Horizon Group Faucets A Consolidated Report BathSelect, Cascada Showers, Fontana Showers, and Juno Showers Review & Rating Updated: March 20, 2026

The Horizon Group has taken exception to some of the facts about the Group, its constituent companys, and its faucet products disclosed in this report, going so far as to publish a rebuttal on several of the websites it controls. The company's rebuttal on its Fontana website and our response can be read in the footnotes.^[1]

Imported

China

BathSelect LLC

4429 Brookfield Corporate Dr. Suite 500, Chantilly, VA 20151

customerservice@Bathselect.com

800-500-9895

703-378-2808

Cascada Showers

7121 Merrimac Dr., McLean, VA 22101

customerservice@cascadashowers.com

800-766-7428

Fontana Showers LLC

4429 Brookfield Corporate Dr. Suite 500, Chantilly, VA 20151

customerservice@fontanashowers.com

800-684-4489

Juno Showers LLC

4429 Brookfield Corporate Drive, Suite 500, Chantilly, VA 20151

info@junoshowers.com

800-684-4489

Related Entities

Horizon Direct Depot LLC

6845 Elm St. McLean, VA 22101

sales@horizondirectdepot.com

703-595-4855

HG Shopping

429 Brook­field Cor­por­ate Dr., Suite 500, Chan­til­ly, Vir­gin­ia

info@hgshopping.com

800-684-4489

Rating

Business Type

For more information on the five fau­cet company business types, see Faucet Companies

Product Range

Kitchen, Bath, Bar, and Prep Faucets

Certifications

Brands

BathSelect

Cascada Showers

Fontana Showers

Juno Showers

Street Prices

(On January 22, 2026)

BathSelect	$ 99.65 - $2,029.99
Cascada Showers	$169.95 -  $ 296.99
Fontana Showers	$154.40 - $3,845.35
Juno Showers	$187.13 - $1,936.00

Prices include hands-free faucets. Prices are representative and subject to change without notice.

Warranty Score

Valve Cartridge

1 Year^[1]

Finishes

1 Year^[1]

Mechanical Parts

1 Year^[1]

Electronics

None

Proof of Purchase

Required

Transferable

No

Meets U.S. Warranty
Law Requirements

No

Warranty Footnotes

1. Some faucets may include a longer warranty or some components. Read the warranties for specific information.

• Read the BathSelect faucet warranty.
• Read the Cascada Showers faucet warranty.
• Read the Fontana Showers faucet warranty.
• Read the Juno Showers faucet warranty.

☆ Learn more about faucet warranties.

☆ See how we determine warranty scores.

☆ Understanding the federal Magnuson Moss Warranty Act.

☆ Find out how to enforce your product warranty.

Download/Read/Print our Model Limited Lifetime Warranty for comparison.

This Company In Brief

Maysara Khalid Sadiq and his associates control a group of related companies that illegally import and sell illegal Chinese-made fau­cets in the U.S. and Canada under several trade names.

The faucets are sold through proprietary websites and internet retailers that host third-par­ty sellers, such as Ama­zon, Houzz, and Way­fair.

Mr. Sadiq is a minor marketing genius using techniques that allow him to sell perfectly ordinary faucets at grossly inflated prices.

Unfortunately, those techniques involve pervasive misrepresentation, including disguising the origin of the faucets (China, not the U.S.), concealing their legal status (not legal to sell or use in a drinking water system), and claming benefits that the faucets do not have, such as WaterSense^® labeling.

The fact that his companies have been largely successful suggests, unfortunately, that the deceptions work.

Horizon Group faucet warranties are uniformly sub-par for North Amer­ica, and after-sales customer service and replacement parts availability are woefully deficient.

The faucets do not meet the minimum legal requirements for installation as drinking water faucets in North America.

The Group

The Horizon Group consists of at least five operating companies, all of which are in some manner associated with Maysara Khalid Sadiq.^[2]

The group also operates a sixth retail website, HGShopping as an online-only store that sells Fontana and Juno products. It may not be the only such site, but is the only one we have confirmed so far.

Feeder Websites

In addition to its sales venues, the Group also operates several websites called "feeder sites." These are websites that feed potential buyers to the Group's "money sites" where its products are sold.

There are two types of feeder sites. "White sites" acknowledge their connection with the money site, and "black sites" that conceal that connection, pretending to have no affiliation with the money site.

The Group's feeder sites are all black sites.

They attract potential buyers to the Group's money sites by offering what appears to the reader to be "impartial expert advice" and "independent reviews" that unfailingly favor the Group's products.

These are the black sites that we have identified so far. There may be others that we have not yet discovered.

As their affiliation with the Group is disguised, these feeder sites foster the illusion that they are independent and that the praise they heap on the Group's products is unsolicited and impartial.

However, it is neither. It is an integral part of the Group's overall marketing strategy.

When the Bravat Showers website ranks the Group's faucets as among the

"Best Touchless Bathroom Faucets Reviewed by Experts"

or the Arch Faucets site identifies Fontana Showers as selling the

"best commercial architectural faucet,"

without disclosing that the endorsements are from an entity with a "material connection" to the endorsed brand, the endorsements are illegal as "undisclosed influencer partnerships."

The practice violates Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S. Code § 45) which requires endorsers to disclose material connections with the brands or products being endorsed and provides penalties that may reach $50,000 per violation.

Review Pumping

The feeder sites even go so far as to quote each other's endorsements of the Group's products as "proof" that their overwhelmingly favorable views of the Group's products are completely true.

This technique is one form of "review pumping," defined as:

"… review manipulation aimed at deceiving consumers and gaming search algorithms by inflating a product's online reputation through the artificial generation of a high volume of positive reviews."

When the group copies a favorable review from one of its websites to another, it has, in effect, created a second favorable review. If the review is copied to five different sites, five new reviews are created. This is the simplest form of review pumping.

ReView pumping has Four purposes:

• Increase he number of favorable reviews appearing on the intenet.
• Enhance the ratio of good to bad reviews on the web, often dramatically.
• Help to ensure that favorable reviews appear much more often in search engine results. Every copied review can become a separate item in the organic portion of the search results page.
• Create the impression that positive views of the company's products are widespread.

However, this kind of review pumping is, like undisclosed affiliated endorsements, completely unlawful.

It is illegal in the U.S. for a company to

"…disseminate or cause the dissemination of a consumer testimonial about the business or one of the products … it sells … which fails to have a clear and conspicuous disclosure of the testimonialist's material relationship to the business…" (16 CFR Part 465(b)(1))

This means, very simply, that the Group can copy favorable reviews to the websites of related eneties only if it makes it very clear that the reviews are copies and the entities are affiliated.

Company Addresses

The Group's companies list a wide variety of business addresses spread throughout Washington D.C.'s Virginia suburbs, some of which are private residences.

4429 Brook­field Cor­por­ate Dr., Suite 500, Chan­til­ly, VA, identified by Fon­ta­na Showers, Ju­no Showers, Bath Sel­ect, and HGShop­ping as their principal business address, is an office warehouse complex hous­ing multiple businesses.

7121 Mer­ri­mac Dr., Mc­Lean, VA, is identified by Cas­ca­da Showers and Hor­i­zon Di­rect De­pot as their primary business address. This address is listed in Fair­fax Coun­ty property records as a single-family residence owned by Rola Ali Sab­bagh (Also appearing in public records as Roula Sab­bagh and Rola Al-Sab­bagh).

Ms. Sab­bagh is identified by Dun and Brad­street as the president of Hor­i­zon Di­rect De­pot, and by the Vir­gin­ia Cor­por­a­ti­on Com­mis­si­on as that company's registered agent.

She has been associated with the Horizon Direct Depot in public records since 2017 and is also mentioned in several sources as the president of Cavalier Construction Group, Inc., an entity hat, according to the records of the Virginia Corporations Commission, does not and never has existed.

Cascada Showers lists its mailing address as 217 W. 18th St. #1306, New York, NY.

The U. S. Postal Service catalogs this address as the historic Old Chel­sea Sta­tion, a Post Of­fice in Manhattan. The "#1306" is, according to the station manager, the number of a post office box.

6845 Elm St., McLean, VA, is listed by Horizon Direct Depot as its street address. The building is an office complex that primarily houses doctors' offices and medical services.

4270 Henninger Ct., Chantilly, VA, is a small office/warehouse center that appears to be a logistics and order fulfillment center. The Group rents one of the warehouse bays. It is identified by Fon­ta­na Showers, Ju­no Showers, Bath­Sel­ect, and HGShopping as a contact address.

3707 Broadrun Dr. #4, Fairfax, VA, is the registered address for Fon­tana Showers LLC and Juno Showers LLC. It is a four-bedroom single-family residence that, according to Spokeo, is occupied by Maysara Khalid Sadiq. Horizon Direct Depot also claims this address as its business address in its Walmart seller listing.

Legal Organization and Status

Members of the Group share purchasing, warehousing, order fulfillment, and customer service.

We believe, based on our research into import and customs records, that Hor­i­zon Di­rect De­pot LLC handles many of these backend processes for the Group, including importation from China. It also sells the Group's products on its website and through Amazon and eBay stores.

However, direct imports by any member of the group are only a small portion of the Group's total imports. Most are sent to distribution and fulfillment centers operated by Amazon, Walmart, and other hosting websites on which the company sells its products, and are lost in the deluge of products received by these gargantuan centers.

All of the entities are organized as limited liability companies in Vir­gin­ia. Three of these, BathSe­l­ect LLC, Fon­ta­na­Show­ers LLC, and Ju­noSho­wers LLC, are listed by the Vir­gin­ia Cor­por­a­ti­on Com­mis­si­on as "inactive" for failure to comply with reporting requirements.

An inactive entity continues to exist as a legal company but is not in "good standing." It cannot buy, sell, or enter into a valid contract, and its owners are not shielded from personal liability for the company's deeds and misdeeds.^[4]

Other business entities associated with Mr. Sa­diq are defunct. The one still operating, Hor­i­zon Group FS LLC, organized in 2024 (Inactive), has no obvious connection to his plumbing products businesses. There may be a connection, but it's not apparent.

Fontana Showers claims on ots website to have been in business since 1991. We found nothing to support the claim.

There is little doubt that Mr. Sadiq was in business by 1991. We have found some of his business organizations dating from that period, including Horizon Kitchen & Bath Design, a local remodeling company at 13868 Metrotech Dr., Chantilly, Virginia, formed in 1988.

None of these early companies, however, sold fau­cets or other decorative plumbing products as its primary business. Nor does any public record support the claim by Bath­Sel­ect to have started in business in 1990 or by Fontana Showers in 1991. Mr. Saadiq may have sold tile and other floor coverings as Horizon Floor & Tile Inc., but there is no record of any sale of plumbing products.

The first Sadiq company advertising "designer" fau­cets, glass sinks, showers, and shower panels for sale was Bath­Sel­ect (doing business as "Horizon Bath­Sel­ect" or "Horizon/Bath­Sel­ect"). It began selling in 2005, but was not organized as a limited liability company until 2016. Mr. Sadiq did not file for registration of the name as a trademark until 2023 (an application deemed "abandoned" by the copyright office).

Fon­tana Showers launched in 2006. It was reorganized as a limited liability company in 2018, and a trademark registration application was filed by Mr. Sadiq on Jun. 19, 2019 (also "abandoned").

Hor­i­zon Di­rect De­pot was formed in 2014, Ju­no Showers in 2015, and Cas­ca­da Showers in 2018.^[5]

By 2012, according to information obtained from Archive.org, bathtubs, steam showers, tub fillers, and bath accessories such as towel bars and rings, robe hooks, and toilet paper holders had been added to the Group's product offerings.

Retail Sources and Pricing

The Group does not sell through a normal distributor network. A distributor would confirm the faucets' certifications, and most distributors will not sell contraband faucets, if only to avoid excessive warranty claims, possible legal liability, and damage to their reputations.

Con­se­quent­ly, its fau­cets are not sold in any brick-and-mortar showrooms, plumbing supply houses like Ferg­u­son En­ter­pri­ses or Ha­jo­ca, big box lumber stores such as Lowe's or Home De­pot, or in local hardware stores.

Online Sales Only

The Group sells primarily through a dozen websites that it owns and controls:

• BathSelect.com
• BathSelectHospitality.com
• BravatShowers.com
• CascadaShow­ers.com
• FontanaFau­cets.com
• Fon­ta­naSen­sorFau­cets.com
• Fon­ta­naShow­ers.com,
• Fon­ta­naShowersCom­mer­ci­al.com
• HGShopping.com
• HorizonDirectDe­pot.com
• Junocommer­ci­al.com
• Junoshowers.com

Two of Fontana's four websites, Fon­tanaSen­sor­Fau­cets.com and Fon­ta­na­Show­ersCom­mer­ci­al.com, are directed more toward the than private residential buyers, as is Bath­Sel­ect's Bath­Sel­ect Hospitality website.

Faucets are also retailed over the internet on websites that host third-party sellers, including: Amazon.com, eBay.com, Houzz.com, and Walmart.com.

Hosting websites are preferred outlets for traffickers in contraband faucets. They rarely require faucet companies to show proof that their faucets are legal to sell and install. In consequence, hosting websites are flooded with black market faucets. At last count, for example, Amazon.com hosted nearly 1,000 contraband faucet brands selling over 90,000 illegal faucets.

Faucet Pricing

Compared to illegal Chinese-made fau­cets sold by other traffickers in black market fau­cets, prices for Hor­i­zon Group fau­cets are unaccountably high: as much as eight times the price at which the same or a very similar illegal fau­cet can be purchased elsewhere.

They are typically priced even higher than similar fau­cets that are fully certified and completely legal to sell and install. (See Price Comparison III, below.)

Price-to-Value Relationship

If the Group's fau­cets were certified and protected by a lifetime warranty combined with responsive and effective post-sale customer service – like – we could see some justification for the pricing.

But the fau­cets are

• Not certified,

• Illegal to sell under federal law,

• illegal to install in a drinking-water system,

• of a quality is no better than average, and

• supported by warranties that are substantially sub-par.

We have to conclude that Hor­i­zon Group fau­cets are hugely overpriced, and the overall price-to-value relationship is extremely poor.

Faucet Price Comparison III

Delta Trinsic pulldown kitchen fau­cet,	Fontana Banes Pulldown Kitchen Fau­cet
• Made in U.S.A • Fully certified, legal to use • Proprietary valve cartridge enhanced with diamond coating • Lifetime warranty	• Made in China • Uncertified, illegal to use • Chinese-made standard valve cartridge with no enhancements • One-year warranty.
$254.36	$374.22
Non-sale street prices as of 03/06/26. Prices may have changed.

Bravat Faucets

In addition to its own brands, the Group sells fau­cets at Bra­vat­Show­ers.com.

Bravat is owned by Ro­man Dietsche GmbH, a company that also sells its faucets in the U.S. through its own website, Bra­vat.com and on sites, like Amazon that host third-party sellers.

Despite the German name and charter, Bravat is a Chinese trading company. (How that came about is a long story. (Find out more at our review: Bravat Faucets by Dietsch.)

The faucets are made by He Shan Aqua Gallery Kitchen & Bath Factory, one of the companies that also manufactures the Group's faucets, and like the Group's faucets, they are not certified to North American standards and are illegal to sell or use in Canada or the U.S.

The Manufacturers

Fon­ta­na Show­ers claims to be …

…a leading manufacturer and supplier of high-quality bathroom fixtures and fittings, specializing in a wide range of bathroom fixtures, including faucets, showers, bathtubs, and other bathroom accessories,…

and, further that,…

…Fontana Showers products are designed and assembled in our USA facility in Vir­gin­ia,…

In-House Manufacturing

Our research, however, found no evidence of designing or manufacturing by Fontana Showers or any other member of the Group in Virginia or elsewhere in the U.S. or Canada.

Our conclusions are based on the following:

We have asked the Group for any extrinsic evidence it can provide of ongoing manufacturing, but, having already waited months, we now suspect it might not be coming.

Our conclusion from the available evidence is that the fau­cets are manufactured in China and delivered as finished products, ready to sell, or as nearly finished fau­cets that may need a few minor additions before they can be sold.^[6]

Known Suppliers

Not all of its suppliers are known outside of the Group, but those that are known to have supplied faucets to the Group in the past 24 months include:

• Jiangmen Anmei Industrial Co. Ltd. is a Chinese manufacturer of faucets sold worldwide under the Lanerdi brand. In addition to the faucets supplied to the Group, it also provides faucets to

• Changsha Angfa Information Tech Co., Ltd. is a Chinese trading company, not a manufacturer. It supplies faucets and other plumbing products, such as smart toilets, to the Group.

• The actual manufacturer or manufacturers of the fau­cets cannot be determined from the records to which we have access. However, as Chang­sha Ang­fa deals only in Chin­ese-made merchandise, we can be confident that the fau­cets are made in China.

• Fuzhou HDsafe Technologies Co., Ltd. is a Chinese manufacturer that supplies many of the automatic fau­cets sold by members of the Group.

• He Shan Aqua Gallery Kitchen & Bath Factory, trading as Aqua Gallery Home, is an bathwares manufacturer established in 2008 in Foshan, China. It supplies both manual and sensor fau­cets to the Group and manufactures fau­cets.

• Aqua Gallery specializes in suites of bathtubs, showers, vanities, sinks, and fau­cets all matched in coordinated sets. It manufactures almost entirely for export to the Amer­i­cas, from which it derives 92% of its revenues.

• Zhejiang Slion Brassware Co., Ltd., founded in 1993, is one of the group of Slion companies in Zhejiang, China, manufacturing fau­cets and other plumbing products primarily for export. The Slion Group includes Zhejiang Slion Fluid Control Co., Ltd., another Hor­i­zon Group supplier.

• Wenzhou Haijun Sanitary Hardware Co., Ltd. has specialized in producing faucets for other companies as an manufacturer since its organization in 1999, At one time Haijun was a principal manufacturer of faucets for the Group, but does not appear in recent import records, so the relationship may have ended.

Construction & Materials

The fau­cets are constructed conventionally. The body and spout of the fau­cets, as well as being decorative, are the components that channel water within the fau­cet.

Chinese manufacturers have yet to widely adopt the newer Core and Shell construction, which divorces function from appearance.

The core component controls water flow while the shell hides the core and gives the faucet its distinctive appearance. Core and Shell construction has many advantages over conventional construction, including the most important: making faucets much less expensive without sacrificing durability, longevity, or appearance.

Most of the Group's fau­cets are fashioned from brass. A few touchless fau­cets, intended primarily for commercial use, and some kitchen fau­cets are in stainless steel.

Stainless Steel

The stainless steel, according to one of the Hor­i­zon companies, is 304 stainless, an alloy commonly referred to as "food grade" stainless. Nickel is added to give the steel a crystalline structure, which increases its strength. Chromium helps the steel resist corrosion.

Why Stainless Steel Does Not Rust: Properly alloyed stainless steel contains at least 10% chromium (which gives stainless its slight yellowish tinge) and a dollop of nickel. These form a coating of oxides and hydroxides on the outer surface of the steel that blocks oxygen and water from reaching the underlying metal, preventing rust from forming. The coating is very thin, only a few atoms thick, so thin that it is invisible to the eye under ordinary light, but thick enough to protect the fau­cet.

Steel is harder than brass. It can be made in thinner profiles that use less material and still have more than adequate strength.

The tradeoff, however, is that steel is more difficult to fabricate and generally requires heavier machinery, so there is usually very little, if any, actual cost savings over brass.

Brass

Brass is the preferred material for fau­cets for two reasons:

• Brass is strong but easy to work with. It casts, forges, and machines with relative ease.

• Brass is anti-microbial. The copper in brass kills bacteria and other nasty micro-criters on contact. Microbes can accumulate inside the faucet, leading to potential health problems. One of the purposes of independent testing and certification is to ensure that the design of a faucet does not allow it to harbor harmful pathogens.

But traditional brass has one serious drawback.

It contains metallic lead, and lead is now all but banned in North Amer­ica in any drinking water component due to its toxicity to humans, particularly children.

The maximum lead content of those parts of a fau­cet that touch water is 0.25% (1/4 of 1%) – a bare trace. In fact, there may be more lead in the air you breathe than there is in a fau­cet that has been certified lead-free.

To comply with the restrictions on lead, today's fau­cet brass replaces lead with other additives to reduce brittleness during manufacturing without adding toxicity.

The most common is bismuth, which is similar to lead – right next to lead on the periodic table of elements – but not harmful to humans.

Bismuth, however, is 300 times rarer than lead, even rarer than silver, which is the reason that bismuth-brass alloys are considerably more expensive than ordinary leaded brass.

This increased cost has encouraged many fau­cet manufacturers to use substitute materials in their fau­cets where possible.

Zinc & Zinc/Aluminum Alloys

Zinc or a zinc-aluminum (ZA) alloy is a common substitute for brass in faucet manufacturing.

Zinc is not as strong as brass and does not resist water pressure as well as brass. But its use in non-pressurized parts of a brass fau­cet, such as handles, base and wall plates, and is common even among manufacturers of luxury fau­cets.

It does no harm when used in these components and may save consumers a few dollars.

Plastics

Plastic is the other commonly used, but often controversial, substitute material.

It may be safely used in incidental parts like base plates and has been largely trouble-free in aerators, and as casings for ceramic cartridges, but otherwise, its use is suspect, especially if under water pressure.

Among those suspect uses is in the spray heads of kitchen fau­cets, and all of the Hor­i­zon Group's spray heads that we examined were plastic.

Plastic spray heads fail much more often than metal sprays. Unlike metal, the plastics used in fau­cets are vulnerable to chlorine and ultraviolet light, which will degrade the material over time.

Although engineers and chemists have made significant improvements to their reliability over the past decade, the problem has not been entirely solved.

Design & Styling

Fontana Showers describes its faucet designs as "Italian Inspired." The other companies in the group are silent as to the source of their design inspiration.

However, anyone familiar with Italian design would find almost none of Italy's design verve in Fontana's faucet styles.

For the most part, the faucets are common Chinese compositions, similar or identical to the styles sold by hundreds of other importers of Chinese faucets.

Design originality in China is rare.

China's faucet manufacturers have made their mark in the industry by making inexpensive faucets in vast quantities.

Their goal is to sell as many fau­cets as possible, which means keeping prices low and designs well within the mainstream to attract as many buyers as possible. They generally tweak existing styles rather than venturing too far from core design parameters.

Some of the Group's traditional styles, however, are a step above the usual run of Chinese designs, not a big step, but more than a baby step.

These styles seem to have been influenced by the French Belle Epoque and English Edwardian periods of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They started appearing in Chinese faucets about five years ago.

If the faucets were certified, we would certainly suggest a close look for a traditional bathroom. Unfortunately, however, none are certified.

We know because we checked every one of these faucets for Certificates of Listing and found none.

To learn more about faucet design and configuration, see Faucet Basics Part 4: Faucet Styles & Configurations.

Faucet Components

The critical fau­cet components are ceramic valve cartridges and aerators. The valve is the component that actually makes the faucet work. It turns water on and off and meters the flow rate. In single-handle faucets, it also controls water temperature. The modern aerator restricts water flow to the legally allowed maximum, shapes and softens the water stream, and prevents backflow contamination.

Buying Rule for Smart Faucet Buyers

The Faucet Cartridge

Never buy a faucet unless you know who made the valve cartridge.

Its valve is the most critical part of a faucet. It is the component that controls water flow. Without a working valve, a faucet is no longer a faucet.

Companies that use good-quality valve cartridges in their faucets usually disclose the cartridge source on their websites. Those that don't will happily identify the cartridge in a call to customer service.

If the company declines to disclose the sources of its cartridges (because it is a "trade secret"), you can confidently assume it is not one of the better brands.

Replacement Cartridges: If a company no longer stocks the cartridge for your very old faucet, don't panic. The Group's cartridge are , so cartridges are probably available from one of the replacement parts sellers such as Faucets Parts Plus or Chicago Faucet Shoppe.

For more information about faucet valves and cartridges and the companies that make cartridges that are known to be reliable, see Faucet Valves & Cartridges.

Valve Cartridges

As far as we can tell, none of the Group's companies sells replacement cartridges for their faucets.

To learn more about faucet valves and cartridges, visit Faucet Basics Part 2: Faucet Valves & Cartridges.

However, cartridges are usually available from any number of replacement parts sellers, such as Danco, Chicago Faucet Shop, and Allora, so a replacement should not be hard to find should a cartridge ever fail.

Aerators

Dozens of Chinese companies make . None of the fau­cets we examined, however, included precision-engineered aerators like those made by the Swiss company, Neoperl,^® considered the world's best, or the equally capable Amfag S.r.l. in Italy, but they did appear to be adequate.

Faucet aerators used to be simple devices that merely added a little air to soften the water stream so it would not splash out of the sink.

Today, however, they are also used to limit water volume to the lower flows required by federal and state water conservation laws, and in some cases, to prevent backflow that can result in the contamination of household drinking water.

It is important, therefore, that this little device, often smaller than a dime, works well and is completely reliable.

Faucet Finishes

None of these companies publishes a finish chart. The finishes are whatever their Chinese manufacturers can provide and change with some frequency.

A little research on various company websites, however, found the following finishes that seem to be common to all of the companies: Antique Brass, Black, Brushed Nickel, Chrome, Gold, and Oil-rubbed Bronze. Rose Gold, Stainless Steel, and White were available on a few fau­cets.

Some finishes are called by several names. Gunmetal, for example, is sometimes Gunmetal Gray or Graphite, depending on the company and a particular manufacturer's label for its finish.

Some of the fau­cets are available in in which a base finish is paired with an accent finish. We found split finishes that included, among others, Black with Chrome, Black with Nickel, and Black with Gold.

Stainless steel is available only on stainless steel fau­cets. It is usually not an applied finish, but the material of the fau­cet, buffed and brushed or polished to an attractive finish. Stainless steel shows fingerprints readily, so a brushed finish is commonly used to help hide both fingerprints and water spots.

The rest of the finishes are applied using one of three common processes: electroplating, physical vapor deposition (PVD), or powder coating.

None of the companies reveal the processes used to produce a particular finish, something they may well not know.

They do not finish their own fau­cets and may not be familiar with the processes used by theie Chinese manufacturers. However, the process affects the durability and longevity of the finish, and is information that is important to an informed fau­cet-buying decision.

Two of the finishes. Chrome and Brushed Nickel are almost certainly electroplated. Black, White, Gold, Rose Gold, and Oil-Rubbed Bronze are typically powder coatings, but could also be PVD finishes. In fact, a finish like Gold or Oil-Rubbed Bronze could be a powder coating from one manufacturer and a PVD finish from another.

Be careful of matching any finish other than chrome. One manufacturer's gold or oil-rubbed bronze is unlikely to perfectly match those from another manufacturer. Visible variation is common.

Electroplating

involves immersing the fau­cet and the metal to be used as plating in an acid bath, then applying an electrical charge to both objects so metallic ions are drawn from the plating metal to the fau­cet.

The process is potentially hazardous to the operator and the environment. It involves toxic and corrosive chemicals that must be disposed of safely. No other coating technology even comes close to the dangers involved in electroplating.

The top coat may be polished or brushed. Chrome, a relatively hard metal, is usually polished to a high shine. Nickel, a softer metal, is usually brushed to help hide the inevitable minor scratches.

Physical Vapor Deposition

, or PVD, is one of the latest space-age fau­cet finishing technologies and the gold standard of fau­cet finishing, rapidly replacing electroplating as the finish of choice.

Although the technology was discovered in the 19th century, it was not used in industry until the 1950s, and then only rarely due to its great expense. Its first use was inside nuclear reactors, where a very tough finish was necessary to withstand the hellish environment. Today, PVD technology is everywhere, and the machinery required is getting smaller, faster, and cheaper all the time.

Load a chamber with unfinished fau­cet components, remove all the air, and add back a carefully calculated mix of nitrogen or argon and reactive gases.

Add a rod of the metal to be used for the coating. Heat that rod to a temperature so high that the metal dissolves into individual atoms. The atoms mix with the various reactive gases to get the color and finish effects you want and are then deposited in a very thin layer – 2 to 5 microns – on the fau­cets.

Despite being just microns thick, a PVD coating is extremely dense and, in consequence, very hard and durable. By some estimates, it is up to 20 times more scratch-resistant than electroplated chrome.

From long experience, we know that PVD is nearly impossible to accidentally scratch or mar, never fades or changes color, and resists all forms of soiling.

A PVD finish can usually be maintained with just an occasional wipe from a damp cloth to remove water spots.

Powder Coating

is usually described as semi-durable, not as robust as electroplated or PVD finishes, about as durable as the finish on your car, and requiring more care to maintain a like-new appearance.

It is essentially a dry paint in powder form applied using a special low-velocity spray gun that disperses the powder while giving it a positive electrical charge. The particles are drawn to the item to be finished, which has been given a negative charge.

Once the powder is applied, the item being coated is baked in an oven, which melts and bonds the powder and changes the structure of the coating into long, cross-linked molecular chains.

These chains are what give the coating its durability, reducing the risk of scratches, chipping, abrasions, corrosion, fading, and other wear issues.

Faucet Warranties

Until sometime around 2009, fau­cets were sold by the companies in the Group "as is" without a warranty of any kind.

This is the "Warranty Disclaimer" that was posted on the Font­ana Show­ers website on August 23, 2009:

"[T]he materials and products on this site are provided "as is" and without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied. To the fullest extent permissible pursuant to applicable law, [Fon­ta­na Sho­wers] disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including, but not limited to, implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement."

Today, all of these companies offer some sort of warranty, but none comply with U.S. consumer warranty law. The Mag­nu­son-Moss War­ranty Act (15 U.S.C. §2301) imposes requirements that these warranties come nowhere near meeting.

They also have in common the fact that they are woefully deficient for the North Amer­ican fau­cet market in which the standard fau­cet warranty, introduced by in the 1960s, is a lifetime warranty.

Warranty Duration

Most of the Group's companies provide no more than a single year of warranty protection on their faucets, although this duration is often buried in the verbosity of the warranty documents. Here is the breakdown:

• Cascada Showers: One Year:

  "If your product becomes defective due to faulty materials or workmanship within a period of 1 year from the date of purchase, we guarantee to:

  • Replace or repair all defective parts, free of charge, or
  • Repair products free of charge, or
  • Replace the unit with a new or re-conditioned unit, free of charge."

• Fontana Showers: One Year:

  "FontanaShowers will repair or replace, free of charge, during the applicable warranty period, any part of product that proves to be defective in material and/or workmanship under normal installation, use and service."

• Juno Showers: One Year:

  "JunoShowers, at its discretion, will repair or replace, free of charge, during the applicable 1-year warranty period, any part that proves to be defective in material and/or workmanship under normal installation, use and service. If repair or replacement is not practical, we may elect to refund the purchase price in exchange for the return of the product."

• Horizon Direct Depot: One Year:

  "At our discretion, we will repair or replace, free of charge, any part that proves to be defective in material and/or workmanship under normal installation, use, and service during the applicable 1-year warranty period. If repair or replacement is not practical, we may elect to refund the purchase price in exchange for the return of the product."

Understanding Finish Warranties

A finish warranty does not protect against everything that can go wrong with a fau­cet finish.

(Not a Horizon Group product)

It covers defects caused by faulty materials or errors in the finishing process, generally subsumed under the rubric "manufacturing defects."

Blistering, delaminating, peeling, and spalling are the usual manufacturing defects. These are very rare – almost unheard of. The bad old days of peeling China chrome are long gone.

Most finish problems these days are caused by over­zeal­ous cleaning and ordinary wear and tear, neither of which is covered by a finish warranty.

If it peels, the company pays. But if you scratch it or it turns a funny color after you polish it a few times with Wham-X All Pur­pose Mir­a­cle Clean­er, you are on your own.

• BathSelect has a slightly different warranty. It starts out looking like a standard North Amer­ican lifetime warranty with this language:

  "Bathroom fixtures will be free of all defects in material and workmanship that would impair the intended and proper use of the product as well as … against deterioration of the product's finish for as long as the original purchaser owns the home in which the product is originally installed."

  That promise of lifetime coverage is immediately taken away a few lines later with this provision:

  "BathSelect offers a 2 Year manufacturer warranty on all purchased products."

• Read together, these provisions promise a lifetime warranty only if you don't purchase the faucet. If you do buy the faucet, the warranty is for just two years. Exactly how you might go about acquiring a Bath­Sel­ect faucet without buying it is left unexplained (and we are not going to speculate).

• And that's not even the oddest provision in the warranty. Consider this incomprehensible statement:

  "Any potential damage/flaw must be reported to us within 7 days after delivery …"

  How does that work exactly? I have a warranty that lasts at least two years, but I have to report any damage within 7 days after delivery. What if the damage occurs on the 8th day?

The Warranty as Insight Into Faucet Longevity

A warranty is a good guide to a company's true opinion about the durability and longevity of its faucets. Inf fact, it is the first item we examine to form an initial impression of the life expectancy of a line of faucets.

A warranty forces a company to pledge its dollars that its fau­cets will perform without failing. How long a company will risk its own money is a very good indicator of how long the company truly expects its fau­cets to be problem-free.

Companies that sell very good faucets, such as promise with their warranty dollars that their faucets will last a lifetime. That a company provides less than a lifetime warranty is usually indicative of a lack of confidence by management in the long-term viability of the faucets.

The Group's skimpy, short-term warranties strongly suggest that management is, at best, unsure of the durability of its Chinese fau­cets.

Compliance With U.S. Warranty Law

In addition to their other problems, the warranties do not comply with federal Warranty law and regulations.

The Mag­nu­son-Moss War­ranty Act specifies the content and form of consumer product warranties. These warranties do not conform to the requirements.

• Non-Compliant Captioning: It is clear from the warranty language that they are intended to be limited warranties. But to be a limited warranty, a warranty must clearly designate the warranty as a limited warranty with the magic word "limited" in its caption or title.

• The word "limited" is required to give an early warning to the buyer that the warranty is intended to provide only limited protection.

• Unfortunately, these warranties are captioned just "Warranty" or "Product Warranty". The word "limited" is nowhere to be found. The missing "limited" automatically converts the warranty to a full, unlimited warranty. (15 U.S.C. §2303(a), 16 CFR §700.6)

• A full warranty gives the consumer many more rights. Among these is the right to have any plumber labor required to uninstall, repair, and reinstall the fau­cet, and all shipping and handling charges paid for by the company.

• Warranty Claim Procedure: None of the warranties provides "A step-by-step explanation of the procedure which the consumer should follow" to make a claim under the warranty, including the mailing address or telephone number to use, or the information or documents that are required. (16 CFR § 701.3(a)(3))

• Incidental and Consequential Damages: Some of the warranties attempt to exclude (lawyers say "disclaim") consequential and incidental damages, but the disclaimers are not accompanied by the following legally required statement:

  "Some States do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages, so the above limitation or exclusion may not apply to you."

• Without the required clarification, the attempt to exclude incidental and consequential damages is void and has no effect. (16 CFR § 701.3(8))

• Missing Required Statement: Most of the warranties do not include the following statement, required to be in every consumer warranty:

  "This warranty gives you specific legal rights, and you may also have other rights which vary from State to State."

• Without this statement, the entire warranty is probably voided, which means that the state law implied warranty of merchantability takes over and becomes the sole warranty. The implied warranty usually gives the buyer many more rights. (16 C.F.R. §701.3(a)(9))

• Exclusive Remedy: The Bath Se­lect warranty attempts to disclaim state law implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose with this statement:

  "Our warranty is the sole and exclusive remedy, offered in lieu of all other warranties, expressed or implied. We will not be liable for any indirect, direct, incidental, or punitive damages arising from the purchase of this product."

• It is not legal under Mag­nu­son-Moss for a company offering a written warranty to exclude coverage by implied warranties of Merchantability and Fitness for Purpose.

• A company's written warranty is intended to supplement state law warranties, not replace them. Any attempt to deny state-law warranty coverage is simply ignored.(15 U.S.C. §2308(a))

• The second problem with the attempted exclusion is more serious.

• The language could be considered deceptive, and one of the three cardinal rules of Mag­nu­son-Moss is that warranty language must not be deceptive.

• This provision would almost certainly lead a reasonable person to falsely believe that a defective fau­cet would be excluded from state-law warranty coverage – and that is the very definition of deception under the law.

• We don't believe the companies are being deliberately deceptive.

• No doubt whoever wrote the warranties saw the language in some other warranty and copied it, unaware that it is not allowed. (Many fau­cet warranties include similar language. We are not sure where it first appeared, but it has been widely copied.)

• Under Mag­nu­son-Moss, however, deliberate deception is not required to incur liability. It is sufficient that the company has not taken reasonable care "to make the warranty not misleading." (15 U.S. Code § 2310(c)(2))

• The very presence of the provision in these warranties evidences a lack of reasonable care.

Customer Service

To complement its below-par warranties, the Group provides substandard customer service.

Our Customer Service Experience

Our experience with customer service has been far from favorable.

We did not conduct our usual formal tests. They do not work with very small companies since agents soon realize they are being tested and change their behavior.

However, over 90 days, we called with typical questions and problems that service agents might encounter.

In general, the results were not good.

Agents seem to know little about their fau­cets beyond the limited information already on the company's website. They could tell us nothing about the finishing processes, country of origin, the type and source of valve cartridges, all common questions that an agent should be able to answer.

Common Misrepresentations

Factual misrepresentations were common.

• Despite a wealth of evidence to the contrary, agents maintained that the fau­cets were certified to joint U.S./Canadian standards.

• Fontana Showers agents insisted that the company manufactures fau­cets of its own design in Vir­gin­ia, again contrary to overwhelming evidence that the fau­cets are manufactured in China, including "Made in China" stamped on the boxes containing our randomly selected test fau­cets.

• One gentleman offered to provide us with listing certificates proving the fau­cet certifications, but only if we agreed to remove any mention of Maysara Khalid Sadiq from our report.

• Since we do not allow companies to censor our reports, we politely declined.

We do not think that the agents are consciously lying. They are repeating what they have been told and what they believe is true. However, it is clear from their statements that the Group is not above misrepresenting its products.

We scored the company's customer support: "Unsatisfactory."

BBB Rating

The Better Business Bureau, as of the date of this report, rates the companies as follows:

• BathSelect: A
• Cascada Showers: B-
• Fontana Showers: F
• Juno Showers: B-
• Horizon Direct Depot: B-

These ratings are a slight improvement over the ratings as of our last report. The BBB indicates that the reason for the less-than-perfect scores is failure to respond to customer complaints.^[8]

Most of the complaints received by the Bureau were for problems with post-sale customer service.

This BBB complaint is typical:

"We placed an order on Jan 20, 2021, for bathroom Faucets and Soap Dispensers which totaled $1,472.58. After several weeks of calling to find out the status of our order, we were told the items were not in stock and they may have them in March."

"We are in the middle of a renovation and can not wait until March, so we asked for a refund. We were told the refund would take in 3/5 business days."

"I have been calling daily since February 4. The times they have answered, I am told the accounting department is short-handed and they have other refunds to process and we should receive our refund in 3/5 business days."

"I have tried to talk to a supervisor who is never available. Most times when I call there is no answer and I have left quite a few voice messages."

"No company should be allowed to hold on to someone's money this long. They had no problem taking our money right away. All we desire is to get our refund which rightly belongs to us."

Font­ana Show­ers did not respond to this complaint.

Legal Compliance

Faucets are a part of your drinking-water system, and every part of that system, right down to the solder joints, is strictly regulated by federal, state, and even local governments.

Not just anything with a sparkling finish that delivers water is a fau­cet as the laws define fau­cets in North Amer­ica.

To be a fau­cet, the product must be legal to sell as a fau­cet and legal to use as a fau­cet in a drinking water system.

The sale of a fau­cet is prohibited by federal law in the U.S. if it …

• Is not registered with the Department of Energy (DOE). (10 CFR §430). None of the Group's fau­cets is recorded in the DOE CCMS database of registered fau­cets.

• does not bear a "a permanent legible marking to identify the manufacturer"^[9] located where it can be viewed after installation. (16 CFR § 305.24). None of the Group's fau­cets we acquired for testing had the required marking. In fact, none had any sort of marking at all, including certification markings.

• does not comply with the lead-free requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act, which, after September 2023, requires faucets to be tested for lead content and certified. None of the Group's faucets have been tested, and none are certified lead-free.

These basic standards are:

• ASME A112.18.1/CSA 125.1, The design and performance standards for fau­cets, including durability, reliability, longevity, and ease of repair.

• ANSI/NSF 372 and ANSI/NSF 61: Standards that confirm that a fau­cet is free from lead and other toxic substances and that water flowing through a fau­cet does not pick up harmful contaminants or pathogens.

A faucet that passes all of the many tests is listed as certified in a public database available for all to see and examine.

None of the Group's faucets is listed in any certificate, indicating that none have been tested and certified.

Bathroom sink faucets meeting certain low-flow standards and certified by an independent laboratory are permitted to display a label indicating Wa­ter­Sense compliance.^[10]

The Group's members make frequent reference to the Wa­ter­Sense program and identify faucets as meeting WaterSense requirements or as being "Wa­ter­Sense registered."

Our research, however, determined very quickly that none of the group's bathroom sink faucets have been tested and certified by an independent laboratory as meeting Wa­ter­Sense requirements.

No Horizon Group faucet appears in the U.S. En­vir­on­men­tal Pro­tec­tion Agen­cy (EPA) database of Wa­ter­Sense-La­beled products.

Testing and Certification

Certification tells you that your faucet is durable and reliable and will likely remain durable and reliable for a very long time.

It also tells you that the water passing through your faucet will not make you very sick.

Tosic substances like metallic lead, arsenic, mercury, and cadmium can leach into the water you drink and use for meal preparation.

Once inside your body, they don't leave. Even tiny amounts accumulating year after year can cause severe health effects, including cancer, neurological disorders, kidney damage, heart disease, cognitive impairment, and serious developmental issues in children, even at very low concentrations.

Faucets can also harbor significant bacterial growth, including Legionella and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (antibiotic-resistant generalized inflammation and sepsis), which live in slimy biofilms inside the faucet head and aerator. These germs thrive in moist environments and are spread when water runs through them, creating aerosolized droplets.

Certification is not just a "nice-to-have" or "recommended" faucet feature. It is so important that it's the law in every state, province, territory, enclave, and protectorate in the U.S. and Canada.

You cannot legally install a faucet in a drinking water system, even a private well system, unless it is fully certified. Doing so in an increasing number of jurisdictions can get you jail time, and under federal law (42 U.S.C. § 300-1), can net you as much as 20 years of federal hospitality in a graybar hotel.

A company that sells you an uncertified faucet is telling you something very important to which you should pay close attention: It does not care if your faucet is durable and reliable or if it makes you or your family very ill.

It's in business solely for the money, and it makes more money selling potentially dangerous uncertified faucets.

And that's exactly what the Group's companies are telling you. None of their faucets has been tested and certified.

Who Can Certify Faucets

No one can tell whether a faucet is reliable or safe just by looking at a pretty picture of the faucet on the internet. Indeed, not even the most minute visual inspection of the actual faucet will help. An uncertified faucet looks just like a certified faucet.

To ensure that fau­cets comply with all North Amer­ican standards of durability, reliability, and safety, they must be extensively tested. It is not a trivial process. It involves a comprehensive suite of tests covering performance, materials, and safety over a period of several weeks and, in some cases, months.

It includes mechanical testing (leakage, strength, flow rate), material safety (toxin-free), and functional tests (handles, sprayers). Key evaluations include pressure, temperature, and endurance testing to ensure compliance with standards.

It may take weeks to test and certify a faucet. One test, the cartridge life cycle test, takes up to six days to complete. The test for contaminants takes a minimum of 20 days.

Faucet companies cannot certify their own faucets. They must be certified by an accredited independent laboratory with the specialized skills and equipment needed.

There are just seven such laboratories in the U.S. and Canada, and just three of these laboratories test and certify 90% of the faucets used in North America.

A faucet that passes certification is listed in a public document available on the internet called a Cer­ti­fi­cate of List­ing.

The Horizon Group's companies insist that their fau­cets are certified. Our research found the contrary. Not a single faucet from these companies appears in a Cer­ti­fi­cate of List­ing issued by any accredited laboratory.

To double-check, we asked the company for copies of any certificates showing that their brands and models are certified. That request was made months ago. We are still waiting for a response.

Testing & Certification Results

Certification Disclaimers

These companies know full well that their fau­cets are not legal to sell or install in North Amer­ica for lack of required certifications and seek to shift responsibility for failing to certify their fau­cets to their customers when a plumbing inspector discovers that the fau­cets are contraband.

Here, for example, is the Font­ana Show­ers' attempt at a disclaimer buried in its warranty:

"… [P]roducts being produced in our factories overseas are not guaranteed to meet U.S. inspection requirements. All customers are responsible for install [sic] and removal costs of our products in case products do not pass inspection due to lack of specific certification paperwork. (Emphases supplied)

That "specific certification paperwork," by the way, refers to a Certificate of Listing.

We doubt that this disclaimer will save a company from civil liability for fraudulent inducement, however, and predict that it will have no effect when the various government agencies responsible for enforcing fau­cet regulations – underfunded and understaffed as they are –finally get around to these companies.

Legal Actions

The California Energy Com­mis­si­on (CEC) sued Fon­tana Show­ers, LLC for illegally selling unapproved fau­cets in California from April 2019 to May 2019. To settle the lawsuit, the company paid a monetary penalty and agreed to sell only approved products in California. This agreement affects all of the Group's brands.

The Group's companies have not, however, been penalized for selling faucets in California that have not been certified lead free as required by AB-1953 on and after July 31, 2023.

So far, the companies have also escaped the attention of the Department of Energy (DOE) for failing to register their faucets. The DOE is understaffed, underfunded, and overworked. But it will get around to the Group eventually, and at $560.00 for each day a faucet violated the registration requirement, the large number of different faucets sold by the Group, and the length of time it has been selling unregistered faucets, it can expect a monster penalty.

The Group's failure to register its faucets is truly incomprehensible. Registration is free and takes just a few hours at the computer. Compared to penalties that may reach six figures, the cost of a few hours of staff time to register seems very affordable.

Comparable Legal Faucets

Legal faucets made in China, comparable to Hor­i­zon Group faucets in quality, with a better warranty, and almost always less costly, include:

In Conclusion

There is nothing whatsoever about these companies to recommend them and absolutely no reason to buy any of these faucets.

The faucets are very average, very illegal, and very expensive, Chinese faucets with poorly drafted low-end warranties and a lack of a reliable source of replacements parts for the inevitable day when the faucets cease to function.

The faucets are marketed using methods that are at best unsavory and may be unlawful, including black feeder websites and planted reviews and ratings.

Even if your goal is to buy a potentially dangerous, uncertified, contraband faucet, you can buy one from many other black market traffickers offering the same or a very similar illegal faucet for a much lower price. Amazon alone sells over 40,000 illegal faucets, most costing much less than any of the Group's faucet products.

Dozens of companies (see the list above) sell comparable fau­cets that are fully certified, legal to sell and install, and proven safe to use.

These often sell for a lower, sometimes a much lower, price with a stronger warranty and much better customer support.

It is not possible for us to believe that faucet companies that claim to have been in the faucet business for as long as years do not know the rules. They simply choose to ignore them.

Most of their fau­cets are brass and have the potential for drinking water contamination.

They have not been tested and certified free of lead, arsenic, mercury, or cadmium, all of which may cause serious health issues, or pathogens, which can have equally serious or even worse effects.^[11]

Chinese manufacturers, such as those that supply the Group's fau­cets, are particularly suspect when it comes to leaded brass.

China has no regulations limiting the use of lead in fau­cets made in that country, where lead poisoning is common and widespread. Many Chinese companies have no qualms about offloading leaded-brass faucets to companies, such as the Hor­i­zon Group, that sell faucets in North America.^[12]

If you are foolish enough to disregard your health and safety and that of your family and install one of these contraband faucets in your home and are caught, at the very least, you will have to replace the fau­cet at your expense and possibly pay a small fine. In an increasing number of jurisdictions, however, you risk a criminal conviction and a fine, jail, or both for a knowing and intentional violation.

Continuing Research

We are continuing to research the Hor­i­zon Group and its sink faucets. If you have experience with fau­cets from any of these companies, good, bad, or indifferent, we would like to hear about it, so please contact us at starcraftreviews@yahoo.com or post a comment below.

Please note: we cannot answer questions posted in the comments. If you have a question, email us at starcraftreviews@yahoo.com.