Altamonte CARPET TILE AND KITCHENS

To make a long, sad saga short, it was true renovation nightmare for us. Lowes, with a few hiccups, proved to be the bright star in the whole event. They were reliable, accommodating and professional throughout. Mr. Mello and his subs were another story.First, let's deliver the good news. His carpenter, Tom Kirby and his counterman, George Jijon, were excellent. They were true craftsmen, dependable and a pleasure to deal with. Tom rehung our cabinets in the garage, put in all the baseboards, crown molding and mixed the dry wall. George did the granite countertops, which was more than just a basic install - it was a work of art. We were well pleased with their work. His first plumber, who came to install a laundry room sink and reconnect a washer/dryer- was another story. He showed up near 7 pm on a Saturday night as a "favor" to Robert because the floor people, who had removed the appliances and were supposed to reinstall them, hadn't shown up in three days. He came without the necessary supplies (my husband had to take him on a shopping trip to Home Depot which was luckily still open) and left us with a small flood two days later when the hose unattached from the water connection he had made to the washer. The next plumber, Jim, seemed competent enough but was very unhappy and unaccommodating about having to make more than one trip to complete the required work. He ended up sending his son and someone who appeared to be a "trainee" to install a waterline, dishwasher, faucet and disposal. After seven hours, when the dishwasher and disposal were still not working, we finally asked them to leave. In all fairness, they had complained that the electric wasn't done properly and, as it turned out, they were right. This brings us to the electricians. Their total job consisted of moving some existing outlets, installing an outlet for the disposal, installing the microwave, stove and oven (electric in place), installing new light fixtures over an island and counter and reinstalling an existing fixture. Based on prior experience, we estimated the whole thing should have taken no more than 5 hours max and should have been completed in no more than 3 visits max. Well, about 8 visits later and who knows how many hours (in the double digits to be sure) we finally had a finished job. That is, after we had to throw one of them out (Justin who showed up one Saturday at 5 pm with his wife in tow for some unknown reason). He was almost totally incompetent, as well as totally unreliable. The "master" electrician, Phil, was slightly more reliable, but nearly everything he did had to be redone or undone. Thank G-d for the newly hired help (Rick) who Phil had met in an electrical supply house two weeks earlier. If not for Rick, we would probably still be without lights in the kitchen. Last, but not least, we come to the floors. Flooring, we should mention, is Robert's main business. We had approximately 1100 sq ffeet of old hardwood to be removed, as well as a small area of tile in the laundry room. We had previous water damage from hurricanes and floods and knew there was a possibility we could need further treatment to the concrete once the old floors were removed. The demolition went fine, but sure enough there was black mold which required clean-up and an additional sealant had to be applied. We were also told that we would not be able to walk on it for two days until it had "cured." What we were NOT told was that it was going to cost and extra $2000 dollars (there was no prior discussion of options or costs) and that the fumes were absolutely sickening. We had to stick towels and sheets under our bedroom door in a vain attempt to keep the stench out. After 3 days, no one had showed up to start installation of the new floor, although we did receive an email from Robert with the astonishing new charge. Robert and Oscar (the installer) were now suddenly unreachable by phone. By the 4th or 5th day of unreturned calls and sleepless nights, we lodged a complaint with Angie's List. Suddenly, Robert became available. After much heated discussion, the bill was reduced and Oscar came back to work. Our dealing with Oscar were, for the most part, frustrating. While his work was good, he was totally unreliable. Part of this was Robert's fault, as he double booked or over booked Oscar and his crew for jobs. This was fully admitted later on, as if it was an unavoidable part of doing business. So what Robert had told us would be a 5 day job, turned into weeks. Weeks of no-shows, jobs half done or needing rework. Oscar was also supposed to do the baseboards, crown molding and installation of the laundry room sink and washer/dryer. Most of this, which he did not show up for anyway, had to be given to Tom (a blessing in disguise). As for Robert, to say he is nobody's idea of a general contractor would be putting it mildly. He is a nice man and not an unreasonable one. However, he is a terrible manager. He identified resources some of which were unreliable and incompetent, and then left us to, essentially, schedule and manage them ourselves. The quality of work ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous, but we would have to rate the costs as fair. Overall, we would be hard pressed to recommend Robert for any total renovation work. Having said this, we would not, however, give him an F rating, but an overall rating of C (with the benefit of time).

Vendor came out for an estimate. I had questions about added charges. I called to ask questions, but he was out of town. I am now out of town and would prefer just to cancel the whole thing.

Service , selection and price were great. Mac and Robert were wonderful to work with throughout the entire process and the installers did a beautiful job. We are thrilled with our new kitchen - our granite and tile are gorgeous. We will not hesitate to give our business to them again . Thank you!

They are still working on the project. Will update when job is complete.

We visited the store to make sure the coupon would provide us what we wanted at a good price. They helped us pick out the flooring that would match what we have in our home. Made an appointment for Robert to come to our home to measure and inspect the room. Robert showed up on time. Multiple coupons were available, so he helped us select the best value for us. When leaving he saw that we had two cracked tiles on the front porch and offered to replace them if we had replacements. On install day Oscar called to let us know that they were delayed on a previous job because of rain. They rescheduled for the afternoon. But they said the job would be completed that day. They arrived on time. When he removed the baseboards, he asked if we wanted to paint them before he replaced them and even offered some paint they had on the truck. They completed the job very quickly and it was very beautiful. They replaced the tiles and did an excellent job cleaning up. We're very happy with the installation and recommend them highly to anyone who needs flooring replaced.

The work that he completed did turn out fine. They are really nice people and they did a great job. They completed the job in one day. The only issue I had with the service is that I didn’t see the credit for this Big Deal applied to the cost and I paid over $700 in additional costs. They also charged me a fee to go out to my location to take measurements. They did leave some of the leftovers behind and didn’t take them with them. In the end, everything turned out fine.

Labor only was needed to install tile and carpet (I had the materials). They did a very nice job on the installation. Thank you.

When I contacted Robert, he responded promptly. The install was arranged to accomodate my work schedule, which I greatly appreciated! Installers arrived on time. They did a very nice job installing the tile and carpet. They showed concern about seaming the carpet (which I appreciated), and we were able to work out the seaming issue together. They also showed concern overall in making sure they did a good job and that I was pleased with the results. They cleaned up the area after completing the work, as well. Overall, I'm pleased. Thank you.

Robert was very prompt in returning calls and scheduling appointments. He is incredibly knowledgeable about his products and provided great suggestions. The installation went very smoothly. The installers were great (wish I could remember their names!). I am thrilled with the quality of the product and the outstanding customer service.

I am still in the process of renovating the kitchen and bathrooms, but his precious work was excellent, and I'm very pleased raft I found him.

He was very nice on the phone, and I gave him the square footage of my residence. He quoted the job at $3600 which is a ridiculous amount. He asked for my address and said he would come out. I never heard from him again.

The end result is a good installation and attractive carpeting! We did have some difficulty connecting when there was a problem with the patio carpet but after several phone calls, Robert did come out to the house and indicate the carpet needed to be replaced. Recently, the carpet in the patio was replaced and it looks terrific. His pricing is moderate and fair and the installers came on the day(s) scheduled, worked quickly and cleaned up well.

I am having a total condo rehab, and Robert has done a fantastic job. I would definitely recommend him. I can't say enough about how professionally I was treated from the very beginning and what a good job they have done.

We had an exceptional experience with Robert. After initial contact he immediately scheduled a visit to give us a quote. The price was great and he was very knowledgeable on what we needed. We wanted a very thick pad and he got us exactly what we needed. After ordering the carpet, the distributor advised Robert that he was out of stock of the carpet that we wanted. Robert wouldn't take that for acceptable so he worked to get us a better grade carpet for the same price, which was fantastic. Robert was very professional at all times and I would highly recommend him.

I'm so very relieved the back splash is finally complete. The end result is good but I wanted to voice my major complaints on the process of getting there. 1. Will try to pretend he only has ceramic wall tile at 6 dollars a square foot. An outrageous price. He ended up not having anything worth buying and worked with me by tailoring the big deal coupon to allow me to provide 4x8 wall tiles. I easily found beautiful travertine at 3.75 a square foot. His initial estimate on a job that was supposed to be 490 dollars was a whopping 1500 dollars. If he makes this much on every job I need to start a tiling business because that's an incredible profit. 2. Took 4 weeks to schedule the job after taking the entire payment up front. 3. Did not show up on the day we scheduled for I have 200 dollars of lost pay for that day. Roughly have the coat of the job lost because he couldn't show up when he said he would. 4. On the reschedule the installer showed up over an hour late. 5. Installer did not have all the tools necessary for the job. Used a hand grinder to cut tiles on my garden in the back yard covering my plants with tile silt and killing them. 6. Installer did not have concrete board materials or grout. we made two separate trips to home depot to procure these. I lost both time and money on this job. I'm left wishing I did it myself. Truth be told Robert probably didn't make much money on this either making it a lose lose for everyone. Such a shame for something that should have been very simple.

At first, they were friendly and courteous and followed up well on the phone. I felt they had great customer service. The salesmen that came out to look at the work I wanted done was nice as well. He gave me an outrageous quote to do the work and they really up sold me. I ended up going with another local company and I got a refund through Angie’s List. Advice to the company: If the client does not purchase, find out why, because if it is out of their price range, offer a different product.

They are awesome. Mr Mello and his entire staff are the best I have ever worked with I will never use any one else for my business but them!!!!

This should almost be 2 different reviews even though it was a single job. I do not want anyone to get the wrong idea from the comments below so I will say now, I am very happy with the end result and I would use Robert and Oscar again. Having said that, here goes: We had our floors installed first week of November 2013. There were issues with the installer, both personally and with the quality of work. Robert is aware of this and, I believe, has taken corrective action. Enough said about that. The problem with the floor creaking and squeaking started immediately. It was unbearable as there was noise for every single step taken on the floor. I had done some research previously to help me decide if we should lay this floating floor over tile. Robert concurred that it would not be a problem. However, it was a problem. A big problem. Robert sent crews out on 2 occasions to help "release" the floor as everyone thought, because it was a floating floor, it had moved. They were correct. It had moved but "releasing" it did not help. Robert even sent out an inspector from the manufacture who felt the floor was too tight. However, nothing seemed to work. this went on into February of this year. Robert never avoided my calls. He was legitimately concerned but nothing seemed to help. This is where I felt the experience changed for me. not because of any change on the Altamonte Tile side, but the terrific outcome. I continued to do research online and found success stories of hardwood over ceramic when a cork underlay was used along with a bostic adhesive glue down. We discussed this and decided it was the way to go. Robert sent out a 3 man team, including Oscar, who had come out to "release" the floor twice previously. If I were to use Altamonte Tile again, I would definitely request Oscar. The crew took up my entire floor and re-installed with cork and bostic. the floor is now perfect. Solid as a rock with sound whatsoever and looks great. It is the job I expected back in November when first installed. My only negative on this is the additional $1000 for cork, Bostic and labor. Ideally, this would have come up in discussions before the initial install. Finally, Robert Mello, Altamonte Tile is an honest and caring person who legitimately wanted to help. Someone not as ethical would have ran away and not answered my calls. This was not the case. Robert, thank you to you and your team for your concern and for finally getting this resolved. Our floors look and sound great!

Robert ,Ocsar ,Victor, and Brian were wonderful. We all worked at around each others schedules. My old floors were a bear to get up. They were work horses and did a great job. Robert is like family now. He and Oscar went above and beyond the call of duty to be sure I was happy with my flooring. It was a pleasure to work with them all. My home looks beautiful with my new floors.

There was absolutely no advantage to purchasing flooring from this company as his labor rates were astronomical. They were terribly inflated for the small job we were going to do.

Fantastic group of people!!! Helpful, professional, responsive to every need! Priced perfect! I am flipping homes and they are almost a one stop shop for me and I will use them over and over again! I LOVE them! Thank you Angies List for recommending them. I started out getting the run around from other people, then I found Robb and his staff and they made it so easy. I cant say enough good things about them! THANK YOU

What a great experience. On me first walking in Robert took the time to explain the different types and styles of hardwood. Having never purchased or owned a hardwood floor naturally i had ALOT of questions. He was more than helpful. (even with my 3 year old) After picking our perfect floor it had arrived for installation in about a week. And was installed right away. Oscar and his crew did the labor and did an amazing job. We are looking forward to using Tile & Carpet crew for our next project!

The floor is absolutely beautiful and I am very pleased with the whole experience. I would recommend him highly.

A definite upgrade to our home. I would recommend this company. Our shower is beautiful. There were some delays with the plumbing, but that was told to us in advance. The one problem we did encounter was that we had ordered a frameless shower door. The door shattered into a million pieces when being installed. We had to order a replacement door and wait a few days while an installer was located. This did cost us an additional $150, but as I mentioned earlier, the end result is beautiful.

$99.00 deal not completed, due to lack of clarity of subsequent costs