Anyone ever been decertified to fabricate a material because you filed a warranty claim about faulty material?

Interesting how this whole warranty issue has come about.  We filed a claim on a quartz material because the material had specks of black particulate in it.  Of course the manufacturer denied the claim because the material was actually discontinued.

Problem was they didn't tell us the material was discontinued so we fabricated and installed an eight foot counter with a partial slab that we did a previous kitchen in another customers home.

After filing the claim and being denied, we asked why.  They explained as I said above but the decided to change their mind and give us credit for one full slab.  About a month later, they selected two fabricators in my area that were going to be the designated fabricator.  The sales rep said he now had to visit our shop to inspect the facility.  After inspection we were decertified.  Amazing.

We have been fabricating this product for over two years without one issue.  In fact the issue of the warranty was faulty material and not fabrication.  They didn't pay for the replacement of the counter anyway.  Instead they only issued credit for a new slab.

I have heard some rumbling in the industry about this company setting up shops and then pulling fabrication from those that promoted the product.  Does this sound like the case here, or am I reading too much into it.

what was the material well i guess you cant say in a public forum you could pm it to me that could shed a little light on the subject i have never heard of this happening before i would recommend fabbing another product call them up and tell them that you just converted an up coming 300 home building project from there product to anther that always gets there feathers ruffled

It is Cambria.  I am not looking to single out one company, I was only trying to come to some understanding of what the heck is going on.  Over two years without one claim, they setup two large fabricators and recommend I buy from them and then all of a sudden I can't buy material.

This was all because they did not inform me that the color we sold was discontinued due to a production problem.  It was a white color that was supposed to be more of a solid white.  This slab had specks of black in it but was consistent throughout the material.  We assumed that was the "Natural Variation" they always talk about.

This just doesn't seem normal to me.

Cambria is one of those wearied companies in our area marva sells it to any one they deliver to no big deal. but in most parts of the country Cambria dealers are not allowed to sell unfabricated slabs to other shops. you may have been flying under the radar for a while. what qualifies you as a dealer is you buy containers. in most cases they don't want you buying raw slabs they want you to buy finished product from the dealer and install it. some ways around this is you buy rely big islands 120x55 from the dealer or you just get someone to sell it to you under the table so to speak. but than there is no warranty on the work you do. so if you were not buying containers you just may have been flying under the radar and just tipped them off to your situation. assuming you were never buying containers.

or the people you were buying it from gave you misleading information and they weren't supposed to be selling you the raw material in the first place. and you tipped Cambria off that they were selling you the material

Cambria is the ones that set up a quasi distributor here in California through one of their fabricators.  They sent us the samples, the display tower and set up an account.  I have a hard time believing thay didn't know we were fabricating the material.

You know my biggest dissappointment is the fact they treat us like a second class fabricator.  My shop has been in Orange county California for over 20 years.  You would think they would consider it a privilege to be showcased in a showroom without having to set up shop.

Wishful thinking I guess.

trust me your small potatoes to them im sure your well aware of what sile stone is doing to there loyal fabricators

Hey Andy,

It sounds to me like there is something weird going on but that doesn't surprise me at all about Cambria.

We were decertified for "not buying enough" back in march. The worst part is that the sales woman was so snotty about it, i actually think that she took some form of personally pleasure in doing it.

Here we are 6 months later and there is now a new salesman for our area that showed up last week. They have taken a new and differenent approach here. They are now saying that there are no plans for setting up any new distributors but that they would gladly warranty the product if we were to buy the material from another fabricator. That goes against everything that i knew Cambria to be about in thier business model.

Personally, with all of the competing materials that are out there, Cambria can go stick it where.... Well you get the point. I have decided to hitch my wagon to another material that i feel has the ability to offer just as much, if not more than Cambria does.

a lot of fabricators are looking to ceasar stone. sile stone has stabbed there fabricators in the back and cambria has pretty much been blackballed by the granite community for backing the radon scare. and zodiaq is just a pain in the but and the price is not that great. we still sell all of the above but if we can we steer the customer toward the ones we like 90%of the time that is not hard to do. granit wins out most of the time over any man maid product.

I must say I like the colors Cambria offers and the fact they are made in the United States.  BUT, when they pull my certification because of something they did (or that is their reason) it doesn't make me want to sell their product.

I'm thinking that the warranty claim is just an excuse that they are using. My former employer fabricates Cambria still but I think that it's around 75-80% of what they sell. That's why they are still "certified."

We're located in Wisconsin so we were a little excited when we heard that the Chicago fab shop was closing. We thought that we might actually be able to fab it ourselves. We're not that lucky though. Now they fab it in Indianapolis and ship it all the way up here.

I think they found an old Dupont playbook from the launch of Zodiaq and thought it had actually worked. Unfortunately, it included the chapters  "If We Make It, They Will Come.",  "How To Make The Fabricators Think We Are Doing Them A Favor", and "Bigger Is Always Better".

Linda

FYI - I got a letter in the mail yesterday that they are bringing Whitehall back.

Why don't manufacturers stick to manufacturing a product and let the fabricators, fabricate.  Just a thought.

We recently had a manufacturer do that to us, too. After years of reliable, complaint-free service.
It is a shame that loyalty has little or no place in business anymore. 

You can do great work for years and nobody notices, but screw ONE thing up...

Sometimes you don't even have to do that.

i see plenty of jobs that are nothing but crap and could never even be in the same category as my work but some how this crappy work still makes it into the market place most of it is commercial but i see a lot of residential stuff as well. in this as in most industries these days you are only as good as the last job that you did.

in my market area for many shops we are the ones they come to when they know it absolutely has to be done rite. out side of that they are price whores and go with the lowest bidder regardless of quality than when its screwed up the call us. over the years we have pulled many loyal customers that dont mind paying just a little more because we will have it done rite on the first shot.

they did not pull your certification because of that warranty claim thats just the cover reason

Andy:

I promise you that if you sent Cambria a certified check tomorrow for a container of Cambria for a commercial job you already have sold, you would be "recertified" immediately.

Joe

ya but who wants to do that its better to push another product and wait it out a little when there sales suffer because of there attitude they will change we can all hope

Honestly, the more I thought about it, the more I think I am frustrated because of their attitude about their product.  I want manufacturers and distributors to appreciate the fact that I am pushing their product.  When I don't get that, it makes me want to sell something else.

Here on the West Coast, nobody even knows what Cambria is.  It is only after they come in the door and see what I display do they decide.  I guess at this point I will try another product to take the place of Cambria.  Especially since we have Staron Quartz, Hanstone, Caesarstone and 5 others to offer.

I am starting to notice that I am not the only person that has experienced a "bad attitude" from cambria. I am with you Andy,we just ordered a slab of Zodiaq to replace the current cambria display. I just might have to take some pictures of it and send them to my buddies at cambria. I know that the Zodiaq rep is pretty thrilled with it!

Cambria has never heard about 'dancing with the one that brought ya...'

Marva Marble and Granite is (was) Cambria's single largest customer.  They distributed slabs to fabricators throughout the Mid-Atlantic region.  Then Cambria decided to open up their own fab shop in Charlotte, NC and proceeded to tell Marva that they could no longer sell Cambria in North Carolina.

I sell Cambria only if I have to.  I'd much rather sell Ceasarstone, Hanstone, Silestone or OneQuartz and will try to turn all quartz customers towards those products rather than reward Cambria for their business practices.