Athena Granite & Marble INC

After seeing there add online for $27 square foot granite I called for details but no answer. So decided to drive to there location. I was welcomed by a salesperson that had very little knowledge of what the ""sale granite"" was. After a half hour or so everything the salesperson showed me was not even close to what they advertised. I did how ever find a granite slab that was a decent color and what I thought was a good price. I ended up paying around $42 square foot for Santa Cecelia granite and a couple of hundred for a sink. After the sale Athena assured me it would only take a week to be installed. Three weeks later because of scheduling delays they final arrived with my granite cut wrong. From what they told me they had to cut the width of my tops short because of the ""granite being damage"". It caused me to have a large gap in the back of my counters. They told me that my tile that was going in after would cover the gap. Not true! After installing the tile my tile installer ended up having to add a large amount of grout to fill the gap and it looks horrible. I contacted Athena to explain the problem but was told it was a very common problem and there was nothing they would do about bout it. I called some other granite companies for advice and not only did I find the granite I choose for less all the other companies agreed that cutting down the granite was not a standard practice. more

I rarely write reviews even though I rely on others when making choices for myself and my business. However, my experience with Athena was soooo poor, I would really like to save others the same time and hassle that I had to deal with. We originally purchased our countertops from Athena in Tampa since we heard they were reputable. The man there from Athena was friendly and he told me that they require a deposit and then they would have someone to do my measurements within 2-3 busines days then he assured that we would have them installed 2-3 weeks max. Needless to say it has now been 4 weeks and I have no countertops and none are in sight. It took 11 days for the template, another 9 days for the template to be sent to me for approval, 2 more days for them to get the template corrected (the first they sent was significantly overstated) and then supposedly we were to have countertops installed today, 4 weeks later. We never received phone calls- we were left to track them down and beg for dates and timelines. They do not return calls and nor do they meet their commitments made to you. We finally cancelled our order today and are going with someone that deserves and respects our business. We remodel homes for rentals and have never had an issue with getting countertops installed in a 4 week time frame and have never had a business refuse to communicate after they had our money like these folks do. We are awaiting the delivery of our sink back from the guy that measured since he took it with him. We will be using someone else moving forward. Im not sure if they are under new ownership now vs the reviews we previously read, which sent us to Athena, but steer clear of this business. You will be happy you did! Cons: No communcation, cannot meet timelines, excuses more