The two pictures below are also to be found on the ‘Hot Water’ page of this site.
The left-most one is of the basin and taps that Dolphin Special Care™ supplied and fitted at a cost to me of about £1,000. The picture on the right is of the replacement basin that I was obliged to buy to avoid the risk of my parents’ scalding themselves. The new one is identical to the old in every way — it had to be, so the tiles could remain — except that it has one tap-hole rather than two. The new basin cost me £91 and the new taps, £100. Dolphin’s taps would cost about £35 at B&Q; so the cost to them of what they sold to me was no more than £126. That’s a mark-up of about 800%. Be warned.
It’s not surprising that Dolphin’s prices are so high when you know that their Salesmen-Designers receive 12.5% commission — one pound in eight — of the price you pay. Be warned.
Click on either picture below to open it full-size.
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“Absolutely everything half price”. Err, well, not really ...
Dolphin has been found guilty of publishing misleading advertisements. To you or me, that means telling fibs.
Take a look at this ruling of the Advertising-Standards Authority. [NEW WINDOW]
“The Authority considered that the evidence sent by the advertisers did not prove that they ever charged their list prices. It concluded that the advertisement was misleading and asked the advertisers not to claim they were offering products ‘half price’ unless they could show that they were offering those products, for a limited period, for half the usual selling price”. Be warned.
Here’s a great quote from the ASA:
| [Dolphin] explained that they tried not to sell bathrooms at the full list price; if customers wanted to order a bathroom that was excluded from promotional offers, the advertisers encouraged the customer either to choose another bathroom that was discounted or to wait until the bathroom they had chosen became eligible for promotions. |
Look at the photos above, and you’ll see that what Dolphin sold me wasn’t worth half the price, nor even a quarter.
Be warned.