the same box? And is this that unusual?
So they say they will send me a 75% off coupon for products on one of their ‘plus’ websites. The plus means that prices are inflated on that site. On their regular site the same product was less than the same product on the plus site with the 75% off. Now if that isn’t blatantly dishonest, I am not sure what is.
I hope this demonstrates at every level that there is excessive complexity at every level and NO time to fix the issues. Pressure to market new broken products outweighs the desire to fix the existing products.
UPDATE: So I received the new part. It turns out that the Hose Guide Nut is not one part but two. It contains a threaded piece with a wide and shallow thread on the one side. The part I received with the faucet kit had the thread fully seated tightly against the main body. So much so that when I tried to turn it, I thought it was one piece. So I actually had the correct piece. The really dumb part in all this is that in none of the installation guides do they show, in any detail the installation and assembly of the Hose Guide and hose guide nut pieces. Neither does their parts diagram show 3 pieces, but two. Poor documentation strikes again.