Portland Vintage Plumbing

Does anyone work here? I’ve tried to buy things online and it says to call. I call and no one picks up. I leave messages and no one calls back. What gives?!

I believe this business is closed. I have been unable to reach anyone at the location (or had anyone return my calls) about an order (not yet paid for) for more than a month now — which is too bad because it looked like a cool place.

I am restoring an historic victorian and I put a major focus on the first of two bathrooms. I found Brenda to be very knowledgeable in specialty parts (I chose Sunrise for it’s style and quality) and very helpful in making sure I was putting the right hardware together (very helpful since I don’t speak «plumbing»). While having been told at some other suppliers that the parts may or may not arrive in 2 to 4 weeks and that Sunrise was often on back order I was able to put everything together with my order through Brenda very quickly and efficiently. I also really appreciate being able to call and talk with someone right away on the phone who knows the parts and suppliers well.
I now have a beautifully restored exquisite bathroom and I thank Brenda for helping make the process much easier.

A customer of mine picked out some plumbing fixtures at Portland vintage plumbing including a sink, toilet, and faucet. I ordered the fixtures through Brenda and waited a few weeks and she then called me and I went back and loaded everything up and everything seemed to be fine.
The day before the plumber was scheduled to arrive at my job and install the plumbing I began opening boxes of the fixtures and getting everything ready for him when I noticed the toilet bowl had a large crack it. I thought well that’s a bummer something must have hit it very hard to crack a toilet bowl.
I then called Brenda at PVP and she immediately said «It wasn’t cracked when I took it out of the box and checked it at the store» she then said she takes everything out of the box to verify it’s condition when it arrives at her store. After thinking there is no way I could prove that she did not I thought that I’ll just pay for a new one. She said she was in meeting and would call me back shortly.
I then started thinking that that would be a horrendous job to remove all the toilets and repackage everything she sells, there is no way she does this. Toilets are packaged so tight in their boxes that it is hard to unpackage them let alone try to re-​package them in their boxes. I then looked at the boxes the toilet came in and they were stapled and glued shut with industrial staples.
She then called me back 4 hours later and I again asked her «so you take everything out of the box that you sell» she said yes. I asked her how she repacked her toilets. There was a pause on the phone and she said «wasn’t there tape on the boxes»? I said no they were stapled and glued shut from the factory.
She quickly said Oh, I opened all the boxes on the pallet but must have missed your pallet.
Knowing I had caught her in her own web of lies she then said that she would pay for the new toilet. She confirmed that she does open and check all of her merchandise and re-​package it and just missed mine.
She is fine to work with until something goes wrong… If the problem will cost her any time/​money then I feel like your on your own.
The plumbing fixtures she sell are high quality and are very period to many older portland homes but I wouldn’t use her again, there are other plumbing suppliers (George Morlan, Ferguson, Fixture Gallery)
that will work with you when something goes wrong to make it right.

A plumbing treasure!
I have a beautiful old home in Portland. I cannot tell you how lucky I was to find Portland Vintage Plumbing! They have many charming fixtures in addition to a huge library of anything you can imagine for your vintage home. Brenda is an amazing resource with an incredible knowledge about the correct styles for each type of architecture. She has coached me on every type of fixture I’ve elected to replace so that I could select with confidence. She has also gone the extra mile and personally tracked items I was in a hurry for to ensure prompt delivery. You really can’t find customer service like this these days. Portland is very fortunate to have such a plumbing gem!

This is where to go if you are working on a vintage bath, and by vintage, I mean anything up to and including the 1960’s and beyond. More importantly, Brenda really takes the time to help solve your plumbing conundrums and do it right.

How many problems can one place have? I wanted to support a small local business in my neighborhood, so I decided to buy some plumbing hardware at Portland Vintage. That was my first mistake!
First, Brenda did not have the hardware I wanted in stock, so she helpfully said she could order it. Then, she added shipping to the cost of my order! I’ve NEVER paid for shipping when doing «ship to store» business. I was quite surprised, but she was firm that I had to pay shipping on the item I ordered. I could have just as easily ordered the part from the internet or a catalogue, but decided to go ahead with the order, letting her know that I needed the parts by the end of the week because I otherwise the entire bathroom renovation would be held up.
Unsurprisingly the delivery date came and went, and no parts arrived. I finally asked her to send me a tracking number, and lo and behold, it turns out that the scheduled delivery date is four days later than she promised. I’m not sure who dropped the ball here, but my entire renovation has been on hold because of this shipping snafu. Meanwhile, I’m paying my plumber and my contractor to show up and stand around because they don’t have any parts to work with.
I asked that my shipping costs at least be refunded, because she guaranteed that I would have my parts nearly a week ago, but she just claimed it wasn’t her fault and had no jurisdiction over the supplier or FedEx.
One of the points of patronizing a small business is that you expect a superior level of customer service. In this instance, I’ve spent well over a thousand dollars, and have nothing to show for it except aggravation and delays. I should have just gone to Rejuvenation!

Brenda at Portland Vintage Plumbing is the perfect person to help you pick out a new faucet, plumbing fixtures, or accessories. She helped me pick out the perfect sink and faucet for my kitchen. She is patient, knowledgeable and makes the decision making process very easy.