Anyways luckily for me we have legislation in our jurisdiction that succeeds the warranty that Caesarstone provides. Products should simply be in reasonable shape for a reasonable amount of time. ~ Saskatchewan
https://www.saskatchewan.ca/government/ ... warranties
Anyways I'm not sure where the logic of burning a 15 year customer who has spent tens of thousands of dollars buying Caesarstone is but its frustrating and I've had enough.
So I'm going to start a thread here and update you on the process. This is my 11th time going to court and so far I'm batting a judgment or settlement in my favor of 100%.
Step # 1 - Demand Letter - we sent a letter to them to let them know we're suing them for the full costs of replacement and any costs of replacing splash or repairing cabinets. In reality all we want is two new slabs (Ocean Foam, the cheapest stuff the sell no?).
We could not find an address for their legal department and their warranty department would not get back to us with an appropriate address so we sent it as signature required mail to the President of Caesarstone North America.
Someone from the warranty department did get back to us.
Unfortunately for him the legislation in my jurisdiction does cover the costs of replacement and associated costs which supersedes the Caesarstone warranty. As a matter of fact he may be admitting liability because the legislation reads :"We received your letter. Please note that our warranty terms, available on our website, states we don’t cover these costs.
Furthermore, we tried getting involved with a resolution with the chips early on but you didn’t provide the information we needed to investigate the claim. We have your emails to prove so.
Also, the discolouration looks like a chemical burn ( burnt resins causing the change in color). Perhaps something was used by the homeowner or other trades.
This is normal wear and tear with the counter that was installed for over 1 year now.
If you wish to pursue this in court, that is your prerogative."
When in fact the product had pits (admitted) and he calls them "burns" which were identified very quickly after installation. Its been dragging on a year.The product has no defects;
The product and all its parts are durable for a reasonable period of time;
Step 2: So normally we'd give them a number of days to respond and they did. The next step is to file a Statement of Claim - Cost $50. Along with this we need to prove these people are a company so we needed a Corporate Registry profile. The Government of Canada provided one for free! I understand normally there is a charge for that.
So that is where I'm at. Why did I post this? First of all I'm frustrated that when I have issues with the big names I'm often treated less than fairly. The guys selling the Chinese cheap stuff always back up their crap and we've never had an issue we couldn't resolve.
Also I have some contractor and business friends who never stand up for their rights and always think court is a big expensive deal. It is not. Once you understand the Small Claims system you can use it to your advantage.
Lastly I've been frustrated that the SFA has done nothing to my knowledge to back up fabricators on these issues. I note the last time I posted something about this it was deleted. Now I am no longer a member of the SFA. The bottom line being that if this post is deleted too, then you know who the SFA is working for, and it is not you.
