If you ever need to buy faucets and other plumbing items, buy Kohler, they are expensive, but keep reading. After DD and I saturated the valve with PB Blaster this morning, banged on it, both tried to free it, and gave up before we broke it beyond even the trickle and shower capability, we drove to Ferguson with a piece of the handle for color. Telling Sara, the showroom consulant that we needed to buy a new faucet set and why, she looked them up. First they make our faucet still but not in that color anymore, but it is $360+ and a 6 to 8 week wait to receive it. They do make one that would work in the area at the corner of the tub in the correct brushed bronze color, but it started at $800+ just for the faucet, not the handles and also a wait to get it, but she told us that Kohler had a lifetime warranty and to call them, providing us with the model name, number, and color.
I spent 10 minutes on hold listening to various Kohler ads, instructions on using their website after going through all the robot instructions on how to get where I needed to be, but was greeted by a pleasant young woman who promptly ordered a new cold water body and valve cartridge to be shipped directly to our house FREE to us under their warranty. We will still have to hire a plumber, but not to come out and tell us we needed a new unit or to break the one we have so we had to order a new one and wait for it’s arrival. We can still use the trickle and cold water from the shower to cool off the tub water until that can be done. It did give me an opportunity to clean up under and around the handles.
We will wait for the new unit, thankful for two reputable companies and the wisdom to have purchased quality in the first place when we built our house.