We went to all big box and several specialized flooring stores in London, Ont. to look for hardwood floor for our living room. We decided to buy it from the Alexanian Carpet & Flooring because of their excellent flooring selection and pricing but mainly thanks to their sales associate, Crystal. During our first visit to the store, Crystal gave us so much information and education about hardwood floors, which helped significantly in making our decision. We were impressed with her willingness to share that knowledge and time with us, without any guarantees that we're going to buy anything. (We just came to look, as we did everywhere else.)
When we reduced our selection to three floors, Crystal gave us those three sample boards to take home and see which one we would like the best. After almost a week of deliberation, we decided on the beautiful Signature Hickory Homestead engineered hardwood, which not only looked great but was also on sale at the time. After visiting us to take all the measurements in our living room, Crystal e-mailed us a detailed pre-order summary, with a breakdown of the cost for every piece of the material and labour. We realized the overall price was a bit more than we originally planned but decided to go with the full order anyway.
A couple of weeks later, the floor was delivered and installed. We certainly didn't regret our decision, including a little luxury for two wooden, custom stained flush mount vents that Crystal suggested. (Due to the added cost, we were very indecisive about these, but when the floor got installed, we realized what difference these vents made for the overall look of the space.)
There was some issue with the installation (floor creaking in one small area of the room); however, this was handled very promptly and efficiently by Crystal and her manager, Tyson. Tyson came out to check the area and we were so happy to learn that the issue was much smaller than we thought. (It was just to do with the nailing of one of the quarter rounds.) He brought one of the installers back, who fixed this in a matter of minutes.
In the end, we were delighted with this purchase. We would most certainly recommend the London Alexanian store (and especially Crystal, whom we dealt with) to anyone looking to do any flooring work, even if they (like us) don't know much about it beforehand.