Topps tiles are just the pits

[slythetiler]

interesting thread. i use Topps tiles amongst other outlets - never diy sheds though. I have always had good service, but i do tell my customers what to stay away from though. When collecting or checking delivery of tiles, i always check every box for batch, tone and calibration where applicable and reject any not matching, also reject any boxes that have been tapped back up. I used birkenhead, anfield and chester branches and have not had any problems with staff regarding changing or returning mix batch tiles. i have even opened boxes in store in front of managers and rejected stuff. Just another thought, some tile manufacturers recommend opening boxes to check for shade variations prior to fixing. Does this go some way to absolving the of blame when things like the above happen?

 

[Tile Shop]

I'm not from Topps but that quartz is from Esha Stone, India, and I have been unlucky enough to work for a supplier on the receiving end of unhappy customers complaining about shade variation with the exact same product. They've had a few major issues recently at the factory, with shading and quality control and made a few changes in the last couple of months to prevent the crap coming though. The most recent batches I have seen have been much better but we also have the Jewelstone to fall back on in an emergency in case they let us down again in the future. Its only the white that has the problem. Black and grey are spot on.

End of the day, its 93% natural stone. There will be some variation..... Can't be 100% avoided. The problem is the extent of the variation within the same batch and what people find acceptable, and to me, that is too much shade difference. My understanding and expectation of this type of product is that it should be "almost perfectly" uniform.

 

[steveaykroyd]

Were the batch numbers the same? Why was it a mission trying to deal with the staff? Surely they'd have seen that and just took the tiles back and gone to their suppliers to complain.

If it was a mission dealing with them, I'm kinda thinking they were saying the batch labels are different maybe and them arguing that's down to the tiler?

Might be wrong.

Shocking if they're marked as the same batch! Because they are for sure not!

 

[steveaykroyd]

Same batch Apparently !! Customer asked for pure white as per display and this is what she got !!