The granite business has been described as a long dark hallway through the countertop industry where thieves run free, and good men die like dogs for no good reason.
There's also a negative side.
SoCo Kitchens was contracted to install our granite kitchen counters. We had them do a measurement and an estimate. This was where they tried the first rip-off.
Intead of measuring so there would be two seams behind the stove, where no one would see it, they measure for a big piece which they would cut the stove area out of. They would then charge us for the whole piece, which they could then reuse on another job some where. It would have been big enough for a bathroom counter. As it runs out, the stove we bought needs to go flush against the wall, so there were no seams anyway, the back piece was simply not used. We saw no reduction from the materials we saved them.
That was not a biggie, so we decided to proceed.
When the granite was installed, the contractor pointed out a place where one of the larger slabs had a slight bow in it. He said he had mentioned it to my wife before installing it. My wife says that never happened. I know she would never have okayed that. It resulted in an uneven seem with a lip that you can see and feel. It is in a really obvious place too.
The tiles we had placed on the wall behind the stove were also uneven. There were four that were supposed to be even. The seems did not line up. Also, the top tiles were as to still show the wall color behind them. Too short.
Granite is smoothed and sealed on the bottom, though not polished like the top. We noticed on the largest slab that the bottom had been gournd down over 3/4 of the surface and not repolished or resealed, just rough and dusty and unfinished.
Later we noticed a scratch the went all the way through the seal. There were also scratches on the stainless steel sink. The uneven seam had a gap in the epoxy at the corner too.
Also, when they cut the granite, it was outside and raining. They used our garage. Fine with me, but they never told my wife to move her car. They cut with the blowback pointed directly at the car. There was granite dust everywhere. All over the car. I had to immediately drive it to a car wash to get the abrasive dust off the paint.
Of course that still doesn't get it off every surface of my garage. They could have at least swept afterwards, or put up a plastic barrier around their workspace. Or asked my wife to move her car!
So I call and relay this story to the manager. A thoroughly rude and surly man who cops an attitude the moment I say there were some issues. Not concern that a customer is dissatisfied, but annoyance the now he needs to deal with it.
"Sigh! What are the issues?", in an annoyed tone. I tell him, and he starts talking about pulling it out and giving me a refund. At this point I had not gotten angry yet. That was just his first response. He actually threatened to do it. I said to put in a laminate counter top and leave it as he found it and fine. But he's not leaving me with no coutertops. You'd think any reliable, professional business would be horrified at the prospect of leaving a customer in this situation and be rushing to make it right. Not these people.
After I ripped him a well deserved new one for his unprofessional and unfriendly demeanor, he said he'd have someone look at it Monday.
After a half hour, someone called back to try and smooth over his tirade and said there would be someone there in a half hour. They actually show on time.
After surveying the situation, it is decided that taking it out and redoing it is the only viable solution. It can't be ground down. That would just look worse.
I am not at all confident they can do it without f'ing up my counters. I ask the Mgr if a financial settlement could be reached. I am not just letting it go and paying full price for a half-assed job. He says he'll take 200.00 off. Right.
I tell him not to insult me. We paid almost 4000.00. I said if he forgot the last payment we'd call it square. 1800.00 and change. He laughed and said he wouldn't make any money. I ask how much he'll make tearing out the granite or replacing it.
He said he needed to talk to the big guy and he'd get back with me. No phone calls even after I called back and asked for an update. They know I have plumbers waiting for me to tell them if we're getting the sink hookup and other things held up by this. They just don't seem to care.
We are making arrangements through our credit card company to dispute the entire payment. We're having some other counter specialists come and look at it and write their opinions of the work. Visa is faxing us paper work to facilitate the process. We are taking pictures of all the mistakes.
We had a friend, who went with a company called Panda for their counters. This company tried to get them to pay for extra work that they did not order, and was not needed. We had thought of going with Panda until we heard that. She also had to dispute her bill after Panda charged her an extra 1000.00 I believe it was for the afformentioned extra work.
She received 50% back after the credit card company decided in her favor. Our situation is even more easily proven and demonstrated, and more negligent. We are putting this into action this week. I am confident we will be victorious. If they just would have dome it right.
Stay away from this company. Pay retail and get it done right. Lesson learned, and how.
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