Help!: FAO - Tilers and Tile Merchants (Tile imperfections??)

[saf]

Greetings All,

Iv bought some marble tiles from a local tile merchant who is one of the leading tile merchants in Lancashire.

Now going through the tiles from the wooden crates iv noticed quite a few are chipped on the edges and some havnt been fiilled properly and others have too much fill etc. iv paid 27 pounds per sqm as a job lot.

the salesman from the store said im supposed to use them as cuts? but surely the cuts i use should be dependant on me and which tile i decide to use and not dictated by them by giving me chipped tiles? or am i understanding it wrong?

am i right to expect some chipped tiles or should i demand they exchange them?

[whitebeam]

How many metres do you have.

[kilty55]

hi saf,when you say a job lot were these tiles the pallet ends/end of stock and you got a reduced price for the lot so to speak

if so i dont think you will get replacements

if i was buying any stone/tile however i would have the same opinion as you i wouldnt be accepting lots of chipped tiles and would want replacements

let us know how you get on

[saf]

Hi all,

It seems like it was an end of line item, there was about 320 tiles in the pallet of which I had 220 ish. It was also a sealed crate too.

The problem is that from the first 120 I have to return 20 tiles as they either had chips, or were not filled or too much fill was applied so that it looked like small paint patches.

It's a total of 29sqm.

Do I have any rights over this sort of problem?

I'm not really bothered if he has to collect the lot.

[Mike]

it may depend on how they were sold to you. did the shop have them on display? were they perfect tiles? did they tell you some were not perfect? if i were buying them i would not expect more than 10% to be imperfect. the 10% could be used for cuts or in inconspicuous places.

[garythetiler]

£27 a sqm ,which type of marble and what format eg 600x600 x 20mm? its a very good price for Marble

[Dan]

Sounds like you've bought a job lot (so sold as seen, end of line stock, there have no more probably to replace yours with, that's why they are cheap!) and thought you'd be getting perfect current stock?

Don't buy an end of line job lot if you want all the tiles to be perfect. You'd have to by a current range with plenty of stock to keep swapping tiles until you get what you need. Natural tiles can be a pain in the bum for this but end of line natural tiles will be all the poorer tiles.

[kilty55]

Hi all,

It seems like it was an end of line item, there was about 320 tiles in the pallet of which I had 220 ish. It was also a sealed crate too.

The problem is that from the first 120 I have to return 20 tiles as they either had chips, or were not filled or too much fill was applied so that it looked like small paint patches.

It's a total of 29sqm.

Do I have any rights over this sort of problem?

I'm not really bothered if he has to collect the lot.

ok you bought a job lot reduced in price,use the chipped ones for cuts problem solved

if you want every tile perfect thats fine but dont buy end of line deals

[tfs]

the filling is common with lower quality tiles. I have seen many tiles sold like this and although there is no general rule as to what tiles should be used for cuts it is good practice to use any vulnerable tiles for areas with little traffic or for cuts if possible.

Try and get the tiles you are unhappy with exchanged, hopefully the shop will be happy to do this for you.

Im afraid it is realy a case of you get what you pay for. I know £27 sqm is expensive but you get different grades of stone and what you have explained is associated with lower grade stone.

Unless the tile merchant told you they were 'top grade' then I would be wrong to say that they are to blame.

[saf]

Firstly thanks to all the people who have provided some information.

I think the general consensus is that irrespective of whether they were end of line or not the standard should be of a tile thats £27 per sqm. Fill will be expected but tiles with no fill and chipped edges shouldnt be accepted as the norm. (The tile as a whole should be sound).

The tiles on display seem perfect so it seems as though the good uns were displayed and the poorer tiles were in the crate, and generally as you guys say end of line is all the crappy stuff left over.

I went back to the store today and told them i wasnt happy, (there was another issue i failed to mention which was the tiles from the crate were not resembleing the tiles from the display. They were VERY different). They advised me that i have to expect variation as its marble tiles and natural stone etc etc.... but i showed him a tile which was on display that has predominantly shades of medium and darker browns but the one from the crate was predominantly ivory with 2/3 covered in black dots. So they responded with a comment 'it came out from the same pallet.'

Lesson learned for me, never buy end of line unless you plan on inspecting all the tiles.

P.S the store said they would take them back as in truth they didnt really have a leg to stand on. They really looked very poor in grade and also didnt match what was displayed. The display tiles were definitely not a lower grade.

[garythetiler]

good luck with finding an alternative, if you are looking for uniform and even colour go for porcelain, if you like the variation in natural tiles then stay with the natural stones I think you will struggle to find 1st grade stone on your budget but there are bargains if you are prepared to search long enough

[timeless john]

I think you will be happier if you give them the tiles back and get a full refund.
Tiles on display should be as near as possible to those supplied - even if a natural product - or the displays should be changed to represent the new stock.
However as a 'JOB lot/end of pallet' deal you should have checked the batch prior to payment to confirm acceptance of the product.
I also think that @ the price you paid (if it was marble) you are below 50% of the normal price.

[saf]

Im not sure about 50% because I found m2direct/travertine direct selling cappucino tiles are nearly half the price of topps tiles for an identical product. They actually advertise it as that on their site and compare their price with topps in bold.

http://www.travertinedirect.co.uk/pr...ce-per-m2.html

Thanks again for the info guys. I'll be sure to inspect the tiles before handing over the money.

They did tell me if I go for cappuccino marble then they will guarantee that there will be little colour variation and definitely no black dots on any of the tiles. I think it's either that or porcelain for me.

I'm a newbie, first house, first bathroom so im really appreciating the help and advice this forum offers. Thanks all.

[tfs]

Buying online may be an issue too! Mainly due to not being able to view the tiles first. It is hit and a miss with buying stone online. Be sure to get it in writing that the tiles are of good quality and get a copy of the returns policy to cover yourself.

I would personally rather buy stone that I have visualy inspected. With 29sq you would be in a good position to haggle a bit of discount from most tile merchants.

Hope you get a good deal