
Granite Factory
About us
Granite Factory offers great pricing on all granite projects big or small. With our installers having as much as 15yrs of experience and easy ordering process, you can be assured your process will be as smooth as it's possible. We offer 3 weeks turn around time on the job. Please check our website www.wsiconsingranitefactory.com for our customer testimonials!
Business highlights
Services we offer
Granite countertops installation, bathroom vanity, granite bar, granite fireplace, granite kitchen countertops, granite sinks, granite table, porcelain sinks, stainless steel sinks
Number of Stars | Image of Distribution | Number of Ratings |
---|---|---|
54% | ||
31% | ||
8% | ||
0% | ||
8% |
I rate the quality of the product and installation an A for excellent. I rate the sales method an F for misleading.
The quotes we worked with showed the sq ft of the granite (32.97 sq.ft.), in a separate area of the quote it showed $38 a sq.ft, it did not show the dollar amount for the granite, i.e sq.ft. X $38. It showed the sink cut out cost of $150, edging cost of $6 - $104 total (more on this later) and then the final total cost of $1,804.
Then their contract showed the cost of the granite $1,253, sink cut out cost $150, edging cost $104 and an "Additional: $297" line item for a total of $1,804.
Their quote did not show the actual dollar amount for the granite and no mention of the "Additional: $297" line item, but it did show the total cost of $1,804.
Just before the countertops were to be delivered I was discussing the great deal I got to one of my fellow Milwaukee Real Estate Association investor. I went to e-mail him my quote when I noticed the ?Additional: $297? line item on the contract. That is when I started to look more closely at the quote and contract.
Here are my issues:
1. First, I did not do the math on the quote and look more closely on the contract to see the discrepancies that I am about to
discuss. So shame on me, I accept the price I paid. Hopefully you will learn from my experience and that is why I am spending the amount of time I am to write this review.
2. The edging was quoted as $6.00 per linear foot. The price on the quote was $104. I had 15 linear feet, which should have cost me $90.
3. By not presenting the granite price on the quote, $1,253, it was not readily apparent that the granite price, plus sink cutout,
plus edging didn?t add up to the total cost on the quote of $1,804.
4. Because I did not do the math on the cost of the granite plus edging, plus sink cutout, I did not notice that the individual
items did not match the total project cost on the quote.
5. Because we did not do a line item check on the contract when the total contract price matched the quote price, we did not notice the unexplained ?Additional: $297? line item.
6. When I called and spoke with the manager, Erick Kramarz, his explanation for the ?Additional: $297? was that the computer calculates the costs, it is for sales tax (sales tax on $1,253+104+150 is $82.89), it is an additional warehouse cost, what does it matter as long as the figure on the quote matches the contract price and we are the lowest in town that is why we
get so much business.
7. I felt that the sales process was very misleading and deceptive.
8. Dividing the ?Additional: $297? by the sq. ft. of granite we purchased raises the sq. ft. price of the granite from $38 to $47.01 which I know is not competitive with other sources.
9. Had the quote listed the ?Additional: $297? line item amount on the contract as the cost of the kitchen sink, sales tax, delivery mileage, etc., this review would have a totally different flavor and rating to it. Although I doubt I would have bought from there if I saw the line item costs first.
In conclusion, as I said in the beginning, the finished product is excellent, the installers took their time and in my opinion did a
thorough and professional job. So we love the end results. What we totally object to was what we consider less than open and honest sales practices. For these reasons, we DO NOT recommend this company.
As a followup to Granite's response, yes, the quote price and the contract price were the same, but the "Additional: $297" line item on the contract was not represented on the quote. On the quote, the $297 was never represented as a cost for measuring, etc., items that are included in other competitive quotes.
"Thank you for rating the quality of our product, installation and punctuality an A - excellent. At the same time I would like to explain the misunderstanding with "sales method". All our customers are asked some basic questions when an estimate is prepared for them. This is in order to have the most accurate quote for each customer. Every job is different, some are small, the others are very large, the amount of labor/cost also changes. All projects require to be measured and installed by us. Our system automatically determines these costs based on the location and size of project. However the system does not detail these charges on the estimate, it simply provides a total installed price. Bottom line is - the estimate amount and contract amount are exactly the same, the customer agreed to pay the estimated amount and then questioned it when it got broken down. In this case the cost was added for measure and install of small project barely over 30 sqft. Our system has worked perfectly fine for thousands of our customers. I honestly do not understand a customer that agrees on the price first just to complaint about it a little later. You don't purchase a car and then go back to the dealership few days later and tell them you don't understand the pricing and you want a lower price."
***Update 1/16/14 with response to provider:
I do rather resent being painted as a customer who was looking for things to go wrong with the process, as the manager of Granite Factory has implied. Giving the company a full month to sort things out beyond their contractual obligation to deliver the granite is quite patient, in my mind. Further, my cabinets, although old, are in fine shape. The granite installer I used after demanding a refund (this was agreed to very begrudgingly) had no issues whatsoever installing granite countertops in a timely manner. The fact of the matter is, Granite Factory did not take an accurate measurement the first time around, and expected me to modify my kitchen remodel plan by eliminating the granite backsplash that I had ordered. And no, a 20% discount after many weeks of frustrating, fruitless attempts to get in touch with this company, without a functioning kitchen in my home was not enough for me to continue doing business with them. If expecting my calls to be returned and guarantees to be kept makes me demanding or a difficult customer to work with, then fine, I guess I'm a difficult customer. But when I'm having something custom-made for my house, I don't expect to hear excuses like "your cabinets are to blame," even though someone came out to measure them. I don't doubt that there are "thousands of customers" who have been satisfied with Granite Factory's work. I am not one of them.
"Thank you for your review, however as the manager of Granite Factory I can not agree with this hurting and dishonest opinion about our company. Maybe writing this reply, will help explain the situation with this customer. From time to time we run into a customer that will find a problem in our very smooth process. No matter how hard we try to please the customer, there's always a person who claims that we could do better and each time we try. This happened with [member name removed]. The cabinets that granite was suppose to be applied to were old, very old - over 70 yrs old (1940's) and in bad shape. When we performed the measure, customer had the old tops on, which he decided to remove himself before the install. We were unable to verify that these extremely old cabinets were also custom built on the inside, with some unexpected thick wooden frame on the inside front. These cabinets were narrower than modern cabinets as well. Our customer decided on the large sink and backsplash in the back of the countertop. All these options and difficulties with old custom built cabinets - rendered problems as far as fitting everything on the narrow tops. There was simply not enough room on the countertop to fit sink, faucet, backsplash. There was no possibility to have it all fit because the thick frame on the inside of the cabinet (sink, faucet, backsplash got moved back about 2" back because of the frame issue). At this point we offered to give the customer a discount for the extended waiting time, also we offered to remove the backsplash charges and asked to do it without the backsplash. This would entirely save the whole project and at this point the installation would be finished within 2-3 days still within the promised timeframe. [member name removed] did not agree to that solution, as he absolutely needed the backsplash. We explained that there is no room to use the sink, faucet and backsplash together on the narrow custom cabinet that he's having. He told us to figure this out somehow, so we started crunching numbers unsure if very slim clearances will work, or not. The customer however got extremely interested in the discount options. To have a pleased customer we offered him 20% discount off the total price of countertops, which he denied. Instead he was interested in 50-60% of a discount, which we could not offer. We did not wanted the customer to get any more frustrated with the longer than usual process in which we tried to make the impossible possible. We offered a full, immediate refund - which left us with completely wasted granite pieces and no payment for it at all. As a result no work was performed for this customer. Reviews like this one are hurting our company's image. In this case the customer did not have enough experience to claim that we do this right/wrong or it could be done sooner. Manufacturing in granite is time consuming and any rushed mistake can be very costly to us. We rather double and triple check all dimensions and spend time on it, than cut some wrong. I'm sure most of our customers appreciate this. Main reason we stay in the business is because of many referrals of our extremely pleased customers. Whole families have trusted us and they are very pleased with their granite tops. Please don't let this one, inaccurate review spoil it for you."
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