ComplaintsforGlobal Natural Stones, LLC

• Initial Complaint

  04/16/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I purchased new kitchen countertops from Global Natural Stones. The total purchase price was $3,018.73 (invoice #17605, purchase date of 3/11/24). As part of this purchase, we elected for the plumbing disconnect and reconnect service to be included. Global Natural Stones used a sub-contractor (***** ******* from TNT Construction) to perform this service. During the plumbing reconnect service on 3/21/24, ***** indicated the kitchen sink plumbing was reconnected and left our house. Within minutes of ***** leaving, water began spewing from underneath the kitchen sink. I shut off the water as soon as possible, but the kitchen had already flooded. I cleaned up the water in the kitchen and then inspected underneath the sink. A water line was completely disconnected, which is what caused the water damage. I contacted Servpro to professionally assess the damage. Servpro concluded all of the kitchen cabinets and flooring is required to be replaced due to the water damage. Neither Global Natural Stone nor the plumber would give us any insurance information despite being responsible for the damage. This forced us to use our homeowners insurance. Our insurance/contractor determined the cost of the damage is between $20-30k, and we will be responsible for our $5k deductible. Global Natural Stones is responsible for the damage. Therefore, I should receive a refund for the countertops at the very least. I have contacted them multiple times but they have not offered a reasonable solution. This is extremely frustrating.

  

  Business response

  04/22/2024

  Hello and thank you for sending this information over to GNS. The root cause of the issue defined by the customer is un-known as all was functional and tested by ***** ******* (TNT Construction) prior to leaving the site. We believe ***** went back to the site to fix the issue by replacing a very old valve that was supplying water to the refrigerator. Having said the above, the customer has filed a complaint with the insurance company and the insurance company has contacted both GNS and TNT Construction. GNS has provided the required information requested by the customer's insurance company, hence the insurance company and their inspectors will decide the route forward. There is no room for any refund from GNS as GNS performed the service for the amount collected and went above and beyond in helping the customer with the situation at hand barring the fact that the water line connection to the sink may even be outside of county code. We request BBB to not entertain this any further as insurance claim is underway. Hope this helps in resolving this matter with BBB. Thank you again.

  Customer response

  05/22/2024

  Thanks for reaching out. Unfortunately, Global Natural Stones has not resolved the issue. They have made it clear that they are not willing to resolve the issue, so communication with them is no longer beneficial. The services they provided caused nearly $30k in damages to our home, so we had to use our own homeowners insurance to address the damage caused by them. This situation has been extremely stressful and taxing on my family. I hope a formal complaint is posted for this business so others do not have experience a similar situation. 

• Initial Complaint

  11/23/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We purchased our Marble countertops from GNS on 5/10/21 for a total of $4783.62. The counters were installed on 5/26/21. While we did not notice any immediate flaws, later that day we noticed streaks across the length of the island counter. We had been told not to touch the counters for 24 hours after install. Once the time passed, we noticed the streaks were not coming out. We contacted GNS on 5/27 to notify them. We were told they should absorb into the stone within a few days. This did not happen and we reached back out on 6/1. On 6/23 the installer came for a service call to attempt to buff out the streaks, which did not work. On 7/7 GNS told us they would get a polisher/cleaner for us to try. We picked up the product the week of 7/19. On 7/26 we responded that the streaks were still noticeable. We continued communications on 8/2, 8/10, 8/17, and 8/24. On 8/25 they offered to replace the island counter with a smaller stone. We responded on 8/25 that we could not accept as that would change the functionality of our kitchen/island. After no response, we reached back out to GNS on 9/1/21. On 9/2 I spoke with the owner on the phone and discussed trying a wet polish treatment. This would require removal of counter, polish at shop, then return to our home. On 9/3 we agreed. On 9/28 GNS reached out stating we needed to sign an agreement prior to them picking up the stone. The agreement had false information and held us liable for any damage done to our counter (that is paid in full) while in their custody. 9/29 we responded and asked them to negotiate. On 10/1 they responded with their refusal. 10/17 we responded again with a counter offer after speaking to a Marble repair expert, and on 11/6 GNS responded with their refusal to fix our counters unless we sign the original agreement. They previously refused liability stating the streaks are natural (which they are not natural) and now (as of 11/6) citing it has been too long since the counter was in their possession.

  

  Business response

  12/29/2021

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2021/12/08) */ The customer knew that they were purchasing a marble countertop for their kitchen and marbles do have some nuances built into them when compared to Granite or Quartz. The marble that customer purchased is Carrara White marble and we have noticed the streaks that the customer is complaining about in most if not all Carrara White marble slabs that we have sold. These streaks are not easily visible unless the light hits the space in a certain way or someone is pointing it to you. In spite of this known issue with Carrara White marble, to assist the customer with their concern GNS scheduled a service call to perform an on-site polish of the Island which is where the customer had concerns with regards to the streaks. This effort did not address the concern much, hence it is proven that the streaks are natural to the stone and are part of the stone. Please note that these streaks are most likely in the perimeter counters as well, but customer has not expressed any concerns over the perimeter counter to date. The customer called back to express their continued concern over the streaks on the Island and GNS looked for other options to assist the customer and found a marble enhancer that could potentially help. The customer applied and said it addresses the issue temporarily and then the streaks show again. At this time GNS reached out to some industry experts and based on their Reponses, GNS informed the customer on 8/25/2021 that there is not much can be done to remove these streaks as they are part of the stone. Customer contacted us back again referencing the issue and to further assist the customer without blowing them off, GNS offered to remove the Island from customer's house and take it to their shop to try to re-polish the entire Island with the hopes that the streaks fade or go away assuming the streaks were not throughout the entire thickness of the slab. GNS sent a general release form to perform this work and the customer refused to sign this form and wants GNS to take full responsibility of the Island even if they refuse to accept it back into their house. The release form was sent to the customer on 9/28/2021. Customer responded with lot of their own conditions etc., which is not acceptable to GNS, hence we sent a final correspondence to the customer on 11/6/2021 after which the customer filed this complaint. Please note that GNS has a customer signed certificate of completion stating that GNS has completed the work in full and to customer's satisfaction. We didn't have to do anything to assist the customer but we are driven by customer satisfaction and work very hard to try to assist customers with their concerns as best a possible. Unfortunately in this case, the customer has taken the route of this complaint. Consumer Response /* (3000, 7, 2021/12/12) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) I will agree that the completion certificate was signed. However, GNS showed up 4 hours ahead of the install time we had been given and refused to come back at that time. Due to a conflict in schedule, we did a quick overview of the counters and signed the certificate because we had to leave our property and needed the installers to leave as well. We were told not to touch the counters for 24 hours, so there was no way for us to know if the streaks were part of the sealing/polishing process until we were able to touch the counters. Again, we notified GNS the next day and were told they would absorb which they obviously did not. On June 2, 2021 we emailed GNS telling them these streaks were noticeable on one of our perimeter pieces as well. This was prior to their service call where they sent the installer out to try polishing the island. They were on our property for 5 minutes, only attempted to dry polish one part of the island and then said there was nothing he could do. The GNS claim that we have not reported this is not true, their report of a dry polish not working is only partially true, and that in no way proves these streaks are natural to the stone. The marble repair expert we spoke to stated these streaks are caused from improper storage/handling of the marble which allowed water to etch into the stone. We do not know if this occurred at GNS or prior to arriving at their property, but they still installed this product knowing it had these etch marks. They are only natural in the sense that they are now engrained into the stone - the stone did not naturally have these streaks. This is also evidenced by the roughly 5"x6" rectangle in one corner where you can see there used to be a sticker or tape on the stone. Within this area, there are no streaks. All along the sides of this area the streaks continue. Again, this was also told to GNS, yet they continue to say it is natural to the stone and therefore not their responsibility. The marble repair expert we spoke to was confident the wet polishing they are offering us can remove these etches and restore the marble to its natural look. He also stated this should not cause any damage to the stone or affect it's size/shape/functionality. We are asking for GNS to honor our verbal agreement to this wet polishing process and to accept liability should the stone be damaged or altered in its size/shape/functionality while in their care. Without this agreement, there is nothing to protect us (the customer) from any intentional damage done to the stone while in their care. The agreement they are coercing us to sign (which we were not made aware of until 3 weeks after our verbal agreement) claims the streaks are natural to the stone, and holds us liable to replace the stone if it is damaged while in their custody. On top of that, the agreement has someone else's address listed under our names. We expressed this to GNS, yet they have never updated the agreement to reflect our correct address. We will not sign an agreement full of incorrect information and where GNS assumes zero liability for the product they had no problems selling to us. While we did not seek out Marble, once we decided on that stone we did our research on what to expect with this type of stone. These streaks are not natural to marble, they only occur when it is not correctly stored and/or polished prior to installation. While GNS claims they are doing what they can in the name of customer service, it has now been over 6 months since we first reported this and it still has not been taken care of. In both conversations and emails they have blamed us for choosing marble, they have blamed us for choosing those exact slabs (which we had no way of knowing what they had in stock or which pieces would be used for our cuts), and they have blamed the lights in our kitchen for making it visible. I would not think a company would be proud of their product if they have to tell customers not to have lights shine on it. They have continued to place blame and liability on us while claiming they value customer service. While I'm sure they have had many satisfied customers, they have not shown us the customer service you would expect after spending nearly $5,000 on their product. While we know there are streaks on one of our perimeter pieces as well, the island is the centerpiece to our kitchen. This is the piece everyone sees - and many people see the streaks without us pointing them out. They are extremely noticeable even when the lights are not on and there is natural light from our windows. We could ask for the perimeter piece to be fixed, but understanding the magnitude of this issue, we are only asking for the island to be addressed as it is the most visible. Again, we are asking for GNS to honor picking up the island stone to bring to their shop to perform the wet-polishing process, and to return it to us while accepting liability if it is damaged or altered in its size/shape/functionality from the moment they lift it off our cabinets until they completely reinstall the stone.

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