Response from Excel Stone and Tile Care
I spoke with the homeowner several weeks back about tile and carpet cleaning. I told her that we would need to come out to her home and and give her an estimate but that we were running 3 weeks out. In the past 10 years we have done a visual inspection on every single job that we do. I asked her what type of tile she had. I asked if it was stone or tile and she said porcelain or ceramic tile. I was never told it was an Italian Paver which is completely different. Even with ceramic or porcelain tile I always insist on a visual inspection in the event that there is something out of the ordinary. She did not want to wait for an estimate and then an appointment to do the work and assured me that it was just regular tile. Against my better judgement I made an exception for the first time in 10 years. When Tony arrived he realized that the floor was not just a ceramic or porcelain tile but an Italian Paver that had a topical sealer/coating on it. Most of the time we need to strip the sealer/coating off before we can clean the floor. If we had just cleaned the tile the coating/sealer could have started peeling and we would have had a mess on our hands. We wanted to test the floor (she refused) so that we would know what type of stripper we would need to do the job correctly. She was not happy that we did not have the proper stripper with us. Tony tried to explain that we work on so many types of surfaces and use so many types of sealers, strippers, honing powders, diamond abrasives, etc. that it would be impossible to carry everything. We would literally need to carry a warehouse with us. This is the reason we insist on a visual inspection so that when we arrive we have the proper equipment and/or chemicals with us. If it had been the tile I was led to believe it was we could have done the job on the spot. There was no mention of a topical coating and she may not have even realized that there was one on the tile. I did call her the day before and said that we would arrive between 8:30 and 9:00 am. I'm sorry that she was inconvenienced but it is one of those unfortunate things that happen. This just reinforces why I insist on visually inspecting every project and will not make any exceptions in the future. Sandra Warney