A3 Tile

Excellent service and quality work.

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The guy was super, super nice and helpful. He helped us pick the tiles in the showroom.

We browsed MANY tile places looking for the exact tile we wanted and ended up buying tile at three different places (A3 for the laundry room, Chic Tile for the bathroom floor and tub surround, and Porcelanosa in San Jose for the entry porch). We had visited more than a dozen other stores and just happened to drop in at A3 because we were having such difficulty find a gray, non-slip tile for the wet area of the laundry room.

The first thing I liked about A3 was how willing Jay was to let us take home full-size pieces of tile so we could really get a feel for how they would look. Many tile places only let you borrow tiny squares, or are very grudging about letting you take anything home. Jay took our contact information, but was very relaxed about the whole thing.

I do have one small caveat and criticism that occurred rather quickly in our experience. We found a gray, non-slip tile that we liked and ordered it. Once it arrived, we were horrified at the extreme variation of the tiles in the box from the sample in the showroom. We hated most of them. This particular tile turned out to have a very wide variability from tile to tile in its appearance, something we had not been aware of. Many flooring stores list the variability factor for each of their tiles. A3 should do this, too -- if they had, we might have avoided getting a nasty surprise.

On the good side, once we expressed our unhappiness with the tile we had bought, Jay stayed positive and worked with us. He let us return the (technically non-returnable) tile for full credit, as long as we ordered something else from the same vendor. Fortunately, there was another gray tile, with must less variability, from the manufacturer. We are very happy with the results.

We decided to use epoxy grout in all our tiled areas. This is a specialty grout that doesn't need sealing and is supposed to resist staining. A3 had Laticrete (one brand of epoxy grout) at a good price and in many colors. When it turned out that we had bought more than we needed, they took it back and credited us fully. Jay even took back a box of epoxy grout that our installers had opened and not used, but from which they had lost the included sponge. He just let us buy a replacement sponge and gave us full credit for the rest of the material. He even looked up the receipt so I didn't have to find it.

All in all, decent prices and Jay's good service carried the day for us here. Delivery times were always as promised, too.