So Upset....They sold my slabs out from under me

12 years ago

I'm so upset I can barely focus on anything this morning. On Friday, the templaters came to template for our install which was supposed to be this coming Friday. When my husband and I went to the warehouse this morning for layout, the slabs they presented were clearly not mine. My DH even noticed!!! For months we have been visiting the local stone place looking for bathroom remnants and fireplace surrounds. Everytime we have gone, we have checked to make sure the slabs we reserved 6 months ago still had our name on them. Then this morning, they tried to pawn off two slabs that were definitely not mine. I had chosen Giallo Ornamental light 6 months ago because the slabs had a background that was almost white and were so clean looking. The ones they pulled this morning were yellowy and almost looked like St Cecilia even though they were marked GO. I chose a remnant GO for my bathroom (also mostly white/light) and when they held them next to each other you could see the vast difference. Originally, the colors were the same for the bath and kitchen.

I'm so upset. They didn't have any more of the light GO and so they are sending me to a local distributor today to look at their selection. I am so upset I don't even want to use them anymore. They are doing the bathrooms, but I don't want to use them for the kitchen.

What should I do? Use them anyway and demand some sort of compensation or use someone else? The interior of the house is almost done and I wanted to get the granite installed so I could start working on the BS, but now that seems so insignificant. ugh...

one of my slabs back in January...gone.

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brianadarnell
Original Author

12 years ago

Misstella and Jodi- what is with the people in this industry? Maybe they aren't all like that, but it sure does seem like the few we have dealt with are missing some important personality traits if you ask me!

Went by another granite place on the way home. They claim to have more GO light in their warehouse, but I am a little freaked about having to drive to go see them and not getting to see my templates on the stones. The company that caused this whole mess is sending the owner to Baltimore tomorrow to check out a few places with GO. They are taking a piece of my vanity slab with them to compare to try and find something similar. I do hope they find it because then I'm going to nail them for a percentage off for all of this stress and running around at the last second! So much for checking things off my list nice and early. Turns out its not worth anything to get things done ahead of time!

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Comments (48)

harrimann
12 years ago
How awful! So I guess they thought you wouldn't notice? It's a good thing you have a photo. I suppose it's possible that one lone employee of the granite place did the switch. When's the last time you saw your slabs? If it was recent, I'd suggest that they figure out who ended up with them and who made the sale and see how eager they are to find the "bad" employee. (If they act indifferent about it, then that tells you something.)
brianadarnell
Original Author
12 years ago
We had heard from someone about this happening, but it was from one of our friends who complains alot. So, we disregarded the story. I saw my slabs three weeks ago, but they totally thought I wouldn't notice. I doubt they really care, but I can't believe they would do business this way especially because we were using them for our WHOLE HOUSE! Three baths and a kitchen!
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Adrienne2011
12 years ago
Show them the photo of the slabs that you purchased. What percent did you put down? Maybe that is:
A. Either the percent you get back on top of your down payment
Or
B. The percent off the new slab, if you choose to still use this company

Is the name of the company "Doofenschmirtz Evil, Incorporated"?

Switching the slabs is an awful, horrible thing to do.
beekeeperswife
12 years ago
by your photo, I can tell we aren't speaking of the same fabricator...

Here's a story about a friend. She picked out GO but hadn't tagged anything yet, then when it came time to choose, they were out of them, but were getting a new shipment in. She went, and since there was nothing to compare it to, she chose her slabs. Then a couple of weeks went by, the salesperson called her and said the "whiter" GO was released by the person who reserved it. She went back and could really see the difference the second ones were really more golden. She switched her reserve slabs to the whiter ones (not yours, based on the photos!).

So, I agree, this stone does have it's varieties. Hopefully you will be able to find a couple of other slabs that are to your liking. They must be out there. Also, I would really voice you unhappiness to the manager/owner and try to get something "thrown in", even if it's an upgraded edge. I mean you are spending more of Your time searching around to correct their mistake.

Good luck and btw did you sign the back of the stones? Others here will suggest that you sign it with a sharpie on the back so you know it is the one you chose.

-Bee
Redhead47
12 years ago
I would be really upset, too. Hopefully, something will turn up & work out for you.

The granite supplier we are dealing with only allows holds to last for 5 business days. Didn't like the timeline we had to work with, but I think much less likely something would get switched on us.We "shopped" earlier to decide which type granite we like best, but could only choose the particular slabs a couple of days ago (cabinets going in today).

We shopped for real for our granite Friday and Saturday. At the first granite yard (about 35 miles away), the slabs we liked the best had a hold for all 3 slabs -- due to expire tomorrow. For our 2nd choice, there was only one slab -- found out this morning that we will need two slabs, although our GC assured us earlier that we would only need one.

The other granite yard we visited Saturday (same company, but 90 miles away in the other direction), has multiple slabs of the same granite -- but I'm not in love with those particular slabs. My husband says any of these will look great in our new kitchen, and that I don't have to be "in love" with it. After all, it is *just* a kitchen -- but my other choices work off the granite. So, we will see what happens......

Good luck to you in your quest.
Fori
12 years ago
It's not the selling out from under you that's so bad (although it's pretty bad). It's the sneaky substitution that would really perturb me.

If you hadn't actually put a deposit on them, I can understand why they did it (but they should have given you a chance to buy them before selling them) but it's pretty inconsiderate. I can understand them accidentally selling them too--some stone yards I looked at had just about everything good on hold for someone, many with dates months old, so I'm sure they had to sell them eventually.

But that underhanded switcheroo is just sleazy. I don't know how to handle it except tell you not to install it. Good luck. Find something nice and definitely express your displeasure. Grr. Just sleazy.
Sharon kilber
12 years ago
What happens some times is that they may mark them, but than they put them back where the same type of slabs are. Than when slabs are picked up, the yard men, will take the ones easier to get out. This happen to me, on my bathroom granite. I, saw the wrong slab ,had been picked up went back to where we, bought it, and in the back of some other slab's ours was still there with our name on it. This will not happen at a good company. I, would ask for them to give you a discount.
beaglesdoitbetter1
12 years ago
The tile and granite local store we are getting our granite from said that they have had stone yards pull the switch on THEM! They go pick out some slabs to keep as a local option for people who don't want to drive to the stone yards and then they have them delivered. They said they've started signing the backs because more than once they've gotten slabs that were different from the ones they selected. I wonder how common this practice is if the stone yards would try to do that to a reseller of their slabs!
fromthesouth
12 years ago
The exact same thing happened to us. We picked out very unique slabs of Kashmir White, which the distributor sold from under us. Our fabricator knew I was very into the details and took pictures of our slabs so he didn't even try to pass off other slabs as ours. It's insultuing when they try to hide the ball. The distributor mentioned that Kashmir White is so "common" that we could just pick out different slabs. With that comment I knew this was their business practice. (BTW, you should have seen the steam coming out of my ears when they said this because we had looked at every slab of Kashmir White in the city and these were very differnet from the bunch.) I would never tag granite slabs early again.

Anway we didn't trust the distributor anymore and eventually got our deposit back. We went with a new distributor and in a completely different direction for our granite because the other Kashmir White slabs just didn't measure up to our previous ones and I knew I would look at the new slabs and think about how much prettier the previous slabs were. If you don't find the special GO slabs, I suggest you open your mind to a different granite or this would be a constant reminder of what happened. We're actually happier with our Yellow River so this turned out better for us!

Good luck!
slush1422
12 years ago
That sucks! I am so sad for you and know how it is to lose "your" slabs. I was bawling like a baby when I was told we couldn't use the ones I picked out. But it worked out that I got even better ones - so hopefully you will find some too!
brianadarnell
Original Author
12 years ago
All, thanks for the support. The slabs were set aside in the purchased section (as in, sold, deposit paid, etc). The thing that irritates me the most is the attempt at a switcheroo. Just because I chose a cheaper granite doesn't mean I should be treated less or might not notice a switch. If my DH noticed, I KNOW that it was really obvious. Just went to a local distributor where my local guy gets the stone. The Sales guy at the distributor (MSI) said that the color I had pre-selected (yes, I had my sample thank you very much!) was from older lots and was going to be difficult to find. Great...

I know Joan 2121 lives in my area. I'll ask where she got her beautiful light GO.
missstella
12 years ago
Happened to me too. The issue for me was no one even knew or would 'fess up as to what happened to the slabs and then they offered minimal remedy for the mess up.

Last week the salesman called me and said they had some slabs come off hold I might be interested in, I rearranged my schedule to see the slabs, put them on hold, verified they would sell to my fabricator, took pictures, had my DH approve them and then they called two days later and said they wouldn't sell the slabs to me unless I used their in-house fabricator. I said, "Thanks for the call, but I think I'm done here." I promptly told my GC and KD, and anyone else who would listen about my experience with them.

I'm still looking. Thank God for a cabinet delay.
Jodi_SoCal
12 years ago
I chose a granite that really doesn't have a lot of variations (Impala Black) but I went through four slabs at the granite yard before choosing two that had no odd markings. I then took a fat tipped orange felt pen, wrote my last name and date on the back and side edges of each, took a photo of the granite yard ticket taped to the slabs and a photo of the entire slab. There was no way I was going to lose an inch of my chosen slab. I thought.

The kitchen install went without mishap but we had decided to use the leftover piece in another room. Within the week, they had "misplaced" it. Not a big deal really because they replaced it with an ok piece but it still irritated me that they couldn't keep track of our property for five whole days.

I feel for you big time, your original slab was gorgeous!

Jodi-
breezygirl
12 years ago
I've been wanting to respond to your post all day. I read it early but had to tend to kids, lighting plan, cab maker, appts., medical stuff, etc.

My slabs being sold to someone else is a fear of mine. I check on them every time I go to that slab yard as I tagged them months ago. So far so good.

You must be heartbroken. And frustrated. And mad. And wanting to ring someone's neck. I've seen you comment on your GO many times so I know how much you loved them.

I hope your new white slabs are siting quietly waiting for you to give them a home. Or maybe you'll discover some new love as you look for slabs. I'm holding good thoughts for you.
cardamon
12 years ago
Brianadarnell, so sorry to hear that. It is an awful feeling. I went through the same thing last summer. I had found the perfect slabs, paid for them and they said they would hold them til I was ready. Well, they sold one of them and she told me some crazy things (big lies, of course) of why it happened while I waited for her phone calls made several trips over there. I wandered over to where they fabricate and saw a piece of what looked to be a granite that had similar markings and when I pulled up the pictures on my phone, darn if they didn't match. She admitted then they had used it. They were all snarly with me when I questioned them on their business practices. It wasn't a pleasant experience. I asked for the money back. Had to wait an eternity for her to write out a check. Then when I got to the bank they didn't have funding in the account. The bank had me wait for 45 minutes and I did end up getting the check cashed but it wasn't easy waiting thinking I don't have the slabs I picked and now the money is in question. I did find another 2 slabs of granite I love and it turned out well. When friends ask about granite I definitely tell them who not to use. I hope your story turns out well too. Good luck.
kitchenaddict
12 years ago
Hi briana...

I'm so sorry this happened to you...

When I found my slabs months before I needed them, I put down a very small deposit and got a receipt with the slab numbers written on it. This is at Arizona Tile. Later I actually saw a couple of nicer slabs in a new shipment and they happily allowed me to change them, also providing me with a receipt with the new slab numbers.

Just wanted to share and give credit to Arizona Tile for providing me with excellent and honest service.

KA:)
kmmh
12 years ago
Just wanted to say, I'm sorry. I'm sure you'll find something else that's just as great!
Fori
12 years ago
It sounds like they are going through some effort to fix it, which is comforting, but I'd sure like to know who in the operation tried to pull off the switch!
brianadarnell
Original Author
12 years ago
Hi All,

ok...lots of info today. I went back to two more places and then went by the offending place again on the way home. I have one more stop to make on the way to work tomorrow and then I think I can make a decision. My DH negotiated with the offender in order to swap Alaska White Delicatus for our original choice at the same price. I think this could work out well for me as we both really like the complexity of the Alaska White. The only thing that concerns me is the rust spots. They tell me thats a standard thing with Alaska White. Here are some photos of the slab. Tell me what you think!

Also- Fori- THE PRESIDENT of the local company is the one who tried to pull the switch. He did try to apologize today to me albeit halfa$$, but hopefully this swap could really turn out to be better for us.

I looked at a bunch of new stones today. Mostly Juperana Delicatus, Alaska White Delicatus, and Bianco Antico. The BA had a lot of pink in it which I couldn't tell if that was normal or not. The AWD was hard to find...only a few places had it. The JD was not too exciting for either DH or me.

Here are some pics of the slab we found. Tell me what you think. Also, what about the rust spots...will they be ok? I think I can learn to love them because I love the rest of the slab SO MUCH...

Just a reminder- what we are dealing with :)
{{!gwi}}
beachpea3
12 years ago
I think you've found it!!!
Stacy Rahn-Dennis
12 years ago
Beautiful!! Go for it.
marcydc
12 years ago
I like it better than the first choice :)
Looks like Kitchaddicts!
rikerk
12 years ago
I think you should get the one your husband negotiated, it will look beautiful in your kitchen!
breezygirl
12 years ago
That's it! I love it! Much better than GO, actually. Rust spots are normal. Some people don't mind them.

See?? It all worked out better in the end.

And another look at DHunk too! ))))))sigh((((((( ;)
nini804
12 years ago
Oooooohhh, how pretty!!! That will be gorgeous!
tceye
12 years ago
Every cloud has an alaska white lining!!!! I agree with other comments, those slabs are stunning. Better than the originals. Cant wait to see it installed.
brianadarnell
Original Author
12 years ago
Oh that reassurance feels so good! Thank you thank you thank you! I also love it better than the original slab! So, I guess as long as installation goes well, I will thank my lucky stars someone else got my originals. WAHOO- I love these slabs so much.

Now, the next question is- what color silgranit sink to do? I guess I'll have to find a way to return my other one. hmmm.
hermajesty
12 years ago
Yes, yes, yes! That's gorgeous! I have Bianco Antico and it has the cinnamon rivers and sprinkles in it - which I love. I think this mishap was a blessing in disguise. Your kitchen is gonna be fabulous!

For your silgranit sink - check out the new Truffle.
It looks gorgeous.
brianadarnell
Original Author
12 years ago
Hermajesty- I definitely think the mishap was a blessing in disguise. I'm in love already with my new granite slabs. I can't wait to enjoy them in my kitchen. I checked out truffle but it doesn't seem readily available...has anyone gotten it yet?

Other things I am considering...cafe brown and metallic gray. I guess I'll have to deal with the biscuit diamond series I already bought. oh well. you win some, you lose some. I think these new slabs still equate to a WIN!
catherine_l
12 years ago
Gorgeous!

We actually wrote our initials on the back of our granite slabs with a permanent marker when the granite yard wasn't looking to be sure we get the ones we chose.
kmmh
12 years ago
SO glad you found something that you like even better--they're great!
slush1422
12 years ago
I LOVE the Alaska for your kitchen. So happy you were able to find something. I had toyed with the idea of Alaska as well and was going to choose the Anthracite color sink.
brianadarnell
Original Author
12 years ago
The offender isn't exactly keeping his word about the switch, but I think for a small fee we can get these awesome slabs installed on schedule. Its definitely an upgrade and I just want to make it go AWAY! These slabs should mine in my possession by the end of the week unless he decides to be a loser (AGAIN)!!!
harrimann
12 years ago
Did you write your name on the back?
kitchenaddict
12 years ago
Hi Briana...

I answered your email before I saw this...Those slabs are WONDERFUL! When I read your email I was picturing big orange rust spots...Your slabs have as much (or really as little) rust as mine...

I think you've got a winner..Can't wait to see it all come together. I often wonder what my kitchen would have looked like with white cabs...now I'll get to see it!

KA:)
cardamon
12 years ago
I hope this works out for you. My granite is called Vintage but it looks so much like yours except I have wider cream areas but alot of that gray/blue. I have a few rust spots, one in front of my sink, it is small but there and one in back of the cooktop which I kept trying to wipe off thinking it was a spaghetti sauce spot. There is like a light, light smudge in an area but as a whole I don't even look at them. Your slabs you showed are spectacular. They will look so good with your cabinets. In the end I was glad they sold mine too. Fingers crossed it goes on your cabinets and in your kitchen! Glitches are sometimes for the best. Here's hoping.
xc60
12 years ago
I think the new slabs are gorgeous! They look almost identical to the Alaska White Delicatus we have in our home. Enjoy! And please post photos after they are installed. :)
katieob
12 years ago
Just chiming in-love the new slab!
Meant to be!
Adrienne2011
12 years ago
I am glad you found another slab you like. That is very pretty!
cat_mom
12 years ago
Love them even more than the first slabs, too!!!
breezygirl
12 years ago
For the silgranit, I think the brown would be perfect. I was planning on BA with the brown sinks before I decided that my heart belonged to Carrara. I'm not a big fan of the anthracite IRL. The metallic would be pretty, but stand out more. I have yet to see the Truffle IRL even though I've tried. It is available for purchase. My plumbing showroom assistant said it's more mushroomy so I'm not sure that would go with your rock. Monitors are deceiving.

I'm gonna say it again. These slabs are better for your kitchen! I CANNOT wait to see them installed!
brianadarnell
Original Author
12 years ago
I'm still nervous that this is going to play out ok. The guy pulled some more switcheroos yesterday. we finally got our money's worth out of our KD who backed him up against a wall and politely reminded him that the rest of her clients would be going somewhere else if he did not satisfy us after his mistake. Anyway, the slabs are being delivered to him this morning and then we will be doing our layout this afternoon so that they can fabricate and then install tomorrow. I'll keep you posted. I'm holding my breath.
marble_com
12 years ago
Just wanted to say that I am so sorry for what you went through, and very happy you found a gorgeous stone that is just as pretty. I think the Alaska White is a great choice for your cabinet colors.
prill
12 years ago
I think that's perfect!
brianadarnell
Original Author
12 years ago
Prill and derek- thank you!

Templates were laid out yesterday late and the install got pushed to Monday. I need to go by the fabricator this afternoon to grab a sample of my new slabs so I can get to work on a new backsplash. Thanks for the support everyone!
jgs7691
12 years ago
brianadarnell -- So glad that this frustrating experience worked out well for you. I think your new slabs are gorgeous and you will love love love them!! Congrats on making lemonade from lemons!! (First recipe made in your new kitchen? Lol!)
silvergirl207
12 years ago
I love the new slabs! Glad you have an assertive KD. I hope they take their business elsewere anyway. Sounds like a shoddy operation.

Have fun and enjoy!