Cambria Quartz Quality Control - Beware!

[Carmine Pantano]

So after inspecting slabs and not finding anything, we cut the slabs and as we lifted the kitchen pieces off the CNC with the crane, the pieces were now at eye level. That's when we found the problems. Most of you know of the fissure lines in the back of quartz slabs, well this was on the face. It was in the middle of the slab, we didn't see it during inspection. But saw it once the piece was vertical at eye level. Of course Cambria doesn't stand behind their product because we already cut it, so I have to pay for new material out of my own pocket. As you can see in the pictures how hard it is to see, it 's a lot harder to see in person. BS

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[CustomMarbleGraniteToo]

That is awful.. sorry to hear Carm

[ronald hannah]

Awful?

Come on folks, let's stand together and get this fixed.

Cambria needs to stand behind their product.

[VThartzog]

We called and raised hell about two slabs of cambria not matching at my last shop.....same design but colors would be hard to tell they were different colors until seams came together(way different) and they agreed to reimburse the slab cost as long as we made it for a few cabinet shops as showroom pieces that were not to be sold

Sucks man

[Chris Mills]

That sucks buddy.

[Dan R.]

I fail to see the connection one beween a flaw and if the slab was cut.

It doesn't devalue the flawed slab any further, does it?

Does Cambria want it back and try to sell it to MQ or another distributor or fabricator?

It feels like Cambria doesn't trust their own network. Pretty sad really.

Is this a company that is trying to raise the bar? Doesn't sound that way to me.

[Jeff H.]

Agree 100% with Dan. How do they think that garbage got into the slab? This is unacceptable!

[graffster]

This is why we choose not to use this product and not to be forgotten the radon scare they were behind. With that being said they should replace the defective material.

[Carmine Pantano]

I have to thank my distributor for at least giving me the replacement slab at display pricing discount, which helps.

My purpose for posting on the public side is so IF a Cambria rep sees this, they need to realize that their quality control is crap and they need to remember WHO is fabricating and selling their product. US. I get that this is their rules. Even we have rules. They should know when to bend the rules once in a while.

All quartz companies need to realize something...they are not the only quartz company out there, I can EASILY switch a customer to another brand with the snap of a finger.

Oh...while I'm ranting...for those quartz companies reading this. You better figure out how to lower your prices because you are pricing yourselves out of the countertop market. Customers can't justify the cost of a fake stone countertop when they can get an exotic natural rock for the same price or less. Just saying! All these price increases we've gotten lately is ridiculous. What are you going to charge in 5 years from now? Granite pricing has been pretty much the same for the past 20 years, quartz can't go 20 months without an increase...again, just saying!

[graniteman]

We don't get the pleasure to fabricate Cambria. But the quartz companies that we do deal with have been fair about replacing material. I would think Cambria would want to have a long term relationship with the fabricator.

I would struggle to fabricate their material if they won't admit when they repaired a material. Maybe leave a piece in your office and let customers know what kind of QC the factories have.

As for pricing, some quartz companies are going crazy while others are keeping them steady. I do agree they are about to be out of reach for the average buyer.

[mark s]

No amount of advertising will cover high pricing and poor quality over the long term. All you have to do is wait them out.
The pic is an example to how bad their QC can get. (my apologies if this was done by a SFA member. IMHO it's horrible.)

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I recently flipped a job which was Cambria spec (for $165k, I saw the bid) to granite at $110k. My service was better, quality much better, turnaround better, more durable product, and better looking to boot. It was a big win for my customer and the owner of the business that got the tops. The owner had kept his personal rooms in Cambria at the request of his wife who'd seen all the advertising. When it was all done and she saw the inexpensive granite she no longer liked her Cambria.

[BrentP]

I agree that quartz pricing in general is getting out of hand. It seems like every customer that comes in lately says "quartz is way more expensive than granite, right?" when I ask them what kind of material they're looking for. Why pay $20+/ft when that gets you into some very nice granite colors?! As to Cambria, they're pretty arrogant cause they've got the nicest colors but it's a matter of time before Hanstone and some of the others get it figured out.

[Ken Lago]

Carmine, are you getting it from Marva?

[Jesse]

I agree that quartz pricing in general is getting out of hand. It seems like every customer that comes in lately says "quartz is way more expensive than granite, right?" when I ask them what kind of material they're looking for. Why pay $20+/ft when that gets you into some very nice granite colors?! As to Cambria, they're pretty arrogant cause they've got the nicest colors but it's a matter of time before Hanstone and some of the others get it figured out.

vicostone/Pental has it figured out...some of their colors are identical to "Scumbria" and I would like to say cheeper but I also do not get the pleasure to fabricate "Scumbria". They are not a factor in my area due to no fabricators!!

[Carmine Pantano]

Carmine, are you getting it from Marva?

No, they no longer service PA for Cambria.

[rtams]

A lot of quartz companies will cover a slab if it cracks during fabrication - maybe let Cambria know that it happened after it was cut, they certainly couldn't say that it was already there before fabbing, because that would mean their product is inferior....

[kevinp]

I just cut some Silestone with the same issue, open fissure.

[Curtis R. Marburger]

Happy you had distributor help you out on that Carmine , that is clearly a manufacturer fault crack during Cambrias process
I have seen them cracks others have installed , they are hard to see until you get at the right angle

every ESS slab delivery should be inspected for these thats a snag when we are already busy to have to inspect ES for this , so far I have only seen this in Cambria