Capital Tile and Flooring, Inc

Bathroom remodeled in 10/11. Upgraded grout to resist mildew/staining. Stains showed up within 4 mos. Problem not fixed and calls/e-mails unreturned.Our Master Bathroom was remodeled in October 2011. Capital Tile was the business [redacted] (the contractor in charge of the project) subcontracted to do the tile work. We opted for "upgraded" tile grout that [redacted] told us was much more stain and mildew resistant than normal grout. Another option was to "seal" regular grout to keep the moisture out but we chose to pay more for better grout. After approximately 4 months I called [redacted] and asked him to look at our shower because we'd noticed staining on much of the grout. He came by and was also surprised by the stains. He told us he would follow up w/Capital Tile. We waited to hear back from [redacted] or Capital Tile but never did. Periodically, over the next several months, I or my wife would call or e-mail [redacted] to follow up and we were always assured that he was following up or would follow up. My wife and I had no reason to think that he was not following up on our concerns (and, in fact, [redacted] may have been) so we didn't worry, believing that this issue would be taken care of eventually. Since we planned to remodel our 2nd bathroom in the near future, we figured we would remodel THAT bathroom AND have them correct the existing work all at the same time. At the time we believed [redacted] would be the contractor, so we didn't view this issue with a sense of urgency. Unfortunately, my wife and I have undergone a number of health and other issues that make a major remodeling job in the near future unlikely (after nearly getting laid off myself in 2013, my wife was recently laid off while out on disability with a brain tumor--so, in our defense, we DID have other things on our minds besides moldy grout...though that isn't really an excuse so much as an explanation as to why it took us more than 2 years to get to this point). This past winter we finally got [redacted] and a rep. from Capital Tile-[redacted]-to look at the grout. They both agreed with us that something appeared to be wrong given the advanced state of staining that had taken place. [redacted] said he'd follow up and that the first step would be to bring in claims adjusters from the grout manufacturer to see if it was a product defect. He said it was unlikely that they would fault their product, but he assured me that Capital Tile would take care of this issue and cautioned me that it would take some time. On 4/16/14 the grout claims adjusters came. I was not present, but my wife said that they spent a short time looking at the grout and said there was no problem with it. The adjuster said that Cary had "hard" water and that staining was to be expected. He further claimed that the brown mildew stains would come out easily with "elbow grease" and bleach. To illustrate this, he rubbed at one of the spots for several minutes-to no avail! The adjuster said that, if we were told this grout would not stain, we'd been misled by the contractor. I followed up w/[redacted] (in, admittedly, an excited and upset state-though I made it clear that my anger was toward the adjusters rather than him) and was told that the next step would be to follow up with his superiors at Capital Tile. On 5/14/14 I sent another e-mail to [redacted] to gauge progress on this issue. He responded with the following: "At this juncture, I'm awaiting confirmation from senior leadership. Out of courtesy, I felt it necessary to respond to your email to let you know the issue is still on my list". On 6/23 and again on 7/28 I sent e-mails to [redacted] to see if there'd been any progress. I got no response. On 8/27 I contacted [redacted] from the Capital Tile website and the e-mail was returned undeliverable. I forwarded both e-mails to [redacted] from the same website and have not gotten a response yet. My phone messages to [redacted] in July, August & September have also gone unanswered. This is truly my last resort--and not where I wanted this situation to end up, but at this point it's the only option I feel offers me a chance at getting this issue resolved after almost 3 years. Desired SettlementI would like the existing grout torn out and replaced by upgraded grout that will ACTUALLY resist staining. I truly believe that the wrong grout was used from the start. I can't believe that "stain resistant" grout would have mold and mildew staining after only 4 months-as this grout did. We wipe down the shower (glass, tiles and floor) after each and every shower with a squeegee that we purchased specifically for this purpose. Additionally, we clean the shower with the vinegar/water solution that was suggested by the tile manufacturer and installer on a weekly basis. This is not a situation where we didn't do our part to take care of the property in question. My main fault lies in trusting that the people who did the job would behave in a professional and responsible manner and stand behind their product. I should never have let this go on as long as it has, but I truly believed that we were working with upstanding and honest businesses. That has not seemed to be the case, unfortunately, as this complaint illustrates.Barring complete replacement, I would consider a "Grout cleaning" service to remove the existing stains and then sealing the newly cleaned grout with commercial sealant if the difference in money we originally paid between the "sealing" option and our "upgraded grout" option was refunded to me. This option was available to us initially but we opted to spend more for "better" grout (clearly that didn't work out!)--but at this point I just want to have a shower that I can enjoy without thinking about how I was cheated every time I clean the shower (Which I do DAILY so that the stains don't get worse...which they still HAVE). I believe an apology is owed given the utter lack of appropriate customer service Capital Tile has shown regarding this issue. My e-mails are not returned and the person who was to be our "contact" is not even listed on the website as a staff member (when I tried to follow up w/someone who WAS a staff member on the website that e-mail was not responded to either). In my opinion, this is not the way a legitimate business should be run and this is definitely not the way a customer should be treated-but, given the level of professionalism shown thus far by Capital Tile, I am not holding out much hope for the apology, though it would be nice.Business Response We have already addressed this issue with Mr. [redacted]. The manufacture Representative and the distributor Representative that we purchased the materials form made a site visit to look at the complaint and determined that the mildew was topical and could be easily cleaned with an over the counter cleaner such as [redacted]. The homeowner must understand that mildew exists anywhere that water exists. Maintenance of a dirty shower is the homeowners responsibility. Consumer Response