Renovated with Masters products and am regretting it.

From early April till June last year I renovated our home. A newly opened Masters home improvement store at Robina was my main source for materials, a '20% off' opening special voucher (that they kept returning to me) was used and re-used by me. All in all I spent close to 15 grand in that store. From 'shark bite' plumbing and a Rinnai 26 gas hot water system to a Weber bbq, 5 new ceiling fans, paint, to outdoor furniture. new tapware for kitchen and bathroom, lights, security doors and even a fancy Franke kitchen sink. I sourced generally the best available items from their product lines and whilst I have saved thousands wished I never ever bought a thing from Masters. I know product can fail, and accept that Masters isn't the only one selling faulty products, yet the huge list of failed items and their lack of care/service make me think that Master has a bigger problem than most.

Many of their products have failed within a year or are failing now. The heat lamps in the bathroom stopped working recently, to get an electrician out to check/fix cost nearly as much as a new one.

The $160 ceramic 3/4 turn ceramic disc tap set (with 5 year warranty) has started leaking badly again. I've had the plumber adjust them once, Masters resident 'plumbing expert' (who clearly was a newby at store opening) gave me a post-it note with the importers details, and that sums up their service level. Outdoor security lights sensor/ lights keep failing due to poor sealing. The list goes on.

My point is these discounted products may save you up front, but cost much more in the end if you include the cost of plumbers/electricians and your own time spent replacing/ chasing warranty. Am I the only one pissed of at this crap service, crap product? And should Master not just replace the product but also refund the cost of removal/installing of new product?

PS. When I was in their store recently I noted about 30 floor/ checkout staff and less then a dozen customers.

Related Stores

Masters Home Improvement
Masters Home Improvement

Comments

  • Masters are a waste of space

    • +1

      That's there area of mastery

  • +2

    Never had any problems with products purchased from Masters. If you purchase something with a 5 year warranty and it fails you return the it. Those 3/4 taps are great,I have installed two sets of those recently..No more running taps.

  • +10

    You saying that if you brought 15 grand worth of bunnings stuff the fail rate would be lower?. What a pointless rant btw.

    • +2

      don't they sell the same items under a different brand or model number to avoid pm?

    • No I didn't make it a Masters vs. Bunnings post. I am sharing my experience with Masters. I've purchased items at Bunnings, Mitre 10 and smaller mum&pop suppliers that have failed and even gotten the occasional bad service, but never to the extend I have experienced with Masters .

  • +3

    Never heard of a hardware store refunding + cost of installation removal and replacement

  • +11

    If you've kept receipts or some other proof of purchase then I'm sure you'd be entitled to a refund/replacement on the products themselves as per usual Australian consumer rights.

    On the other hand you've said that you bought all "the best available items from their product lines" which implies you avoided their house brands and instead went for brands like Rinnai and Franke. As masters has absolutely nothing to do with the manufacturing of any of those top-tier brands, I don't think it's fair to blame them for things going wrong.

    Furthermore you've paid a tradie/renovator for their services for the installation of everything and so, again, Masters has nothing to do with any of that and it'd be unrealistic for them to reimburse any of those costs. Also, are you certain it wasn't the installation that caused the problem in the first place? Especially if you've tried to save money and inadvertently ended up with a dodgy tradie.

    PS. 30 employees for a dozen customers sounds bloody amazing! Try getting some service at bunnings when you've got 5 floor staff for 30 customers and you'll see what I mean.

  • jzdhgkd 20 min ago

    Yes I've still got a shoebox full off receipt, and warranty cards/ instructions.

    Both the electric work and the plumbing were done by a licensed tradesman, with good references and they were professional and methodical in their work. No reason to question the quality of their work, but other than death and taxes I can't be 'certain' of anything.

    The Weber, Rinnai and Franke still work fine. The problems are with tapware, fan's and lights/sensors etc. They are not known name-brands, but I specifically purchased the 'pricier', better specced items.

    • Pricer does not always equal better.

      What you have found out hopefully is the need to buy GENUINE quality. This is not about BS marketing slogans or flashy boxes. "Brand names" that have outsourced their operations (and goodwill) to China should raise flags immediately. Not always bad, but one should be very cautious. There are many many good manufacturers out there.

      Educate your self on materials and construction. At a minimum, you should do some research. Try to find impartial reviews. Reviews by engineers preferably. This takes time and a little effort, but will pay for itself. As you are finding out.

    • I would recommend buying plumbing gear from stores like Reece as you will be able to source replacement parts in future. They will generally give you trade pricing if you ask nicely. Also imo auspex or rehau is probably better quality than sharkbite - just a bit more expensive for the crimpers

  • GENUINE is usually just a BS marketing term and a clear sign to be wary. As to; "There are many many good manufacturers out there." Where are they hiding? And about finding "impartial reviews", where have you found these Son of a Zombie? Where do you go to get your research?

    I spent a lot of time researching, obviously not enough, but for how long can/should one be researching?, I could still be pouring over reviews whilst living in an un-renovated dump.

  • I have found masters sell most things a little cheaper, with a little lower quality. Ceramic taps bought from anywhere cheap tend to have a reputation for leaking after a year or so. Did you get the heatlamp with the fan and light? I too bought a heatlamp from masters. In the circuit diagram it has a a place for power to be connected directly to the unit, as well as through the switch. This is because it has been designed that in the event the bulb gets too hot, the fan can automatically kick in to stop it from burning out. Other than that, theres not much that can go wrong with them. The are essentially lamp holders.

    Did you use the same electrician for all the electrical work?

    • Yup, same sparky for rewiring and installation.

      • +1

        That could be the cause of your electrical problems. Not saying masters stuff isn't complete shit (it is, even the copper tubing is made just a little bit thinner than bunnings) but you gotta look at why that is, and its because the stuff is made so specifically to what its rated for, that it can't deal with the slightest bit more. While other more expensive products have some leeway for error, this stuff generally has little or nothing. So if, for instance, you have an electrician that installs power cable thats too thin for the ceiling fan and causes the voltage to drop by 10%, then the motor will get too hot and break while other ceiling fans can deal with it :/

        • "…So if, for instance, you have an electrician that installs power cable thats too thin for the ceiling fan…" The house was rewired with complying electrical wire. My sparky does both domestic and government/commercial work. They guy isn't the fastest but is very methodical, and other than some accidental damage to some plasterboard that I had to fix, am very happy with his work.

          I notice that many respondent go off on a weird tangent trying to make a (some?) point.

          Assume makes an Ass out of yoU and Me

        • +2

          @walvisch:

          You seem to be confused. I'm going to step back now and leave you to your misapprehensions

  • For tap ware in my kitchen I bought a Ramtaps.com.au single lever mixer fitted with Brass Cartridge from Burmar Jindalee in Brisbane. Reasonable price but get this for warranty:-

    "Ramtaps will repair or, at its option, replace any goods which are defective through faulty workmanship or materials within five (5) years parts and labour. Additionally, the single lever mixer includes a further ten (10) years, parts only from the date of purchase."

    15 years is pretty good by today's standard.

    The parts are easily replaceable and they use a brass cartridge vs plastic ones which are found in some other cheaper brands. The rubber seal on my old Novello brand mixer swelled up and wasnt worth replacing so I replaced it with a new tap.

  • bought all the cabinets and sink from masters for the laundry. No problem. Next time gonna deck out the whole kitchen with masters cabinets.

  • I find that generally it depends on what you buy as to what you can or should risk for hardware store "DIY" purchases.

    You're best bet IMO to stick with brands and products that are recommended by professional tradespeople; they are the qualified people who service and replace them so they see and deal with brands that work and don't.

    Masters sell a lot of US based brands, but if you look at their tool range they sell largely higher end tools with the likes of Stanley Fat-Max (Porter Cable), Hitachi, Bosch Blue & Makita; these tools are sold at professional shops such as Total Tools. I.E: I can't see going too wrong with those, generally.

    Masters also sell reasonable bathroom fittings with brands like Pheonix, which is a good quality brand also sold by Reece.

    I'm really not sure on the electrical side of things however.

    From what I've seen though generally most of the gear that Masters sells doesn't appear to be below par; on the whole I'd actually suggest that Masters sells generally good quality products.

    I would say though that with paint, IMO, you're better off to go with a better brand, something like Solver; I used Taubmans and I wasn't impressed with the results that I achieved.

Login or Join to leave a comment