They may have sold it to another customer thinking you might not come back for it. I would review your contract/Invoice to make sure it is clearly stated that they would hold the remnants for you. If you have emails, texts, etc saved that will help. That is a lot of material to discard being that it is so popular right now.

Aren't they open today?

Get out your calculator and do a mathematical calculation for what is percentage of the total area of the slab that would have been left over after the desired pieces were cut out. Deduct that from the total price of the slab.

That is the minimum amount they should refund you.

Alternatively, and preferably they can give you another slab of the same type of stone of the same thickness whose total area equals the area of the leftover amount.

Find the paper on which you wrote that you wanted the remainder.

If you can't find the paper or you didn't write it down, remember who you told it to.

Get on the horn right now and ask for the manager.

Don't tell the manger that you wanted to gift some to friends.

Just say you had plans to use it and it needs to match, and you specified that you wanted the remainder and tell him to whom you told it if you can't find a paper that so states.

If he doesn't give you another slab or doesn't give you a satisfactory refund, say calmly, something like, "oh, that's too bad. I am very active on the internet. I am sure you know how much business these days is driven by word of mouth and the internet. I would love to write a great review for your business, and the best reviews for business are the ones where a business can resolve a problem satisfactorily. How do you think we can resolve this?"

If he then still tells you to go blow, then you can say something like,

"I really don't want to write on all the internet sites that your business is uncooperative in resolving problems that it itself created by not respecting the customer's explicit instructions to save the remnant. Don't you think it would be better for all concerned here to make good on what I made to clear to Johnny the job foreman (whoever) and have a satisfied customer?"

Pregnant pause.

"Would you like me to call you back in 10 minutes after you've had a few minutes to think about it or do you think we can resolve this right now?"

And then you've gotten resolution or you light the internet on fire.

I especially love the last four paragraphs of this post! Thanks loobab!

they totally sold it to someone else! they owe you some $$ and if they refuse, small claims court. I just hate that companies do this. they do this to people because so many just let it slide and don't fight for what is right and what is owed to them. if no one stands up to them, they will continue to do this. be the one that stands up to them!

Haha, yes, the pregnant pause is the best :)

I looked and they aren't a BBB business, so there's no "formal" complaint pathway for me but I like how you worded it about the online reviews - thanks for the tips.

Good idea bout measuring what we used versus original slab measures, which I do have, to get an accurate % versus my rough 2/3. I will do the calculations tonight and be prepared for my next call.

I do have the emails with my questions and their response about remnant policies, so that is good. I saved every scrap of everything during this renovation process because you hear so many horror stories, and even after phone calls I have been careful to email or text the person a summary of our conversation and in most cases was able to get a confirmation back as well. I also deal with some litigation and claims through my job, so I have learned the critical nature of documentation in those experiences.

Thanks for all of your tips, and any future ones people have I'm happy to hear!

That is a beautiful stone! Let us know how this turns out!

Well, you can't prove they sold it to someone else.

If you could, that would be double-dipping, a fraudulent business practice, a true crime, and there would be multiple places you could report them to, the state's attorney pops into mind for one.

Right now, you don't know that they just didn't break it up into little pieces and throw it away.

Still wrong, and money out of your pocket, but not actual purposeful fraud.

Please call the manager right away before they close.

If you don't get satisfaction, see if your city has a consumer protection department and talk to them.

Also, what about all your local television stations. Do any of them have one of those " Channel X on your side" segments where they help the consumer with consumer fraud things? Maybe you could write to them, too.

But you have to try yourself.

Try today. The longer you wait, the harder it is, and more likely it is, that they won't even have another matching slab to give you, because isn't that what you really want, another slab so you can make your shower seat?

Also, if you get nowhere with the manager, see if he will give you the contact info for the owner of the business. If he won't, go down to city hall where the business has to be registered to find out the name and address of the owner of the business and write to him. Send a certified letter return receipt to the owner of the business and start from the beginning with the owner, don't assume the owner knows anything about the problem from the manager.

How long ago was your project? 2 months? 6 months? A year? Two years? What are the storage fees to keep the pieces? What does your actual signed paperwork, your enforceable Contract, say about remnant pieces?

@ Sophie Wheeler -We had the stone delivered to them mid-May when we had our kitchen & 2 bathrooms done, and it was held there until mid June when our master bathroom was cut and I called them the day after the master was cut to ask about the status of my remnants. Over the last two weeks they were evasive so I applied more pressure.

@loobab - I have been working directly with the owner and with the team scheduler (his daughter that I worked through for all of the project until now). They will give me an update before they leave today, but that's in just 90 minutes, and they are closed for the whole week for 4th of July. They just finished my bathroom 2 weeks ago. Although I wonder if they cut the rough shape of my master bathroom when they cut my kitchen in May, and then just did the finish work 2 weeks ago because otherwise why would my bathroom counter be out of my stone, and the shower bench out of another stone?? So I have my suspicions on that and how long they've actually not had my stone in-hand. I don't know about any local stations but will check it out if I don't get satisfactory resolution. I don't want to destroy their business, but I do want to receive recompense.

It wasn't "lost". They sold it to someone else -- we all know it. Thing is, you can't do anything about the "lost" stone now. You, however, need to be reimbursed for what belonged to you.

Yes, check your contract and emails and be 100% sure of their policies. Whatever you said to each other is just words, but written policies are enforceable.

I don't see any point in "threatening" to give them a bad review online, but calling the "Chanel X on your side" TV news is a bigger threat.

Whether they sold it or misplaced it accidentally doesn't matter.

It appears that you have email exchanges in which the supplier agreed that you are the owner of all the material and you want any materials not utilized for the counters returned to you since they are your property.

Send a letter in which you request payment of $x which theoretically would be the percentage of materials left over from your template but perhaps someone who does counters can be helpful. Tell them if payment isn't received within x number of days you will take all necessary action.

Then file a claim in Small Claims Court since you have the documentation - including the demand letter you should send that you owned it and that they failed to return it to you.

Do not complicate it by stating you want to gift it or sell it to a friend - what you do with your property is not of concern because it has a fair market value of whatever.

Following

just an FYI it doesn't matter if they are with the BBB or not. You can still file a complaint

following

Wait, did you pay by credit card?

Can your credit card company help you fuss with the fabricator?

I've had a problem before and the credit card company was marvelous, just marvelous.

Even if you paid with a debit card, the bank can help you out.

Does not matter what you wanted it for. Does not matter who said what. Don't make stupid idle threats. Don't introduce these useless extraneous details

Grab the contract and emails, send letter describing your side of the story of what happened, what you want going forward, and the next steps you will be taking.

You must not read internet review sites if you think that people writing business reviews, and scathing ones, is a stupid idle threat

The remnants may truly be misplaced and the fabricators may yet turn them up.

If it ends up that they can't produce them, then I think the reasonable approach would be to ask that they be replaced.

Of course it is possible that the stone was sold and fabricated for someone else and was an honest mistake. The more employees the place has, the more likely for things to happen.

Lesson in this for other folks is to take possession of your leftover bits and don't leave them with the fabricator.

When I had issues with Maytag and they were not responsive I went to my state attorney general. To my surprise, they issued not one but two letters to Maytag and I finally got resolution. If you have all of that written down and get nowhere with the fabricator, call your state AG.

Just eyeballing it seems they might have been able to do all you wanted from one slab... maybe they figures that out and only used one

Fabricators who sell slabs are idiots. When I was fabricator, I sold finished installed tops. The remnants, even the cutouts, were mine.

"We had the stone delivered to them..." Sounds like you paid someone besides the fabricator for the stone and had it shipped to the fab. Is this correct? If so, it's like a repair shop not knowing where they put your engine.

We've had this discussion regarding purchasing slabs on other threads.

Suffice it to say that it depends on where you are located. In Los Angeles, the homeowner BUYS the slab at a stone yard and then the fabricator picks up the stone. The homeowner owns the slab because they have paid for the ENTIRE slab and paid for the fabrication and installation separately.

Other localities are different in that you hire a fabricator for $x with what I believe is some kind of allowance at the stone yard he is affiliated with. Ownership of remnants would depend on the contract.

However the OP seems to have had an explicit contractual relationship in which the remaining portions of the slab were her property. The fabricator is not saying she didn't own them - he is saying he LOST them which indicates that if he hadn't "lost" them, she could come on down and pick them up.

Joseph-that's how I bought my granite-by the fabricated, installed, square foot price. The fabricator kept the rest and sold it as remnants, which is what my quartz and granite vanity tops are made from. My fabricator was also a stone yard but I happened to find my slab at another yard. They bought my slab from the other yard and fabricated and installed it for me.