Stone Specialties

Review for Stone Specialties\r \r A disaster of unimaginable proportions! In September of 2013  We embarked on a complete remodel of our kitchen.   New floor, new cabinets, everything  the last element to finish the job was the countertops  We had one type of stone for the perimeter counters and another for the center island. The perimeter came in and the installers butchered the install so badly that they had to remove what they installed. My husband literally escorted them off the premises. Stone Specialties sent another installer who not only showed up with a drunk assistant he also did not bother to remove the old glue so when he did the install a portion of the counter would not sit flush against the wall. Then the center island stone arrived. They cut it and tried to install it but the blue stone had a nickel sized white spot. I couldn't help but wonder ""did anyone even bother to look at this?"". So they had to order another piece of stone. More waiting. Let me explain the center island. It consists of 5 pieces. 3 on the top and two ""waterfall pieces"" that wrap from the counter to the floor. When the new stone came in they recut the center top piece that had the spot but used the side top pieces from the first stone.  The  colors were noticeably shades different.  More waiting.  The owner of the company promised to recut the side top pieces from the same stone as the center, but it took them a week to realize that they did not have enough stone left to do so. The next batch of this particular stone would not be available until March of 2014. So we picked out a different type of stone. They came to install the new stone but had not recut the waterfall pieces. It all has to be installed at the same time. Again the installer showed up with a stoned assistant. We asked them to send a different installer. Finally the new installer shows up with all the pieces but no one at the shop had bothered to lay them all out to see if they fit together properly. Surprise, surprise (not really) they did not fit. Back to the shop it all went.  In the meantime while all of this was happening, Thanksgiving and Christmas came and went. We hosted our families (between 12 and 17 people at each meal) without a sink, dishwasher or garbage disposal. ( the countertops had to be installed before these elements could be connected). We had given Stone Specialties the first check in August.  After the new year they finally managed to get it all installed. All in all this company was singlehandedly responsible for a 3 month delay in the completion of our kitchen. It was a nightmare. more

We ordered a stone countertop to replace a defective/broken countertop on a bathroom vanity. They came out to inspect the vanity and measure to install a new one. After installation, the drawers of the vanity will not close because the replacement they made positions the sink basin and drain too close to the front of the vanity, preventing the drawers from closing. I worked in earnest with several members of their staff to address the issue, but all I received was insults - ignoring the defect in their product. The worst was the owner - Gary. Luckily, I purchased with a credit card so I am filing a dispute to get a refund. I would avoid this dishonest seller at all costs! more

Excellent service, very professional, took the time to make sure my granite slab was the correct one when delivered, Stephanie and Travis went above and beyond. Would recommend them and would use them again. more

I just got done having the granite installed by these guys and they were GREAT. From beginning to end! They came highly recommended from a friend. After I visited several other places, I went to Stone Specialties and their prices were very competitive and the install was perfect! I could not have asked for a better job. Travis (their salesman) does a hell of a job making sure you get exactly what you want. more

this granite company is awesome! I am not sure why there are negative reviews (I guess some folks are never happy, I guess...) ; we experienced nothing but great customer service, and our kitchen looks amazing! We forgot to order out sink, and Travis helped us out with a great sink for less than on line. Would definietly recommend these folks! more

Awesome Customer Service. Would recommend. Sales Person Travis was very professional and I enjoyed working with him more

Well where should I start? Yes we too were sold on the great customer service we received by one of the sales people (Travis) super great guy and very helpful. However everything went downhill after we paid our second installment. The project was scheduled to start on Monday. I took off work and was eagerly awaiting their arrival. I then received a phone call indicating their installer was sick and could we reschedule? Um..no...I asked if they had a back up plan for situations like this. I was told no. An hour later we received a phone call that they had an installer who could do the job but that it wouldn't be later in the evening. I agreed since my home was in shambles at that point and I had taked the day off of work anyway... The installer was scheduled to arrive at 4 but showed up closer to 5. After 2 hours of work he told me that he couldn't finish the job because it was getting late but that he would be back tomorrow around the same time...What could I say? I agreed since I wanted the kitchen to be completed...This is where I am going to stop and simply list the problems tha insued following the second day. I would be writing for days if I didn't do it this way. *arrived late the 2nd day overtired and overworked was his excuse. *couldn't complete the job because one of the pieces was cut wrong. *Day 3 I was in tears...still could not complete the job, missing a piece of granite. *Day 4 job ""complete"" with many problems. We called to have our salesman come out and inpsect the issues that stemed from not sealing the kitchen sink, broken refrigerator part(not sure why the refrigerator was even touched), cracked wall, hole in wall, one piece was cut too short on our window sill, sealant left all over the granite.etc etc... Needless to say we had to have two plumbers come out three times to fix the leaking sink. As well as two contractors to fix the walls, the refigerator, seal the sink properly and seal a few crevices in the granite. A MONTH later, we had still never recieived a phone call from the owner to appologize or even check on all the extra work that had to be done. We were then told that the men hired to install the granite the major root of the problems had been fired. We then received a phone call asking for our final payment, We indicated to the secretary that we wanted to discuss our concerns with everything that went down with the owner before any payment was to be made. Maybe a simple appology...hmmm that would have been nice. She said she would pass along the message. We then received a phone call from the same secretary who relayed the message ""If we don't get the payment before Friday (4 days later) the owner would put a lein on our home.Seriously you are going to threaten us after how patient and accomodating we were. The simple kitchen project that was supposed to take one day took over a month!!!! All we were looking for was an appology and even the courtesy of maybe taking off 10%, something anything would have helped. After several attmepts to try and set up a time to speak to the owner in person our requests went ignored. He wanted to get paid and that was that... We called several times leaving messages with machines and secretaries indicating we wanted to make our last payment but we felt we deserved at least the common courtesy of meeting and speaking with the man that was now threatening us and clearly could not face us in person. Let's face it a conversation like this over the phone could get ugly. Well our calls went unanswered, no appology and we just received a lein on our home...Please I beg of you do not get sold on customer service alone, do your research. We didn't and look what happened to us...Great customer service is hard to come by these days but unfortunately, the customer service in the beginning fell short in the long run.... more

My dad had granite installed in his kitchen several years ago by Stone Specialties of Tampa Bay. After breaking a piece off at the sink seam, my dad demanded they cut a new piece. Several days later, they brought a thicker, non- matching replacement piece and tapered it in on the bottom to match up in thickness. It still is very noticable, and I did not care much for them after that. About one year ago, however, my friend used them for his kitchen. They really hadn't gotten any better. In fact, there were seven issues with this job including chipped edgwork, a used/ scratched sink, a broken cabinet (which was new), a large seem (which seperated months later), uneven margins w/ the cabinetry, and an ""accidental"" overcharge for this aweful job. They sent the original installer back out to fix most of the issues and gave my friend a discount for the used sink, but he was still not happy and just wanted their mess out of his kitchen and his money back in his pocket. I guess when you spend thousands of dollars a month on advertising, you don't have to do a good job, because if they put either of the two jobs I've seen in their ad, they would be ruined. There is a good granite company also north on Gunn Hwy. that does not rely so much on advertising, but more so on word of mouth and repeat customers. more

I am a licensed contractor working in the bay area for over 10 years now. Stone specialties has done dozens of jobs for my clients and me, including my own mother. Everyone is always floored with the quality and professionalism. They are the only granite company I know I can trust to get the job done right, even when I'm not there! Keep up the good work Gary, Travis, and associates! more

It would have been much better to be able to highly recommend this business to family and friends, but as it turned out we are not able to do that. We waited a while before writing this review just to have a cool off period, but as you will read there is not many positive things to say. more

I don't normally write bad reviews. I prefer to leave the flaming to others. However, since I relied upon the ratings on this website as a factor in selecting Stone Specialties over its competitors, I thought it was fair to provide our own rating. The lead up to installation had its problems. Their saw machine had broken and getting an answer about an installation date was a function of who you talked to at the company. Installation took from 11:30 to 6: 30 with no installer breaks. I think the installers just wanted to get out of there. After the dust settled, and we had a chance to look at the installation, we noticed that the seams were poorly done and that the granite colors did not match from piece to piece. A neighbor stopped by the next day and without prompting noted that the seams were poor. The salesperson visited and agreed that the seams were poor and made some rather strong commitments to fix the installation. It took a week after inspection to hear back from Stone Specialties. As a matter of fact, Stone Specialties never did return that set of phone calls- one day, the installers called and said they were on the way. In spite of a commitment from Stone Specialties to send out his fix-it specialists, Stone Specialties sent the original installers back out- they did what they could, but it is still a poor installation. As for the color differences, we did specify in the contract that we wanted to see and select the slabs before cutting. The first visit, we rejected the slabs. A few days later, Stone Specialties got in some more stone. We looked at one slab, which was exactly what we wanted. The salesperson said the other two, which we could not see because they were laid against each other were ""just like the first one"". When I expressed my doubts since we could not see the finished faces, he assured me, that he would personally see that the stones matched before cutting. I believed him, he didn?t and they don?t. My advice to prospective Stone Specialties customers: Look at each and every stone slab fully before agreeing to use the slab. Make Stone Specialties move the slabs so you can see the finished side of both slabs side by side and have them mark your slabs in your presence. Do NOT, as we did, give Stone Specialties 50% down. You lose any leverage and what going concern needs 50% up front. I only agreed to that because this site and the BBB had good things to say about Stone Specialties. In summary, I hate having to say bad things about a company, but this review site needs some balance, unless I am the only person in Stone Specialties history that has ever had this level of service and product and I doubt that. I am like the vast majority of other consumers. I would rather have a quality installation that I and the vendor could point to with pride than to have a reason to write bad reviews on websites. Pros: Cheap Cons: Service, Installation, Follow Up more

I shopped around quite a bit before finding Travis at Stone Specialties. It was just such a pleasure to get the personalized service that I was looking for. We had our kitchen counter done with granite, and I'm still amazed at how beautiful it came out. Travis was such a great help, and every step of the way the process and installation went just as he promised. It is just so rare to find such service these days, and I have, and will always continue to recommend Stone Specialties to my friends. Pros: Great Prices, Personalized care more