I have used CRS Granite twice before and would rate them as top drawer in all aspects of a contract. If I used HomeStars when I used them previously I would have rated them 10! I even recommended them to friends. Sadly however, my latest contract showed a whole new face of CRS that I have never seen before. It started with the original installation date reschedule. They called late the day before the install ( Wednesday) to say their polisher was sick and couldn't make it. I had already decommissioned the kitchen plumbing and now had to re-attach everything since I had a family dinner planned for the weekend and they said they could not make it until the following week. It was surprised that this Company operated with only one polisher. I thought they were a lot bigger. I can live with people having staff problems, so I was prepared to not let that bother me. It alone would not have affected my opinion of the Company. When they finally arrived on a reschedule day the following week the actual granite slab was very nice, but numerous installation and fabrication issues developed that CRS chose to not address despite many opportunities to discuss with me. These were ones I could not ignore, unlike the reschedule mentioned earlier. When I said the kitchen sink "seam" was not matching, I was told " we do not use a CNC machine and the slab is 10 feet long so there are "fabrication limits". ( I was disappointed that they cannot even match a seam and do not use CNC in today's modern age ). The installer also drilled the faucet hole offset the wrong way to match my oblong faucet . They did come to try and fix it the best they could, but never admitted that it was drilled wrong - they just blamed my faucet. He had drilled the offset in the wrong direction. They did fix up the seam the best they could when enlarging the faucet hole, but you can't repair a polished finish on a fabrication mismatch so that part remains. To add to the customer service issues, when this work was scheduled I was given an " all day" window, and when asked to tighten it up the day before the visit, I was told " per your contract' the customer must be available all day on the scheduled day". So archaic and inconsiderate. On the bathroom, I contracted for a retrofit polishing to accommodate a reno I was doing, and the plan was to polish one end of the granite they had installed the year before since my reno no longer used a side splash. Again, the installer messed up and no one would admit it . The problem was that the material they brought did not match up, and the installer had bashed off the old sidesplash rather than save it for edge trim , assuming he had a piece with him that matched. When they discovered it did not, it was too late. CRS took absolutely no responsibility of this and only referred to "a notable risk in the retrofit that was discussed ahead of time, including lot match of colours." ( my disappointment was that the lot colour risk was avoidable with probably 2 more minutes of careful cutting off of the old part instead of taking a hammer to it to make things easy, and a check ahead of time on the lot colour issue with the material they had brought before swinging the hammer). In all of this , their customer service and how they handled my issues was absolutely horrible. Responses, with the exception of an offer to enlarge the faucet hole and clean up the seam, told me to read my contract documents or they outlined their own fabrication limitations that I was supposed to live with . I even asked the owner by email to call me and he declined , saying he knew enough already and was not interested, despite me advising him that he would end up with a very unhappy customer. Every time I raised any of these issues there never seemed to be a will to get on the phone and try to work them out with the customer. I was primarily looking for an opportunity for them to admit to their mistakes and apologize for the experience, and search for a way to move forward and do business again. The owner chose to not offer that possibility. This is so sad, and represents some of the worst customer service I have seen in 30 years of using various contractors. I would not recommend this Company based on my latest experience .
- Approximate cost of services:
- $6,000.00
- Company Response
We are extremely disappointed that this customer decided to write a negative review, given our efforts to make them happy and long term business relationship. CRS has been in business for more than 10 years and pride ourselves on providing the best products and services to all our Customers. While we strive for perfection on every countertop, it is not always possible working with a natural stone product, which is outlined within our sales contract, site readiness guideline and website. The sales contract was written up on July 28, 2015 for $3490, not $6000 as claimed. Another $350 was added to the sales contract at time of measure on Sept 22nd, as the client wanted to salvage an existing vanity, which involved adding and polishing an edge on-site. The client decided not to have CRS do the plumbing in order to save $300. A tentative installation date of Oct 22nd was given at time of measure because of the client’s vacation plans.
On Oct 15th, CRS sent a picture of the slab that CRS had on hold at our distributor’s warehouse in Mississauga, because they were trying to match to existing counters installed in Feb 2014. The client inspected, approved and the slab was special ordered the following day by CRS, and the install date was moved to Oct 29, 2015 to allow more time to fabricate. The slab arrived at CRS on Oct 22nd and the fabrication process began the following week. On Oct 28th, CRS advised the customer that we felt it was best to reschedule their install to Nov 3rd, because several of our key fabricators were off sick which was outside of our control. The customer agreed, however, they were seeking compensation because they had already discounted their plumbing, which CRS was not prepared to absorb.
On the day of install our customer was involved during the entire process, including the placement of the faucet, in relationship to the seam, under-mount sink and cabinets. The customer approved and signed off that work had been inspected and complete.
As for the bathroom vanity, the salvaging, reworking and removal of the existing backsplashes glued to the wall with PL premium did not survive, despite our efforts and time spent. Again, the customer turned to CRS for financial compensation, which we were not prepared to write off, due to the fact that the customer knew the risks.
On Nov 9th, CRS received an email from the homeowner who had a few concerns, stating no rush, along with a few pictures, that our Project Manager reviewed and responded to same day. On Nov 11th, the homeowner sent another e-mail expressing their unhappiness, about payments, seam placement, faucet hole, sink cutout, and supplied more pictures, which was forwarded onto our Office Manager who responded on Nov 17th via e-mail.
On Nov 19, the homeowner wrote back stating that he not care for her response, and threatened to go to the owner if she didn’t fix the issues to his satisfaction. On Nov 30th, our Office Manager sent an e-mail to coordinate a return trip to investigate and discuss their concerns, and provided a copy of our policy and procedures. On Dec 1st, our Office Manager engaged into a 20 minute phone conversation, with the customer who proceeded to lecture her on how to run a business, and their unhappiness drawing attention to an e-mail that was never sent.
On Dec 11th, the matter was forward the owner of CRS as the homeowner was unwilling to cooperate. On Dec 14th, the owner of CRS sent an e-mail to the homeowner outlining the Company’s position, stating that he supported his staff’s efforts and that we are not prepared to write off, or credit the sale any further. Our product engineer was sent to the client’s home on Dec 19th to investigate, discuss and resolve concerns raised, which the customer accepted.
On Dec 19, our product engineer reported that that the customer was being too fussy, and continued to complain that they were not happy with CRS because we did not offer any financial compensation.
At no time did CRS fail to deliver on its contractual obligations, and an open line of communication was maintained from the beginning which is well documented. The quality of our workmanship speaks for itself that can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSDzXZ3BEy8
Should you have any questions regarding this review, please do not hesitate to contact me at dougjones@crsremodeling.ca