Complaint Review: Tanner Materials - Phoenix Arizona

I recently went to Tanner Materials to look at tile for a new home we are building. I picked out a tile and he figured the cost including material, labor,tax and delivery and asked for a deposit of $100.00. I was very explainatory that this house was just in the footing stage and that we would not be needing the tile for at least 7 mos. He said that the had plenty of tile in stock and I gave him the $100.00 plus the $2.00 for a tile sample. I than asked if I could see a few tiles put togehter and he had one of the workers bring in about 4 additional tiles and he wasn't kidding when he said these were called extreme color differences. He than gave me the address of Ceramic Tile International in Scottsdale and on Saturday, Feb. 19th my husband went over there to look at the tile on the floor as they have 5,000 feet laid and we were going to be putting in about 1670 feet. Upon talking with Mimi Gilezan, it appeared that the tiles they gave us were not the colors that we had picked out. We ordered Vigne Chablis and from looking at what they had in various vignets, we clearly had been given Champagne samples. My husband and I then went back to Tanner Materials to ask why we had the wrong colors. We got a very nasty, obnoxious man named Jim Tanner and he said well you have 2 different colors here and I tried to explain that we given both tiles as Chablis. He then took my price sheet that Greg (his son in law) had figured out for me and immediately said we had been given the wrong price and that we weren't being charged enough for labor and delivery. Upon checking with one of hte other young men there, he was told that the labor charge was indeed correct. He than looked at us and said that the prices go up in June. I told him Greg said he had plenty in stock to fill our order. At that point we din't know if Greg had actually put a hold on the tiles or not and he wasn't there. He made us feel like he was looking for an excuse to get more money out of us. The prices he gave us did not say that the prices were only good for a few months. He also did not say that the deposit was not refundable or that there were any stipulations or that this was a custom job. To make a long story short, today we went back for our deposit and again encountered Jim Tanner. He said the deposit was not refundale becasue it was a custom job and when I asked him where it said that as it is not on my paperwork and we are still 7 mos away from needing the tile and that we do not like the tile when we saw it and because there seemed to be confuision about what we had vs. what we wanted we wanted the deposut back. At this point he wheeled around looking for a small sign that he had on a mirror about deposits. I do no remember seeing it when I was htere, it is not on my paperwork and it was not memtioned. We got in to it and he refused to give it back, basically leaving me standing there, so i told everyone within ear shot to beware of his business ta tactics. I have since spoken to a builder and 2 tile layers who won't deal with him. The point is I want my deposit back and hope you can help me. It may not be alot of money, but it is the principal. I wonder how many other people he screws. Today, he lied to me when i first came in as he said he didn't know what tile I was talking about. This is not a custom order as far as we are concerned as this tile is a stock tile, than he told me that there were no refunds on closeout tile. No where did Greg or he mention thatit was a close out tile, to the contrare, he was fumming becasue Greg supposedly had given us a price belwo wholesale. None of those lies are my concern and I want my money. I will also be contacting the BBB, the Contractors Licenses Dept., Channel 12 and 15, the Central Tile International office,anyone who might have complaints with him and possibly INS to see if all his workers are documented.

I hope that you can help me before I have to do all these other things. The man is a liar, cheater and not someone I would ever do any business with. If you need copies of what I have I can fax them to you, including a revised shet he did on Sat. that does not say anything about no refunds or my deposit.

Sincerely,

Beverly M. Arrowood