We purchased ceramic tile and engineered flooring from their sales floor and they performed the installation.
The wood flooring we purchased has a great deal of variance in the contrast of the wood and length of the wood strips. Because of this, one would expect the installer to understand the importance of distributing the tones somewhat equally so that one part of the room isn't all one tone or one size of flooring strip. This was not the case with our installation. No effort was made to vary the sizes or tones of the flooring pieces. Thus, our new wood floors have sections where it is all dark or all light wood as well as clusters of very small strips of flooring (1-2ft) and clusters of very long strips of flooring (4ft). In short, it looks terrible.
The problems we encountered with the purchase and installation of the ceramic tile began at the point of purchase. We were told by the salesperson that the style of tiles we were purchasing had a high degree of variance in tone from tile to tile: i.e.: Some tiles were light and some tiles were dark. We chose this product for that reason. Upon installation, we discovered this to not be the case and that the tiles were, in fact, nearly identical in tone; the opposite of what the salesperson had told me.
Also at the time of sale, nobody informed me that smaller tiles of the same style were available. Had I known this, I would have purchased some of the smaller tiles to enhance the new flooring.
Also, nobody inquired as to how I would like the tiles to be set. Luckily, I was present prior to installation to let the installer know that I wanted them laid diagonally. While this did divert another disappointment, I was still met with an unexpected charge for laying the tiles diagonally. One would think these things would be something that the sales representative would have covered with me as I purchased the tiles and ordered installation.
Another problem that I had was the response to my question regarding the warranty. According to the sales representative, Carpetland offers no warranty on their product or installation. According to the installer, he guarantees his work, but only verbally and with the promise that he'll answer his cell phone if you call. I do have problems and I would like them remedied, but I am hesitant to have him back to my home for reasons that I will cover later.
The biggest problem that I have with the installation of the tile is similar to the problem I have with the installation of the wood flooring. It's obvious that no thought was given to the placement and direction of the tiles as they were laid, which resulted in numerous examples of identical tiles right next to each other facing the identical direction. Again, even a novice knows better than to do that and it looks terribly unprofessional.
I don't know if sealing the grout is part of the installation, but the installer did not seal the grout and explained that he included a waterproofing mixture into the grout, negating the need to seal it. Unfortunately, it's abundantly clear that the grout is not waterproof, as you can watch water absorb directly into the grout upon contact.
Under normal circumstances, I would call the installer and ask him about this, but considering that he took such an angry tone with me when we were trying to get him to finish the installation job in the first place; I'm not particularly inclined to converse with him or to have him back in my home.
In closing, I also want to point out that I have never heard of a business of this type not sending someone over to inspect the job prior to billing. Everyone I have spoken to who has had this sort of service performed has informed me that there was a final inspection before final billing. Nobody beyond the installer has come over to inspect the job that was done. This leads me to suspect that the problems I had with their service happen often read more