Archarium

Fariba is not an ethical businessperson. We have done four home remodels so far so I understand the complexities when ordering custom tile. We spent over $40,000 on tile from Archarium. Once we unpacked the pallets of our tile that were supposedly made for our order, we discovered that a large portion of the order (44 of 253.5 boxes, $6,100+ of the order) were a significantly different color than most of the order. These boxes had old dates and there was an attempt to hide the manufacturing date with stamps or labeled with new dates to cover the old dates. These clearly weren't made for our order but foisted off on us from old stock.





It was very difficult to get hold of Fariba to address this. I had to actually go down to her store because she wouldn't return calls or emails. When she came onsite she agreed that the color variation of the old tile was an unacceptable match and she agreed to get replacements that would better match right away and assured us that we could go ahead and install what we had (the newly made tiles) and that the replacements should be close in color.



We rescheduled much of our project to work around the missing tile while there continued to be delay after delay. Fariba gave us excuse after excuse (didn't get enough of our tile in, the quality wasn't acceptable, more delays from the manufacturer, etc.). This went on for months and held up our job. She told us that, if we had to proceed, either by using the mismatched old tile or going out to get something else, she would make it right for us cost-wise. We finally had to use the old tile in part of our building where the color variation wouldn't be too jarring. When I finally reached her to find out how we could reconcile this, she told me "installation is acceptance".



I guess she felt safe telling me this now that I no longer had the possibility of rejecting the entire order as I now wish I had. 

BTW, I would be considered a good customer by most vendors. This was not the first time I bought from Archarium and remodel regularly so she lost all my future business as well. She chose to do that rather than refund me the cost of the old stock they dumped on me. I never even asked for then to absorb any of the additional costs of the construction delays and workarounds. 





DON'T believe her promises. Get everything in writing. Make sure you have a way to return unacceptable orders. Better yet, buy from an ethical supplier who will make sure you get what you ordered and paid for.