A damaged bathroom fixture shows up more often than most homeowners expect. A basin with a chipped rim. A mirror with a hairline crack sitting under the protective film. A tap with a dent you only notice once it catches the light.
If it happens on your order, the first few minutes decide how fast it gets sorted. So: do not install it, photograph it before you move it, keep the packaging, and tell us.
The rest of this explains why it happens and what we do once you have.
What to do the moment you open the box
Inspect on delivery day, not on installation day. Plenty of homeowners leave the cartons sealed until the plumber turns up, which can be weeks later. Open them the day they land, even if the bathroom is nowhere near ready for anything to go in.
Photograph before you move anything. Start with the outer carton, crushed corners and puncture marks included. Then the foam and the inner packing. Then the item itself, wide and close. Intact packaging around a broken basin tells a very different story from a broken basin sitting on a bare floor.
Keep the carton. Do not flatten it, however much space it eats in a half-renovated flat. It is your evidence, and it is also what the item travels back in.
Nobody installs it. Once a chipped basin is siliconed in or a cracked toilet bowl is bolted down, everything gets harder to unpick. Tell your plumber to skip that piece and carry on with the rest of the job.
Check the model and the finish against your order while you are in there. A wrong finish is a different problem from a cracked one, and both are far easier to deal with before installation day.
Then send us the photos, with the model, the finish and where the damage is. That is usually enough for us to work out what happened without a second round of questions.
Why this happens at all
Homus is a retailer. We carry 40+ brands and can source most others on request. We do not manufacture any of it, and that distinction sounds academic right up until something arrives broken.
Think about what a basin actually goes through. Made in a factory, palletised, shipped, unloaded at a port, trucked to a warehouse, stored, picked, loaded again, then carried up to your flat. Every one of those steps is a real set of hands and a real chance to knock a corner. Ceramic and tempered glass are not forgiving.
The other kind of problem leaves the factory that way. A glaze flaw. A misthreaded fitting. A finish that is uneven on one side. Nobody catches it until the box is open, and the box is usually opened in your home rather than in our warehouse.
Customers hold the shop responsible either way. That is fair enough. You bought it from us.
What we do about a damaged bathroom fixture
“We will always be there” is the line we use internally, and this is one of the situations it was written for.
You deal with us. We deal with the supplier. Nobody who bought a basin from a shop in Singapore should end up chasing a manufacturer on the other side of a border for it.
We also do not start by arguing about fault. Whether it was a defect from the factory or a knock somewhere in transit is ours to work out with our supplier. You should not have to prove it first.
Six years and 10,000+ homeowners in, we have seen most versions of this. A team of 20+ across two showrooms exists partly so there is always somebody free to pick it up.
Why it matters who you buy from
Anyone can list a toilet bowl online at a good price. Price is the easy part. The harder question is what happens when the thing turns up wrong, and it is worth asking before you pay rather than after.
A seller with no address, no showroom and no staff loses very little by going quiet. A shop with two showrooms, 1,000+ 5-star reviews and staff whose faces you have seen is in a different position. We have to face customers again. A fair number of them come back for the kitchen once the bathroom is finished.
So when you compare quotes on bathroom fixtures, toilet bowls or basin and wall taps, price the aftermath along with the item. Ask who picks up the phone.
Compare us before you decide. We are fine with that.
For an independent view of where you stand as a consumer in Singapore, the Consumers Association of Singapore publishes general guidance.
Frequently asked questions
What should I do first with a damaged bathroom fixture?
Stop, photograph everything including the packaging, keep the carton, and send us the photos before any installation happens. Do not let anyone fit a damaged item.
What if I only notice the damage after the delivery team has left?
Tell us anyway, with photos. Delivery crews cannot stand around while every carton is unpacked, so most damage gets found after they go. What matters far more is that the item has not been installed.
Should I let my plumber fit a fixture with a small chip?
No. A chip that looks cosmetic can sit right next to a stress line you cannot see, and a fitted item is much harder to assess. Set it aside and send photos first.
Does transit damage mean the product is low quality?
Usually not. A knock in transit says nothing about how the item was designed or finished. Manufacturing defects are a separate thing, and from your side both are handled the same way: photos, no installation, tell us.
The surest way to avoid any of this is to see the thing before it is ever boxed. Visit our showroom, look at the finish under real light, and ask the awkward questions before anything gets ordered.
