Baldwin Brass Hardware has redesigned (cheapened) some or all of their brass bathroom accessories. The Edgewater Series is one I know for sure has had this make-under and probably all of the so-called 'solid brass hardware' bathroom fixtures. They are no longer solid brass. They are now called '100% Premium Metal Accessories' and 'Solid Metal Construction'. What they really are is like a hollow chocolate Easter bunny 'solid' metal, hollow metal not solid. The brackets now have a ferrous metal mount inside the hollow brass bracket. This is a problem because they did not change the part numbers from the old real 'solid brass' part numbers. Bait and Switch. Especially if you were used to using particular items and all of a sudden the switch was made. Baldwin is using the old leftover boxes and just putting a piece of tape over the words (solid brass, etc...) that do not fit the new product, but leaving the part number the same. If you are new to Baldwin products then the products are what they are and you wouldn't know any different. Except now the product is a hollow brass instead of a solid brass and the mounting is such that you can not use a single toggle molly for installation, but instead two smaller screws that do not work sufficiently without wood backing. If you have new construction and plan accordingly then these will work although you are paying for a product that is no longer solid brass. Baldwin did not lower the price when they cheapened the product. You might as well just get your bathroom accessories at Walmart because the quality of Baldwin is no longer worth the money they are charging. The stuff is made in China and the only thing Baldwin is concerned with is making money, and they used 'bait and switch' to help do it. Another complaint that I have is with all building products everywhere on the market that the designers are idiots. The simplest of basic intelligent design is completely overlooked in almost every product out there. Absolutely no engineering is happening during the design process, yet we are paying for products like they are being designed by rocket scientists. I don't think some of the designers of these building products have ever even built a house before and probably wouldn't know the first thing about it. It really bugs me that we the consumers are paying good money for items that are sub-par and are not being designed with the end user in mind, just the bottom dollar. I have to modify or redesign practically every home accessory, either for the kitchen, bath, patio, roof, garage, for anywhere in the house, just to be able to get the item to work and function like it should. It really appalls me that these companies don't even do the proper research and development before they send an item to market and even worse is that we the end-users and consumers just blindly buy the products they put on the shelves. I guess most people aren't mechanical engineers like myself and probably just buy things that look good aesthetically, when they really need to make sure the products are going to perform, install, and last as good as the money they cost. The End!!!
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