My wife and I were in the process of having our dream home built. As part of the process we had to meet with Regina Ostrom with Five Star Flooring, to select our backsplash and flooring. My wife had a vision of an all white kitchen with gray flooring, so when Regina presented the options, which were limited to a panel of four flooring options, she immediately inquired about gray flooring.
We were told that these were the ONLY options the builder would allow. Again, we inquired multiple times about other options and even asked, "if these are our only options". Which her response was, "yes".
Being the persistent person my wife is, she specifically inquired about the LVP flooring, for color options and the fact we have a dog and were worried about the hardwood being easily scratched. Which she responded, "the builder would not allow because it brings down the value of the home". And brought out polish to show us what to use on scratches for the hardwood flooring.
A few months later on a visit to the house to check on the progress, the counters were being installed and we were advised to go to the house next door to get an idea of what it would look like. To our surprise and shock, they had a hardwood flooring option that we were not presented with and had that been the case, we would have selected that flooring option because it was the color we were looking for.
When we spoke to Regina about why we weren't presented with this particular option she said, "I should have said something" and "I didn't offer upgrade options because you never said you didn't like the floors". However, we did inquire about other options multiple times and asked if these were our ONLY options, and was never offered any other options or upgrades.
She also mentioned our budget, which we never disclosed to her. We can only conclude she made an assumption about what we were willing to spend, and I'm not really sure what that assumption was based on, which is another concern.
Interestingly enough, we were presented with multiple upgrade options for backsplash in our kitchen and tile floors without asking.
During a follow up conversation with Regina to see what could be done, she responded with "there is nothing I can do and you will need to speak with the owner." Regina stated that she would provide my contact information to him and he would call me Monday morning.
Unfortunately, I never got to speak with the manager. While the floors are GREAT quality, it just wasn't our first option, and wished we were treated better than how Regina treated us. The customer service wasn't a great experience. That is why we wouldn't recommend this company. We do know builders contract this company and you may not be able to get around that. If not, just be sure you ASK TO SEE THE UPGRADES. read more
