Stones Unlimited

My family & I are going through havoc with Stones Unlimited in San Diego. We should’ve done our homework by checking Unilocal first about this poorly-​rated company. What made us visit the store was the display of their granite, marble & quartz at Pirch. Regrettably, we should’ve just bought the material (as pointed out by the Unilocal reviews) and found our own fabricator & installers to do the work.
Stones Unlimited may have a good selection of stone/​tile materials, but that’s about all. The prices are outrageous and their workmanship & customer relations are a nightmare! To make matters worse, the owner is rude & inconsiderate. He doesn’t know what «customer care» is about!!! He thinks & acts like a superior being and he is condescending and offensive to his customers!
Our kitchen & bathroom remodels turned out to be a disaster. The kitchen countertop slabs that were cut & installed by their fabricator had inconsistent thicknesses throughout. To Gabriel, co-​owner of Stones Unlimited, it was not an issue as he called it «within industry installation standard». We had to point out to him that because of their mistake, the cabinet company had to make adjustments & charged us more money to redo some of the kitchen drawers, not to mention — a delay in the completion of our kitchen.
To add to this fiasco, Stones Unlimited didn’t properly slope the mosaic tiles on our bathroom shower floor correctly. As a result, it was obvious that water was penetrating underneath (the floor tiles are clear tiles & you can see the water trapped underneath). Our concern & dissatisfaction are that the combination of the sloping of the tiles, grouting & sealing were NOT done professionally or with care. There is absolutely no reason for water to seep underneath. They also installed the floor tiles crooked & used loose pieces of tiles to cut corners (as it was easily identifiable as to where the disjoined pieces were laid, along with different grout thicknesses). To add to the frustration — upon completion, there was missing or chipped grout. Not to our surprise, Gabriel’s response was that the tiles were laid «within industry installation standard».
Then there was the problem with the custom shower niches, which was done unprofessionally & with dishonest material. Instead of using the contracted ¼″ Schulter stainless steel strips for the niche edges (to complete the high-​end look of the bathroom), they installed knock-​off strips from Home Depot. Doing the math, they pocketed 70% of our money!!! This is similar to what Tracy J (from Carmel Valley) complained about also. Gabriel’s remark (after the fact) was that the high-​end strips had not arrived soon enough to complete our targeted timeline for our bathroom. So without consulting us, he went ahead & installed the Home Depot brand, thinking that we would not notice the deviation! Not only were we cheated out of the «real» product, but the tile installer cut & installed the strips unevenly at the corners, resulting in misaligned & jagged edges. When this was brought up to Gabriel, his email response again was «it is within industry installation standard». This clearly shows that he has not a care in the world for their customers! Can’t he sympathize with his consumers that thousands of hard-​earned dollars go into a remodeling project, and for that reason customers are entitled to have gratification?! Gabriel just kept using «installation standard» as his excuse for everything! He just wants to collect his money, whether the customers are satisfied with the work or not!!!
As with what happened to Lana T (from Del Mar), Stones Unlimited also required us to pay for the materials in full & the installation paid at 50% upon signing the contract, and we respectfully complied! As pointed out by Lana, this is illegal! The California State Licensing Board only requires a 10% payment by law.
2 months have gone by now with nothing resolved with Gabriel. We have tentatively set a date to meet next week to address the issues. We have had no choice but to delay the shower door installation (which is bought and paid). Worst yet, we haven’t called for a final inspection of the bathroom as we know that it will NOT pass due to the shower drainage problem. We have been without a fully functional bathroom for 4 months since the remodel started. While patiently waiting & enduring this inconvenience, what does Gabriel do behind our backs? He files a mechanical lien on our property because the final balance hasn’t been paid to him. Is it morally right to collect a final payment when he hasn’t come forth to address & fix the long overdue work that was left unsettled & unfinished? Does Gabriel think he could actually collect his money without waiting for the outcome of the final bathroom inspection? Worst yet, does Gabriel know the meaning of customer satisfaction? With a pricey remodel, aren’t customers entitled to a job well done & a full guarantee of the workmanship?

I typically won’t review a business I haven’t yet purchased, but this places absolute refusal to answer the phone, return messages, or answer email inquiries is ridiculous. I imagine this inability to communicate would make doing business with them even worse.

I hate this place! The sales people are so rude! They ignore you! Seriously. Don’t go.

We were looking for tile or stone for the hearth of our fireplace. We had already purchased the stone mosaic for the fireplace at another store. We told the man who greeted us (after being in the store for twenty minutes) what we were looking for and he showed us where to look. We decided to return on another day when we had more time because the selection is really large.
When we returned we were greeted promptly and we once again told the sales lady that we just needed tile for our hearth. After an hour of looking by ourselves we asked her to get pricing on three items. Only then did she inform us that the store had a $ 350 minimum order. What? Why did we waste our time looking if we couldn’t order it? We specifically told them it was for a small space and never once did they mention the minimum. It was infuriating.
The store itself is very nice with a huge selection, but we will not be returning. It is a shame because we are remodeling our master bath next year and that order will definitely be more than their minimum.

Should be zero stars and here is why:
1.Tile is overpriced. Quality of tile is inferior. Found this out when the tile arrived after paying in full.
2. Tile installers are rude, disrespectful and don’t know what they are doing. They did not work well with other contractors in the bathroom/​kitchen. My door installer almost walked off the job. They insulted my painter. The plumber was angry because the tile installer messed up his work. They smoked in my house and spilled coffee on my newly painted wall. The lead installer yelled at me on several occasions.
3. They installed 8 chipped tiles and did not even care about the pattern on the shower pan or kitchen floor. I ordered $ 32/​square foot marble tile and the wrong size arrived at the site. It took a week to get the correct size and then it didn’t match.
4. They want the tile order paid in full and the tile installation paid at 50% upon signing the contract. This is illegal. I checked with the California State Licensing Board. 10% is what the law requires.
5. Poor customer service. The salesperson exaggerated the dimensions of the bathroom by 100%. I already paid for the tile and the work and they would not refund the difference of about $ 900. Make sure you know how to measure the square footage of the job and check their math.
I recommend you check this place out for the tile selection and order somewhere else. Do not use their installers.

I don’t know if I can say horrible customer service because I was never even greeted. There were four employees sitting around. Crazy how a company can stay in business that doesn’t have any customer service…

We went here on the advice of the contractor that will be installing our tile. Wow, what an amazing selection! If they don’t have it… it probably doesn’t exist. Linda greeted us and after showing her what we were working with (kitchen cabinets, kitchen flooring, counter tops all picked out) and explained the colors we were looking for she quickly was able to show us some amazing samples for our backsplash. She then turned us loose on the endless drawers of tile samples. Since we were also looking for bathroom tile she drew up a quick design sketch for our bathroom tile and helped us pick a main tile to go with our accent tile. Now we are just waiting for our quote. We were really, really impressed with the selection and the assistance we have received so far.

Worst customer service ever! went in there today because we are remodeling our kitchen. The sales girl don’t even care about you. You pretty much have to figure everything out on your. The way they respond to questions is unprofessional

I echo most of the other reviewers, good selection but horrible customer service. My boyfriend and I purchased tile and a marble vanity top from Stones Unlimited for a bathroom renovation. We’ve had issues literally every step of the way. Linda, our salesperson was nearly impossible to get a hold of, requiring us to contact her for multiple days in a row before we received any response (this happened with the initial quote, payment info, picking up of the tile, setting up a time to get in touch with someone to measure the vanity, and getting the cut vanity top installed).
Additionally the amount of floor tile needed was misjudged leaving us 2 sheets short upon install. We called Stones Unlimited to ask if they had anymore in stock and were told they had plenty and a box would be set aside for us. We drive down the next morning (while our contractor is grouting the rest of the floor) only to find out that the person that we’d spoken to the previous day lied. Not only was the tile we needed not set aside, it wasn’t there to begin with! So we had to special order new tile to be delivered, setting us back a week. Meanwhile during this, not once did anyone apologize for the inconvenience this caused us, nor thanked us for our business. We were treated like this was our fault.
Because we purchased an uncut piece of marble for the vanity top, we had Stones Unlimited cut it and undermount a sink since the guys we had do the rest of the tile install wasn’t comfortable doing it. After emailing Linda daily for multiple days in a row to see when it would be done and ready to install, she finally contacted us yesterday to say they would be able to install today at 1:30pm. The guys didn’t show up until 4pm. They proceeded to install a chipped backsplash. I really have no words to explain the sheer disappointment in this entire experience.
Ultimately this is a family run business which has shown zero professionalism and customer service whatsoever in our time dealing with them. A word to the wise from someone who’s been burned over and over by Stones Unlimited, save your money and go elsewhere.

I wanted to redo the tile on my fireplace and came here on the recommendation of an interior design friend. The selection is INSANE and I found the perfect tile. The only issue was that it was backordered for 12 weeks. But I got it in within the timeframe and it looks great.

If you are looking for good service and elegant design and installation of stone for flooring, bathrooms etc. Stones Unlimted is the place to go. Ben Alfaro has installed tavertine flooring in my homes over the last 10 years his work is of old world elegance and quality he is a true craftsman and artist he takes pride in his work and it turns out beautiful. Linda Sais and the staff at Stone Unlimited are friendly and helpful. I highly recommend them.

My wife and I walked in here a couple of weeks ago to look at tile as well as granite. We have a fairly large job to do and thought that this would be a good place to have a look. Long story short, we walked in, looked around the front for about 10 minutes, proceeded to the back to look at granite for another 10 minutes, walked back up to the front of the store and during this entire 20 minutes, not one person said a word to us. Amazing, a few looked at us and looked away, but not one person asked if they could help us. What a joke, how do you run a business this way. If I could provide 0 stars I would have. Spend you hard earned money with someone who appreciates you as a customer.

I have had an absolutely great experience with Stones Unlimited and would recommend them to others! Linda was really helpful and responsive to all of my questions. Thomas, the fabricator and installer was professional and I was very happy with how everything looks and the quality of work. The granite is beautiful and everything just flows!
Not sure what happened with some of the other reviews but Stones Unlimited was recommended by 3 friends who loved them too!

This is an interior designer’s dream for tile. They have such extraordinary beautiful tile. Every shape, style and color someone may be looking for. However, that is about all that is positive about this store.
Here are all the negatives:
1. Tile is overpriced
2. Customer service is mediocre
3. They don’t provide samples. Instead you are required to purchase the tile you wish to get a sample of
4. No cash refunds for items you want to return. They will however give you store credit
5. They tell customers that deliveries take 5 – 10 business days but expect to wait at least a month
In my case I came to the store and was so impressed by their selection. I was able to get adequate help that day. I was told they don’t give customer samples that I would have to purchase a single tile piece and wait for delivery. I purchased 4 different single tile pieces and when I paid I was told I would not be able to get a refund but store credit. The samples in total cost over $ 65. I was upset that this information wasn’t told to me by the sale representative. How convenient they mention it while my credit card is literally being charged. My samples took over a month to delivery. Three of them showed up past a month and the last one was delivered over 6 weeks from when I made the purchase. Not only was that disappointing but no representative called me to inform me they had been delivered. I had to call them. When I went to pick up my sample pieces, they had misplaced one of them and couldn’t find it. Meanwhile, in the almost two months we were waiting on just sample tile pieces, I found some great tile from Costco for a fraction of the cost and decided to buy it. However, I still needed some sort of «trim» piece as this tile was for a shower/​tub surround. Since I had credit with Stones Unlimited I decided to buy flute glass pieces with them. They are about ½″ x 12″ in size. I needed 14 pieces and the price for those 14 pieces cost the same for what I purchased all my tile at Costco. Yikes! Again, those pieces took about a month to deliver and I had to call up to see if they were in.
I’m so glad Im done with this company. They could be so much more but I have a feeling they primarily cater to interior designers who subsequently have a lot of money to spend.
The only way I would come back is if I needed a very specialized tile I can not get from other tile or home improvement stores.
However, to leave on a positive note, a few times of my many visits there were a few times I received good help. Also, as long as you know what to expect, some of their tile is so unique. I don’t think you could find it anywhere else.

Great experience here. Linda, one of the designers took such great care of us. She sketched out a design for the kitchen backsplash and then helped us select tiles that would work with our granite and cabinets. Yes Suzi you can go to Home Depot (see previous review) if you want to go on the cheap with sub par materials and options.
Even when one of the tiles was no longer available, Linda found a replacement tile, emailed us pictures and took the time to show us the replacement tile in person again when we stopped by. I have bought granite here (in a previous home) and now tile and really love the selection and service.

6-​4-​2013 12:25 pm walked in there for 10 mins. Nobody came to help. Feel sorry for the business onwer with those staff members.

My experience with Stones Unlimited was extremely positive. We are remodeling our bathroom shower and needed some hand made glass accent tiles very quickly. The tile setters needed the glass tiles as soon as possible. Unfortunately, other tile stores told us that the delivery time from the manufacturer is 3 – 4 weeks! Linda at Stones Unlimited took the initiative to call the company and locate the tiles from their limited demo stock. The tiles were delivered a few days later and are being installed today. Thanks to Linda our project is moving ahead on schedule. The staff at Stones Unlimited was helpful, creative, and courteous. I will definitely use their services in the future.

Avoid this company at all costs. Great showroom, absolutely poor follow-​through and workmanship! They had to come back multiple times to fix their mistakes. It took over a year to complete the job. I don’t know how they are still in business!

Beautiful show room and that is where the positive remarks STOP!
We purchased several thousand $$ worth of granite and stone. They were NOT honest on several occasions!
To add insult to injury, we special ordered a unique marble tile and were told it would take 10 weeks to get. After waiting those10 weeks, we picked it up and… our tile setter just couldn’t figure out why the pattern was not working.
Turns out we were sold the «real» product (from Turkey) at top price as this is a high end product. What did we get??? A knock off from China (paper backing not mesh, not matched marble, etc.) and instead of getting «A» & «B» tiles to make the pattern, we only got «A».
The wholesale company that makes and imports this product has pulled their entire line from Stones Unlimited. DO NOT USE THIS STORE!

«Over promised, under delivered» as the other reviewer put it… YUP! That sums it up! It’s a family owned business & everyone is in each other’s business & not focusing on their WORK! Visited during the summer time… kids of the owners where running around upstairs (im guessing where the offices are) and being completely loud & unruly. This place is a joke. You can get tile/​stone of the same quality at places without the hassle. Why pay at the TOP of the price range to deal with all the chaos at this place.
One word: AVOID!