Honed Slate Two Piece Hearth - Poor Match

DaftyDuck

Not surprised you weren't satisfied. It's not just dissimilar, it's odd. You'd always notice it.

Davesnave

DaftyDuck wrote: »

Not surprised you weren't satisfied. It's not just dissimilar, it's odd. You'd always notice it.

That's the conclusion I came to, somewhat reluctantly. It's a pity I have to buggar the fire/chimney fitting company about, though.

May not see a wood burner in for Christmas now.

I will name and shame if the response I get from the directors of the stone co is unhelpful.

Kiran

DaftyDuck wrote: »

Not surprised you weren't satisfied. It's not just dissimilar, it's odd. You'd always notice it.

You are 100% right to complain about that. In reality though they can turn something like that around in a day without any problems assuming they have the material in stock. I ordered 2 large granite 2 piece hearths to did something similar when I was fitting my wood burners and they were done in 48 hours, if they have a problem to fix they should be able to do it even faster.

Davesnave

Update: Guess whose email address isn't working! :mad:

Yes, M C Slates and World of Stone in Bow, Mid Devon.

Heedtheadvice

Time to go along in person.
I agree far from acceptable! Company should be ashamed if they think it is!

phil24_7

Oh my...I would even notice the fire with that there. I would forever be looking at the obvious difference and stewing over it!

keith969

That looks completely different; there's no way I'd accept that as it should be perfectly obvious that for the intended use the two pieces should at least look similar. Excuses that you didn't ask for it to match are not on.

Having had slate in a hearth in a previous house, I went for black granite (well actually Angolan blue, which isn't blue) last time, as slate scratches too easily.

Davesnave

The directors of the stone co have my letter now, and obviously aren't intending to respond positively, so I'll have to go see them.

The time for that isn't available just now, as I have a much more major job going on at home and there's a problem or two ....in fact I'm about to start another thread! :rotfl:

Thanks for all your comments. It really helps to know I'm not being unreasonable.

Whatever happens, I'm not going to spoil the ship for a ha'porth of tar. I can get a rear section made elsewhere.... and the flooring....and the patio stone that's all in my plans for next year.

Have bookmarked and will report when something significant happens.

Davesnave

Something significant happened today. First,, I made an appointment to visit M C Slates Ltd and World of Stone's director, but just after I'd done that, the post arrived with a letter from him.

In the letter he reiterated that he could not guarantee what colour a finished piece of honed slate might be.

Fair enough.

To quote his words exactly, "We could end up honing countless amounts of slabs to try to get a reasonable colour match. We cannot do this due to wastage."

OK. I wouldn't expect you to.

He ends, "Therefore there is nothing we can do for you as regards colour variation of the slabs."

Oh!

"We are sorry that it is not what you had hoped to achieve."

Er, yes, so am I, mate!

I'd feel more charitable towards the guy if he'd said something to the effect of, "Can't promise, but we'll give it one more go."

He seems to have forgotten that we did have a reasonably matching hearth from him, part of which disintegrated. That cost me 2x two hour round trips to his yard. My time isn't free and neither is diesel for the van. One might have hoped for some good will.

I know when I'm looking at a brick wall, so rather than waste more time on this chap, I cancelled my visit and went to see someone else who deals in slate. They've matched M C Slates' price and I like their product better. It should be ready before next week, and it's still possible I'll get the stove in for Christmas.

The errant hearth will go on eBay as I can no longer look at it. I can't even bring myself to turn it into windowsills!

A Merry Christmas to all at MC Slates and World of Stone. :xmastree:

Kiran

That is p1$$ poor services and attitude. Well done for the name and shame. Hopefully you can recoup a bit of the original cost.