Complaint Review: Bay Country Floors - Mount Airy Maryland

I used Bay Country Floor's Mt Airy MD location against my better judgement. They had done decent tile work in my parents' house. However, when I went in I found their manager (possibly owner) to have a very cocky attitude which was off putting but they had good pricing, the tile we wanted, and again, had done a job for my parents.

The tile job was in my single 13X5 bathroom. I was assured by Bay Country it would be done in one single day. I pulled up all the old vinyl flooring down to the subfloor and removed all plumbing fixures, bathroom door, and linen closet door. They had a clean slate to work with. When the installer arrived it was just a lone guy, no help, and he could not speak or understand English very well. We both had a hard time communicating, but he was polite and got to work immediately. I left him alone to work and went to my basement where I was working on another project. 

On that first day there were several problems with the job. First, it called for Durock as the underlayment for the tile. Instead the installer used Ditra. My invoice, and his job sheet both stated DUROCK. He also ran out of tile about half way through but continued to spread thinset out on the underlay material, which dried in an uneven layer.  I called Bay Country and spoke to an employee asking why they'd run out of tile. He was aware of the problem but had not called me, they basically stalled and didn't tell me until it was too late. Then he blamed it on the tile maker stating they'd changed box quantities. He promised to bring more tile the following day but the installer could not come back until 3 days later. So I had to miss work at short notice. They didn't seem to really care. I was assured the installer would return at 8am the following Monday.

The Bay Country employee brought the tile and grout the next day and left. That Monday the installer showed up 2 1/2 hours late. Bay Country knew their installer was running late, but never called me. I had to call them, at which point they admitted they knew he was going to be late and promised "any minute" which turned out to be nearly a half hour after calling, a total of 2 1/2 hours late.

The installer finished the job rather quickly. He told me to wait four hours and then I could walk on it and set fixtures. After grouting, while it was still wet he began trying to rehang my doors. I had told him not to bother my doors, that I would take care of them. He didn't listen to me, was very defiant and in the process ended up smacking the top of one door into my hall light fixture, then bashing it into my door trim. I told him repeatedly to put the door down. He finally did but as soon as I turned my back he grabbed my linen closet door and walked into the bathroom, right back across the freshly laid tile and wet grout! I told him again to leave the doors alone, get off the tile and to leave if he was finished. He complied and left.

After the installer left at 12:30pm my wife and I, without a bathroom, went out. We stayed out of the house until 7:30pm, a full seven hours. When we returned I walked into the bathroom and immediately tile started moving and grout began cracking! Mostly in the places the installer had walked on while messing around the doors. Also, when the grout was wet, it looked gray, as it should have been. Once it dried it was a brighter white color. It doesn't match what we picked nor the color swatch on the grout box!

I called Bay Country the next morning and they seemed completely unconcerned. When I told them what was going on I was met with a curt "Alright, hold on!" and placed on hold. Then the employee came back and said he'd need to find out when the installer could come back. I told him I wasn't taking off anymore time for work and that it would have to be Saturday. He agreed, and told me he would call back with a time. He did not so I paid him a visit in person that evening. At that point I was told the installer could only come back during the week, Thursday afternoon between 4 and 5pm. My wife had to come home early to be sure someone could let them in. I arrived home around 4:30 and they had not arrived. At 5:30 I got a call from my supervisor telling me they'd called him and asked him to tell me the installer wasn't coming out. They'd try to make it Saturday! Again, very evasive, could not call me directly! At that point I immediately called the Bay Country store. It was 5:30, they are open until 6pm. No one answered. I tried a few times until 6 and still, no answer.

At that point I emailed them with very detailed information regarding my complaint, included pictures of the cracked grout lines, and told them they either needed to make it right but starting completely over again or refunding my deposit. Otherwise I would take swift legal action against them. They have not responded to my email as of this report. I will be sending them the same email in the form of a printed certified letter, again with pictures.

These guys are unprofessional, evasive, and don't seem to really have any concern for their customers happiness or time once they've got your money. They managed to turn a small basic tile job into an absolute fiasco.