Business ProfileforCentura Atlantic

I purchased a specific tile from Centura. It was the second time I had purchased this tile because I like the product. The second batch of tiles I purchased turned out to be flawed. It was a larger order - 400 Square feet. I sought help through the local Centura dealership in St. John's and they referred me to the Halifax store. My tiler and I have separately asked for customer service on this issue and to date, Centura has not followed up. In fact, the local Centra salesperson blamed the tiler - who doesn't work for Centura - for not flagging the flaw in the tile. As the tile is now laid they say "there is nothing we can do for you.". So, I paid full price for a tile that was clearly flawed. It appears that Centura doesn't stand behind their products and they rely on third parties to spot their own quality control issues.

Boreal Silver Polish Invoice 652718 Dear Mr. *****, We have reviewed email correspondence from you regarding the Boreal Silver Polished which was purchased from us on September 13th, 2021 through ******** and subsequently installed. You have indicated that the installed tile has visual defect that varies from the expected appearance of the tile ordered. It is our understanding that there is a slight ripple in the finish at the two long ends of the piece of tile. The “very subtle imperfection” was noticed by you at the time of installation and that despite being aware of a possible issue, installation continued at your direction and was completed. As per our terms and conditions of sale, the buyer is responsible for inspecting goods when they are received and it is a global industry standard that once goods are installed that they are deemed accepted. The material should have been checked by the installer prior to installation and when the “imperfection” was noticed installation should have stopped immediately. Had we been notified prior to installation, that the material you received was not acceptable we would have provided a replacement at that time. Unfortunately, Centura was not notified prior or during installation that there was a possible issue with the finish of the tile and we were not given the opportunity to resolve the issue prior to the installation being completed. While we sincerely regret that there appears to be a manufacturing defect that has caused a slight variation in the finish of the tile, the installation of the tile was not under our control. Centura stands by our products, therefore we are prepared to provide a gratuitous credit of a portion of the cost of the tile. As the material was sold through ********’s account, we will need to issue a credit back to that account. Mr. ***** has been notified that credit has been issued and we have asked him to provide compensation to you at his earliest convenience. We hope this will assist Mr. ***** in resolving the issue to your satisfaction. Best Regards, ***** *********

Your response serves to highlight an important issue – that is, you (Centura) rely on others for quality control of your product. From a customer service standpoint, this is an unacceptable practice, and I would suggest that you reconsider this position when dealing with future customers. It is a ‘pass the buck’ attitude and your staff has inadvertently thrown another company (my installer) under the bus. Since the rippling issue is a significant cosmetic defect, you should also consider my response to my house visitors when they ask about the defects in the tile. I will simply say that it’s a Centura product. In consideration of you ‘gratuitous discount’ to my installer, I have been in touch with him, and we will work out a arrangement on a partial refund. I infer from the discount that you have either discovered the manufacturing issue or have noticed complaints from other customers. If you haven’t, then for the sake of your other customers, I would ask that you investigate the issue further. I have a stack of Boreal Silver tiles that do not have this manufacturing defect. While I consider this matter to be closed, you should know that you are letting a customer walk away with an unhappy ending. The ‘it’s not our fault’ attitude is particularly unsatisfying.