Surface Encounters

Their website says they have remnants for $ 19/​sq ft. which is absolutely not true. When I called to see what they had, they said the price didn’t include installation. No problem, I don’t need them to install. They said they charge the same price regardless. Well it isn’t $ 19/​sq ft then, is it?! The quote came out closer to $ 45/​sq ft. Uhhh. No.

You need to stay away from this company. Their customer service comes out of their Shelby store. Rob is a great guy at Wixom, but he couldn’t get me any good service. My granite was installed 5 years ago in April. Yesterday we were washing dishes and the sink fell in! Literally. It came unglued from the granite and fell through the cupboards. The garbage disposal held it up but the plumbing underneath broke. My decorator, Pam Edwards, set me up with them after they bought a slab I liked through Dwyer, so I was stuck with working with them. Of course! I have company coming this afternoon. Surface said they could send someone out in 4 days to reattach but then I’d have to find a plumber myself! They did say they would pay for the plumber. Now, after talking with Katie, she has rescinded what she said about reimbursement for the plumber (even though she had told me earlier in the conversation that, of course, they would pay for it)! Evidently, she talked with her general manager, who pulled back her promises. I would never do business with this company again. After install I noticed they really didn’t use the template for the sink I had purchased thus I struggle every time I take the sink grate out because the opening doesn’t match the sink opening. They just chose to make an approximate hold for the sink. Turns out they just glued the sink to the granite and didn’t even have clips to hold the sink in place. Of course glue will give out over time! The local guys just laugh when I told them it was Surface Encounters and told me they run in to this all the time with that company.

Couldn’t be more disappointed with the service from this company. We specifically talked with Susan about tear out. She knew we were on a budget, we made that clear. We agreed to the price. So imagine my surprise when the installers show up and tell me that they have to charge an additional $ 250 for tear out??? I spoke to Susan who said that it wasn’t in the contract. Really??? So I asked to speak to a supervisor who simply said «to bad pay for it, no discount.» I tried to speak to Jason the general manager, who didn’t give me the decency of a return phone call.
They tell me that I have to have the faucet available at installation so that they can drill the right size whole. Again imagine my surprise when I realize that they drilled the hole to big. I called and the service manager who tells me that they drilled the hole to a standard size, like it was my fault or something. Really??? I asked then why they insisted that I have the faucet available if they weren’t going to use it. I got no response. Go figure. So they dropped off some washers to fix the problem. That wasn’t enough; they cut the holes for the outlets to small. Back to drilling and more mess to clean up.
To add insult to injury, they took an additional week during the holiday season when family would be coming over to correct the problems. They did absolutely nothing to accommodate my schedule. So in return I took an additional week to pay them. Seems fair.
Will I be back to have my bathrooms done by them?

I have never in my life written a review, however, my experience with Surface Encounters was so miserable that I want to encourage others to avoid a similar disaster.
1. Keith is the worst Sales Rep that I have ever encountered… he is both incompetent and irresponsible. During my first visit to Surface I asked Keith for a quote… he responded that he would call me back and never did. I returned a week later and he didn’t even apologize for forgetting… just provided the deer in the headlights stare. He lacks basic knowledge and only provided me with lies throughout the experience.
2. Surface actually DELIVERED THE WRONG countertops to my house. I ordered granite for a half bath and two full baths. I had a slab tagged with Dwyer for the two full baths and discussed this with Keith… Surface had even called Dwyer to confirm and get more information on my slab. Problem is that nobody at Surface ever noted my sales order so when Surface began to cut my countertops… they actually grabbed a slab from their own warehouse rather than the slab I had sitting reserved at Dwyer.
3. The delivery guys actually dented my wall while carrying the wrong slabs to my upstairs bathrooms. The slabs are indeed incredibly heavy and the install guys appeared to be taking every precaution, but the new dent only added to my frustration… especially given that I had just completed repainting my entire house. I quickly contacted Surface when I noticed that the slab didn’t appear to be what I was expecting. The install guys removed the slabs (ie thankfully they had not yet been glued to the counters) after their mistake was confirmed.
4. I had out of town family and friends visiting me for the weekend so I was extremely disappointed and then embarrassed to have guests stay at my house without bathroom sinks. I spoke to Sandy (I think she is the Office Manager) a few times and left four messages inquiring about some sort of concession by Surface to ease my pain and I never received a response other than «I will look into it».
5. They also lied to me about the thickness of the backsplash. I wanted to confirm that the backsplash would be roughly 1″ (ie approx half the thickness of the actual countertop) and Keith said the backsplash is always the same thickness as the countertop. This was contrary to everything I had read and learned, but suddenly I had no option.
6. Then I had a plumber to my house to hook up the water hoses and new faucets and he was shocked that the backsplash was so thick… he had never seen it the full thickness of the countertop. As a result… I am now unable to open and close the sink drain since there is not enough space between the faucet and the extra thick backsplash. The workaround is that I have to reach under the sink to manually open and close the drain… forever.
Overall…Keith, customer service and their management consistently erred, lied and left me with a forgettable experience while not even taking responsibility for their comedy of errors.
Please find another fabricator if you want reliability and honesty.

To the lady that was charged $ 295.00 to have her kitchen sink installed. I am a licensed master plumber that ownes a plumbing company and i would have give you a better price then that. I would recommend you call the city and request the company pull a plumbing permit as it is required. I am sure the people that did the work were not licensed to do the work. So im just saying u paid for a licensed master plumber to do the work and i bet he didnt even do the job right. The only way you can find out is to have them pull a permit. If they dont file charges against them as a permit is required by the state of Michigan.

I got a advertisement in the mail for $ 25/​sqft granite counter tops and $ 19/​sqft for remnant installed. By the time they were done with the quote they had brought the total to above $ 52/​sqft for the «lowest available granite». They added a total of just under $ 1000 for additional fees which included the sink, plumbing reconnect sealer and tearing out the old laminate. The total before these «additional Purchases» just over $ 2,900. Basically the $ 25/​sqft gets you nothing but a piece of granite it does not include the edging any sink cutouts the cost to mount the sink.
The two that I found most insulting the the Fuel /​Import surcharge and the plumbing reconnect fee (which was $ 295 just to reconnect a sink are you serious). Obviously when they say installed they must just mean glued to your counter tops,
Next time I won’t waste my time and will stay with Artistic Marble and Granite as they were much more up front with there pricing and much more pleasant to deal with.
Oh and did I mention when I asked the girl what I could get for $ 25/​sqft she just hung up on me…

First off, they should rename the biz: Close Encounters.
Because they were not invented in 2009, as they state in their website.
They were REINVENTED in 2009, coming out of their former ROCKTOPS disaster where they went belly-​up and left hundreds of employee’s paycheck-​LESS and customers granite-​LESS.
Second, they advertise HALF-​OFF granite. It should be half-​off when the prices start at $ 95/​sq ft.
Third, Can YOU say BAIT & SWITCH? I can, and did when they showed me the $ 25/​sq ft pieces that the ad dragged me in to purchase. I wouldn’t put those pieces in a trailer, unless maybe a demolition was scheduled.
Fourth and final point, the help, or SERVICE reps, are clueless and RUDE. They had that, «I’m doing you a favor» mentality and actually looked me in the eye when they told me installation would be 8 – 10 weeks out from measure.
I guess they are super busy ripping off the public.
Don’t go here, really.
Stick with a local contractor who has been in business for years and can offer you honesty, fair prices, quality installation and EXTREME customer service… like Quality Kitchens & Baths in Wixom…248.343.6197.