Five Star Surfaces Inc

Is Five Star Surfaces Still In Business?



Fifteen months after we ordered a $60,000 floor from them, they still have our $30,000 deposit for marble they never produced or documented, and they haven’t returned our lawyer’s calls.



On January 2, 2013, my wife and I contracted for Five Star Surfaces of Hialeah, Florida, operated by Gilbert Machado and his family, to provide a white marble floor for our home @ $60,000 through an interior designer, and paid a $30,000 deposit. The delivery estimate was 4-6 weeks. That delivery date was critical because the old floor was demolished, we were living in a rented house for the duration, and the other contractors needed the new floor installed to do the rest of the job.



Machado Family Values:



At our first meeting in Five Star’s showroom, we had reason to be impressed. Gil Machado showed us sparkling white marble samples. We chatted with his son and Sales Director Christopher Machado, who volunteered that Five Star held itself to a higher professional standard than other vendors in South Florida who cut corners and made promises they couldn’t deliver. Then, six weeks later…



Where In The World Was Our Marble?



On our promised delivery date of six weeks, all of our other contractors were backed up waiting. Our kitchen sat ready to be installed. And we had no delivery date for our floor. Worse, we couldn’t get a straight answer from Gil Machado about the marble.



From February 15 to March 30, our Project Manager, my wife, and I all contacted Gil Machado by email, phone, and personal visits asking: What’s the job status? When will it be delivered? Where is the quarry? What ship will bring it to the States? WTF is going on?



Incredibly, Gil Machado would not tell us where the job was being done, how much was cut, what ship was booked to transport it – if there ever was a ship - or when the order – if there ever was an order- would be delivered.



Remember Chris Machado’s promise of personal responsibility and accountability? Of going to the quarry in Turkey and personally supervising the marble cutting for our floor?



Empty Promises, Bizarre Excuses:



Gil answered our questions with email promises like “I’m on it!” Then never followed up with answers or action. He made bizarre excuses -- “We never knew there was a schedule on your job” …“Our other clients don’t care how long it takes”… “The workers at the quarry (in Turkey?) are off celebrating Chinese New Year for two weeks” and after the end of the Chinese New Year …“Our Man will be going there next week”…(Our Man? What happened to Chris? )… then the next week, then the next, then the next…until Gil just stopped returning our calls and emails. No explanation.



Ten weeks into the “4-6 week delivery” schedule, we were forced to cancel and buy another floor from a reliable vendor. We had to reschedule the other trades and extend our lease on the house we were renting.



To our knowledge, there was no marble anywhere in the world to fulfill the order we paid a $30,000 deposit to secure. Maybe our order was sold to someone else. Maybe it never existed. We had no way of knowing what happened to our marble or our deposit money.



It’s now almost April 1, 2014. A January, 2014 letter from our attorney to Five Star asking for our deposit back went unanswered. A final demand letter in February did, too.



A service company is now researching whether other buyers have had similar experiences with Five Star Surfaces, or its principals using some other entity. If you have, please contact research@fivestarsurfaces.info and report it so we can take the most effective action to resolve them.



We don’t want this to happen to anyone else. My wife went through months of agony, and I would not like to see others suffer needlessly. I’ll report back on our progress in a month or so.



Chris G

Miami, FL