I've recommended a lot of things on this blog, from books to cars. It's been quite a while since I posted on a product I wasn't happy with, but now's the time. I've always bought Delta faucets because of their lifetime warranty. If your faucet breaks, it used to be you could call them and they would send the part you needed with instructions on how to install it. Bingo!
Not any more, so I recommend you stay away from Delta faucets with the Touch2O® Technology. Delta won't fix them and you'll end up paying somewhere between $175 retail and $80 discounted to Delta to send you the (second, third, or fourth) solenoid you need to get your faucet working again....
We bought Delta's Pilar® Single Handle Pull-Down Kitchen Faucet with Touch2O® Technology and Soap Dispenser, Model#: 980T-SSSD-DST. In fact, we bought two of them for two separate sinks. One's worked perfectly and one's never worked right. A year or two after they were installed, I called Delta Customer Service and complained about the one that didn't work. I told them all the things wrong with it and asked if they could replace it or give me a discount on another faucet?
They declined my request.
A year later, it was still not working correctly. We'd touch it and it would turn on—then quickly off. There was no predicting when it would turn on and off. It was weird, but the other faucet was identical and worked perfectly.
Then December of 2015, nine months ago, the solenoid stopped working at all. It woudn't turn on and off as it was supposed to, so again I called Delta asking for them to just let me get a replacement faucet. Again they declined, and instead sent me a solenoid with instructions how to install it.
I installed the solenoid, but soon after the faucet started leaking after it was turned off. Then today, the faucet stopped working entirely. No water will come out of it.
Calling Delta Customer Service, I got the supervisor at their Illinois customer service office named "William" and spent twenty minutes listening to him explaining how Delta provides a lifetime warranty for its faucets, but only a five year warranty for the "electronic components" of those faucets. Thus, he explained, to fix my faucet I would have to buy a new solenoid from him. He told me the retail cost of the solenoid is $175, but he had some good news. He'd be willing to give me a 50% discount so I'd only have to pay $80.
I tried to explain that Delta had just replaced my solenoid nine months ago, and so they should send me this one free, but he kept explaining that the solenoids are only warranteed for the first five years. Thus he absolutely would not—indeed, he doesn't even have the authority to—warranty my nine month old solenoid because It only has a five year warranty. The rest of the faucet has a lifetime warranty, but not the solenoid. It has only a five year warranty, so no, they would not replace my nine-month-old solenoid they'd just sent me. Remember? It has only a five year warranty.
My advice?
Don't buy Delta faucets with Touch2O® technology because Delta's fine print says their lifetime warranty doesn't apply to the parts that go bad on these faucets.
Tim serves Clearnote Church, Bloomington, Indiana. He and Mary Lee have five children and big lots of grandchildren.
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