Drip, Drip, Drip... The Tale of My Lousy Delta Faucet

When we purchased our current house, we were, like all new home owners -- excited.  We'd planned, saved, and studied all things pertaining to the purchase and renovation of what was, to us anyway, our new home.  As I write this, I'm trying to think of some way to be funny about this tale - to make it drip with humor...

I could say that my daughter's first jump into the pool splashed chlorinated pool water into my glass of champagne as I sat on the edge of the pool, dangling my feet into our new deep blue hole of expensive water in the backyard.  I poured myself another glass.


I could also write about being so tired and brain dead when we finally brought in the last truckload of belongings that I watched in silent, detached curiosity as the driver of the truck backed right into the house, seriously crumpling the brand new roof gutter. I saw it coming and never made a peep. Dave wasn't too happy about that - mostly because he was the driver of the truck.

Another small chuckle may gurgle forth when hearing that, just like in the movies,  my exhausted husband forgot to close and lock the moving van's big rear door after loading up the last of our belongings from the old house.  One of the things I'd kept back for last was my 5 qt. Le Cruset French Blue Oven.  I loved that pot, maybe more than I loved the driver of the truck -- especially true when he realized that my prized pot must have fallen out of the open door of the truck as he drove it through the countryside towards our new home. He had to splain that to me carefully.  I suppose one could call it divine retribution for the gutter -- right?

But this is not one such humorous tale of home ownership and renovation.  Instead, this tale is one of disappointment , frustration, and anger at a very big player in the home renovation industry - the Delta Faucet Company.

One of the first things I did was was purchase a new kitchen faucet. I wanted a beautiful, brushed, high end faucet for my new kitchen. I'd heard great things about Delta so I looked, found, purchased, and installed, Delta's Waterfall kitchen faucet.  Sleek, brushed, beautiful and expensive -- it had a lifetime warranty so what could go wrong here?  If I had a problem, they'd take care of it, no worries.  What the heck --  live large, right?

Two years in the trouble started. Drip, drip, drip.  I called Delta. They informed me politely that the warranty covered parts only. Okay, I said.  Send me the parts. They sent and we installed. We were good to go.

Then two or three years later, drip, drip, drip and a leaking faucet base.  I called Delta again.  Once again, they wanted to send me parts. I wanted a replacement faucet.  I figured for the price I'd paid, I deserved a little better product than what I'd received. No go.

That famous Delta Limited Lifetime Warranty does not cover product replacement or labor, only parts.  If you're not handy or want an replacement faucet, you're out of luck.  So after a somewhat heated discussion with the customer service rep, I accepted defeat and took the parts.  Replaced and restored back to working order, my faucet seemed fine once more.

But three years later here we go again.  Leaking from the base of the faucet -- and dripping -- again. 

I just spoke with Delta customer service.  The service rep was very polite and said she was very sorry about how disappointed I was with their product. She assured me that, of course, this wasn't a recurring problem with other consumers.  I, taking up my usual position, said that the consumer deserved better from a well-known and heretofore respected company such as Delta.  She said she could send my issue forward and company management could, at their discretion, decide to reimburse my purchase price (here comes the catch) towards the purchase of a new DELTA faucet.  Wow, what a generous offer.  Giving me my money back but only to be used towards a future of more of the same. I said no thanks, send me the parts and I'll fix it and then go out and purchase a new kitchen faucet - any faucet but Delta.

So the deed is done, the rant is over. Delta has won, once again. But I have the last word here. I'm telling you, my friends, never, ever buy a Delta faucet if you expect them to live up to their implied word. It just ain't gonna happen. Drip, drip, drip...