Milissa contacted me after I had put in a contractor request through HomeAdvisor.com for a kitchen/home remodel. Seeing that Milissa worked for STA Granite/Elgin Countertops, I replied to her that we were looking for a complete kitchen remodel, not just countertops. She replied "Elgin's Countertop Installation/STA Granite started as a granite counter fabricator 15-years ago but due to customer demand we do all phases of kitchen remodeling including counters, custom cabinets, drywall, painting, tile, wood flooring, plumbing and electrical. Please let me know if there is a good time that we could get together so I could provide you with a free estimate."
She persisted and impressively came out the same evening to bid the job and had a quote back to us quickly. We were initially impressed with her response time, attention to detail, knowledge and professionalism.
We selected Milissa's company after reading online reviews for STA Granite (parent company) through Yelp and HomeAdvisor.com reviews. After our initial hesitation to hire her "countertop company," due to the lack of remodeling reviews, we requested that Milissa provide us with references from previous customers that had specifically received remodel work from STA Granite. Everything seemed great.
Once we selected Milissa and her company, we met on the project site with Milissa and her foreman, Carlos. We paid a 50% deposit and were promised a revised quote and project start date the following day.
Through email, she did send a revised invoice, but no start date and nothing on the revised quote indicated the kitchen cabinet painting add-on. Since she seemed to have a two day turnaround time on requests, we waited patiently for her reply. Nothing Ever came.
As a friendly reminder, I called Milissa (voicemail #1) the following week and left a message telling her that I knew she was "aware and on it," but that we were still waiting for an official remodel start date and additional cabinet painting quote. Nothing came.
After not hearing from Milissa, I left her voicemail #2, the following day stating we were getting "antsy" after paying her money and not hearing from her for a number of days, still with no start date or quote add-on. I asked that she please return my call that evening. No call came.
The next day, I left voicemail #3 stating that we were getting "wary" and asked that she please return my call. No call came.
Since my first three phone messages had failed to produce a return call from Milissa, I took to Yelp to look for an alternate number at STA Granite to call. Strangely, all numbers forwarded to Milissa's unanswered phone. If that wasn't another red flag, we investigated their online presence and found nothing dating back further than February 2015 even though they claim to have been around for 15 years. There's no history of them dating back very far. Another red flag.
Upon further investigation of Milissa, we discovered a number of negative reviews under her alias, (omitted by Yelp guidelines), attached to her previous employers and/or affiliates: Austin Granite Express, MJ Home Improvement, STA Granite, Elgin Countertops and MJ Remodel.
Most reviews on Yelp (filtered and showing) and the reviews on BBB referred to her as a "scam artist" who was flaky with phone calls, and provided shoddy work. Immediately, we called our credit card company to file a fraud report. After the report filing, I called Milissa, received her voicemail (again) and left my #4 voicemail telling her that our credit card company would be calling her shortly to discuss our claim. I also mentioned finding her alias and all her previous companies and those negative reviews.
Coincidently, after that voice message, Milissa called me back within 10 minutes. She apologized, claimed to have been out of town, claimed she didn't even hear my 4th voicemail and wanted to get our start date on the calendar.
I told her that we would no longer be requiring her services after we paid her almost $6,000 and she fell off the face of the Earth for a week. I also told her that her alias and previous employer's reviews had shed a lot of light on her work ethic, and true character and that we would take our business elsewhere.
She assured us she'd work with our credit card company to reverse the charges but our refund never came from them. Oscar, the owner, contacted us after receiving a letter from our credit card company. He said the letter was the first he had heard of our issue.
After a call to HomeAdvisor.com, I was reassured that Elgin's Countertops/STA Granite had been terminated and would no longer be used by them.
Please do extensive research before considering this company. Never pay in cash/check. read more