Interesting thread...
I recently purchased a large amount of tiles, so I contacted BCT asking for their comments regarding this thread.
They said they were concerned about some of the comments here and as a company take great pride in the products they manufacture, willing to investigate any issues.
They quoted stringent quality controls and BS standards.
(To which I did question how the above tiles could possibly have passed this)
They also told me that Laura Ashley was a reputable brand and high quality.
(I pointed out another forum which stated Laura Ashley themselves do not take any responsibility for products their name is used on)
On the specific concern I had, which was poor glaze and possible water ingress, they stated that using waterproof grout and correct fitting would reduce the chance of this happening. They recommended always being fitted by a professional.
(I pointed out that it was the professionals who were seeing the issues and that it was the glaze/biscuit backing which was a concern, not the fitting. I then asked if any future problems with glaze would be rectified if by any chance something did happen)
Whilst I was concerned by this thread and emailed BCT, I did check all 150 ish wood plant effect tiles on delivery and only a small few had chips from delivery which were refunded.
The second batch, wicker tiles, actually via Bathstore had just a handful with very minor imperfections but appeared to be very high quality with good online reviews.
Therefore, I am hoping we see no issues, but because of this thread I thought it would be good to feedback from this angle.
I recently purchased a large amount of tiles, so I contacted BCT asking for their comments regarding this thread.
They said they were concerned about some of the comments here and as a company take great pride in the products they manufacture, willing to investigate any issues.
They quoted stringent quality controls and BS standards.
(To which I did question how the above tiles could possibly have passed this)
They also told me that Laura Ashley was a reputable brand and high quality.
(I pointed out another forum which stated Laura Ashley themselves do not take any responsibility for products their name is used on)
On the specific concern I had, which was poor glaze and possible water ingress, they stated that using waterproof grout and correct fitting would reduce the chance of this happening. They recommended always being fitted by a professional.
(I pointed out that it was the professionals who were seeing the issues and that it was the glaze/biscuit backing which was a concern, not the fitting. I then asked if any future problems with glaze would be rectified if by any chance something did happen)
Whilst I was concerned by this thread and emailed BCT, I did check all 150 ish wood plant effect tiles on delivery and only a small few had chips from delivery which were refunded.
The second batch, wicker tiles, actually via Bathstore had just a handful with very minor imperfections but appeared to be very high quality with good online reviews.
Therefore, I am hoping we see no issues, but because of this thread I thought it would be good to feedback from this angle.
Q
Qwerty
Thanks for your findings
B
Blunt Tool
This song always comes into my head when I fitted BCT, from the same era as their machinery it seems anyway!
P
paddyh2
Do some work for a showroom who in fairness somehow sell a lot of BCT 600mm x 300mm tiles. The fitters all know how bad they are and know if your spacers are 2mm, have plenty of 3mm spacers and rubi wedges at hand. Cardboard box makes useful shim as well. British Curly Tiles they are affectionately known as.
Further to my recent emails from BCT, they highlight the complete opposite and ask those tradesmen here to contact them direct with these issues.
"With the opportunity to investigate, we would be able to fully understand the situation here. We would strongly recommend the person raising this issue contacts us directly in order for us to understand further. As you have pointed out, sometimes unfortunately things do not go as planned however when they do, we strive to resolve the issue, exceed our customers satisfaction and learn from our mistakes."
They also said
"As you have pointed out, there are several measures required in order to ensure water does not ingress into the tile. The steps you have advised, provided they are applied by a professional tiler, will ensure this does not occur. However, if we can prove that the issue is in fact a manufacturing glaze related issue, we will always thoroughly investigate and resolve as quickly as possible."
(In response to me raising the poor glaze issue some have highlighted)
"With the opportunity to investigate, we would be able to fully understand the situation here. We would strongly recommend the person raising this issue contacts us directly in order for us to understand further. As you have pointed out, sometimes unfortunately things do not go as planned however when they do, we strive to resolve the issue, exceed our customers satisfaction and learn from our mistakes."
They also said
"As you have pointed out, there are several measures required in order to ensure water does not ingress into the tile. The steps you have advised, provided they are applied by a professional tiler, will ensure this does not occur. However, if we can prove that the issue is in fact a manufacturing glaze related issue, we will always thoroughly investigate and resolve as quickly as possible."
(In response to me raising the poor glaze issue some have highlighted)
Q
Qwerty
That's why I am taking this forward on behalf of the forum.
D
Dumbo
Funny . Little article in tile and stone journal about bct at KBB this year banging on about brand awareness . Company philosophy,consumer demand , trend lines , brand strategy ,latest innovation to retail audience but nowhere in any shape or form is QUALITYY or STANDARDS mentioned
O
One Day
This is what happens when a degree in marketing and or web design is worth SO much more than the old fashioned engineering apprenticeships.
I watched a documentary a while ago about a load of pensioners still employed to repair and maintain the Caledonian ferries. Some of the ladies stripping out and repairing engines and components were in their late 60's. Still employed because only they knew the stuff!
Where are the next generation coming from?
That's just one example.
All these snowflakes with their pointless degrees, who is going to keep the lights on, the water flowing, the roads, bridges and railways built???
O
One Day
TSJ is a waste of paper now for me.
It has about 0.5% relevant content to us at the coal face (...so to speak).
All glossy marketing and one big old pompous self-congratulatory business journal.
It has about 0.5% relevant content to us at the coal face (...so to speak).
All glossy marketing and one big old pompous self-congratulatory business journal.
Q
Qwerty
Update....... Ive collated all of the (useful) feedback and emailed it across to my contact at BCT so I now await a response and hopefully arrangements for a meeting.
A bit pessimistic ! They have old plant and don't want to invest in new !
Q
Qwerty
So I met up with BCT today. A little bit of an impromptu initial meeting but it was positive. We discussed alot but the important thing is that they are listening and now driving their company forward with the help of new management and feedback from tilers.
It's hoped that they will join the forum soon and with a further meeting (s) we may soon see things improving for us all.
It's hoped that they will join the forum soon and with a further meeting (s) we may soon see things improving for us all.
O
One Day
I believe a British factory CAN make great tiles.
The problem here is the market position.
BCT are very much a budget brand despite their marketing claims.
Royal Mosa or Florim they certainly are not.
You get what you pay for and to be fair BCT don't cost much.
That said, they're still truly awful even at budget prices!
B
Bill
I have some 600x600 BCT porcs (so I have been told) to lay soon - I hope they are better than this ceramic poo.
D
Dumbo
If you're lucky made abroad and reboxed into bct boxes
All the 600x600 BCT porcs I've seen are made abroad.
D
Dumbo
Maybe you're meant to fit them with a staggered bond
G
GoneGuy
With the price of the ted baker tiles and with them supposedly manufactured abroad you would have thought they would be spot on
qualitywork
TF
I have recently been fixing for bathstore.
So far all of the bathrooms that I have done have been with tiles from BCT.
What a joke these tiles are.
I put some 100x200 tiles up and they were1mm different on the vertical. Many were twisted and many had transit marks.
I have done a further half dozen bathrooms using BCT tiles and they all had issues.
Sure, I got over it, but it takes extra time.
I would always try and steer a customer away from this company.
In fact when a customer asks where to source tiles from, I give them a few names but also say please don’t buy from this company.
Absolute garbage!
Somebody on here mentioned poor quality control.
I would say no quality control !
They really need to up their game and get modern machinery/ techniques. If not what is their problem ?
There must be a manufacturing issue surely ?
So far all of the bathrooms that I have done have been with tiles from BCT.
What a joke these tiles are.
I put some 100x200 tiles up and they were1mm different on the vertical. Many were twisted and many had transit marks.
I have done a further half dozen bathrooms using BCT tiles and they all had issues.
Sure, I got over it, but it takes extra time.
I would always try and steer a customer away from this company.
In fact when a customer asks where to source tiles from, I give them a few names but also say please don’t buy from this company.
Absolute garbage!
Somebody on here mentioned poor quality control.
I would say no quality control !
They really need to up their game and get modern machinery/ techniques. If not what is their problem ?
There must be a manufacturing issue surely ?
O
One Day
I would say that the issues and faults are mainly with their attitude.
Q
Qwerty
Funnily enough this issue was raised again when I visited a supplier today. I will be speaking to the director again to see what they have been doing since we last met.
W
WetSaw
I would imagine it will take a while for the new quality controlled stock to reach the shops....
Q
Qwerty
Was contacted by a lady in NYC back in April about an issue she had with BCT tiles that somehow found themselves stuck (very badly I might add through tile quality, not fixer error!) to her bathroom walls. Got this reply from her today after I got back to her.......
If the quality of a BCT product is unacceptable in the USA, why is it acceptable here!?!?!?
If the quality of a BCT product is unacceptable in the USA, why is it acceptable here!?!?!?
W
WetSaw
Because ,generally, Americans complain louder than we do!
I supply and install BCT tiles to almost all of my customers and have done for the past few years.
As with everything in life it comes down to price, customers are not that interested in the quality as such as to them a tile is a tile, they are not fitting them.
We get round most of the problems by opening and mixing several boxes at a time and throwing away the really bad ones.
If I start pricing jobs with higher quality but more expensive tiles I won’t get the work and I have a responsibility to the guys who rely on the work I supply.
That said they can be pretty bad with bowing, glazing faults and size difference even in the same box, especially the Willow range which can be terrible.
Let’s hope they do listen and make the changes to production and quality and we can be proud to push BCT products in the future.
As with everything in life it comes down to price, customers are not that interested in the quality as such as to them a tile is a tile, they are not fitting them.
We get round most of the problems by opening and mixing several boxes at a time and throwing away the really bad ones.
If I start pricing jobs with higher quality but more expensive tiles I won’t get the work and I have a responsibility to the guys who rely on the work I supply.
That said they can be pretty bad with bowing, glazing faults and size difference even in the same box, especially the Willow range which can be terrible.
Let’s hope they do listen and make the changes to production and quality and we can be proud to push BCT products in the future.
D
Dumbo
Do you tell your customers they are getting a second rate product .
No because I don’t believe they are second rate as such, yes there can be size variations and glazing faults but then the price reflects this.
The tiles perform as they should when fitted, it sometimes takes slightly longer fitting them which is our problem not the customers.
The tiles perform as they should when fitted, it sometimes takes slightly longer fitting them which is our problem not the customers.
There are similar tiling threads here
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