Ardente Plumbing Supply: A Shopper’s Guide

Why You Should Visit

• Extensive Product Selection: You’ll find a wide variety of plumbing fixtures, including sinks, toilets, tubs, kitchen faucets, shower handles, and even specialized items like replacement valve stems for older sinks (American Standard NuSeal, for example). The Waterston showroom, specifically, boasts impressive selections and several working kitchen faucet displays for easy comparison.
• Knowledgeable and Helpful Staff: Many reviewers praise the expertise of specific staff members like Jonathan, Johnan, Charlie, Marvin, Kevin, and Mike. These individuals are described as helpful, knowledgeable, and willing to go the extra mile, even spending significant time assisting customers with selections and providing advice for bathroom or kitchen remodels. They’re also readily available to answer warranty questions or installation issues.
• Competitive Pricing: I found that prices on certain items, such as replacement valve stems, were comparable to or even better than online retailers.
• Excellent Customer Service (with caveats): Some experiences highlight exceptional customer service, including going above and beyond to resolve delivery issues, even delivering a furnace within an hour of a customer arriving at their property. In another instance, staff members diligently worked to repair a severely calcified shower handle rather than just selling a replacement part.
• Convenient Delivery: While the Aurora Street delivery location is described as tight, unloading is quick and the workers are nice. Delivery to construction sites is also possible.

Why You Might Consider Alternatives

• Inconsistent Customer Service: Be aware that customer service experiences can vary greatly. Some shoppers report a complete lack of response from sales staff after product consultations (spending five hours over two days without follow-up or pricing information), while others describe condescending attitudes and a lack of product knowledge from certain employees. Delayed order fulfillment and forgotten parts for construction projects were also noted.
• Communication Issues: There are reports of unanswered phone calls and inconsistent or unclear communication regarding orders and deliveries. One instance even involved an unusual escalation to police involvement over extra filter parts.
• Limited Staff Availability: At least one shopper mentioned finding all staff members in the back upon entering the store.