My husband and I wanted to complete our kitchen with a back splash that included an elegant design behind the stove top and change one fireplace surround. While driving through Kennebunk, ME, I noticed a new shop - Distinctive Tile and Stoneworks ( a sister location of Distinctive Tile and Design of Portland, etc.). We visited a few days later, looked through the showroom and found just what we were looking for. We asked how long it would take to schedule and complete the installation; we were told that they expected to be able to call us for scheduling in about 3 weeks. Their estimator came to our home to measure later that day/the next. I asked him if they would be certain to seal the back splash - especially in back of the stovetop; I was ASSURED that they would seal the tile - in fact, they would seal it twice, not just once! It was estimated to be a two-day job; one day for the installation of both kitchen back splash and fireplace surround, another to grout. We paid 50% as a down payment.
After 5 weeks, we called to get a status; "Oh, I was just about to call you..." It took another week or two before we had a solid commitment from their installer.
The installation took 5 days. We are happy with the tile installation, even if we did have to do quite a bit of grout clean up. The only thing left to do was seal the tile after the grout dried completely. The installer said that he would call the following week and that it would be a very quick process. We NEVER heard from him.
A couple months later, Distinctive sent the final invoice. My husband called and explained that the installer never sealed the back splash; "Oh yes, it's included and I will call the installer and ask him to be in touch immediately to complete the job". NOTHING - we never heard from him or them. After waiting another 6 weeks, we decided to finish the job ourselves. We don't have time to chase Distinctive.
Because we are new to Kennebunk (less than 1 year), we didn't have any experience with this type of company in the area. We should have looked at others and searched Yelp and other sites for reviews. We would encourage anyone who asks to look at alternatives before using Distinctive. I'm sending our final payment today with a copy of this review.
Update 18-July-2017:
The person who we worked with at Distinctive left the company. The new manager and the estimator (both, each individually) sent emails to apologize. We also received a local restaurant gift certificate ($100) to compensate for the issues. read more
