Haro Custom Tile

The provider says he has over 20 years of experience, but he completely botched our tile job. He came in for the tour and we spoke specifically about the materials we had for the in floor heating element. We had everything there for him to look at and talked through the specific requirements needed for thinset (unmodified) with the materials. He said he had worked with the materials before and knew what to use. We specifically specified what was required and he assured us he had done it before. After the tile job we noticed that the tile was not level and the grout color varied from white to charcoal despite the color of grout being charcoal. The grout lines also varied from 1/8th inch to 1/4 inch (1/8th in was requested by us). We then noticed that the floor had gaps where thinset hadn't been fully applied to the floor. This worried us. My husband called him and Greg said in the call that he hadn't used unmodified thinset as requested and even said "he didn't know what it was". He said he went to a store and they advised him on what to use. My husband then contacted the manufacturer for the membrane and they advised that it could takie an additional 30-60 days for the floor to cure if iit wasn't grouted yet and in our case, the floor had been grouted. The manufacturer then couldn't give a specific time period or even guarantee that the floor would ever cure because there was limited to no airflow (which is required for the type of thinset that he used during install). When we spoke to Greg as he came to clean the floor he said he wouldn't charge us for the install or thinset materials. He said he did the best he could do... (interesting since he calls himself a custom tile company). When we called a few days later and asked for insurance details he said he wasn't insured and wouldn't give us any details (he states on Angies List that he is). He said it was our opinion that it wasn't up to standards. Even after he cleaned the grout lines, the color wasn't improved either. We shortly thereafter decided to take the floor up because we were worried that it would fail/crack over time due to gaps in thinset and because there was a heated floor element we wouldn't be able to walk barefoot on the uneven floor without it driving us nuts. We had a different contractor come in since and review it as well and he agreed that it was a poor install. Some edges were uneven enough that another tile installer stated it may pose risks to children crawling on the floor. Because the wrong thinset was used, it hadn't cured which allowed us to take up the tile without ruining the heating element or all of the tile. As we took up the floor we saw multiple areas where thinset hadn't even been used which likely caused much of the unevenness and would have certainly caused the floor to crack and the grout to tumble underneath the tile (1/2 of grout lines had no thinset under them at all). In many of these areas the heating element wire wasn't imbedded either which would have made the heat inefficient or worthless in some areas. Now that we have pulled it up, we had to incur additional costs to put down thinset to level the floor out. Our floor will now sit higher because we are building on top of 2 applications of thinset. This will cause a step between rooms. We will also have to rehang out back door because it will no longer be able to open once the tile gets set. We will also have to incur the cost of removing the broken tile and already reordered additional tile to replace the broken ones. He is no longer answering calls or responding to emails. We have sent a request for repayment through certified mail. What we are asking for at this point in time is $841.04 to replace the broken tile and to pay for thinset to re-level the floor. We have called, emailed and sent a certified letter with the details and due date for response/payment with no response. We are hoping Angies list can help, otherwise we will go to small claims. We have images available of all of this information (thinset gaps, broken tile, uneven tile, uneven grout lines, discolored grout lines, etc) and can make available to you upon request. Thanks!