Call Kurtis: Floor Unfinished
The store's slogan is "always in stock". So why haven't they given her the rest of her tile?
Taking a tour through Estela Jimenez's home, you'll notice her beautiful, new tile. But take a closer look and you'll find the project came to an abrupt stop. There is bare floor in her laundry room, under the fridge and in her half-bath, where tile should be.
"Even my grandkids are asking me, 'How long is it going to be like that?'" says Jimenez.
Her master bath is a master mess. But Jimenez's half-finished job isn't the fault of her installer. She says he did a great job but he ran out of tile.
"He measure and he told me I was short," says Jimenez.
She ordered 900 square feet of the tile from the Tile Outlet, Always in Stock in Stockton. Her installer says they shorted her about a hundred square feet. So she returned to the store and was surprised to hear them admit they shorted her order.
"They say, 'Well I'm sorry. We don't know how that happens. We're short, but we don't know how that happened," Jimenez says.
On top of that, the store that touts "Always in Stock" was out of stock of her tile. They told they would get more of it, but that was in April.
"They've been telling me a week, a week and a half, two weeks, two days," Says Jimenez.
She says no one responded to a certified letter she sent demanding the rest of her tile. We called up the Stockton franchise owner who says that particular tile was discontinued. They offered her a refund, or to pick out different tile to finish up the job.
"I say, 'No, how am I going to do that? It's going to look funny'"
The owner told us the corporate office was trying to track down more of what she ordered.
We called the corporate office in Rancho Cordova and asked why the store that's own sign says "Always in Stock" was out of stock. That's when the Vice President of the company told us the slogan doesn't say "Everything is Always in Stock."
But after our call they managed to track down more of that tile in Miami. Jimenez is looking forward to getting the job done.
"I'm going to feel better but at the same time I feel like I waste 8 months," says Jimenez.
Jimenez is actually concerned the tile shipped in from Miami isn't enough to finish the job. It's been at the corporate office for a couple weeks now, but she's still waiting for the store owner in Stockton to pick it up.
Our questions about how all this even happened were directed to that owner, who has not returned our calls. The corporate office released this statement:
"Tile Outlet Always In Stock, Inc. is committed to servicing our franchisees and their retail customers with great service and products at a great value. We have been in business for 10 years and have over 35 franchised locations across the western U.S. Within the tile industry, products are frequently discontinued at various segments along the supply chain. This is the result of changes in fashion and/or production costs. With that said, immediately upon hearing of the issue at one of our franchised locations, we extensively searched to locate the product for Ms. Jimenez. We located the product in Miami, FL and immediately paid the freight to resolve the issue. Both the customer and franchisee have been notified of the products' arrival."
Chris Nezbeth
Vice President
Tile Outlet Always In Stock Corporate Office