NSI IMPORTERS & DISTRIBUTERS OF GRANITE & MARBLE

My husband and I visited NSI Granite a couple of times looking at granite options. After checking out many different granite suppliers in the area, and not finding anything we loved, we decided to look for Soapstone. We returned to NSI on a Saturday and asked Eric if they had Soapstone. He showed us two different lots that were side by side. One had big veins running through it; the other had none and Eric said it was "harder than the others." I thought that would be the better choice because it was harder material and I liked the way it looked. We chose the one without the veins, but noticed a big straight stain running across the slab. Eric explained that is was from the strap used for transporation and "would wipe off." I notified my fabricator (AUGranite) that we had found our Soapstone but we would not accept it with a stain. When the slab came in we went to Graysonville and approved the stone (Sadly we did not ask to see the hidden slab - we looked a the slab on top - Learn from my mistake - always look at each slab, whether they are busy or not). On installation day (Saturday, May 5), after the installers left and the counter was dried (wet from cleaning) we saw the big straight stain. I immediately started cleaning it but it would not come out. I called the fabricator and he returned and tried to get the stain off. He tried acetone and tried sand paper. The stain would not come off. At this point, I knew I did not have Soapstone because Soapstone doesn't stain. It was sandstone. I was furious. I can't believe they let that slab leave the warehouse. I can't believe the fabricators cut and installed a defective product! I called NSI Monday, May 7. I tried to speak to Eric, but he was with customers. I asked for the owner and he had just left for the day.The following day I tried to reach the owner several times, but he was always out or unavailable.On Wednesday the manager called back. We went round and round with them and the fabricator. It's a long story. No one accepted responsibility or apologized. My fabiricator blamed me for picking the stone. I agree, I did pick the stone. Although I did quite a bit of research online before deciding to look for Soapstone, in the end I had no idea what I was not looking at. I had never seen soapstone (or granite slabs) before this purchase. I made my selection thinking it was soapstone, I would expect that those in the business would know what they were selling; I just don't have the experience. I still can't tell the difference between some granite and quartz samples. Be careful if you are shopping for countertop material. Make sure you are very specific about what you want and get everything in writing. I went through two months of h*** trying to sort this out. Thankfully, I had soapstone written on the contract and NSI and AU worked together to remove the defective stone and replace the countertops. I am very grateful that this matter was resolved without having to take legal action. But it was a nightmare. I had good luck with Stacey at Marva (replacement stone) if you are looking for someone you can trust. Also Reico in Annapolis went out of their way to answer many questions for me, even though I did not purchase from them. They could not have been nicer and I will definitely go back to them if I am in the market for additional kitchen remodeling.

NSI indeed had a large selection of beautiful granite slabs from all over the world. Unfortunately they were stacked together in such a way that only the outer slab could be seen without having to use an overdead crane to move the slabs. This was very reluctantly done by Eric who was apparently alone since he made us wait 15 to 30 minutes each time we asked. NSI would only allow you to reserve a particular lot rather than individual slabs as other distributors do. Eric told us that "all the slabs in a given lot are identical" which anyone who has looked at granite knows is ridiculous. We would have gone elsewhere but we fell in love with a particular slab and so reserved it. Of course by the time the fabricator had done the templates and sent for the slabs, they were quite different than the ones we saw. That being said, they were still beautiful so we kept them.