Topps Tiles Travertine Questio

[hellooooooooooo]

Hello there this is my first post and as I am a wife and mum please explain your advice as basically as you can. Went to Topps Tiles and got an approved fitter to fit our travertine tiles. Unhappy with him and asked him to leave. He had sealed the tiles but not laid any. Rang Topps senior manager who agreed to supply another fitter or full refund but we would have to return the tiles to him. I explained that my hubby and his mate are now doing it and the manager then said that as the tiles were sealed he could not sell them on and they would have to go in the bin when he got them back from us so if i liked them and wanted to keep them then make him an offer and whatever it is he will accept. The whole order cost £580, £380 was the tiles the rest the materials. Would you be suspicious ie could I trust that the tiles are not faulty and defective and he is just trying to offload them? or what would you do?

 

[CJ]

Have I got this right?

The tiles are fine...........it was the fitters you had/have a problem with. So why do you want to return the tiles?

Correct me if I'm wrong............but it comes across as you trying to get a deal for the tiles........when they are ok????

 

[hellooooooooooo]

I am certainly not looking for anything for nothing. I was going to send everything back for a full refund and he agreed. It was his idea for me to make him an offer for the tiles, I just wondered what you all thought that is all. I assumed it was to compensate us for the broken waste which the fitter did

 

[DHTiling]

Because they were sealed then topps can not sell them on, thats why he is trying to get you to still buy them at what ever cost.

If you are happy with the tiles then you should still pay the rate for them IMHO...You were happy with them before the fixers were told to go, so why not pay the rate for them now..

Then look for a fixer that is recommended to yuo and not TAF who might be tom ...dick or harry who has never used stone before.

 

[theyomper]

Because they were sealed then topps can not sell them on, thats why he is trying to get you to still buy them at what ever cost.

If you are happy with the tiles then you should still pay the rate for them IMHO...You were happy with them before the fixers were told to go, so why not pay the rate for them now..

Then look for a fixer that is recommended to yuo and not TAF who might be tom ...dick or harry who has never used stone before.

having read this thread more carefully there appears to be a couple of questions that need to be fully answered.

Did the tilers fit the bathroom suite? If so what are there qualifications?

As for the remark made about TAF's, most of the Tilers that I know that are part and parcel of the Topps TAF scheme are good tilers and know there way about in the fixing of all types of tile.

IMO it is wrong for you to slag off TAF's in this way and assume and give the opinion to the public that they are all tarred with the same brush and can not be trusted to tile to a good standard.

 

[DHTiling]

Don't jump to conclusions and read more into that comment...I implied a recommend is better that getting a TAF again who she doesn't know after the first one was no good...and even you must agree a recommend is a safer bet.?

On the subject of TAF's....How do topps go about checking work history and references etc before signing peeps up as a TAF..? or do they just give you work ..?

 

[theyomper]

I had already been doing a lot of work via Topps prior to the instigation of the TAF scheme, as a result of the feedback given to the store by customers I was asked to carry out their TAF work. When TAF work is completed a satisfaction form should be completed by the customer and handed back to the store.
Obviously it would be up to individual store on how they vett theirs TAF's but i will enquire as to what their company policy might be.

So what is a TAF if not a recommend? Hopefully this is a one off and not the norm.

 

[Time's Ran Out]

The Yomper - There was no criticism or offence in the reply given by Dave towards the TAF scheme offered by Topps Tiles ( definition of Slag off!).
It is obvious in this case that the recommended tilers should not be on the scheme that you are defending and I would be in agreement with Dave that it is advisable to have personal recomendations/have seen work completed than accept any John ( Oh thats me!).

John.

 

[DHTiling]

I had already been doing a lot of work via Topps prior to the instigation of the TAF scheme, as a result of the feedback given to the store by customers I was asked to carry out their TAF work. When TAF work is completed a satisfaction form should be completed by the customer and handed back to the store.
Obviously it would be up to individual store on how they vett theirs TAF's but i will enquire as to what their company policy might be.

So what is a TAF if not a recommend? Hopefully this is a one off and not the norm.

Good question....If a customer recommends a tiler then the work is there to be viewed...correct. but for topps to recommend a tiler simply coz he walked in the store and was lucky enough to get on the TAF list then thats wrong...

I won't mention names but i know quite a few TAF's that ask very very basic tiling questions ...thats where the forum comes in i know but if they don't ask then the customer pay's the price...as this customer has...

So i am not condeming TAF's...but closer scrutiny should be carried out don't you agree.?

 

[theyomper]

The term 'Tom Dick and Harry' is IMO a derogatory term and in this instance implied that all TAFS are 'Tom Dick an Harry's' that don't have the skills of a skilled tiler. That's my opinion.

I agree Dave, that there should be some form of scrutiny of the work carried out by TAFS and this onus should be placed on the manager of the store.

Several years ago I took time out from tiling and was a carpet manager for a national company. My policy was to call the customer the next day and ask if they were pleased with the fitting and the fitters. As I was a competant fitter myself, I ensured that the standards were as high as if I were to have fitted the carpet myself.

One of the problems that I have found with the management of Topps is that in this particular case, the new manager is still on a learning curve, having come from an allied trade, and has yet to aquire the skills to become a good manager rather than an average manager. I would certainly, in his position, call customers and ask how things went and then base this information of whom I would recommend and whom I wouldn't as a TAF.

 

[Time's Ran Out]

Tom, Dick and Harry - Ordinary people taken at random - Not a derogatory term in The English Language.

John.