STONE CITY

Dear Better Business Bureau; The purpose of this letter is to file a complaint against Stone City located at 1620 S. Abilene Street, Unit G. Aurora, Colorado 80012. Stone City’s Construction Division served as a General Contractor and managed a total remodel of my master bathroom that was completed in February 2014. As part of this remodel, Stone City installed a SteamSpa Steam Bath Generator. Stone City installed the generator and charged me $650 to install a new 220 line for the steam shower unit. However, although the specifications for this Steam Bath Generator required 8 Power Wire (AWG) and a 30 Amp breaker, they incorrectly installed 10 Power Wire (AWG) and a 40 AMP breaker. This brings me to my complaint. Recently, the Steam Bath Generator quit working. I had a licensed electrician come to fix the problem and was informed of the improper and incompetent installation conducted by Stone City. He informed me of several things: • The installation was not done according to specifications as explained above • They incorrectly installed a 40 AMP breaker because if they had used a 30 AMP breaker as prescribed in the User Guide, the breaker would have tripped and the Steamer would not have worked from the beginning. • His company was not authorized to simply replace the breaker because the unit was not wired to code, represents and on-going fire hazard and would not pass inspection. Upon learning about this, I called Mr. Sridhar Babu Stone City’s Owner, to see if he and I could discuss this situation and work towards a remedy. Honestly, given the fact that I’ve been living with a fire hazard for the better part of 5-years due to an incompetent installation, I thought he would be willing to work out a solution. Instead, he claimed that all he did was stonework, knew nothing about electricity, and that his warranty was only good for one-year. Unfortunately, given Mr. Babu’s unwillingness to work with me, I am left to seek justice on my own. That said, I think it’s important to bring this to your attention as I will no longer endorse Stone City as an upstanding business given their unwillingness to take care of customers when they have demonstrated incompetence regardless of how much time has passed. Sincerely,

After getting estimates from four other companies I found Stone City. This company has their own granite slabs on site and fabricators on site too. They had the best price, and they were able to meet the time frame I needed. They were courteous, professional, and there was no pressure. Their installers are worked very efficiently and were very considerate of keeping the area clean. The price included templates, tear out of the existing counters and sinks, granite, granite fabrication, caulking and new sinks. Plumbing is the only thing that would be an additional charge but we chose to use our own plumber. I am so impressed with Stone City. This was the easiest kitchen/bath redo I've ever had done. I HIGHLY recommend this company!!!

Sales person called quickly, was good to work with.  Workers were punctual.  Before the work was done, we signed paperwork specifying details, including the edge that we selected in the showroom for the granite.  We also requested itemized details of what the charges were for, and were told, "it's a complicated formula." Unbeknownst to us, the granite we had purchased already had an edge done on it and couldn't be changed. There was no communication with us when this was discovered.  We called to discuss the issue with the company and no one called us back.  We had to make a trip to the store to get anyone to talk to us.  When we asked if we had paid for fabricating the edge we selected, the response was a shouted  "NO", even though the owner of the company (who we were talking to) did not check the details of our billing to verify that.  Since they refused to give us an itemization, we couldn't verify if we were or not.  We had purchased enough granite to do a countertop for another bathroom being redone and asked the sales person if they could store it until that bathroom was done.  We were told it would be kept with our name on it to be fabricated and installed when that bathroom was ready. We wanted to get that piece of granite, but according to the owner, the remaining piece of granite was "thrown away."  When we told him the sales person had told us it would be stored, he said, "we don't do that."  He offered no apology. The owner of this company came across as angry that he had to talk to us, didn't care to hear what we had to say, told us to stop talking so he could give us a lecture on the properties of granite, and treated his employee even worse than he treated us.  The work performed was good quality, but if you have any problems, the owner will not care and does not take responsibility for the actions of his employees. Additionally, they required payment before they did any work - and we should have walked away on that basis alone, however, we needed to get our bathroom project completed.  I've waited over a year to complete and submit this review to see if my opinion of this company and our transaction with them would change, but it has not.  I have never been treated so poorly by a vendor (the owner) at that and will never do business with them again, and recommend that others steer clear.

The quality has been great, the price was fair, but the timeliness has been unimpressive.

Everything was great until I put a cooking oil bottle down on my new counter top, and it left an oil stain.  I called and called and called the store and salesman and never got an answer - just voicemail, to which they never responded.  I got on the internet and found a product to remove the stain, and called other stone and tile stores who were happy to help me out and tell me how to seal the granite myself.  I was really angry, because I was told that Stone City would seal the granite, which they did not do.  The granite fit perfectly and was installed well.  They have some beautiful stone you may not find at other places, but unless you get a written guarantee that they will seal the granite, don't do business w/ them.  I was unable to use the countertops for over 4 weeks by the time I got the stain removed and the 3 coats of sealer on by myself.  The sealer took 72 hours cure time for each application, and the weather had to be nice enough to leave all the windows and doors open to ventilate my house when applying.  The oil stain remover took 2 applications w/ 72 hrs each time to pull the oil up to the surface of the stone and let it evaporate.  What a hassle!!  And it cost me about $50 to buy the stain remover,  stone sealer, special 100% soft cotton cloths to apply the sealer.

To avoid seams in critical areas, Stone City indicated the slab size was critical. Accordingly, they selected the slab subject to my approval of color and quality. On the day before installation they reported that the slab was too small to cut as originally planned and they had no choice but to place seams in the exact areas we previously agreed to avoid. I was in no position to reject their "expert" advice as a significant project delay would generate far more expense than the entire contract. It was ultimately discovered that there was an option that, although not as originally agreed, would have prevented seams in critical areas and would have been acceptable. Stone City simply lacked the diligence and/or imagination to discover this option. Stone City was rude and aggressive towards my general contractor when an attempt was made to discuss problems. As a byproduct of their plan, one piece of marble was extremely large, heavy and unwieldy leading to damage of walls and cabinets.

The initial sales meeting and picking of the granite was good. They scheduled our appointments, showed up on time, and worked very efficiently. However, the product appears to have been poorly cut, and there has been absolutely no follow up from the company.

They initially appeared to be very helpful and even went to another factory to get us the granite color that we wanted as they couldn't get it in. However, once it was installed and SUPPOSEDLY sealed, they were absolutely unwilling to help or even come out to look at my countertops once oil had spilled on it and stained it another color. They would not stand behind their product even after I told them that 3 other granite companies had never heard of that happening if it had been sealed properly.