The dealer installed a different tub than I ordered, who can help?

Start with the company that sold and installed the tub. A dealer's order, invoice and installation belong to the dealer, and the published guidance for an order issue is that the business that handled your order is the right place to begin. What the team at ellasbubbles.com/support or (800) 480-6850 can do is confirm exactly which tub is in your bathroom from a photo of its serial label, as described in Can Ella Look Up My Tub's Options If Someone Else Bought It?. That written confirmation is the evidence you take back to the dealer.

Why the Dealer Is the First Stop

Ella's Bubbles is a single, family-owned, Chicago-based manufacturer with one website, ellasbubbles.com. It runs a dealer program and a reseller program for businesses that sell and install its walk-in tubs and showers, and those businesses are independent companies with their own websites, phone numbers and order paperwork. When you buy through a dealer, the purchase agreement is between you and that dealer. Ella built a tub to the order the dealer placed, but Ella did not write your agreement and did not choose which tub was carried into your house.

The ordering policy puts it plainly for retail purchases: if you ordered through a retailer and there is an issue with your shipment, the retailer is the right place to start because they handled your order, and for questions about the tub itself the Ella team is glad to help. The same split applies to a dealer who both sold and installed. Ordering and Shipping Policy: What to Expect From Order to Delivery describes the confirmation invoice, the paid invoice and the tracking steps an order goes through, which shows what paperwork a dealer order should have mirrored.

Two published rules shape what is possible. The return policy applies to brand new, un-installed products in original packaging, and there are no returns or exchanges on installed products. An installed tub therefore cannot be swapped through the return process; a correction has to come from the party that installed it. And the warranty terms state that Ella's Bubbles is not bound by promises made by dealers, retailers, distributors or contractors, so a dealer's assurance about what would be delivered is the dealer's to honor.

Confirm What Was Actually Installed

Before any conversation with the dealer, establish the facts. The Ella lookup runs on the tub and the factory order rather than on your name, so it works even though the dealer placed the order. Gather the following and send it to the team. It is fine if some items are missing.

1. A photo of the serial label. The serial number is on the label behind the magnetic access panel next to the door. Pull the panel gently away from the frame and photograph the label rather than retyping the number from memory.
2. Photos of the tub and the door. These confirm the brand, the door style and the model when the paperwork trail is thin.
3. The installation address.
4. Whatever you know about the purchaser, which in this case is the dealer's company name and the date of your purchase.
5. Your own order confirmation or contract from the dealer, which should name the brand and the model you agreed to buy.

The team can look up the original order, confirm the model and send the matching spec sheet and manual. Ask for that confirmation in writing. Keep in mind that a different tub can mean two things: a different model, or the right model with different options. Every Ella tub is pulled for a specific order and drilled for the faucet selected, then fitted with the features chosen for that order, so two tubs of the same model can leave the factory with different faucets and features. The serial lookup settles both questions.

Compare the Lookup with Your Paperwork

Your dealer's order confirmation names the company you paid and should name the model. Ella model names sit under the Ella name, so an order for an Ella tub names both the brand and the model. If the confirmation says one model and the serial lookup identifies another, you have a documented mismatch. If the confirmation and the serial agree but the tub is not what you remember being promised, the question is about what the dealer wrote down rather than what Ella built, and that is a conversation for the dealer.

Do not be put off if the catalog or brochure you were given carries the dealer's own name, website and phone number. Ella edits its catalog for dealers in the program with the dealer's contact details, so a catalog with another company's details can still be the Ella catalog. What matters is the brand and model named on your order. I Ordered From Another Hydrotherapy Website, Is That Ella's Bubbles? walks through telling a dealer's site and paperwork apart from Ella's own, and through checking whether the tub you were sold is an Ella product at all.

What Ella Can and Cannot Do

• Can identify the installed tub from its serial number and confirm the model and options the factory built for that order.
• Can send the spec sheet, manual and drawings for the tub you actually have.
• Can provide lifetime technical support for the tub by phone, email and video, for you and for whoever works on it.
• Cannot reverse or rewrite a sale made by an independent dealer, and cannot take back an installed tub under the return policy.
• Does not perform installation, removal or re-installation, and does not send technicians. A local licensed plumber or electrician does the labor, and labor is warranted by the contractor who did the work.

If you end up keeping the tub that was installed, it is still an Ella tub with the lifetime limited parts warranty and lifetime technical support behind it. The warranty is put in force by the two-page activation form, completed and signed by both you and the installer and returned to Ella's Bubbles, online at ellasbubbles.com/warranty-activation/. Use the serial number of the tub actually in your bathroom. The warranty is tied to the first purchaser and the original installation address, so sort out the dealer question before you register rather than after.

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