Most of the Versace stone effect are shaded to replicate natural stone..... are you 100% sure its not just the natural variation?
Everyone is very quick to jump down the suppliers throat. Is it honestly a problem they have caused, or was it the factory? From the other side of the desk as a supplier, its very difficult. Of course we want the customer to be happy and will do everything we can to help them and the tiler.
This is the bit where you all shout "who the f*** reads terms and conditions???" but they are there for a reason. To advise the customer and fixer not to just bang 'em down, but to check. But most of you have been tiling long enough to know whats required before fixing. This is not the supplier covering their arse, its the tile industry standard across the board for all manufacturers and suppliers alike. Agree or not, heres an example of our wordings for 4 of our conditions:
"Any fault, quality or shading issue with the tiles supplied will remain the responsibility of the manufacturer. The Company will accept no responsibility for further or subsequent loss or expense, if the tiles are faulty, or not to the acceptance of the Buyer. Any such issues will be passed to the manufacturers, whereby any claims will become solely the manufacturer’s liability, disclaimers or notes printed on boxes or packaging will become the responsibility of the Buyer to read and accept, prior to use or fixing.
Each tile should be carefully examined individually before fixing. Fixing of the tiles constitutes acceptance of their quality. ##### ### ###### accepts no liability for faulty installation work, or the quality or correctness of the tiles once fixed. As far as the law permits, liability is limited to replacement of faulty items or a refund of their cost and excludes any consequential loss, including the cost of removal and refixing.
The Company can only be held responsible for any failure against products supplied, to the extent that the manufacturer of such products is prepared to guarantee the same.
IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE CUSTOMER AND THEIR TILE FIXER TO ENSURE THAT THE GOODS ORDERED, ARE SATISFACTORY QUALITY AND SUITABLE FOR THE PURPOSE REQUIRED. INCLUDING COLOUR, SHADE, AND GAUGE. NO CLAIMS CAN BE ACCEPTED ONCE THE MATERIALS ARE USED. GOODS ARE SUPPLIED ON THE STRICT UNDERSTANDING THAT BRITISH STANDARDS RELATING TO TILE FIXING ARE FOLLOWED."
Whether you like them or not, you find me a supplier that DOESN'T have this or similar in their conditions.
For the supplier it is a hard position to be in. They have done the same and checked the batch numbers before dispatch. They all match. What more do you want them to do? Do you want them to open every box, loose lay them all together and check every tile before they send them out? Would you accept delivery of a pallet full of loose tiles with no packaging that turns up a day late because that's what the supplier needed to do for every order they ship out? Would you buy a box of cornflakes without the box because Asda had to check each one before they gave them to you? Course you wouldn't. But that is the only other way that this issue "might" have been noticed before the customer receiving them.
This fault (if its a fault and not just natural shading) lies with the manufacturer and their QC processes. BUT your supplier should back you up, be on your side and fight your case with the factory until you get a reasonable resolution. whether its compensation, new tiles, whatever.
I've had 5 similar cases (not necessarily about shading) in the past 2 months. No fault of ours, and no fault of the tilers/customers. I was able to argue the claims with the factories and was able to get them to accept liability for 4 of them. We did the refunds for the tilers lost time, the refixing costs, the factory in turn gave us a rebate for that total value, sent out a new good batch. It took a week or two to sort them out but in the end, everyone was happy.
