Joyce Sharp from Calgary

A1 Granite and Marble Ltd was punctual and the price was good. The price never changed and the timeframe requested was met. The contertop is polished and edged beautifully. Why the rating 3/10? It doesnt look good. It reminds me of a flawed or cracked countertop. Let the pictures speak for themselves. I know I know. Granite comes with veins. We were not satisfied in the end perhaps through fault of our own but believe A1 need to take some blame and responsibility for this as well.. We should have been more educated as to the questions to ask before signing any contracts but then they should have been more informative as well. We were not aware of some options so didn't ask about the possibilty. Before putting down 50% of the cost price we should have asked for a 3D picture of what the precut product would look like. At that point they should have told us they were unable to meet our requested deadline due to time needed and perhaps the quoted price due to more expenses incurred. We had asked that the countertop be installed by Christmas based on the quote given.They were set on meeting this expectation so a 3D option was not given as an option. We did have the countertop by Christmas but would have changed that deadline had we known we could have asked if there were more options to getting the countertop we were hoping to - one without veins running through it. When we were called in to view the slab from which the countertop was to be cut and I said I did not like the looks of that slab because of the vein and upcoming cut, it was explained that the vein would run through a corner of the island and apparently on another countertop. The washroom countertop would have no vein and it does look beautiful! The gentlman informing us was very courteous and encouraging. We were not to worry.The end product would look very nice. I asked if we could buy another slab. He said the colors may not be the same. We unfortunately signed another form saying we approved the slab being used not aware of how it would actually look once cut. We certinly didn't think that much vein would be used. It is, however, polished and edged beautifully but then that isn't where the eye goes when seeing the counters. I realize granite is a natural stone and has distinctive lines or veins within the stone, I asked if we could change to another slab. I was told no and that all slabs of this particular color were the same at this time with this vein running through it. This was a 2nd time I should have asked for a more visual picture of what the finished cut was to look like or ask for a credit to be held until an acceptable slab was available. As I understand now there would have been no refund option but I could have changed my choice of color or asked for a credit to be used at a later date. I had no idea this vein would show as it does, My fault. Apparently I was expecting something they could not provide within the timeframe originally given and I didn't ask if we could change that date. Had I seen a picture of the end product (even an eraseable felt pen drawing on the slab) I would have did a little more shopping around or changed the requested installation date. There appeared to be no options at the time and they did not inform me of more choices. In summary I suppose we should have asked more questions and ensured we knew exactly what we were buying. Buyer beware. I cannot in all fairness recommend this business because I went in needing for them to show me what exactly I was getting for my money and because I didn't ask for a 3D picture or given options to a later date, we ignorantly went ahead with the purchase. This is basically a issue of miscommununication. They did their best to meet what they thought was important to us in meeting our deadline before Christmas but they neglected to inform us of all options available to get the end product we wanted. Yes, having new countertops before Christmas was important but not that important to now have lifetime countertops we are not proud of. Lesson learned! They also ask the customer for 50% down before measuring and seeing the slab. This locks one into buying before seeing anything, Smart? They ask the customer to sign a form approving THEIR measurements. We needed to remeasure to confirm their "professional" measurements? We didn't know how to do this so believed them when they assured us their measurements were accurate. Never did understand why they wanted us to sign we approved their measurements but signed in blind faith they knew what they were doing. Smart? Fortunately the measurements were fine, Note also there may be a BBB approval sign on the front door... smailler print says "thoughout 2012", not 2013 or now 2014. We didn't notice this until too late. Sign mght be down now but was there when we were doing business.