You said "a local granite fabricator was hired" -- did you hire him or your contractor or designer? It's not clear. Call whoever hired him and tell them what happened.

i hired him based on the recommendation from the appliance store.

My first question is have you paid him for the work? If you have not that is great. You will have some leverage to get this right. If you paid him by check, can you stop payment on the check until you get this sorted out. In any event I would proceed with the following.

Since you hired the contractor I would call him and explain the situation. I would ask him to come over and look at it. He should have insurance that would take care of him damaging the granite.

It is real important that the person that did the granite work finds out as soon as possible that he has a problem.

Ditto to what Paprgypc has said....

Call the guy NOW!!! Not tomorrow, not Monday - NOW!!!
It's important for Him to know that YOU KNOW what happened.

Don't wait.. call him NOW - if you get his voice mail - leave a message
and keep notes as to time and date.. Take pics

Stand your ground - be nice, but be assertive.......

just my .02 cents worth

kevin

Dont mean to sound preachy but supervise, supervise, supervise when they replace your slab.

There are way too many potential problems in this business that come to light only when it is too late. It is worth taking a day off from work for the templating and another for the installation. saves hours of frustration afterwards.

Call and complain and demand that they replace it.

I agree Pharaoh-

You don't need to "Lord Over" the guy, but You SHOULD check
everything out BEFORE he leaves - I'm sensing that you didn't see the
cracks/damage until AFTER he was headed down life's highway (obviously
with his headlights on DIM!!!)...HA! sorry....

The key here is to inspect the finished work - before the guy leaves
and ABSOLUTELY before YOU PAY... if you've already paid - you've got
to hope that the company he works for will do the right thing and step up
to the plate.

Don't let them push this off on you and say that YOU broke the stone -
If YOU didn't cause the damage - YOU should NOT have to accept it.....

They need to fix or replace what was not damaged - prior to them
working their "mojo" on your countertops..... just my opinion.....

kevin

Ellie,

So sorry to hear this. Been there, done that! After my granite guy had spent HOURS installing the cap to my pony wall..(And I was there the whole time), I went to wipe everything down, and found exactly the same thing- an obvious crack that had been repaired (but not even there- BEFORE he brought the pieces to the house). I have to tell you it was one of the most awkward moments in my life. I had to say... 'but...this piece is broken...'

Any ways to his credit, he did replace both pieces, cuz those babies were not coming off in one piece... but I was appalled that he had tried to pull one over on me. For me, it worked out great... the new pieces were designed much nicer (had special cuts around the support post), and the granite was much prettier... but to this day, I still can't believe what he tried to do- and the hours I spent watching him...

Hope this gets resolved. Please let us know what happens.

thanks everyone.
i left a message and emailed him.
i did just get an email back denying any problems ocurred.
my husband should have taken the day off to supervise, as i have a baby and with the dust i couldnt be near the area. i didnt inspect it close enough after he left and paid him for the cutting/installation of the cooktop.
so now not sure what to do...i guess someone that would do this and not tell me probably want going to "own-up" to it after the fact. the compnay appears to be a small operation where he is the owner.
i emailed him pics as a reply to his last message...
it would have been impossible for him not to notice this, as the cracks are 5" apart and clearly go from the frnt of coutner to the cutout.
assuming he doesnt confess, what are my options?
thanks again for your help....

how did you pay the man? like someone said, you could stop payment on a check. american express has excellent consumer protection, if you want to dispute the charge. afterall you did not exactly receive the product you paid for. emails are good for documenting. but i have found that a typed letter sent certified mail shows the person that you are considering legal action. but only after you reach a dead end with this guy, and it sounds as if you have. i know you noticed the crack right away, but how long was it until you emailed him? if within a day, i would think you have a strong case.

gosh, i have to agree with the poster that said if he left without admitting what he had done, he is not going to do the right thing.

He knew that you were taking care of a baby and could not oversee his work. it sounds like he pulled a fast one and is not a stand up person. I would not stop and let him get away with this.

I have definitely learned from experience here. Now, when I am paying for work done, i am very involved. I had my pool built a little over a year ago. i was on top of the whole process from start to finish. my pool builder thought i was a little bit insane and would try to put me off by laughing and smirking at me making comments like "oh, your a pool builder now", or "you spend too much time on that internet". I told him that in the end I am the homeowner and this is my d*MN house! In the end i got a great quality pool because I caught a few things, and because he realized that he could not bully me.

I hope that this works out for you and he realizes that he is going to have to make good on his messup. Just stand your ground and be as cordial as you possibly can without backing down.

Another option is to contact the Attorney General's office for your state. They will have a consumer complaint division. There's a chance they have other complaints filed by consumers against this business. They will also let you know what recourse you have under any state consumer protection laws.

Below is a link to the National Association of Attorneys General listing the GGs for each state and territory. Clink on yours and search the site for consumer assistance/complaints.

I would also check the courts to see if this individual/company has been sued. I would also check to see who owns the business - if it isn't the installer I would call them and explain what happened - there's a chance they don't know how "skilled" this installer is..

Best of luck and let us know what happens

Here is a link that might be useful: NAAG Listing of AGs

Don't they have any of those talking-head TV station "consumer watchdog"
type programs by you? Here in PHX they have a thing on one of the local TV stations
called "3 on your side" (Channel 3's version)....

When people can't get any satisfaction, they call "3 On Your Side" -
the TV reporters track down the individual or company that did the deed,
or is ignoring the consumer, they get 'em on camera sometimes - and....
LIKE A MIRACLE - the company or individual "changes" their stance and resolves the consumer's problem...LIKE A FREAKIN MIRACLE!!!

I's sad that sometime people have to resort to this tactic to get a simple resolution
that should have been done in the first place, but it works........

Do you have a "3 on your side" type TV segment in your area?
I'd try that route NOW, and let your fabricator KNOW he's going to get
some free publicity.....HA!!!! Free INDEED!!!!!

HTH

kevin

Well, to put another opinion in to the mix---I don't know of any granite fabricators in my neck of the woods who will do a cutout on an already existing installed countertop that another fabricator has installed. Yes, you can get them to come out and drill holes, or modify cutouts in place, but there will be NO WARRANTY about the top cracking and you would have to sign a waiver acknowledging that fact. In an existing situation, the house can have settled, the cabinets settled, and there can be invisible stresses on the granite top if that's happened, and then you apply cutting tools to the situation and you have a stress crack manifest itself. Not to mention, your "pinch hitters" didn't help select the slab or layout, and the original fabricator may have installed a piece with a fissure there that just naturally broke when the larger cutout stresses were applied with the bigger and heavier cooktop.

There are a lot of reasons granite cracks, but in an existing situation that is being modified, you really can't hold the fabricators responsible. Now, they should have made you aware of this on the front end, had you sign a waiver, and shown you the issue and let you sign off on the repair efforts before they left. I'm not defending that behavior at all.

BTW, if he used the proper epoxy to glue the cracked piece back together, the epoxy is usually stronger than the granite itself and shouldn't prove a problem in the future at all. If the area is a bit rough, then a bit of polishing the seam can help, but this is by no means a disaster.

i had a few cracks in my granite after installation. i had contacted the fabricator SEVERAL TIMES and they kept blowing me off.

Finally i was so pissed! - (all that kitchen stress was building anyway) i called and stated to them if this is the way you want to run a business, then your putting your reputation at stake. And i would in no way recommend them to anyone. Well they assured me someone would call back within the hour and they did. they came and did fix the problem.

Good Luck to you.

Hello all.
thanks for all of your comments/advice.
well my husband was able to get him to come back over. he never admitted to doing anything, but was willing to apply some form of acrylic/glue to the area, blend and polish it. looks pretty good. my only concern was strength but after reading it seems like it probably is stronger now than the original.
i'll keep an eye on it, but i think it may be ok. (oh, by the way, i thought he tried to fix it when he caused this, but in fact he never did any repair. so the section of stone was cracked but apparently never came off.)
regards,
ellie