Modello Tile and Stone, Inc.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/09/29) */
Contact Name and Title: [redacted]/Branch Man
Contact Phone: XXXXXXXXXX
Contact Email: [redacted]@modellotile.com
Mr [redacted]'s only valid point is that 300 sf of material was "lost." Modello Tile & Stone purchased the original material in a...

timely manner and first picked up the "lost" 300 sf in our company vehicle and returned it to our location. The contractor then received this from us and offered to pick up the balance at the point of distribution. We misjudged our relationship with the contractor and did not get a signature from him due to the long valued relationship we have had with him, we didn't think we would need to obtain this!
The job continued and we were not notified of the "lost" material until after some time had passed. During this time I had visited the job because of a complaint of the "warpage" of the material before the "lost" product notification. This is an installation issue, not a product problem. If the contractor was going to be short, wouldn't this have been a good time to say something about quantity of product on the job site?
Mrs. [redacted] called weeks into the project asking about procedures for receiving material because she was concerned that product was missing. We answered her questions and later received the call that it was "lost." We did our research and informed Mr. [redacted] that the tile was picked up and given to the contractor. I spoke to the contractor and he stood by the fact that he never received it, with nothing to back this up other than the receipt for the purchase of the material, we had no choice but to purchase more material to fulfill the order. We called the distributor and located product and paid for an additional 300 sf to fulfill the order. It was stalled due to the demand of the product and the lack of stock(the sales rep first told us that the product was coming in but didnt notice that it was tied to a large commercial project. I called the contractor immediately to notify him of the issue. A few days later the project did not use the full amount and we were able to procure the material right away) Once the product was available we informed Mr. [redacted] and the contractor. There was never a "ransom", the money issue was between the contractor and Modello Tile & Stone, we never stalled delivering the material to the job.
We are extremely sorry for the perception Mr. [redacted] has of Modello Tile & Stone. Mr. [redacted]s concerns were always addressed in a timely manner. We never told him a story to avoid any issue. He was notified of any problems that arose in fulfilling his "lost" material. We fulfilled our duties and any other issues he has are between him and the contractor.
Also, the sales rep for the material met Mr. [redacted] and the contractor at Modello Tile & Stone to discuss the "warpage." She did promise material to replace some of the so called warped product, which was given to him with the "lost' material, but she never said that there was a problem with the material and the company will stand by that claim.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/09/30) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Mr [redacted] says that the tile missing is my "only valid point". Well, here are some more points that if addressed would have prevented the installation from being as poor quality as it currently is and a nightmare of a situation for my family and I.
Point #1: If Modello Stone and Tile would have operated as a responsible business, and kept record of their inventory, would have:
- raised awareness that 300+ sq. ft. had NOT been delivered and was still at their location for the contractor to pick up before running out of tile, delaying the project for weeks and prevented my family from living in a house that was under construction as we waited for the missing tile to arrive.
- given my contractor more tile to work with during the time it took to replace the warped tile, they promised to replace and never did, in order to avoid lippage.
- exposed the contractor as responsible for the missing tile, providing me the chance to hire a new contractor to finish the job and take appropriate legal action to recover the missing tile from the contractor. (NOTE: upon request, I can provide a document proving the contractor was not at at the store on the dates Mr [redacted] claims he picked up the tile. I presented the same documentation to Mr [redacted] and he did not cooperate in providing data to back his claim. He simply changes his story and stopped communicating at that time.)
Point #2: If the Modello Stone and Tile would have replaced the tile that the contractor could not work with towards the beginning of the project, it would have prevented the floor from having severe lippage throughout the downstairs, and the contractor would have been left with no excuses. I would have been able to hire another contractor if indeed my contractor was at fault. As Mr. [redacted] mentioned, he and the sales rep. visited the site around May 8th, which I was away from the house for, and I was informed by the contractor that the tile he couldn't work with would be replaced, as a result from their visit. That was when we were working on the downstairs. This was later confirmed in July, when the upstairs began, and I went through the remaining tile to identify warped, bowed and inconsistent tile to be replaced in order to ensure a clean install.
Point #3: If Modello Tile and Stone would have provided a firm answer when I asking if the severe lippage in the finished floor downstairs was a direct result of the product, or the contractor, I would have been able to make an informed decision in moving forward with the upstairs, and avoid more lippage.
Point #4: If Modello Stone and Tile would have replaced the 192 tile that I identified as warped, bowed and inconsistent at the start of the second part of the project (the upstairs) would have prevented sever warpage in the finished flooring upstairs. I identified 192 tile that were, based on research I conducted on tile standards, were bowed and not lining up. I met with Mr [redacted] at the Modello Tile and Stone shop with the contractor to discuss how it was going to be replaced. Mr [redacted] stated that the sales rep did indeed promise to replace some tile but wasn't sure about 192 tile. A meeting was set up with the sales rep to review sample of the 192 tile I set aside as needing to be replaced. At that meeting the sales rep told us she would replace 10 boxes (each containing 9 tile) and it would arrive the next day. Then it was pushed back to two days, then two weeks. We need to keep going on the project since our house was demo'ed. That was when we ran out of tile and discovered the missing tile from our order. The 10 boxes of warped tile were never replaced, only the missing portion of our order was filled (30 boxes).
Please note, I went through the exercise of identifying the quality of each remaining tile and motioning to have them replaced in order to place the responsibility on the contractor to do a quality job. If the tile was replaced, the contractor would have had no excuses for any lippage, Since Modello Tile and Stone fell flat on their response, assumed no responsibility and failed to replace the tile, I was not able to prove the contractors theory as false, resulting in lippage throughout my house.
My biggest point is that, if Modello Stone and Tile would have been a responsible business I could count on, in simply keeping record of their inventory and providing me with support when I needed them, I would have a much better installation. Their lack of inventory has directly resulted in the project being delayed, the install presenting severe lippage and our living conditions unnecessarily being jeopardized for an extensive period of time.
In regards to Mr [redacted]'s response to my initial claim:
Mr [redacted]'s claim(s) of the contractor's day and time of product pickup are inconsistent with data I have provided him with proving the contractors whereabouts.
Regarding Mr [redacted]'s statement "Mrs. [redacted] called weeks into the project asking about procedures for receiving material because she was concerned that product was missing", the response Modello Stone and Tile gave us was that they keep very good records, their system is not flawed and there is no way for the tile to be missing. If their system was not flawed, how is it they have no records, and the packing slips or "receipt for the purchase of the material" have the wrong dates? Mr [redacted] claims they were purchase dates but they are clearly pick up dates (being that one of them has the contractors signature on it he claims he signed when he picked the tile up from TileShop in Berkeley), which are incorrect, and is in fact not the date I purchased the tile or the date they were picked up.
Mr [redacted] claims my concerns were addressed in a timely manner, however, it took him two weeks to arrive at my house to measure the tile currently on site (to determine the tile as missing), he has yet to this day to disclose the measurements he took while at my house (even though I have requested them), and they had not once followed up when they told me they would (e.g when I asked whether the lippage downstairs was a result of the product or the contractor they never called back, they didn't call me when the missing tile arrived at their store I called them, etc. etc. etc.).
Mr [redacted] claims there was no ransom. When I went to inspect the missing tile that had arrived at Modello Stone and Tile, I was told that I would have to pick it up on my own and drive it to my house (less than half a mile from their store). The same day, soon my wife an I left their store, the owner called the contractor and told him that the tile would go no where until he (the contractor) paid them for half of the missing tile. That is when I called Modello Stone and Tile to let them know I would pick it up on my own, at the soonest possible date/time, in order to avoid any delays. I picked up the missing tile from Modello Stone and Tile the following day in my personal vehicle and unloaded them at my house, on my own.
Mr [redacted] stated that "we never stalled delivering the material to the job". However, Modello Stone and Tile did not once deliver ANY tile to the job site, and instead, insisted that either I myself, or the contractor (they are accusing of being responsible for the missing tile), pick it up and deliver it to the job site, not Modello Stone and Tile.
In closing, I have documents, data and records to back all of this and would be happy to provide any party with those records upon request.