J Baird in Calgary

My recommendations / experience w/ Valley Countertops; 1 - Never may entire payment in advance. 2 - Do not initial the clause indicating you will have a visible seam, on the contract sheet. My wife signed this, expecting professional work. This is just an excuse for poor design and workmanship. 3 - Do not expect "the big box store" to take the customer's side in a dispute with their sub-contractor. The big box " kitchen specialist" said there was no problem with our countertop. The seam was placed in a most conspicuous place and not match at all. This was with man-made material, not natural stone which would be hard to match. 4 - Valley said they could not put seam where the stovetop would be, and only a few inches would show at the top & bottom. My neighbors have the seam at the stove top. 5 - Their initial price quote is low, to have them chosen, with the caveat that the price might change after final measurements. It did. The size of the countertop was significantly reduced, but the price still increased??? 6 - Valley was in a hurry to take the measurement after the cabinets were installed, then the day after the contract was signed they informed us that they didn't have the tool for the edging which had been agreed. This delayed the whole project for several weeks. 7 - Suggested to Home Depot that they should do a better job of vetting their sub-contractors, but they are probably still using them. 8 - Communication was poor, and no specific information concerning the procurement of the edging tool required or timing to help schedule other services involved in the kitchen renovation. 9 - The only positive thing I can say, was the workers in Calgary did their job to the best of their abilities, which was within their control. The problem was the design and office staff, and big box store ( the main contractor) having to be pushed and dragged into the process to try and rectify problems with their supplier. Finally - We began very accommodatingly, flexible and paid in advance w/o quibbling....big mistake. We will never use either for renovations again. I hope this saves the next unsuspecting Valley Countertops customer all the problems and frustrations we experienced. J Baird