The Tile Shop 1,600 sq ft of Defective Tile Mentor Ohio

I am the manager of the reported location by the customer below. It is unfortunate that this customer had unpleasant words regarding their experience at the Tile Shop. Over the past 6 years, I have established a strong reputation in the northeast Ohio region, making a tireless commitment to improving the quality of my customers' homes. I take deep pride in my work and in the relationships I forge with my customers.

When the general contractor contacted me on the phone, their question was not if they could replace the tiles within a reasonable amount of time. Anyone who has ever purchased from a Tile Shop across the nation knows that we allow returns within 6 months with absolutely no restocking fees. Rather, their question was regarding the manufacturer’s recommended installation of the 24" long, calibrated porcelain tiles purchased. When calibrated porcelain tiles are formed and heated, they shrink. This shrinkage causes the tiles to bow. If they were as horrifically bowed as the customer stated, they would be impossible to install. I calmly stated that the tiles needed to be installed with 3/16" grout lines and had to be set at a 1/3 offset pattern. This is the recommended installation per the TCNA handbook. I told the general contractor to please not hesitate to contact me with any further questions or concerns. This was Monday, July 27th. After this conversation, I heard nothing from either the contractor or the customer. I was under the assumption that things were moving along smoothly.

A week and a half later, I was informed by the customer that the general contractor charged them an additional $1800, due to the fact that they had to use a self leveling system, and that we should be responsible for the charges. However, at no point was I made aware of their decision to not exchange the tiles, but to move forward with the product that they were so horrendously dissatisfied with.  Had they chosen to exchange their product, it would've taken 1 week or less to replace. Again, no one contacted me regarding swaps or lead times.

Since we carry a self leveling system, I would have been more than happy to supply the materials needed so that they wouldn't have to pay the outrageous over-charge of fairly inexpensive materials by the contractor. Also, if the tiles were as bowed as stated, a self leveling system would have snapped the tiles in half.  I was not contacted by anyone.  They were supplied a change order form on July 30th that they approved of without any questioning of the contractor’s process, or consultation from myself or any customer representative of the Tile Shop. It wasn't until after the project was completed, August 5th, which I was notified of the additional expenses that their contractor had unfairly passed to them.  Had I known about how the contractor wanted to remedy the situation, I would've gladly helped without question. However, this customer and contractor made the decision to move forward with no effort to communicate their decisions to me.

It is unfortunate that our customer and their general contractor could not keep their line of communication open with me throughout their project.  Any of the thousands of residents in Northeast Ohio that I have assisted over the past 6 years, along with any of my co-workers over this time period, can assure that fits of rage are not in my nature. It seems as though my professional advice fell upon deaf ears at a cost the consumer should not have blindly accepted from their contractor.