Complaint Review: Mohawk flooring - Internet Internet

On January 17, 2012 I purchased Mohawk Natural Maple engineered hardwood floors which were installed on February 22/23, 2012. Approximately 4 months later, while vacuuming under my area rugs, I noticed a distinct change in the color of my floors under the rugs. Since I had some leftover flooring, still in the box, I retrieved several boards and placed them on the installed flooring. There was absolutely no color difference between the installed flooring and the leftover flooring. The flooring under the rugs, however, was several shades lighter than both. I promptly contacted Carpets Plus Color Tile in Milford, DE and had the floors inspected by their installer. He agreed that the color fading should not have occurred, particularly UNDER the rugs. I was told that they would contact Mohawks area rep and get back to me.

After waiting 2 weeks for a response, I received an email from Mohawks Ryan Barron informing me of color changes in aged Brazilian cherry flooring. The article he furnished explained how aging (in 4 months?), and light exposure (under rugs?) can cause color change in Brazilian cherry flooring.  Do I have or care about Brazilian cherry flooring? Hardly! As I am sure you already know, maple flooring has a stability rating of 9.9 and cherry 7.1. So why pointlessly annoy me with the info on aged cherry flooring?

The floors have NOT been exposed to intense lighting, in fact, our windows have a tinted UV protective coating, and aluminum venetian blinds that are only opened slightly with the slats slanted upward deflecting the light to the ceiling and not the floors. Further, we have had an expensive Karastan oriental rug in our dining room for 10 years. After having the new floors installed, we purchased a matching hallway runner from Karastan and both the dining room rug and the new hall runner are exactly the same shade. No color change after 10 years but 4 month-old hardwood floors have a marked color change. The floors are defective. Our next-door neighbor has the identical house as ours, built by the same builder. Their house has the same light exposure and other elements as our house but their 3-year old wood floors are perfect!  No color change. I have polled family and friends with wood floors ranging in age from 1 to 22 years and not a single person has any color variation, nor has anyone even heard of this kind of color deterioration happening.

To add insult to injury, I received an email from an untitled Mohawk employee named Cristy Ponder (copy attached).  Her solution to the problem was to tell me to move my furniture and rugs around and expose the discolored flooring which may return to the original color. Meanwhile I get to look at the discolored flooring while the flooring under the furniture and rugs in their new locations will begin the discoloration process. Perfect! Like putting a band-aid on a fractured skull. Her solution will allow me to look at a patchwork of different colored floors for the rest of my life while I take up heavy lifting and furniture moving every 3 4 months. A ludicrous suggestion which can hardly be considered a solution.

Her comments regarding photosensitivity are a joke. You do not have to be a genius to know that in order for photosensitivity to take place you must have light. I can assure you there are no lights on beneath my area rugs. The other excuse being age is also laughable. Four month-old floors are aged? Tell that to a jury. Better have a plan in place to amuse yourself until the laughter dies down.

I should have researched the internet before buying the floors and that is my bad, however, my research after the fact has produced plenty of cannon fodder. The posting on your facebook page is just one of many complaints about Mohawk flooring that I have uncovered. The Canadian buyer has different floor deterioration than I do but the fact remains you have a very unsatisfied customer who does not mind flinging it all over cyberspace. I buy quality and I buy American, at least that is what I thought I did. I am willing to pay a premium price for what I hope are better products made in the U.S.A. Please dont tell me I have made a mistake by supporting the manufacturers who have not outsourced to Asia.