Marble Unlimited, Inc.

No one returned my telephone call after a week as promised by the person who answers the telephone at Marble Unlimited. Marble Unlimited installed granite counter tops and an under mount sink in my kitchen in August 2010. On March 9, 2015, the sink fell while I was washing dishes and water soaked the bottom of the cabinet and floor. I called Marble Unlimited at about 3:30-4:00 p.m., left a message explaining what happened and no one returned my call that day. The next morning at about 10:00 a.m. I called again to report what happened. I told the female who answered the telephone what happened and when the installation was made. She immediately said the warranty had expired. I told her that was not the issue, that I was calling because I needed my sink to be repaired. She asked me to e-mail her picture of the sink. I told her I did not have that capability. She said they do not send service people out or give quotes for repairs without a e-mailed picture. I reiterated that I needed to have my sink repaired. She said she would get "[redacted]" to call me. That conversation took place on March 10 and currently (March 16) no one has returned the call. Desired SettlementI want the owner(s) of Marble Unlimited to know how their staff disregarded the service concerns of their client. All clients should be treated with respect, whether the products are still under warranty or not. I needed service and was willing to pay for it, but no one cared. Business Response Mrs. [redacted] called a week ago to tell us her sink and clips holding her sink fell down we asked for photos so I would know how to charger her for this type of work and to know what was involved in the work. The customer refused saying she did not know how to take a photo. [redacted] tried to call several times and never got anyone to pick up the telephone. Consumer Response I have caller ID on my telephone and I can assure you that no one from your company called me last week. Even if I were not home, I would know if your office called. I am retired, so I am home most of the time. Other people were able to get through to me at a home number that I have had for over 30 years. But, as my mother used to say, "Any excuse is better than none". Final Business Response The phone number you provided to us (919)[redacted] and this number does not work? We received the one phone call from you and we asked you for more information and received nothing.

Marble purchased for my Kitchen countertops and Island do not match in color and do not have the beautiful high gloss shine like store sample.I went to their showroom to select the style I wanted for my kitchen countertops/island. I selected [redacted] marble. The sample in the showroom was about 1' x 2' piece and it had a beautiful high gloss finish on it. I talked to [redacted], the owner, and he said this is the ultra high gloss finish and ranted and raved about the shine and beauty of the stone. So I selected it, the type of edge I wanted and paid a 50% deposit which was for the countertops, 50/50 under mount stainless steel sink and installation. I was never offered or given the opportunity to select the slab of marble for this job or had any say-so about the layout of the pieces on the slab before fabrication.About a week later their installers came to my home to install it. When they brought it into the house, I immediately questioned why it was not shiny like the sample in the store. I asked the installer and he just shrugged his shoulder and said I'm just the installer, I don't know. I then called the Owner [redacted] and asked him about it. He said oh don't worry, that they would seal it when they are done and that will bring out the beautiful shine. I also told him that the island piece didn't match the rest of the countertops and that it was very dark and did not look anything like the rest of the countertops. [redacted] told me there are variances in color on all types of stone but he would take a look at it. He dropped that conversation and asked to speak to the installer so I gave the phone to him. They spoke in another language, Russian or something like that so I couldn't understand what they were saying. The installer ended up going back to the office to get buffing and polishing equipment then returned back to my home to attempt to polish the countertops. He has an electric buffer with what looked to be a lambs wool pad on it with t-shirt material tied around it to do the buffing with. So now I have installed countertops that do not match and are in no way shiny like they should be and are greasy looking from the sealer and have circular marks and scratches in several places on the countertops. After a couple of weeks of back and forth with [redacted] on all the issues and how bad the finished product is, but [redacted] said is wasn't, etc. etc., [redacted] said he didn't want to keep this going on and that he would just have his guys remove the countertops and refund my deposit and told me to go elsewhere to get them. After not having a kitchen for five weeks now, needless to say, I was very upset and just want resolution and the product I paid for. I didn't want to start over because the back splash time was already installed so now the bottom part of that will have to be removed not to mention about 2 more weeks to get new countertops. We ended the conversation with his guy [redacted] coming out the next day to do the correct polishing on 8/28/14. A few hours after talking to [redacted] I decided that [redacted] nor any of his guys are going to be able to fix the problem with the Marble so I left him a message and said I agreed with him, lets end this and told him he could have his guys come out and remove the countertops and you can issue me a refund as you stated. Since [redacted] never returned my call, I finally got through to him to tell him what my message said and now he has changed his mind and is not going to remove the countertops or issue me a refund. He also states that I own him the balance which I have refused to pay because he has not provided the quality of the product that I purchased to me, rather, it appears he gave me remnants of marble in poor condition, nothing like what I agreed to purchase. Dealing with this company has been a costly nightmare!Desired SettlementRemoval of defective marble countertops without damaging existing cabinets and immediate refund of my deposit of $1,090.73 so I can go somewhere else to get countertops for my kitchen.Business Response Contact Name and Title: [redacted] ownerContact Phone: [redacted]Contact Email: [redacted]Marble Unlimited, Inc has a contract with [redacted] it was entered into on 8/6/2014. Mrs. [redacted] visited our showroom at 312 South Miami Blvd Durham, North Carolina at 1pm. (EXHIBIT #3) She met with [redacted] and [redacted] both owners and [redacted] an employee of Marble Unlimited during that time. All three people showed Mrs. [redacted] samples in the showroom of the material she liked and wanted to use in her home. (Exhibit 1 & 2) [redacted] offered to show the slabs but did not deem it necessary due to the sample in the showroom was directly cut from the slab and we have a sample countertop in our showroom that Mrs. [redacted] approved. [redacted] explained to Mrs. [redacted] that this was marble and not as hard as granite. Mrs. [redacted] stated that this was a house she was "flipping" selling quickly and wanted the brown color Marble. The quote [redacted] was accepted by Mrs. [redacted] and a deposit was given in the form of a [redacted] card. In the contract it reads and Mrs. [redacted] agreed to: (Exhibit #3).6. Granite, Marble, Travertine, Limestone, Slate, Onyx and Soapstone are all products of nature. Geological Pitting, Dry Fissures, ant trails, beauty marks, unusual veining, areas with high concentrations of color or lack of colors, areas which will not take as high of a degree of polish at all, and variations of shade, pattern or color within the same slab or bundle of slabs are inherent in natural stone and therefore are not reasons for rejection of the stone once it is installed in your home/ office/ etc. Marble Unlimited, Inc. reserves the right to layout specified job deemed necessary on slabs to be used for your job.8. Marble, Granite, and all other natural Stone are products of nature: therefore, variations in color, shadings, markings and tone are characteristics of these materials. We encourage you to inspect and approve products prior to fabrication. NO CLAIMS will be honored for any reason after fabrication begins. The marble was installed on 8/12/14 and Mrs. [redacted] complained during the delivery to the installer that the marble was not shinny enough. The sine on the surface of the countertop is the same on both the samples in the showroom. We do not polish the face or change the surface of the material from the manufacturer. The counters were identical. Mrs. [redacted] called the office and made the same complaint about the shine. To Make Mrs. [redacted] happy we sent an installer back with polish and did a surface polish. Mrs. [redacted] was still not happy so [redacted] agreed to do a special process called crystalizing the surface of the marble to bring out a bit more shine. (Exhibit Kit 1-8) Mrs. [redacted] was still not happy with the shine and now was complaining that the granite on the island was a different color (Exhibit Kit 3). As you can see this is the same material and also I took a photo of the slab that was identical to the job cut and to the left the sample from my showroom next to it (exhibit #4). Some customers are used to plastic or man-made material and have an unrealistic expectations for what they are buying. We try to avoid this problem by supplying these documents (exhibit 5, 6, 7) they were all given to Mrs. [redacted] on 8/6/2014. We follow Standard practices of[redacted] and have been members with them since 1997. As a small family run business we value each customer and really try our best to help and understand the customer point of view. However we have exhausting all of our ideas to make this customer happy. The finished surface on the countertop installed into Mrs. [redacted]'s property was the original from the manufacturer and the samples in my showroom. The material that was cut for her job was all from the same slab and you can see this slab in (exhibit 4). I wish I had a complete photo of the finished job to show the uniformity. Marble Unlimited, Inc. has completed the contract and would appreciate the balance payment due. Consumer Response I will respond to comments made by [redacted], from Marble Unlimited's response to my complaint.First of all, the countertops were selected and installed into my personal residence, not a flip house. I do have a business partner that flips homes and I mentioned that she may need a company to buy granite countertops from and if they did a good job for my home, I would recommend them to my business partner to use for the flip properties.Only one person, [redacted], was in the showroom when I arrived to pick out the product for my kitchen. We looked at the samples in the showroom that were on sale. I selected Emperor Dark which is a marble. [redacted] did tell me it is a little softer than granite and asked him if it would be okay to use in a kitchen and he said yes, without a problem. [redacted] and the other man showed up just as we were finishing up. [redacted] NEVER offered to show me any slabs and there is NO sample countertop in their showroom with this same marble product. All I saw was a 1' x 2' sample piece that was very shinny. I was never given the opportunity to "inspect and approve products prior to installation" either. [redacted] also stated in her response that she provided you a photo of a slab "that was identical to the job cut and to the left of the sample from my showroom next to it". No two slabs are identical! I have consulted with several other marble and granite companies and there is NO WAY, based on the size of my kitchen countertops, that they are all from the same slab and definitely not from the same lot. This Emperor Dark is a much smaller slab than most granites and other stones. When looking to buy replacement countertops, both places I talked to said there was no way they could get my kitchen countertops out of one slab. My kitchen countertops would require a minimum of 128" wide by 78.5" in depth and this marble I selected is usually only about 116" wide by 67" max in width. This claim and exibit provided by [redacted] is untrue and only supports my claim of the color difference between the countertops and the piece cut for the island and why they are so different. There was only ONE sample piece of about 1' x 2' in her showroom of this marble I selected. There was NO OTHER SAMPLE in the showroom when I was there. [redacted] provided me a small 4"x5" sample to take home with me, but that was it. My small sample is glossy and beautiful! My countertops that were installed are in NO WAY similar. Upon delivery and installation, as soon as I saw the countertops I was not happy because they were dull with shiny areas, not a beautiful high gloss shine all over like the sample I selected in the showroom. I immediately called the owner and as stated before, he said once they seal it, it will be beautiful and high gloss, so I allowed the installers to install them. I did also call the owner back again and complained that the island was a lot darker and didn't match the rest of the countertops.[redacted] stated also that they "do not polish the face or change the surface of the material from the manufacturer", so why did they send back the installer to polish if they don't do that? The installer said that he is just the installer. However, he came back to attempt to polish the surface but ended up chipping and scratching the countertops in several areas and left a greasy residue, sanding and buffing swirls all over the marble countertops.I called [redacted] again and explained again how unhappy I was with the finish. [redacted] kept saying that was all he could do and that was not acceptable to me. We also talked about the island countertop and how disappointed I was about the drastic difference in color. He again just made excuses about how the stones color varies, etc. and said let me get the rest of the countertops done, and if you like them, then I will cut a new island countertop to match the rest. After several calls and a day or two went by, [redacted] offered to do a process called "Crystalization" to the marble countertops. [redacted] didn't have the supplies to do this so he had to order them which took about 3-4 business days to arrive. He sent his main fabricator [redacted] and another gentleman over to do this process. [redacted] did tell me that this is an acid product and can etch into other materials so I had to cover the backsplash, kitchen cabinets and floors to protect them. I asked [redacted] to have his people do cover and protect these areas and he refused so I had to get heavy plastic and tape and cover these areas prior to this process. [redacted] and the other man arrived and started the Crystalization process using this chemical and fine stainless steel. They worked on the countertops for about an hour and asked me look at it again. Once again, it was still greasy looking and now looked spotty and blotchy all over like a buildup of wax. [redacted] got angry because I was not happy with it and next thing I know they were gone. They left without any word or anything. I called [redacted] back and [redacted] said there is nothing he can do. A few more days of conversations went by then [redacted] finally said that this situation just needs to end and he offered to just give me my money back and let me go elsewhere to get countertops. The next day, I called him and decided to accept the offer but then he changed his mind. I filed a chargeback for my deposit and will be submitting supporting documents to the bank including a consultation from an expert in this field and other supporting documents that I do not want disclosed to this company or on a public forum at this point because they may be used as evidence in a court of law. However, I will be happy to provide them to Revdex.com for their private review if necessary.I am giving Marble Unlimited notice to refund my deposit paid in this claim and that they have 5 business days to claim and remove the marble countertops they installed in my home. If they refuse again, I will pay to have them removed and disposed of and will include that cost in my legal suit against them along with damages and attorney's fees.Consumer Response Attidional attachment I forgot to attach in last response.Business Response This is the response to the quote from [redacted]. The countertops were all cut 25 5/8" wide however this customers has some issues going on with her cabinets. This was all discussed with her at template. The walls have large bumps in the drywall and cabinet go in and out and were not level. She also has some frames and molding issues. The stone was cut perfectly straight and we discussed with the customer the options and she approved making the overhangs the way they are so that the tops will all be the same width. The seam placement at the sink was also discussed at the template and agreed to. We have been installing granite countertops for the last 20 years and most of our jobs get the seam at the sink. We are members of[redacted] and follow all of the regulations in the industry. The marble slabs were never stored outside and this is standard dark emperador marble from the factory. The back of the marble has a resin fiberglass mesh. Typical countertop application when any stone has a fiberglass mesh is to grind off the under edge so the customer does not see the fiberglass mesh under the edge. I would never recommend putting a floor polisher on top of any countertop to refinish the top as the vibration and sheer weight would do harm to the top. This is typical restoration for flooring however not countertops. The sink cutout being crooked makes no since the placement of the sink is 4" back from the edge and is centered to the cabinet. See photograph of finished job. This customer wanted a high polish on the marble we installed in her home even though the samples and showroom vanity that sold the customer the job did not have this kind of finish. To try to attempt to make this customer satisfied we made several attempts to add more shine to the surface. The customer is referencing two videos on [redacted] One from [redacted] and the other [redacted] both are not associated with[redacted] and are not members. They are referencing multiple time crystalizing of marble floors not countertops. My first attempt to make more shine on the marble we did exactly what [redacted] and the other [redacted] recommended polishing compounds however after doing these processes the customer still wanted a higher shine. With this customer still not happy we told her about crystallization and that it was very dangerous and we would have to block off the countertops and do a chemical process to the surface of the countertop and it would change the surface. She wanted this done. As you can see we purchased this chemicals for $996.42 and this customer's job total was $2181.46. This was an extra expense and not included in the price however we were trying to make her happy.