My first experience with Hurst Hardwoods was when I called to ask about a floor color to match our current floor. We were wanting to cover a sub-flooring in an addition. Our home is heart pine throughout and I needed a hardwood to put in the bath and dressing area and closet that would match the 5" planks of pine. My first mistake was to assume that I could call this company and get reliable help. I spoke with someone and asked about flooring to match in color what we already had. He led me to several different selections on their website but none of them were really the right color. Finally, he showed me one that really did have some of the shades I needed.
The employee could not have been more helpful on the first phone call. I had explained that the home is a Victorian home that is more than 100 years old. The current flooring is beautiful old heart pine. I needed a color that would maybe not match but would go with what we have. The employee, W*n, asked me what the total square footage was and told me that we needed to order 10 - 15% more because the selection was a factory second. He explained to me that all a factory second was was the exact same flooring but it may have minor flaws. He even showed me a picture of a second and explained that the piece of wood was just like the first quality but someone at the factory pulled it because of some small area at the end of the run. There website even says: "These Factory Seconds and Value Grade flooring products are made from the same exact materials, and to the same exact specifications as the equivalent First Quality flooring, but were labeled as "seconds" because they failed to meet the manufacturer's standards for first quality material in some way. These floors will have more color and/or grain variation and mineral marks then the first quality material, but more serious defects can be easily compensated for by ordering 10 - 15% extra for your job."
W*n even gave me a quote of the amount he would charge me for the amount HE FIGURED I NEEDED to do the job. He told me that for the square footage that he said I needed he would charge me $360.00. I explained that I needed to okay the purchase with someone else and I would call back. When I did call back to order the flooring I was told that he would have never given me the quote I reminded him of. I put this off as a come-on he had used and now I believe I was correct. I have no idea how much flooring costs. I have never had to price it before. Our floors have been in for over 125 years.
When the flooring did arrive 80-85% of the pieces of flooring in the boxes were 9" long. Some were 16" long, a couple were over 40" long. And there was no consistency in which way the grain was to go or in color. When my contractor called to tell me this I contacted W*n who said he needed to see pictures of it. My contractor took pictures, sent them and called him. He told my contractor that that is what seconds looked like. He said that random pieces of 9" - 47" meant that they could put in as many 9" boards as they liked and that there was nothing wrong with the order. A major issue with 9" pieces is that some of them had flaws that would have to be cut off and when we put it down it looked like a bunch of sub sandwich rolls across the floor. I didn't order 9" pieces and had I known that they would be that short I would not have wasted my time nor theirs. The quality of these seconds is actually poor. None of them had any consistent color or grain direction.
When I spoke with W*n again he told me that he had explained all of the issues about the seconds quality. He did not. Even his website contradicts him. He was angry that I didn't just accept his explanation and go away. He told my contractor that the quality of those specific seconds were "cabin quality" and that he sold them to people who were flooring old mobile homes. He never once told me that when he directed me to the flooring or when I ordered it. I had made sure I let him know when I was looking for flooring that I needed something especially nice to go with what we have. I only picked it because he assured me that the quality was fine.
He finally agreed to send me a box that he would verify that there were longer lengths in. However, he adamantly refused to take back the other boxes and replace them with longer pieces and he refused to allow me to return the useless boxes of pieces without a 25% restocking fee. I would have paid for a better quality had I been shown it and liked it. Money was not an issue. However, I made a bad assumption to go with his selection because there were no other close colors to choose from and he assured me that the quality was fine. My bad.
In speaking with his supervisor we were told that W*n would never have directed me to the flooring, that W*n did tell me that I needed to order 25-40% more in order to get the longer pieces we wanted. Too bad his website contradicts that. This company has no customer service. They have no desire to listen to the concerns of their customers. They made a sale and they are through with you. So don't bother them again. I only hope that others will read this and steer clear of them in the future. They have not been truthful in dealing with me so I decided to let others know.
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