We paid for a whole slab of pental lattice quartz for our island. A very simple 4.5' x 8' rectangle with eased edges. There was going to a decent rectangle they were cutting off and when we were laying out the kitchen on the slabs I asked if we could have that rectangle that was left over because I thought I might be able to use it as a fireplace surround (though I am not ready at this moment to fabricate I wanted to have it on hand). A week later they are scheduled to come out to install and I call the office and ask that they remember to bring the remnant with them. Yes, sure, no problem. So counter tops are installed and they don't have the remnant, installers had no idea they were supposed to bring it. But said they can bring it out when they do another job, just call the office. Called the office and left a message that was never returned. Made two more calls with "we will look into that" and no calls back. Finally the owner called me today to tell me that when you fabricate quartz it is brittle and can crack so you have to do relief cuts. My remnant was in a bunch of pieces and that people don't get the remnants from jobs because they are often in pieces. That there was no way for anyone but the engineer that cut my stone to know that my remnant was in pieces which is why no one could give me an answer when I called. I am somewhat "ok" with the cracking/relief cut explanation (if it is actually true) but really annoyed that it took me 4 phone calls and lots of nagging to get this answer out of them when it seemed like no big deal to give me the remnant and none of "but it might crack so you might not get it". Just curious now to know if this is common practice to make relief cuts on straight pieces and if quartz cracks this easily.