A retirement house we built got several brand-new, out of the box,
faucets (one for kitchen, hot & cold levers), several for baths &
sinks. The kitchen unit developed a leak after 1-1/2 years. We could
"fix" the leak by wiggleing the lever arm into some fairly sensitive
position! As time went by, this got more difficult to do.

In an attempt to fix this, a trip to the hardware store showed a large
number of these new and very very complex plastic inserts. None of the
ones at the store matched what I had (and, I was out of warranty, no
manual, no receipt situation).

Another faucet (bathtub, also new) is also leaking. Can't do any
wiggling at all to stop it. Still another faucet is leaking about one
drop every ten minutes.

All of the above are Pfister faucets. (their motto: pforever [I say:
fooey])

Now, in talking with a friend, he tells me he has a new sink faucet
only 3 years old and it's leaking. He took his apart, went to the
store, got a new _insert_ and he says guess what, it leaks. Brand new
insert! He returned it for a refund. Then he goes to one of the big
box home improvement places, buys a new faucet, and, guess what, it
leaks. I didn't ask him the brand.

Now, is this coincidence or are the manufacturers making defective
products these days (in addition to all that stuff that breaks down
sometime just after the warranty expires)?

Oh, yes, I did get a new faucet, and it looks like it drips about one
drip per 10-15 minutes (I suppose this is the new technical
specification of what the definition is of "faucet turned off"?).

And, this time I read the warranty, which requires that you save the
coupon, save the original receipt, and something else that makes life
difficult, and you have to send in the parts, too.

This is an interesting thread. Pfister is considered a
good, decent faucet, as is Delta. My recollection is that
Pfister has a lifetime warranty and that you can call them
and get any replacement part that has failed. Here is their
forever warranty page:
http://www.pricepfister.com/website/...p_Warranty.asp

A faucet should not leak for years with normal usage. Water
pressure might be a problem. Go to a hardware store and buy
a $6 pressure gauge that you can connect to an outside
faucet. I don't like more than 75psi, though some folks
prefer even less.

We had some of the ultra high end Hans Grohe faucets at a
second home we owned and I have to admit that the "feel" of
the hardware was nice. However, there's what's called the
80% rule that applies to about anything in life: 20% of the
cost, time or effort will result in 80% of the desired
outcome. The remaining 20% is what runs up the price. In
the case of faucets, I still prefer Delta, even though it's
not considered posh. Our present house has Delta throughout
and the main benefit is that when (not if) a drip occurs, I
can go to Home Depot, Lowe's or any plumbing supply store
and get a rebuild kit. Recently, a seldom used tub
developed a drip. I went to Lowe's and got rebuild kits for
ALL the tubs and vanitites and even the kitchen sink.
Within a couple hours, I'd replaced the cup washers and
spring throughout the house and am now set for another ten
years or so.

Mark