Well, I so understand your frustration....Sometimes the amazing picture in our heads just doesn't translate so well. And you're not a freak like me, when I buy accessories for an as yet unpainted room, I paint my sample on the wall, and then arrange fabric wrapped around a pillow, as well as favorite pictures, accessories, etc. all next to my sample before I buy the paint. It seems weird, but has saved me several times.

The good news is, you purchased at Home Goods and got a great deal. The other good news is, you picked a color you loved and got your bath painted. And if you still live near HG, then the last piece of good news is that you can find something amazing to work in your bath.

Put your green crackled aside and save for a shower gift, or maybe post on Craigslist. If they appeal to you, someone else will also be jazzed.

Red

long shot here.........(lurker with an idea). i have a pump dispenser for hand soap or liquid detergent on my kitchen sink. it broke and i found a cheap replacement by googling "kohler soap pump" or something like that. it was only 3 dollars or so. after getting it, i noticed hand sanitizers and some lotion pumps are almost identical to it. the trick is to get the same size "straw" piece that attaches to the pump piece handle. hope you get the idea and that an investment of a dollar or so for a bottle of something might just fix it.

I can completely identify with your frustration. Not long ago, I bought a soap dispenser at Home Goods that didn't work. Took it back, bought a different one which also didn't work. HG is a 45 minute drive, so I just gave up the second time. Now I just use soap that already comes in pretty decorative dispensers. At least we can wash our hands!! Sorry about your bad luck, but I bet your bathroom is still beautiful.

jae_tn -- I didn't even think of that. If I could find just the top part in chrome that might work... hmmmm...!

Our Home Goods is far from us so I don't know their return policy, but if the tag is still on it, maybe you can get credit rather than cash back? Is it the pump that doesn't work? Maybe a thinner soap would work? (Just throwing out suggestions to help ease your disappointment).
Dee

redbazel -- no, I mean, they actually don't work, LOL! They don't pump soap.

deeinohio -- I just took the tags off before I realized they didn't work... need to pick through the trash to find them just in case. Good tip

LMAO, I also thought you meant that the color didn't work with the walls. I was sitting here marveling that you could have painted the whole room without checking the glass against the paint, lol.
The actual problem is far less serious! I'm sure you can get working pieces. Good luck with it!

If you don't mind telling a white lie, you could say you received them as a gift and they don't work.

I could just scream, too! For a number of reasons. Let's have a collective e-scream? It will do us good.

EEE-e-e-ek-k-k-yowl-l-l-l.

Even though they have a 30 day return policy, a couple of times when I've exceeded this time requirement, I was able to return the items and get "store credit." So put those tags back on and return them to the store.

I bought replacements pumps at BBB.

Piggybacking on what Jae said, we had a soap dispenser that never worked well and finally gave up the ghost. Turned out the "straw" part wasn't making a good seal with the pumnp part. We were able to fix it by using a straw from McDonald's, of all places. We had to find something with about the same diameter and hubby was able to jam it on (or in, I forget which) the pump part. We cut the bottom of the straw on a sharp angle so it could suck up the soap and it has worked great ever since. Might be worth a shot....(course, if your soap dispensers are see-through, you might not want to use the stripey McDonald's straw.)

If not, replacement pumps from BBB would work -- or if you can't find those, you could buy 2 new cheapy soap dispensers with chrome tops and swap out the tops (might want to take one of yours with you to make sure the top fits). Good luck!

I'm taking it to work with me today and will hit BBB on the way home. I also have a Walmart and Target on the way home, so if they don't have replacement pumps, I can see if they have a cheapie pump with a top that would work. If all else fails I guess I can just get chrome ones and keep my green q-tip holder. I did find the tags, they are all mangled, LOL. Oh well, you can still read them. And at least I know how much I paid for them now.

for what it's worth, i also bought soap dispensers at HG and stored them for a few months until our bathroom was completely done... set them up and my husb told me that they didn't work...
i tried them and they definitely didn't work!! i was very irritated but i fiddled with them abit and i got them both working, no problem... i wish i can tell you exactly what i did, but i can't remember---but both dispensers needed the same adjustment.... maybe i had the top screwed on too tightly?? that there was a vacuum or something that didn't allow the soap to come through?? something like that and the fix was pretty easy once i figured it out...i tested them both with water in the sink first and saw that they both worked...

This is probably a stupid question, and I am guessing this is NOT your problem but... they're not like the tops of hand soap and other pump dispensers you can buy, where the top needs to be turned in order to release the spring which allows it to move freely up and down, are they? (You know, locking dispensers, where you can hold it down and turn in order to put it back in the locked position?)

Just a tip, too, in case you go the route of getting new tops - I have an oil rubbed bronze dispenser, and the top is ORB plastic. It gets scratched more easily than the rest of the dispenser. Probably a year and a half ago now, I spray painted it with ORB spray paint - perfect color match, and it has also stood up to relatively light use for this long. So if you can't find the perfect top, you might be able to paint one to match.

You can get store credit with virtually no expiration. As I've been told, "Well if it's like 5 or 6 years we might not be able to take it..."

Original packaging not necessary. I've taken back pictures that have had the cardboard corner bumpers removed, and hence had no tag - wasn't an issue.

About 6 months ago I bought an 8x10 wool rug that was "perfect" only to find out it's not so perfect, but DD (who is almost 3 and obsessed with taking tags off things) made sure all the tags were not only removed, but gone forever. I'm still thinking about calling & seeing if I can return it for store credit. It has never been used, and is still taped up. Hmm...

Ok edit the above -- I just got off the phone woth them (this thread inspired me to go ahead and call) and no problem - I can bering it in anytime for store credit.

That's a rug with no tags, and I have no receipt... just the markered number on the back of the rug and the manuf. tag.

First of all, thank you to everyone... all of your suggestions were fabulous and I knew I could count on you to make me feel better ;-) I stopped at BBB on the way home today and got two replacement tops (they have them in chrome, satin nickel and ORB), but before I opened them, I decided to play around with the old ones a bit more first. I finally got them working by turning and pulling (hard enough that I thought I might break it). I guess maybe it was locked, even though it was moving up and down by an inch or so when I tried it last night. So, everything is fine now!! *doing the happy dance!*

Ha ha... in each of your posts where you write "BBB" I think (when I just skim) that you're saying you're contacting the Better Business Bureau over soap dispensers! :-)

Glad it's working now!

Okay, so functionally it works. Awesome.

But does it *work* with the painted bathroom??? Pictures, please!!!

;-)

(Confession: when you said they didn't "work", I thought you meant design-wise, too!!!)

I will try to take some pics of the bathroom when it's done. It's not anything to get excited about, really :-) It's very simple.