MARBLE TECHNIQUES INC.

My wife and I went to Home Depot (HD) on Sunday, April 1st  to arrange for installation of a countertop and backsplash to replace the old ones I had installed myself 20 years ago. The salesman at HD was very helpful and made choosing and finally ordering the granite countertop and stone backsplash a seamless and problem free experience. We sat with him as he developed a preliminary estimate based on the information we provided describing the scope of work. This included a scale drawing of my 1st  floor plan which showed the layout of the kitchen and countertop locations. I also submitted approximate dimensions for countertop lengths, widths and backsplash height which I had taken myself. Because of my 45 years of experience as a designer in the architectural and civil engineering disciplines, I felt confident that the numbers I gave him to work with were in the least reasonably accurate.  He guided us through the sequence of events that would take place in the course of performing the work by the contractor, Marble Techniques, Inc., (Marbletech) and also arranged for financing by having us apply for a Home Depot credit card which offered a 10% discount. When I asked approximately how long the project would take to get started, I was told I?d get a call from the contractor within a week or so to arrange for a final template to be made and then about another week and a half to have the granite countertops delivered and installed. Another week or less would be required to have the backsplash installed. I was instructed to have the sink and faucet purchased before any measuring could take place. They gave me an estimated install end date of May 1, 2012.   So far, so good.   I got a call on Friday, April 6th from Marbletech scheduling an appointment for the final measuring of the countertops and backsplash for the following Tuesday, April 10th. In the interim I went to HD and purchased the sink and the faucet so they would be there when the dimensions were taken.   Problem No. 1: When the man arrived he began to take accurate measurements but after a few minutes said that the backsplash had to be removed first before he could continue ?because the wall is not even?, and he then left. I called the main number for the contractor and explained to the woman who answered the phone that another appointment had to be made for a crew to come and remove the backsplash and she said ? we?ll have to charge you for another service call?, which I found curious because they knew there was an existing backsplash to be removed as part of the job. So a second appointment was scheduled for removal of the backsplash and on the same day the measuring would be done, for Tuesday, April 17th. All of this took place.   Problem No. 2: The original work order included removal and haul away of the existing backsplash material. They didn?t haul it away. It still resides in my trash bin in back of the house.   Problem No. 3- Big One: I received a call from HD on Wednesday, April 25th, telling me that the contractor added a significant amount of additional charges to the original estimate, another approximately $1000 or about 30% higher. When I asked for substantiation the Home Depot rep gave me the telephone number of the person I needed to talk to at Marbletech. Let?s just call him ?The Ghost?. ?The Ghost? wasn?t there so I left a message on his voicemail. Never got a call back. The next day,Thursday, I called HD again and this time the HD rep said she would call ?The Ghost? and ask him to call me. He never called. The next day I called HD again and this time the rep said she would call her HD rep at Marbletech to tell him to ask ?The Ghost? to call me back. Never got the call.    By this time I was done. After receiving a copy of Marbletech?s final quantity estimate that Friday afternoon emailed to me by HD at my request, which was supposed to convince me of the validity of the extra charges, I was sure the majority of them were wrong and could not be substantiated. They never did send me the itemized final summary estimate, which would have included all costs by quantity and unit price.   The following Saturday morning I called the Customer Care number for HD I found on the internet. I explained at length what had transpired to that point and the gentleman I spoke with was extremely attentive and interested in what I had to say. I said that in light of the hardship my wife and I have endured for the past month, with our kitchen half dismantled and the added disappointment of not seeing the project completed after a whole month of delay and uncertainty I had no choice but to cancel the job and look elsewhere.   20 minutes after that call I got a call from ?The Ghost?.  My first question was ?where have you been, why haven?t you answered my calls?  All I got were vague, non-apologetic answers. When I expressed to him my decision to cancel the job he was equally brief? ?Okay?, he said.   Home Depot was not at fault here, except to the extent that they failed to thoroughly vette this sub-contractor before contracting with them. HD eventually refunded the total amount charged to my HD credit card, but the lost time and disruption to our home remains. We received no formal apology from anyone$

The good:
 -Excellent office staff
-Knowledgeable installers
-Product (counters) look wonderful

The absolutely terrible:
-Person measuring the template was late, rude and rushed his measurements
-Owner yelled at me on the phone for "supervising" his installers when, in truth, two of my counter pieces were too short - I was given two options: 1. Install the countertop, even though two of the pieces were too short or 2. I would get no countertop whatsoever (the installers would take it away, and he refused to remake it)
-After THREE HOURS of the installers and the owner talking, yelling and actually bringing me to tears, they admitted the countertop was too short (maybe because Home Depot was coming the next day to actually inspect the countertop and would then see that Marble Tech was wrong??)
-I asked for a temporary plywood countertop so I could have a functioning sink - I was told no
-When the remake piece was brought in, it was then too long!  (Plus, a third piece needed to be cut down, too.)

I'm sure this is not the typical experience, but be forewarned - they refuse to refund any money, even after such a terrible experience, and I was truly upset with how I was treated during the first two interactions.  Overall, disappointing is an understatement.

They were very good.  They did an excellent job.