I would like to describe you my experience Artistic Stone Design company located at 8550 Keele St c, Concord, ON L4K 2N2
I was looking for the company for countertop fabrication and installation and was happy to sign the contract ASD. The sales person Patricia Marocco seemed to be nice and trusted person. Unfortunately I am not happy with the result and with the way ASD closed the door on me.
There are the deficiencies of the fabrication and installation:
1. Fabrication - in general I was satisfied with template employee, he was on time, professional, friendly and polite during his work. Unfortunately one side of the countertop adjacent to the range was not cut properly under 90 dgr. When we moved the range to it's place the gap between the range and countertop at the front is 1.5 cm wider than at the back, it visible.
2. Installation - this guy is a professional. I can trust him, right? As appears - no. The installer Calogero was arrogant and tried to finish the job as fast as possible. He have not checked anything after the completion of the job. All the deficiencies mentioned below I showed him after the installation, he did not fixed anything.
i. My kitchen is 17 years old, and of cause I was worried about weight of the quartz. Before I sign with ASD I asked about wood support below the quartz, Patricia told me they will install the strips. The installer came to my house and started to place the quartz directly to the cabinets without any checkup. When I asked him about the strips he told me in very strictly way that my kitchen does not need them. Once the installation was completed it became apparent that the top drawer does not go inside and the door beside the drawer does not close as it is not enough space below the countertop. Again, it was checked by me, not by installer. The installer had to insert some pieces of wood below the countertop in order to move it up to increase the space between the bottom of the countertop and the top of the cabinet door and drawer panel. The countertop was already glued to the cabinets and he had to apply a lot of strength in order to rise it up to make the space for those wood pieces. Should he check the measurements before the attaching the quartz? The strange thing for me is that I check the drawer and doors upon installation, not the installer. It was clear the installer had to place the strips, but he did not want to do this additional job.
ii. At the end of the job I checked the surface of the countertop with level, the installer was not happy with that, he told me I had to check my old countertop, not the new one. Is it right? The results - the countertop elevation is 1 cm higher near the fridge, during the backsplash installation my contractor had to cut the lower layer of the tiles in order to level them all around the kitchen. The countertop is not leveled properly.
iii.The countertop was installed on July 18, 2018. Next day backsplash installation was completed, and on July 20 my contractor started to seal the joint between countertop and backsplash with silicon. He noticed that the narrow area of countertop between sink and backsplash is bouncing under the pressure (moving down and up when the pressure was applied and released) and the crack appears in the grout which sealed backsplash and countertop. He told that silicon would not keep there as the countertop is moving up and down and this narrow area of countertop may crack if I will load the sink. This area where the sink is installed is located between two kitchen support panels 5 ft apart, it means 5 ft of heavy quartz panel with attached sink was installed without any support beneath. My contractor told me to contact ASD as additional support is needed there. I texted Patricia on July 20, but nobody from ASD contacted me back, nobody came to my house to check this. It was completely ignored.
iv. Once the installation was completed it became apparent that the sink was attached to the countertop with wrong alignment. The hole for the sink was cut very precisely, but the sink was attached to the countertop off in both directions. The left side of the sink is sticking out and the right part is under the countertop. The same is with front and back sides.
v. The silicon is sticking out from the sink and countertop junction. Was the installer supposed to place the silicon in better way or at least clean it before it became hard?
Conclusions:
All appointments were on time, template person were nice and considering, however the biggest problem I had with the installation. The installer tried to finish the job as fast as possible, have not checked anything after the completion. All the deficiencies mentioned above I showed him, but nothing has been fixed and ASD did a terrible job following up, they just ignored me as all money has been payed.
Sales representative did not explained anything about the warranty. When I asked her she told me to print the warranty conditions from Vicostone website. I found out from this website that in order to have the warranty for the countertop I had to register within 30 days from the date of installation. Only 5 days left, but I was not able to do it as I have not had all required information like butch #, slab #, etc. I drove to ASD office to get this information as I have not got responce to my email request. Patricia told me she needs a few days to get the information from accounting department. Really? The client is in the office, why do not call them? It appears sales person even did not know about registration, she told me in very unplesent way that nobody have never asked the warranty, only I'm so "terrible" client that requests the warranty. Hard to believe that the people are paying thousands of dollars with no warranty. Is the sales person professional if she does not know about warranty registration?
I will not use this company again nor will I recommend it to anybody.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $26,500.00
- Company Response
Hi Elena, Thank you so much for your review. All of us here at Artistic Stone Design (ASD)are grateful for your business and candid review of your experience with us. I would like to take this opportunity to address the concerns that you noted above and ensure your utmost satisfaction.
Build Up (Plywood/Strips) -The templater advised that no build up (plywood/strips) was required, this was clearly stated on your drawings and relayed to you at signing.
Adjustments (Drawers, cabinets, etc.) These were addressed a week after the installation, following my phone call with you. At this point the installer was instructed to return and make the necessary repairs.
Service/Follow Up - I apologize for the miscommunication regarding the service follow up. I was not made aware by yourself that these issues had not been addressed. Seeing as there was no feedback received, and payment was made in full, it was understood that you were satisfied with the work completed.
Warranty - With regard to the warranty for the product, you were made aware upon purchase that the product is automatically under warranty from the manufacturer.This paperwork was made available to you post installation. Due to a personal matter which was communicated to you, I advised that the paperwork would be provided to you within two days of my return. This was provided to you the next day along with the details for product registration. Additionally, I contacted the sales representative and regional manager of Vicostone in your presence to ensure that the full details of the warranty were communicated to you. This contact was also provided to you if you had any further questions or required any additional information. At this point, I received an email from you thanking me for the information.Several weeks later, I received an email from you stating your displeasure with our service, as the installer did not return to complete the deficiencies. It was only at this point that this was brought to my attention as multiple conversations had passed without mention. I apologized that the service had not been completed and advised you I had not been made aware and would escalate the matter to ensure that the service was completed to your satisfaction. ASD prides itself on dealing with best in the industry and I can assure you that Vicostone and ASD both stand behind their products and service. I want to thank you again for your patronage; if there is anything further I can do for you, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Patricia