All:
I got a call from a friend and former boss at a cabinet shop we used to work at over twenty years ago. I even got Ken a job at another store fixture place after ours closed. We’ve stayed in touch over the years, so when a remodeling client of his needed a quartz top, I got the call.
Ken lives and works about four hours south of me, just north of <!—-> <!—-><!—->Cincinnati<!—->, <!—->Ohio<!—-><!—->. With all the driving and distance, I knew his nearly seven-thousand-dollar job was not a moneymaker, so I turned him on to my quartz fabricator who was closer.
I’ve had generally good experiences with this fabricator; you can read about the exception here: http://solidsurfacegeeks.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=284&start=60 (scroll down six posts)
I had complete confidence that they would take good care of Ken and maybe cut a small slice of the pie, so to speak, as a referral fee for me.
I called Ken about a month before the Solid Surface and Design Expo in <!—-> <!—->Orlando<!—->, <!—->Florida<!—-><!—->, to make sure it would be O.K if my wife and I spent the night on our drive down. He said sure, that would be fine and then he told me of his experiences with Flower Industries, the quartz fabricator, and he damn near curled my toes.
“I sent them a print, they called back with a figure, and I sent them a down payment. They called back and added another $850.00 to the price of the job. I said O.K.†Ken said. “They called before Thanksgiving and said they were coming, but didn’t. They called back several weeks later and rescheduled. The day of the install, they had another installation in the area and said they would get to me by noon. At noon they called and said 3:00p.m. Eventually they arrived at 8:00 in the evening. I suggested they get a room and start out fresh in the morning, but the young kid insisted and the nightmare began.â€
Even though it’s late, I call the owner of Flower to get the other side of the story. “Your guy signed the sign-off sheet. I’ve been back several times. When is this job supposed to end?†he says.
The splashes won’t fit under the overhangs; they’d have to make another trip. In an attempt to save material, they placed an “extra†seam on the end of a run exceeding ten feet. I had spoken to them about placing the seam at the middle of the sink to avoid this, but their plant manager said they couldn’t do it on the Park because the ends would act like tuning forks. Nonsense, I told him. The guys I used to buy Zodiaq from in <!—-> <!—->Cleveland<!—-><!—-> put a seam through a sink right in the center of an island for me previously. It went together perfectly and I’ve never gotten a call-back and it’s been in service over eight years. They would have none of it.
We decided that we would leave <!—-><!—->Michigan<!—-> <!—-> early enough that I would be able to see this fiasco in daylight, which is always best. We got to Ken’s about 3:30 and I was in his client’s house by 4:00 p.m. I could not believe my eyes.
There were two horribly ugly grinder marks on the deck of the <!—->Cambria <!—-> at each front seam at the cooktop. The edges didn’t look too hot either. Apparently the kid, on advice from the shop as he had called in, took a grinder to the seams in an attempt to level them! What on earth were these guys thinking? These seams were 3†long! How about breaking them apart and shimming to flat? Duhhhh! I guess when you start an install at eight o’clock at night after an already long day you lose your common sense.
Flower sends several people out several different times in an attempt to fix the problems. Worst of all, based on my testimony as to the quality and character of Flower, Ken has paid them in full although he has acknowledged on the sign off sheet that problems remain and he is not satisfied. A salesman for Flower says he has contacted <!—->Cambria <!—-> and on their recommendation, he is hooking Ken up with some Trizact sand paper. Trizact. Can you believe it? On quartz? Ken gets the white Trizact in the mail, I advise him not to use it and fortunately someone listens to me.
Fortunately, Ken’s customer is relatively patient, fairly unsophisticated and, praise God, not too fussy. However, he is not stupid and the ground seams remain unacceptable. As we drive away in the car, I promise Ken that I will be seeing the people responsible for this at the show and I will hold them accountable for grinding his top and my reputation.
By chance, I run into the plant manager first and I explain the aforementioned horrors. I mention that all their trips must have certainly consumed the last of the pie, leaving nothing for me. The last time we had problems, he was Mr. Take Charge. Not so now, he defers to his boss, the owner. This can’t be good. He does let it slip that the installer on Ken’s job is no longer with the company. Imagine that.
I run into the owner of Flower, he tells me his plant manager has told him of our discussion, there is no pie left and we agree to meet when we both have more time. Unfortunately, he leaves the show before we get a chance.
While at the show, I take advantage of the opportunity to speak to Mr. Fred Hueston whose outfit, The National Training Center for Stone and Masonry Trades, is a vendor at the show. Not only is Fred extremely knowledgeable about all things stone and quartz and a columnist for Surface Fabrication magazine, he is a hell of a nice guy. After I explain the problem, Fred recommends that Flower contact Marblelife, Inc., a stone restoration business for which Fred has developed a quartz restoration process.
I bump into the plant manager again and he too has spoken to Fred. “I’ve got the DVD; it’s all taken care of.†The thought of a DVD-trained plant manager trying to polish his way out of this mess terrifies me, but I remain poker-faced.
When I get home, I exchange a few emails with the owner of Flower. I suggest top replacement as a failsafe fix or at least taking Fred’s advice and hiring Marblelife. He rejects both and is going with his DVD-trained plant manager. He promises to get to it SOMETIME IN APRIL, on a job that went in four months earlier! I hope he meant ’07. He feels no obligation whatsoever for any referral fee despite my handing him a full retail gift wrapped job for a guy who builds twenty-five houses a year, economy permitting. He is oblivious to the damage he has caused my reputation and is trying to play the he-said she-said game. I explain that neither me, Ken nor the homeowner ground the tops, his guy did and he is responsible. In this case, there is no other side of the story. I call back and offer to install the replacement top myself if Flower will fabricate and ship it to the site. No deal.
I call Ken to keep him apprised of the situation and then he drops the bomb. The homeowner is sitting on eight thousand dollars of Ken’s money until the tops are fixed. I consider myself a patient man. I have long lasting business relationships. My reputation has taken a horrible beating but I’m out no cash in this deal, except my referral fee. The knowledge that Ken is twisting in the wind for eight large while Flower has been paid in full is simply more than I can take and I am livid. I email Flower’s owner and let him know in no uncertain terms. He is unresponsive.
I call the Plant Manager after calming down and we agree that he will polish the problems away before April. I call to make sure it’s happened before calling Ken to check on the quality of the fix. According to the Operations Manager at Flower, it’s done and everyone’s happy. I’ve got a message to Ken to call me. We’ll see.
Surprise, surprise. The polish job is a failure and Ken’s no closer to his eight large. I’m not called “Swami Joe†for nothing. Flower’s Operations Manager has told Ken they will replace the tops, which Flower has ruined, if Ken pays for them. I call the owner of Flower, leaving a calm voicemail explaining the unacceptability of this and he doesn’t return my call. I call the Plant Manager and ask where is my old “don’t worry about it guy†and it apparently gets to him. I guess his pride won’t let him let his boss savage his reputation either. We discuss the advantages of a one-piece replacement and how much faster and fail-safe it will be. He promises to get to it right away.
The Plant Manager calls me today (4/23/07). He and another employee put the one-piece replacement in this weekend, ON THEIR OWN TIME AND MATERIAL. He is absolutely positive everyone is happy as Ken and the homeowner were there and approved. I call Ken and it’s true.
“I was going to call you. Everything is fixed. I’ll be picking up my eight soon and I want to thank you for all your help getting this resolved.†Ken says.
I’m having an argument with myself. Part of me is so grateful that this has been resolved without lawyers and my reputation is fairly intact, yet another part of me can’t believe the intransigence of Flower’s owner to a guy who’s bought tens of thousands of dollars of tops from him. Maybe King Flower needs to discover that Ohio law states that employees must be paid for all hours worked, even if they’re making up for their own mistakes. Maybe I’ll copy the Wage and Hour folks at the State of <!—-> <!—->Ohio<!—-><!—->. Maybe Cygnus (publishers of Surface Fabrication magazine) will pay me for this story and I’ll recover my pie slice. Fat chance, King Flower is too well-connected and powerful for Cygnus to touch this. All journalism is commerce, remember?
I bid a 90SF <!—->Cambria<!—-> job last week and just got an email today from a fabricator who had a booth at the show, soliciting my business. Coincidence? I don’t think so…
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Kowboy
Replies
What a nightmare. You can take with you the thought that you conducted yourself with integrity throughout. I think Ken should kick you something though for sticking through the #### and basically saving his a$$. As for Flower, I wouldn't send them anything ever again....good luck to you! Good story...
You are one patient man! I don't think I would have made it through all of that without hitting something or someone. WOW!
I would make a point to NEVER send Flower any business. And if anyone asks me about them, I'd tell them what a nightmare you went through.
Goes back to 'you reap what you sow'.
jt8
"The lowest ebb is the turn of the tide."
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
You should be writing murder mysteries or...are you doing so already?
I had a little problem following the story ... was it you who was the one contacting the plant manager and so on? I commend you for keeping after it to get a quality job for the HO. But, one recurring theme was your lamenting the lack of a referral fee paid to you. Over and over. Greed.
"Put your creed in your deed." Emerson
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
Thanks, at least we got a good story out of this mess.
Kowboy
Wow! You da man, Kowboy.
SamT
Praise the Corporation, for the Corporations' highest concern is the well being of the public.