About 5 years ago, I purchased maple hardwood flooring from Great Floors in Burlington. First I asked about how tough the flooring would be, we have pets, and I was told the hardwood was treated to be tough like a gym floor. Not ture. Then I asked about dirt collecting in the seams of the prefinished floors. The answer, not a problem. Not true the dirt builds up in the seams. Despite my concerns about pets being tough on harwood I choose the golden oak traditional style flooring. When the wood arrived, I read the information and it said inspect the flooring. Well, I did and it wasn't golden oak. The flooring was everything from a dark red color to almost black with some golden color here and there depending on the board. I asked them to pick up the flooring and I was able choose another floor that increased the cost significantly. I choose to use a different installer than Great Floors since installation would be 50 percent less. Finally, I had ordered the vents to match the new flooring and when the vents arrived, 75 dollars each, they were an inferior product. I insisted that the heat vents meet the standard of those in the market place and they promised to reorder. On the day of installation, the vents had not arrived and it had been over a month since the order went in. They had the bill paid in full. No need for good customer service. I called and talked to management and his comment was, "but, you sent the first hardwood back." By now, I was really disgusted and told him not to throw fuel on the fire." He stopped the insults. The new vents eventaully arrived and they were very nice, the quality that goes for good hardwood floors; however, they now had to be installed after the flooring was laid and that is a difficult process. The vents are poorly done because they were hard to fit in after the flooring. I would NOT recommend Great Floors in Burlington because of deviant practices. They either don't know their product or they hope the customer will accept what ever is sent out. And, they either don't know their products or they don't understand how different products will perform. And for sure the salesman didn't choose to be honest about the dirt collecting in the seams, or he didn't understand the product he was selling.
I forgot to mention that the first floor I ordered had no boards that looked like the sample I had seen and on which I based my order. After the insult about sending the flooring back, I went in to the store to see if they still had the same sample on display, the one that I ordered from but looked nothing like what I received, and sure enough, the sample was still on display. So what does this mean? Did I get the one mismatch of boxed wood and then be chastized for sending it back? Or, does it mean management simply didn't care that the flooring didn't look anything like the sample? So many of us don't want to make waves by sending the product back, maybe it is their way to clear inventory.
You may surmise that the experience was very bad because I am writing this 5 years after the fact. I was reminded tonight when I started looking for a reliable place from which to purchase carpeting. It won't be Great Floors this time. read more