BELLA MARIA

The provider were very informative and cooperative. We had no experience with granite and we had a lot of questions that needed answering. They did an excellent job finishing the countertops. We were very satisfied.

The quality of the finished product was good, and the job was completed more-or-less on time. Other than that, the experience was disappointing. First, we wanted to use soapstone in the kitchen, and they didn't have any. They also didn't care to get any. So we shopped elsewhere, and found a fabricator who wanted to meet our needs. When we told our general contractor that we had an alternate supplier for the soapstone, he strongly urged us to work with his usual crew at Bella Maria, because he trusted them, etc. We explained that we had started at Bella Maria, but they didn't carry (and didn't care to order) any soapstone. The contractor called. Suddenly, they couldn't get soapstone in fast enough. So we agreed to work with them after all. In hindsight I wish we hadn't. The soapstone in the kitchen is beautiful and was cut well. It was scratched a little when they installed it and thye didn't buff that out. We can do that ourselves, of course, but I wish they had the commitment to excellence to have done that at the time of theb install. Second, the master bathroom countertop is limestone. It has acquired some etching in the few months we have had it, which is surprising, so we asked them about that. They said it should be sealed, and they do not know if they sealed it or not. They claim they sealed it if we told them to, and didn't if we didn't. Not only do we not recall telling them either way, I'm not sure that it's our job to know whether or how a countertop should be sealed. I think it's theirs. Finally, a discoloration has begun to appear in the marble they installed in a small guest bathroom. The cause is unknown. It took three calls to them over six weeks period of time to even get a call back, and almost another week to get someone out here to look at it. We were charged a $135 trip fee for them to look at their work, blame the plumber, and leave. We certainly don't know the cause of that discoloration, and certainly can't say it was the fabricator's fault. But we weren't interested in blaming anyone - we wanted to solve the problem. They were not very interested in helping us do that. While we feel that their work is overall high quality, their customer service is poor.