AAA+ FLOORING

The job did not go well. The short version? I have tiles that I walk on every day that have sharp edges, and I am unable to slide anything across my floors without catching some lippage. All of the other tile in my home, does not do this. The long version: I worked from home the first time they came to do the initial install, so I was present for almost all of the install. Jim and his son (the installers contracted by AAA+ Flooring) showed up on a Monday morning and did the demo. After doing the demo, they did they layout. Jim was a normal looking guy, but his son looked much less professional. From the other side of the house, I could hear Jim yelling at his son regarding measurements, how to hold the tape, and how to measure the layout. Red Flag #1. My confidence was immediately shaken because the son did not know how to do layout (which is the first part of any tile laying). They began laying tile and worked at a steady pace. Throughout the install though, I consistently heard yelling and kept hearing conversation regarding the son's ability to lay tile. Every day, after they left, I had to do clean the floor, vacuuming and cleaning the rest of the floor that lead in and out of the rooms we were having done. Since all of our furniture, bed, office and everything else was crammed into the front room, this was a pain because we then had to walk through their mess after every day. I understand construction gets messy, but we were living in the mess. Thursday Jim showed up by himself, and his son showed up multiple hours later. He sent his son home, then proceeded to explain to me how well he treats his son, and how his son is a knucklehead for showing up late, etc. Jim worked solo that entire day. This set them back a good half day, which leads me to believe the rest of the work was rushed. They both returned Friday, finishing at about 4:00 pm, which is the end of the day they told me they would be done. That was red flag #2. Before they grouted, I was told by Daniel to "check and make sure we are happy with it". I walked over the tile that was cut before it was grouted, and concerned about the lippage, however I was assured that that would be minimized by the grout. Near then end of the grouting the messy ground was particularly bad. I am not talking about the post grout film on the installed tile, but rather the dirt and mud from walking in and out of the house. Jim assured me they would take care of it, which they did not upon leaving. Red flag #3 I stayed off the tile after the completion of the work for 24 hours, as instructed. In the meatime I spent hours cleaning up my house. The following morning I went in all the rooms and inspected the finished product in detail. The closer I looked, the more frustrated I became. There were uneven tiles all over the place, specifically in the place where Jim's son was laying tile. There were chipped tiles that should not have been installed, and multiple, clearly apparent uneven tiles. I go outside, and they had completely made a disaster of the side of my house. They dumped the remaining grout and thinset into my wife's garden, where we grow food and runied her rosemary bush. They also took two of my pavers and "wheel stops" for their trailer, rather than bringing their own or using large rocks from the yard. I called AAA+ flooring and told them I wasn't happy with the floor lippage, or the mess on the side of the house. Bill and Daniel came over with Jim, and asked me to mark the tiles we wanted replaced with blue tape. There wasn't a single room that didn't have any tiles that needed to be replaced, and furthermore, the two rooms I spend the most time in (office and master) had the worst lippage at the entrance, where I step the most. I had to leave town for a week on work, and then had to give the keys of my home to these installers, which I was not comfortable with, but had not choice in nonetheless. They showed back up in my absense the next week, and had to remove placed tile. Well, they left all the closets and doors open, and made a complete mess of our entire house. They didn't put down any plastic, or make any attempts to mitigate the dust. Upon my return the following Friday, it was determined that less than half of the tiles we requested being changed were changed. I was told that "If we start pulling up all kinds of tiles in search of perfection, you'll end up ripping the whole floor out". So, they didn't fix it completely, just the really bad spots. Also, they told me that they laid the tile in accordance with minimum required specs, in that a 1/16th of an inch of deviation between tiles are acceptable. Also, according to Daniel, my wife inspected the floor before the installers left a second time. Verbatim, he tells me on the phone "Your wife was on her hands and knees and was satisfied with the work". This is an utter and complete lie. My wife is 7 months pregnant and would not do that, also coupled with the fact she told me she didn't do that. In fact, she told me she felt rushed to get the inspection done, instead of taking the time to scrutinize the installers work, a second time. At this point, I had to verify what he was saying regarding lippage tolerances, and he is correct, however I didn't hire them to do the bare minimum, which is exactly what I got from their finished product. After they trashed my house with the dust, I then inspected the new tiles. I found 3 hollow tiles that they had replaced, that needed to be torn up again! At this point I am upset, because its been two weeks since we could get our house back. I told AAA+ flooring I want the hollow tiles fixed, but I do not want Jim and his son coming back. They sent two other installers who came in the following week to replace them. This was a terrible experience for my wife and I. The one reason I didnt give them a 1 star rating is because they did make an effort to respond to all of our concerns, but there was a threshold to the customer satisfaction. When I was at the height of my frustration calling Daniel, instead of addressing my concerns, he got defensive and then stated "I feel like you are coming at me real hard here". I worked in customer service for years, and you never get defensive of an upset customer. One of the things he said to me on the last visit was "You know what we should have probably done, was float the floor." !!! Why is this being mentioned after the install? If you are going to blame the floor under the tile, we would have gladly paid extra to do the job right, instead of to the bare minimum required specifications. And one other thing, Jims son was "not supposed to install tile, but should have only been a helper", which is a complete lie, or a sign that he is aware of that crew's ability. Our house was torn apart for more than two weeks because of having to come back and "fix" things. They made a complete mess of the inside of the house, and the yard. Damage to the walls from banging tile up against them, chipping paint out of our front door (from banging multiple buckets into them). AAA+ business owners wanted to cash in and move on, and they never called after the final installers came to ensure we were happy.

At first, I was only going to buy carpeting for my house. I talked to them about installing bamboo floors. They do that also. They couldn't get the bamboo I wanted. They agreed to install the flooring I purchased elsewhere. Their carpet prices were in line with competitors. No great savings. They gave me a verbal estimate on the wood flooring. It was attractive. I had them start the tear-out, and they changed the price several times and told me that the carpet I wanted- and already paid for- they could not get. Then told me they could get it at a higher price. I had them only install two rooms of carpet, and canceled the third room and the install of wood flooring because of the constant price increases.