anyone used these suppliers before?

[tilemania]

hope it's ok to post this. if not i will remove it.

i am doing some work for a client including 2 new bathrooms with some stone tiling. the client is very specific about materials and has chosen this tile for the walls in one of the bathrooms:

Tileaction | Britain's cheappest stone tile flooring specialist

however, i found a similar website and the contact details are all identical here (the fact that they spell 'cheapest' wrong is less than inspiring too):

Aegean Platinum Beige Marble Polished

the company is based in Essex and it seems like a legit website but i was wondering if anyone has used them and if they have any feedback? some of the photos show the tiles used on floors so i figure they should be fine on walls?

also, i've googled the name of the marble to see if i can go see it somewhere a bit closer to where i'm based (Surrey) but i can't find a match anywhere. anything i should look out for?

i have had a sample sent (though it is only 100x100mm) and there seems to be no need for fibremesh reinforcement and the polished finish seems fine. i also talked to the guy and he says they are calibrated and accurately sized. i was thinking of either going there in person to pick them up and at least buy a full size tile or two and have them delivered so i can check before going all the way there. any other tips?

[timeless john]

I'd go and pick them up - during the day it's only an hour away - M25 .
I'd never buy stone without first viewing it.
What I see is what I want or otherwise.

[tilemania]

thanks for your reply timeless john. i phoned them up yesterday and the guy there was more than willing to help. they are delivering some full size samples and if the client is happy with them (and they are good for tiling) then i will go and pick them up.

they even offered to machine the floor tiles to a honed finish as the client prefers honed on the floors.

so far so good...

[Muse2k8]

Sounds like a legit company if they are offering good service and you can go visit. Non legit companies tend not to let you visit. Maybe mention the spelling mistake as if they are a good company it may be losing them business.

[Musivarius]

Regarding the name of the stone, you'll find a number of companies put their own names to the stone they sell. I couldn't say for definate but if they sell and fairly readily available stone like, say 'Botticino', (the name this stone is known by the world over) and quote a customer their price then it's easy for the customer to just ring round some more places asking for their prices on Botticino.
If they call it 'creamy weamy pale slightly white' instead then the customer can't try to find it elsewhere. Then maybe I'm just being a bit cynical

[tilemania]

Musivarius, i think you're right. i figured the same myself and i can understand why.

Muse2k8, i will let him know about the spelling mistake.

i'm going to pick the tiles up tomorrow so i'm hoping it goes well. the tiles that the client ordered for the same job were terrible. big unfilled holes on the surface of the tiles and a really rough finish despite a nice smooth sample. needless to say, they don't want them. this was from a well known tile place too, though i won't bother saying which one.

will let you know how it goes.

[tilemania]

well, the service given was pretty good. the tiles arrived when promised and in the right numbers. as far as i can tell the ones delivered were the same that i saw when i visited. i also bought some tiles blind and trusted that i wouldn't get all the bad ones and again, the tiles delivered seemed to be ok.

but overall i thought the quality of the tiles was below average. i don't have much experience in buying marble, but i thought that overall the tiles could have been better quality. there were a lot of chipped ones and the square edge ones i had to bevel manually otherwise the small chips on the edges made most of them unusable.

in addition to this, some of the tiles had lots of filler on the surface but again, i'm not sure if that's the norm. also, the tiles that were bevelled weren't done so evenly, so some tiles had more or less bevel than others. and finally most of the tiles weren't quite square and had up to 2mm difference in size. luckily i was tiling in sections so i could get around this.

so in summary, i would consider using them again (as you can't really argue with the price) but i would have to compare with other suppliers to see if what they offer is any better/worth the premium.