I picked out a fabricator a few days ago. He keeps a relatively small amount of stone but suggested that I visit a couple of the big stone yards in order to be sure I was buying what I wanted. He quoted me the same cost per square foot for fabrication no matter what stone I bought as long as I was having the same fabrication done (same sink hole, same edge, etc). He said that at the stone yard they would not give me an exact price on a slab but would give me a general "slabs in this grouping generally run somewhere between X and X", ones in the next grouping generally run somewhere between "X and X". Anything I was interested in, call him and he would get a firm price. Great.
And so today I foolishly, with a large grin and an intention to pick out a couple of stones to narrow it down to, traipsed off to one of Dante's circles of hell. I went to the larger stone yard and it became apparent pretty quickly that it wasn't going to be the fun time that I was imagining. After waiting for about 45 minutes to get through reception, I signed some legal documents and was told that my 16 year old could not go into the stone area (and was asked if I had somewhere else I could take her rather than having her sit in the show room), I went into the stone area. When I got in the employee started me at one end and said "these are the cheap stones. They get more expensive as you go that direction. If you don't see something you like there, we have a lot that isn't racked and you can see the edges of most of it but it is in no price order. Some of it has a price group on it and you can expect X to be cheap, Y to be mid range, Z to be expensive, and you probably shouldn't even look at ZZ." to be honest she was right, I had no business looking at ZZ but it was interesting that she was willing to tell me that. I asked if she could give me that general idea of cost per letter and that is when it got bad. She acted like I had asked if they would host a birthday party for a herd of 4 year olds, all of whom would be hopped up on sugar and red dye. She said she couldn't give me a general slab price and even if she could my fabricator would charge differently to fabricate each grade so it would be useless to me. I, in complete surprise said "No, I have a bid on the fabrication and it is the same no matter the stone. The cost of materials would differ, but not the fabrication." I was then talked over, told that either my fabricator is a liar or I didn't understand anything he said to me. I literally started the same sentence 3 times. At this point she walked away.
I did enjoy looking at stones and got some good ideas, but the time came when I had to break down and ask some questions. I went and found her and said I just had 2 questions. One about if a stone was available in leather, and if they had any stone in the building that was honed so that I could see the difference between the two finishes. I was told that if they had it in leather it would be there and that there was honed somewhere in the warehouse. Well OK.
I gave up and left. Apparently I wasn't the only one as my 16 year old said that she listened to a man have a very loud conversation on the phone with someone (guessing fabricator) saying that it would be a cold day in hell when he would spend $10,000 with people who wouldn't even let his wife finish a sentence.
I was shocked at the level of rude. But I wonder if it is because I was there without a KD or a fabricator? Is there some unwritten rule that I should have had someone with me in order to be there? Was I supposed to tip someone when I went in? I felt like I showed up at a 5 star restaurant, had to borrow a jacket, and asked for a hamburger, fries, and store bought ketchup. I will need to drive a bit to get to another decent sized stone yard and would rather just not go if this is the standard in the industry. I will just buy something that the fabricator has or maybe go look at quartz again. At least the folks at the big blue store were nice to me.
And yes, for the record, I find it completely odd that I am buying something as expensive as this is and I can't get some kind of a general range of prices for a grouping of slabs. I mean, what if we went to go buy cars this way? If f I found something I liked enough to carry it to the outdoor kitchen, I could easily be buying 4 slabs. I have no idea what they would cost, but I would be well over the dollar amount where I feel like I am allowed to ask a question without being talked down to.
mdln
Niki Friedman
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