Hello,

I need some advice. I recently contracted with a kitchen company to purchase new cabinets and have granite installed in my home. When teh granite was installed I noticed that there was a yellowish trail of discoloration of approx. 1 1/2 feet to 2 feet in length. There is no particular pattern and the discoloration (which looks like spilled coffee) is not shown in any other piece of the installed granite. I contracted with the kitchen company and they sub-contracted with the granite supplier and the fabricator. I am totally not happy with the discoloration and with the kitchen company because they have not been an advocate for me as their customer to provide any solutions to my problems. Also, I feel that the fabricator should have either asked me to choose another piece of slab or cut around the lengthy discoloration rather than installing such a piece of granite. I am seeking some professional advise. Thank you.

Attachments:

Your picture is way out of scale. However, I do see the spots. Granite is an open faced stone, and as hard as it is, it can be stained. Most stains introduced from the surface can be drawn out with a marble poltice. There are granite and stone cleaning kits available at stone dealers, marble retailers and some of the "big Box" stores. Look for the "3 part kit" in the retail market place. Stones stained from below as a result of installation materials may be more difficult to remove. You did not say when you first noticed the stains. Slabs should always be hand picked by you with while acconpanied by the seller or his agent. Fabrication begins only after you have paid enough money in advance, with the balance upon completetion of the installation. A professional retailer/supplier/fabricator would not begin "cutting" before slabs are reviewed and "tagged" with your name. Did you? Armen Tavy

---

Armen Tavy

Hello Armen,

Thank you for your reply. Attached is a scaled down photo. I noticed the yellowish discoloration when the granite was installed in my home. I picked my slab, but I did not see 1 1/2 feet to 2 feet of this yellow discoloration. It was not pointed out to me by the sales person. I paid the kitchen company prior to the granite installtion.

My position is given the the size of the discoloration ( 1 1/2 to 2feet) that the slab provider or the fabricator should not have allowed the granite to be installed in my home.

I paid the kitchen company for the cabinets, the granite and the granite installation via a credit card. What options to I have at this point?

Thanks

Attachments:

I will assume that the yellow coloration is a natural defect. As far as the credit card company is concerned, they have no bargaining chips with "mother nature" and you picked out the stone. Their customer protection policy only extends to theft or miss-use of your card by others. They would have to hire an army of investigators to handle claims such as yours, and profits would nose dive.

Getting back to your stone created by "mother nature". Giant mountains of granite do have some imperfections. These imperfections are sometimes sought out because of there unusual flow, which we call "movements". Granite that is uniform in color and pattern and pigmentation is sought after by consumers who are "peaceful" and indulge in perfection. This "quality" is high in demand and is usually found in the stone yards of "High End" dealers and priced accordingly. The more consistent as well as dense the stone is, the higher the price. Transversely, more spectacular the "movements" can fetch an even hire price by "the daring". In between the two lies stone like yours, a splatter here and a splatter there. It is customary to “tag” each slab with your name after inspection by you and the dealer, or his agent, so complaints like this never happen. If you were not asked to help in the selection or did not insist, you were not a smart shopper.

Depending on the location of the "splatter", a fabricator, that is on the "ball", can manipulate the slab so those sections become waste cuts or use them in the sink and stove cutouts. I don't know what you paid for your stone but it should have been priced lower or the dealer should have given you extra to compensate for the area that might logically displease you. This “generosity” is normal for a stone yard with a good reputation. You do get what you pay for and should always be wary of "good deals". A company that is proud of their reputation would absorb the loss and change out the granite to please you, providing there is an exact match.

You could try to be creative here as a decorator, and camouflage the area some way. Sorry, but had you not paid in advance you would still have to prove that you were wronged in a court of law and then the burden of proof would have fallen back in your lap. I am also assuming that the fabricator is not co-operating, in which case you are probably "stuck". Armen Tavy

---

Armen Tavy