Unique Marble and Granite of Tallahassee

On May 19, 2012, we signed a contract to purchase a quartz kitchen countertop and have it installed by Unique Granite of Tallahassee. On that same day, we paid the required deposit of half the total of the price we were given and agreed to under the contract. We were told at that time the quartz would be ordered and delivery would be in approximately 2 weeks. Over the next 2 weeks, we proceeded to purchase cabinets, tile, appliances, and other kitchen accessories based on the color and design of the chosen quartz countertop. We also lined up subcontractors and established timelines for their services based on the timing given by Unique Granite. We demolished our existing kitchen and began the remodel project. Once we reached the 2 week delivery time point, we tried to phone Unique to schedule the final measurement and installation. For an entire work week, we called them daily only to be told that the person with whom we needed to speak was not available and would call us back. The following weekend, after not hearing back, we went to their shop/office. we were again told that the owner, Mauricio, was not available but that he would call us on Monday to complete the scheduling. Mauricio did finally call us the following week and informed us that the quartz had not been received from the distributor and that we were now looking at an additional delay of several weeks but that the countertop would be installed no later than June 26th. Our kitchen project came to a standstill as the subcontractors could not proceed any further without the countertop. We were then forced to live in a house that resembled a construction zone with no working kitchen. On June 25th, after phoning Unique Granite multiple times trying to confirm the installation deadline on the following day, we were eventually informed that we were not only not on the schedule for the next day, but were not on the schedule for the entire next week and that they did not expect our quartz to arrive at their shop this week. We called the distributor directly and were informed that they had not received payment from Unique for our order and that delivery would be withheld until payment was received from Unique. We repeatedly called Unique for approximately 1 week trying to seek answers and a resolution but our calls were ignored and dodged. When someone would occasionally answer our calls, we were told that Mauricio was unavailable, usually in a meeting or at lunch, but that he would call us back. That call back never happened. On July 2nd, 44 days after we signed a contract to purchase and paid our deposit, we received a text message on our cell phone from the owner/operator, Mauricio, stating that Unique Granite would not complete this project because his sales person had under priced the job and that it would be a loss for the company. His text told us that we had two options, either get our money back or pick out another countertop. After designing and purchasing a kitchen based on this particular quartz, stalling several subcontractors for weeks, and being forced to live in a house with no kitchen, we are dumbfounded and shocked that Unique Granite would treat customers this way. Unique Granite kept our money for weeks, refused to take any steps toward completing this project, and dodged all of our attempts to communicate and seek updates on our project. UPDATE: Per Mauricio?s texted ultimatum, we requested a refund of our deposit. We also filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau against Unique. As a result, Mauricio, the owner/operator of Unique, has informed us that he is now refusing to refund our deposit until we remove our BBB complaint. He is now refusing to do the countertop job and refusing to refund our money. UPDATE: On July 11th, after having to threaten Mauricio that we were going to take legal action against him and his company for fraud, theft, and blackmail...Unique finally issued us a refund of our money. Unique held our money for 53 days while refusing to do the project and bringing our kitchen renovation to a halt.