Review, Cranmore Flooring Surprise AZ…read more
In these days of shoddy business practices--inferior quality merchandise, "bait and switch" (advertising one product but delivering a poor substitute instead), false advertising (outright lies), and lousy to non-existent service--anyone who wants to purchase anything has to read the labels with a magnifying glass, double-check, and triple-check. I remember when merchants were proud of what they sold, and put a great deal of effort into making sure that the customer was satisfied. So, when we needed a new floor, I dreaded shopping.
Cranmore not only does carpet cleaning, they sell all types of flooring and will install it if desired. Because Cranmore was highly recommended by several neighbors, and they are near where I live, we went to them first. Art, the owner, spent a lot of time with us explaining prices and product. He left us alone except when we had questions. He was never pushy and never tried to sell us anything we didn't want or need. We chose vinyl planks instead of tile (which we were replacing) because they are waterproof and easy to install. Was the vinyl really waterproof, though? Art told us that when vinyl flooring first came out, rather than believe the manufacturer's claims he cut off a piece of plank and submerged it in water for three days to see if it was indeed waterproof. It was. For this reason, we decided on a pretty vinyl pattern that looks very much like wood.
To determine how much flooring was needed, Art came to our house the next day and took measurements. He used a fancy battery-operated, digital device that measured irregular spaces (including closets) with a laser. This task easily took one-tenth of the time it would have taken to do manually with a tape measure. It was highly accurate, too.
Now that I knew how much flooring we needed, to make sure that we were being charged fairly for a little over a thousand square feet of planking, I did some research on the internet. Prices ranged from $0.70 less per square foot from one place (not including shipping, though, which would bring the cost to $0.30 less) to $0.80 and more per square foot. Most places charged more than Cranmore. We had to factor in that the cheaper planking would have to be shipped, that its weight would add considerably to the cost, and we needed the planks much sooner than they would arrive. Also, ordering from a distant merchant means that if the planks are bad, there's no recourse and you're stuck with them. After factoring in the shipping costs, the possibility of damage during shipping, and the fact that Art had provided an extremely valuable service--for free, even if we later decided to purchase from another retailer!--it seemed like a no-brainer that we should support an ethical, hard-working local merchant.
Cranmore did us a special favor. Because I'm chemically sensitive, I wanted to make sure that there would be no off-gassing from the flooring. The shop didn't smell, but it was hard to tell how long it had taken for any of the vinyl flooring and samples to lose their odor. So co-owner Lorna (Art's wife) had one of the workers bring a box of brand new, unopened planks to the store so I could sniff them. They seemed fine. I was very grateful; I don't know of many businesses that would have accommodated me. (Note: A few days later, when our entire order arrived and we pulled out the planks from the boxes, they did smell. However, we laid down some of the planks outside in the sun, and the rest in the garage. Within 24 hours, all of the planks were completely odor-free. I'm thinking that the smell might have been from the glue in the boxes, I'm not sure. In any event, if you're concerned about odor, the product is apparently quite stable. Just let it sit for a day or two and you'll be fine.)
Art gave my husband plenty of advice and suggestions on how to lay the planks--he never tried to sell us on his installers (who, he assured us, did a great job). Lorna was always patient, pleasant and sweet when answering my many questions about arranging for delivery of the tiles. (Suggestion: unless you have a pickup truck or larger, if you're covering a super large area don't even think about picking up a vinyl floor order yourself. It's super heavy, and you want to make sure that both your back and the vehicle's suspension can handle it!) When asked, Lorna sent me a copy of the diagram recorded by Art's fancy digital measuring device, so we knew how much wastage there was.
My experience with Cranmore Flooring Sales was extraordinary. I do not exaggerate when saying that Cranmore not only exceeded my expectations or even hopes, but helped restore my faith in humanity a little bit. The care, ethics, kindness, and willingness to help a customer absolutely "floored" me. I unhesitatingly give them way more than five stars.