Three Towers Flooring

With all due respect to Jenn, we do not feel this review is fair or accurate, and would very much like to tell our side of the story. We really do feel as if our good reputation has been slandered with this review.

Jenn and her husband first visited our showroom in the late winter of 2010, looking for low grade rustic maple. They made it very clear that price was their main criteria, and highlighted this point by making reference to one of our competitors near Brantford who they said was offering rustic maple at $1.99/square foot. For those of you that don't know all the ins and outs of the hardwood grading rules, rustic is the LOWEST grade possible. There is no warranty on rustic, there is no length restrictions on rustic(you could have anything from a 6 inch piece to an average length of 18 inches. Open knots are allowed, as are color variations and milling defects. Typically rustic is a grade slightly higher than firewood, and intended for people whos sole intention is to cover the plywood. For that reason it is also the cheapest. We generally stay away from selling this item because as the saying goes "garbage attracts garbage" and we have made a name for ourselves for supplying quality products. We do have great success and lots of happy customers from the Canadian Classics, which sells for $5.99. But in order to get quality you have to pay for it, and this customer was just too plain cheap to pay that price. She wants long length and wide plank, but she also wants to pay $1.99. You can't buy the whole cow if all you want to pay for is the milk, and you can't make a leather purse out of a pigs ear. Its just common sense.

When informed that we could not supply the rustic/tavern grade for less than $3.49/sq ft she said she was not paying more than $1.99 and left. She called us back about 6 months later and made the order, instead asking for alternating widths of 4 and 6 inch rustic for $3.49. Despite knowingly buying the lower grade, and always focusing her discussions with me on buying the cheapest price possible, she complained that she was having some issues with the 4 inch, being varied widths and short pieces.

I met with the husband at the house and explained to him that he bought the lowest grade of wood and he understood that the wood was consistant with grading rules, he asked if there was any way that he could recieve 10 more boxes and some compensation for the extra labor, since he was a gentlemen we shipped them 10 more boxes and we refunded them $300. Despite us reaching an agreement with her husband, Jenn persisted in asking/harrassing us for the next 3 months saying that she wants to pay $1.99/ square foot price, and we didn't agree than and we don't agree now.

Thanks to Jenn we have since developed and implemented policy built to try and avoid customers like her, customers who's only aim is to buy the cheapest possible products as it seems the ones who always ask for the cheapest price seem to have amnesia when it comes to remembering what they actually ordered.

The lady who referred Jenn to us has since referred another customer, and actually apologized for sending her to us. She said that she has been to Jenn's house and it looks fabulous, and as she puts it "what does she expect for rustic?" The long and the short of this story is that Jenn wanted no more than to pay $1.99 and I don't see any reason why she should get this price when she agreed to pay $3.49.

I have cut and paste below the grading rules for rustic hardwood flooring, I just do not know how to explain this any clearer:

"Rustic Grade ( C Grade )
The most rugged and varied of all the grades with wide colour variations, wild grain patterns, unlimited knots of all sizes & colours and other rustic features. A bold country floor produced in small quantities.

Usually referred to as Rustic Grade flooring, boards may contain some or all of the following features:- Knots, cracked knots, burrs, wide colour variation, heart and some heart shake, occasional cracks and holes. There are no limits to the size of the features provided the boards are structurally sound. Milling irregularities are allowed."

This customer purchased approx 400 square feet of flooring and called in with complaints about the bevels chipping during install and that she she didn't have enough wood to finish the job. She argued with us before coming to pick up the flooring because she wanted free delivery, and we informed her this was not possible as delivery is a contracted service. Regarding her complaints, we asked to speak to her installer so that we could get to the cause of the problem. She replied that she was installing the floor herself and she knew what she was doing. We informed her that our own installers had installed the exact same floor on an order much larger than hers and the material was perfect. We mentioned that perhaps she should check the pressure on her compressor, and maybe she should try using a different nailer/staples/cleats in case. We informed that we will stand behind the product and that she should stop installing if she thought wood was defective, in which case the wood would be replaced at no cost to her. We informed her that since she is in Hamilton and we are in Toronto, and since she had a relatively small order it might take a few days for us to get a chance to get out to see her. She proceeded to install and sent her husband the following day to pick up an extra box of flooring, which was given to them at no charge. We checked the packing slip and verified she received enough wood, we checked the bevels and didn't understand how it was possible for them to chip. We tried nailing them on plywood, we tried banging them with a mallet and we couldn't see any chipping. We had installed the exact same material a week earlier on an order about 10 times the size of hers and had no issues at all. We called the installers who did that job and asked him if he had any issues with that material, and he said it was perfect. Since the customer had already installed the floor, she was from out of town and it was a relatively small order we closed the file and have never heard back from her. With regards to the customer saying we expect them to pick up in Georgetown, stock items are held in Etobicoke, custom orders are in Georgetown. I can't change the location of the plant, and if your budget doesn't allow you to pay $100 for delivery, than you are welcome to go to the factory to pick it up for no charge.

We install approximately 85% of what we sell, and we recomend that you use a professional installer to install your hardwood flooring.

Do it yourselfers tend to have a lot more problems during their install and tend to a seek a great deal of guidance when they install their own floors. While some people may consider themselves handy(they may have installed 2 or 3 floors in their lives, that does not make them a professional. A professional, certified installer will have installed hundreds of floors a year, and that in itself can make all the difference in the out come of your floor. Obviously there are certain qualities and expertise that make a professional a professional. Many problems experienced by do it yourselfers and weekend warriors are due to among other things: improper climatization of the wood, setting the pressure on the compressor too high or too low, using the wrong type of nailer, using cleats when they should use staples, or using staples when they should be using cleats. It might entail removing and replacing a board that was damaged or cracked, and you might have to replace a board after it's been installed.

What we all have to understand is that there are guidelines and mechanisms in place to judge the quality of the floor, but how are we to judge the quality of the installer?

While we can't make everyone happy, our policy has always been if there is a problem we will do the needful to fix it. The general rule in the flooring industry is "if it's laid it's paid". So unopened boxes are easily refunded or replaced in the unlikely event they are proven to be defective. However proceeding to install material that you claim is defective will void your warranty. Rest assured we will stand behind our products. No ifs, ands or buts. We are never happy when a customer complains, but we do find that job site complaints are resolved much more smoothly when there is a professional installer on site.