Had the same experience at ~50% of the dozen or so stone yards I went to in the Chicago area. Agree, never have I spent so much money - and been treated so poorly. Could have bought a used car for that amount and been treated better.

At one place they required a sales person walk around with you (AKA babysit). The guy would not stop talking and asking questions - very annoying when trying to look at stone and imagine how it will look in your setting. Finally I told him that I really thought I would be fine alone, he replied ''we require someone to be with you,'' to which I replied, ''is it a requirement that you have to talk non-stop?'' Obviously my patience had worn off and I was beginning to think a laminate countertop from a big box store would be fine.

There was only one location where it was a pleasant experience.

Hang in there, go to as many places as you need to, in the end it will be worth it. A friend compared the experience to labor & childbirth.

Hi Glitter... Love the name!

I went to a stone yard with my very well known kitchen designer and I still didn't love the experience. The saleswoman was very nice to KD and almost pretended like I wasn't there! Anyway, we are buying directly from the fabricator, which has been a much more positive experience!

There is a high end tile store in the DC area that "suggests" making an appointment on their website. One of their showrooms is in a shopping center next to a whole foods so I decided to pop in quickly to browse. They were so incredibly rude but changed their tune as I casually name dropped who I was working with. Oh well- beautiful stuff but I'm not going back there!

I've found appliance salespeople to be great, and we've been to a bunch of locally owned places as well as big box stores. Short of that, I have been less than impressed with the attitudes.

Hope you have a better experience at the next place!!!

The more expensive the stone, the higher the risk to the fabricator's pocketbook if he screws it up. I wouldn't work with any fabricator who charged the same for every single stone. He's either not been in business long enough to get burned by that, or he's a very poor businessman. Either way, he is suspect.

You don't go to the wheat farmer and ask the price of his wheat when you're trying to figure out what a hamburger bun will cost. Fabricator's are who purchase from wholesalers, and the only ones who are privy to the actual financial information between those two parties. If your fabricator chooses to share the wholesaler's actual price with you, that's atypical. Typically, they put their own markup on top of that for the time and manpower that it takes to get the slab to the shop. Therefore, they do not share the wholesale price with their customers. At least, if they are experienced and successful fabricators. Or, if. The do share, they add the transportation in as a separate fee, or a higher fabrication price. It's not free, even if you don't see the fee.

I fear that your fabricator is inexperienced, and wouldn't have the financial resources to replace the material or spend the extra time should there be a problem with the fabrication.

But I wonder if it is because I was there without a KD or a fabricator? Is there some unwritten rule that I should have had someone with me in order to be there? Was I supposed to tip someone when I went in? I felt like I showed up at a 5 star restaurant, had to borrow a jacket, and asked for a hamburger, fries, and store bought ketchup.

Nothing to do with you. Just rude people and bad business.
Some of us have encountered this. In some places this can be a bit of a racket. Not everywhere, but it happens.

After that treatment I would not want to deal with them at all.

Stone is a one-time purchase but a large one. Deal with a fabricator who is excellent (I would ask to see installations they have done or at least photos) and a stone yard where you can ask questions and have them answered civilly and accurately.

"Is this what I should expect? "
Yes and no. I've never had a yard wiling to give prices, see below for a way to deal with that.

Requiring accompaniment is not uncommon, there are safety and liability issues they have to worry about. I've lately seen stricter access and slab holding policies as a result of the behavior of some retail customers. Some will move a slab or two, some won't, most have a limit.

You are a retail customer at a wholesale facility. While you are spending a lot of money, they are making very little from your purchase. It's more like going to the steel mill when buying a car.

Things I do that can help but don't always:
-Browse ahead of time with photos
-Have a list of 4-7 stones you are interested in with pricing. The yard can and usually will tell you where a stone falls in the list.
-make an appointment, and ask about policies and restrictions at that time... even better have the fabricator or KD make it.
- it (sometimes) helps to give them the stone list at that time and indicate you'd like to see a few things that are similar.
-make an appointment, yes I said that twice.
-be as informed as possible ahead of time, come on your a GWer
-make an appointment

Occasionally I go along with a client, either because it is a difficult yard or because the client needs the help. It is often more to protect the yard and the relationships.
I try to make the visit efficient and indicate that we understand that their time is valuable ( more with honey than money-in the scope we are spending very little of it) But I don't pander or grovel.

Ugh, sounds like a horrible experience. I wouldn't want to deal with these people at all.

My only experience buying my own slab was completely different. I went to a yard that has a huge array of stones and also does their own fabrication. They are happy to let mere mortals wander--unchaperoned--through the slab yard. Each stone has two prices (per sq.ft.), the lesser one if they do the fabrication themselves and the higher one if they don't fabricate. They also told me their per sq.ft. fabrication price.

When I wanted to see some specific slabs, someone came with me and got the ones I wanted to see lined up. I dropped off my specs and within a few hours received an estimate. I decided to change the edge and they revised the estimate.

It was straightforward and painless. The people were nice. It was only a vanity top, not an entire kitchen. I was just a drop in their bucket, but I would go back to them and recommend them. And I love how my counter turned out.

Lineage, you went to a retail fabricator who happens to have a lot of slabs. It is different.

75% of the stone yards I shopped did not speak English, either! I do not speak Spanish.
The stone warehouse where I found my marble was at least friendly to me, and helpful as long as they were talking to my fabricator, who CONSTANTLY told me he did not recommend marble for any horizontal surface, while certainly cursing me in Bosnian.

VERY different. Retailers are built around selling to the end consumer. Wholesalers are NOT.

Our first trip, the big blue store sent us to a particular stone yard company. It turned out they sent us to the wrong yard for the stone we liked. There we were provided hard hats and escorted around with a 'salesperson'It wasn't bad. We called the KD and said they didn't have the stone we'd asked to see, and they sent us a couple blocks away to see the right one (Arizona Tile-Anaheim). We walked around, no way to get prices. We didn't care for the one we'd seen the 2"x2" sample of, but found something else we liked. We took the name of the stone we liked back to the store for pricing. Overall, the yard wasn't a bad experience. It was the larger location for a chain of yards. There is one nearer our home (Ontario) that we figured we'd check out.

In the interim, we wanted to shop and found an independent fabricator that we liked. He works with Arizona too. He called ahead and said they could give us his pricing. He said he'd mark it up a bit, which we understood.

We were sure we wanted that last stone (Kodiak), but the location Ontario didn't carry it, only the 'bigger names'. We went back to Anaheim. It had been a few weeks and of course the slab we liked wasn't there. They'd rearranged (they'd recently moved locations) and it was much more 'together' and pleasant. There was a map of what stone was there, etc.

We saw the most awesome piece of Mesquite. We were told it was being held, someone else in the yard was deciding on it, and it sold while we were there. It was also less expensive than Kodiak, which we liked. But it sold (and we needed two slabs anyway.) We drove like mad to get to Ontario before it closed (luckily it was a Saturday) and found OUR Mesquite. The Ontario location was always nothing but wonderful to work with, even when I showed up to 'visit' the stone after we'd purchased. (Or maybe it was when we bought the stone).

I'm sorry that your experience was miserable. My point was that maybe big blue or big orange would send you to a better place. (HD also uses Arizona around here.)

I am a fabricator.

If the customer wants something other than one of our stock colors our standard practice is to accompany a client to the slab warehouse (we have 2 very large suppliers within 15 minutes) .

However, we do not accompany them due to a lack of considerate treatment from the slab supplier. I would only need one or two complaints like yours to never use that supplier again.

Note: it often helps a lot if a person makes an appointment to view slabs since the slab warehouse has additional staff and they can all be busy if you drop in unscheduled ... and some people will look at stone for HOURS!

We accompany the client because we find it important to point out features of the stone likes fissures, surface irregularities, cracks, fill, etc. that the client usually won't notice and we don't want them "discovering" these features in their countertops. It continues to amaze me that accompanying a client for slab selection isn't a standard practice since it eliminates so many problems. We are the only fabricator in our service area that does it.

Regarding fab pricing and material cost: the majority of the stones we fabricate are fabricated for the same cost. Some stones are additional fab work due to difficulties in fabrication so the fab pricing is higher. These stones are generally the more expensive exotics and for customers at that price point some additional fab cost is not an issue.

Some inexpensive limestone and travertines are riddled with cavaties and are a lot of additional fab work to fill the cavities in the edges and cutouts.

Interesting comments.
Mine experience was positive. The pricing was as others described. I was given only general indications of high, medium, and low price--Grade A, B, etc.
I went to several very large stone yards in Louisville, KY, where I was uniformly well-treated. I could walk about unassisted if I wished, but help was available when I wished.
The owner from the facility where I bought one slab took my name and called me when the leathered black pearl slab we eventually bought arrived. I could not have been more pleased with them. In another yard, the slab I loved was the only one left and I was given a significant discount.
Perhaps the differences are regional? These were huge yards, but well staffed.

I hope you try several more yards in your area. They cannot all be so rude.

Around here there are only as jakuvall calls them "retail fabricators". There are absolutely no independent fabricators. I'm so glad for this as all my experiences with visiting and getting estimates were great. While you could show up at any time they all did encourage you to make an appointment. Some let you wander alone others came with you.

The system with separate fabricator and wholesaler sounds like a mess. Of course the granite yard is not going to want to spend a lot of time dealing with customers (who have more questions than a fabricator would) who are not actually their customers. No excuse to be rude but I can see how frustrating it would be when customers show up without the fabricator. Often when reading these types of experiences there is miscommunication between the three parties.

Seems like a better system could be developed.

glitter, I hope you are able to get this worked out and find a stone you want.

This post was edited by debrak2008 on Sun, Oct 12, 14 at 11:00

Our experience was very different. We did visit some yards where we had to be escorted and others where we were allowed to look at our leisure.
We were not given prices but the woman at the fabricator said if we found slabs we liked, she could get us prices with-in a few hours, and she always did, sometimes calling me immediately after leaving a yard.
I found most of the people of the yards to be helpful. We ended up picking a new yard - not one of the ones my fabricator recommended. But we are lucky, here on Long Island there are a bunch of yards.
Are there other yards to visit in your area?
No advice on fabricators....how many did you speak to? Have you seen work etc?

So sorry your experience was so horrible! I live in the middle of nowhere FAR Northern California and tried going to one of the only stone retailers around with my heart set on White Princess quartzite. After they searched for it for two weeks, they came back to my husband (wouldn't talk to me) with a quote of $17k+ for the material only, told us there would be a lot of waste so we'd need to buy 50% extra, and told us we'd need to order the slabs, sight unseen, and sign a contact that we'd accept whatever they bought. When we told them we didn't want to do that, they told us they understood we couldn't afford it, and suggested we change or selection to River White granite, which "is almost the same." They're not even close!

After that, I almost gave up and told the hubby we'd look at quartz. But, I kept searching online and found a yard in San Francisco (6 hours from my home) with White Princess. We called and talked to the owner and explained our situation and were given a quote over the phone that was less than half of what the local place had told us! We traveled to the yard, not knowing what to expect. When we got there, there were literally hundreds of slabs to choose from and we were encouraged to look at everything before we made our decision. Ultimately, I got the White Princess of my dreams! They held all the slabs for us for months until we got an a-frame trailer to haul them home. Everything they said, they delivered on! We also ended up ordering our honed Thassos marble subway backslash from them.

The moral of the story, don't get discouraged! For every dishonest ripoff shoo out there, there is another one that will give you great service. Just keep looking until you find a place that gives you respect! Best of luck!

Looking forward to your reviews on yelp, Angie's List, Facebook, and anywhere else you can put it. Of course you won't be spending a dime at this place.

I've never had an experience like this at a stone yard. Granted, they're not exactly like shopping at Bergdorfs. Appalling lack of cucumber water, for one thing. But also, no heat or ac. Loud machines. Dim lighting. Long waits. Other customers' children, who try to topple slabs down on you while mommy coos indulgently. But I've never experienced rude customer service on par with, say, a tile store.

Name 'em and shame 'em.

I was fortunate that there are several yards in my metro area. I found all the yards I went to friendly and did not require appointments, exception was one that I dropped into without an appointment when I discovered it driving by -- they were quite disapproving of my visit but did accommodate me. Turned out they were the local yard for Home Depot and also one of the smallest ones. About half required me to be accompanied. None would allow minors.

I already knew going in that they would not have actual pricing, although I had talked to a couple of fabricators who had given me their price lists (where stones were sorted into pricing tiers). There were a few instances where the fabricator would group a higher letter stone into a lower price tier, or vice versa, and also the prices would vary depending on the yard it came from.

You have to understand that, as others have pointed out, these are wholesale facilities that although they will let you in to pick out a slab, they are selling to the fabricator who sets the final price (markup is certainly there) to you. That employee must have misunderstood that you were talking about a set fabrication cost only, not the total package cost; and she was rude; but if they have the stone that you want I wouldn't let her behavior deter you.

Funny post. I visited a lot of yards, and didn't have as bad an experience. The place with better slabs did have less solicitous people, but I would shop there again.
I did get the full "we'll tolerate your presence, but don't breathe too much of our rarefied air before the Princess arrives" treatment at a downtown appliance store. It was intimidating the first time, but less so on a repeat visit when I felt more confident and knowledgeable (thanks to this forum).
It is absurd and ineffective for salespeople to behave condescendingly towards customers. I try to remember that fulfilled people don't act that way and feel compassion for them.

like debrak2008 the stoneyards in my area are the fabricators. at the stone place i ended up buying from, children were not allowed in the back warehouse with the stone. i was escorted through the warehouse as my salesperson would occasionally have to pull us to the side while a slab was being moved for safety. the slabs were clearly marked with prices and organized to some extent. my sales person showed us anything in our price range and knew where they were located.
the other stoneyards had the stone outside so no moving machinery around but were still accompanied by a salesperson. prices at the other places were not marked and had to have quotes run for any that caught our eye.
if you can find a retail stone place, having one person sell and fabricate the stone would be a lot easier and would eliminate finger pointing in the event of an issue with the stone or install.
if you are thinking about a big box store, be sure to ask how far away their fabricator is and how long they have been doing business with them. in my area fabricators are 3 hours away for hd/lowes and the turnover rate is high. not an indicator of success. i wanted someone local to complain to in the event of problems.

Not sure if I'm "Lineage" or not, but it sounds like I went to a retail fabricator who also has a lot of slabs. I would go so far as saying they have a crapload of slabs. They will also just sell you a slab to have fabricated by someone else which will cost you more for the slab.

Clearly I was a retail customer. I'm sure they also provide slabs to contractors whose clients need to perhaps come in to pick a slab? Why would a business treat anyone in the food chain poorly, esp. the one footing the bill?

I visited three slab stores in my town. All graciously allowed me to wander about "just looking." When I had questions and wanted to look more closely, I had great customer service.

I got my granite at a one-stop shop - huge granite inventory and they did the fabrication but I still had a less than satisfactory experience even though I'm pleased with the final result. The salesperson was not easy to deal with. At my first visit she wouldn't move any slabs and told me I needed an appointment. I made one and they would only move a small number of slabs - they made me feel like I was bothering them. I decided on Blue Pearl and had to insist on selecting my slab - the salesperson tried to tell me that all Blue Pearl slabs were the same and if I needed to see it, granite probably wasn't for me. I insisted and was glad I did - the batch had a small flaw which moved from the center of one slab to a corner of the slab about 3 slabs back. I selected that slab and insisted that they fabricate around it ..I went to the template layout to make sure they did.

As I said, I'm pleased with the result but the whole process was quite stressful.

Thanks everyone. I have to be honest, reading of others with similar experiences makes me wonder how the entire industry manages to keep going. I am going to read some reviews of other yards and I will decide if it is even worth messing with going.

Just for the record I had researched quite a bit before going, I had no idea that there was any expectation or even ability to make an appointment to look at stone and my fabricator said nothing about either making an appointment or him going with me - in fact, this is the line from the stone yard's web site: "Visit one of our showrooms today and let one of our trained and experienced sales staff assist you in the selection of natural stone for your next project." So I pretty much thought that I should just show up and and all would be well.

As to my fabricator, he is a 2nd generation fabricator and his family has been in business in the same location for about 40 years. From what he said his father and uncle started the business doing more commercial applications in the beginning. As to why he quoted me a standard across the board cost for fabrication, I don't know. I asked specifically about marble vs granite vs quartzite and was assured that all would have the same fabrication cost. I did make it clear in the beginning that I was not going to be buying a super exotic, so maybe if I was buying a $200 a square foot slab things would be different. He did strongly suggest that we do a squared edge (not even sure what it is called now) on quartzite due to the hardness of the material but with the others that included one of 8 edges. He spent quite a bit of time talking to me about different stones and educating me about the most common problems with each. Honestly he spent a lot of time REALLY talking to me about marble... the beautiful marble that felt like happiness under my fingers but would eventually turn on me and make me cry.

I do understand that the stone yard would not give me an exact price - I was just looking for very big round numbers. I don't now that the idea that I wouldn't ask a farmer the cost of wheat or the steel mill the cost of steel really holds true, because in neither case would I be expected to go to the field or the mill and make decisions about which wheat or which steel I wanted to use. And had the woman just said "Oh, we really can't give you any information about that." I would have accepted that. It was really the fact that she attacked me for asking, not letting me finish my sentence. And then backed it up by basically calling me an idiot.

I was very much a "mere mortal" in their environment. I hadn't thought about it, but I was dressed to go to a band competition in the cold. Jeans, boots, sweat shirt (hey, but it was ivy league! lol!). Perhaps the problem was that her perception was that I didn't have the money to be good enough to be in looking at her stone. Maybe she is just to shallow a person to know that you simply can't judge a finical book by the cover of the checkbook.

I do appreciate everyone's words - those in support and those that suggest corrections to my expectations/behavior. I feel like I have put in more effort than anyone I know researching stones, etc - I wonder how in the world the average shopper is supposed to know that they need an appointment to go look at stone. I wonder how we are expected to know that we should be dressed up to go to a warehouse. I wonder how we are expected to feel comfy shopping for something with no idea of slab pricing. The whole thing just strikes me as crazy. Like I need to be "good enough" to buy stone from them.

The fabricator had some nice quartzite. It wasn't leathered but it was nice. I may just go ahead and get that. It isn't what I really wanted but it is probably cheaper than what I would have picked out and it won't add to my stress level.

Glitter... don't settle for what's in stock @ the fabricator. Go out there and keep looking. You're armed with info now and don't let anyone put you down. And, don't take things personally... like I said, I have a fancy KD and the wholesaler ignored me the whole time!

I'm sorry. Your first post was written with such good humor I didn't realize how distressed you were. It really shouldn't matter what (or "who") you are wearing or how much you're spending, you deserved to be treated with courtesy. At a minimum, you should mention this to your fabricator and consider contacting the owner of the yard. If you don't get an apology, name 'em and shame 'em as Marcolo suggests.

I had a great time looking for slabs, it was one of my favorite parts of the remodel process, and I hope that you'll call another yard and have an opportunity to enjoy the experience. I'd go with you if I lived nearby.

Wow, I'm amazed to read of so many negative experiences. I've experienced nothing but good to very good customer service at the 4 to 5 (lost count) stone yards I visited. One place - the place we're getting our slabs from - provided excellent service. They were more than happy to bring our selected slabs out into the sunshine not once but twice; once for hubby and me and again when my KD and I visited for her to vet our selections. I should add that we visited during the work week instead of on the weekend when they are generally very busy. I plan to write up a glowing review on google and yelp.

I'm in the Portland, OR area; maybe it is a regional thing?

Get dressed up to go to a stone yard? These days anyone who judges what someone can afford by the way they are dressed is smoking too many illegal substances.

It was so muddy at the stone yards I went to that my combat boots would have been too dressy. We're talking BOGS with a hose chaser.

We are all mere mortals in that environment. They must have thought I was a nutcase walking around with a paint and tile sample and flashing them against every piece of white marble it the yard.

We're going to have to inspire you with some GW thunder Ms. glitter. You need a KF volunteer to go back with you and make those salespeople serve!

Who lives near her? Step up please!

>> I wonder how in the world the average shopper is supposed to know that they need an appointment to go look at stone

This reminds me of an old stand-up routine - I think it was Fran Drescher. She went into a fancy dress shop to look at dresses. The salesperson snootily asked her if she had an appointment. She said no, do the dresses have another engagement?

I had the exact same experience at XXX in my area. A major importer of stone. I was sent there by the fabricator who is one of their biggest customers. I had to sign my life away to even get into their filthy, place and hand my "file" to someone sitting behind a glass window. We were treated like we were there casing the joint for a heist. When I asked to see the granite they had advertised on their website as available the man says without even looking that they don't have it and never had it, what was I talking about. I explained it was on their site online and he became agitated and started banging on his computer and said they had it in Jersey but they never had it here. I asked the non-english speaking escort assigned to me was it closing time or something? She understood closing time, but she said no. I thought maybe that was why he was mad. Then I said that while I had driven all that way to see that one stone, since I was there I would like to see the slabs they did have. He got really upset and didn't understand this but grudgingly did allow. So he sent the girl with me who hovered over me. She looked bored and sad. But I felt rushed and shaky from his behavior as if I was a bother.

IF they don't want to deal with the public they shouldn't. Looking at the slabs at most places around here was a huge downer. But working with the big box stores was not much better. They move away from their desk and say they don't work in that department or chastise you for not having an appointment even to ask a simple question. Even when you have an appt, it's not much better. I had to laugh when Oprah was offended when given poor service in a shop in Switzerland. I thought to myself, honey, it's not just you, we all get treated like that these days.. I was actually kind of scared and on edge. I just wanted to get out of there asap. I didn't buy from them and never will, even if they had the original Blarney Stone. I would not buy it!!!

This post was edited by SaraKat on Mon, Oct 13, 14 at 7:55

That's too bad that your experience was not good :-( I am a very sensitive person, so that would have upset me and I probably would not have bought my stone there. Usually, if I meet someone who is incredibly rude I will complain to their manager instead of confronting them directly (have done this w/ postal employees!).

The stone yard that we went to was VERY friendly and helpful, they are called MontGranite and I believe they have different locations. They let us walk around unaccompanied but were also around to answer questions when needed. It sounds like that is unusual after reading others' comments! Also, the fabricator talked us through what it would be like beforehand and gave us approximate price ranges for the different letter rankings (A through Z), which was very helpful.

I hope you can have a better experience next time! It is so hard to deal with people who are rude and mean!

I'll be the third person to wonder if it's a regional thing. My experience has been the total opposite of Glitter and Sara's. I have only good things to say about North Coast Tile & Stone in Santa Rosa, CA.

My experience was the total opposite of yours. Our children were welcomed, we were offered a drink while we looked, salesperson was very helpful. They moved a slab for us, she answered all our questions, and left us alone when we needed to think and discuss. It was a wonderful experience. The only negative was it was 6 hours away from my home, but it was worth the drive.

The company that I am speaking of is a huge international corporation with locations throughout the United States and in other countries. They do not appear to hire local people to work at their warehouses. The very young women that work there seem little more than servants that are ordered about by the intimidating men. They seem bored and trapped. They have run off all the smaller mom and pop places. They are the Walmart of granite.

A casualty of offering large int'l corporations tax incentives is the local bubba who doesn't qualify can't compete and doesn't have the money or endless family members to work seemingly for free. I marvel at the massive equipment, trucks and product they have that the locally owned yard could never afford. I relayed my experience to the very nice lady at the fabricator's and she said yes, she knew it could be rough going down there. A little forewarning would have gone a long way.

I wouldn't say that I was treated rudely at stone yards. I was largely ignored (which is fine by me -- who wants to be followed around while trying to figure out what exactly it is that you want?), and given largely incorrect information. I was told that there were no samples for several of the stones I was interested in. I then found a huge set of cubbies that contained tons of samples of just about every stone in the yard. I was told that Superwhite wasn't marble -- yet the sample I took home (which didn't exist :-) ) scratched and etched just like marble. I was told that soapstones all have the same hardness. I don't know if the misinformation was willful or simply ignorant. Either way, I was somewhat surprised that businesses could operate this way in this day and age.

We had a pretty good experience at most of the slab yards we visited. There was one in our area that wouldn't tell us prices - said we had to tell our fabricator which stones we were interested in and he could call for a quote. That was one of the smaller slab yards and they didn't have anything we were interested in.

Most would ask our fabricator's name and then quote us a price. My impression was that their discounts to fabricators may vary based on the volume that fabricator does with them or something.

Most let us browse on our own. When we needed help such as when we wanted slabs moved to choose which ones in the lot we might want, we went on a weekday. They were crowded on the weekend and it is hard to get individual attention then.

We found a stone that we really wanted. Only two yards in our area carried it and one had very small slabs and the other had slabs that weren't as long as we would have liked and would have required an extra seam. The latter was a regional chain. They held the slabs which we were willing to buy but also checked their inventory and found large slabs at another of their sites around 100 miles away. They moved the bundle of larger slabs to the local yard so we could decide if we wanted them and select the slabs.

I can understand slab yards choosing to not allow minors - especially young children because there not necessarily kid friendly with heavy equipment moving slabs around at times. Possibly it is a requirement of their liability insurance. But they could have handled it more pleasantly and shouldn't object to a 16 year old waiting in their lobby.

Our fabricator didn't accompany us - we were to select slabs and they would then visit to vet them to make sure they didn't have any significant defects that we had missed. Our fabricator quoted one fabrication price (not including the material cost of the stone) regardless of which stone we chose. They have been in business a long time - I think they quoted a high enough price to cover their risks and costs over a range of stone.

We chose a fairly expensive quartzite and they did comment that they had to be extra careful because they didn't want to have to eat the cost of a replacement slab. Quartzite being hard also takes extra time on the fabrication equipment.

Most of the yards are sellers of stone, not geology buffs. Even the pleasant ones are often pretty ignorant about details on the stones like which ones are really quartzite.

I am so sorry by the way so many of you were treated. I hope my experience is much better when I am looking at slabs. I will be sure to ask if it is retail place or a wholesale place. Thank you everyone for sharing.

Don't rule out a stoneyard just because it's wholesale. The only thing that makes a stoneyard retail is having its own fabricators, which you may or may not want. Even a wholesale stoneyard should have the brains to recognize that consumers have the final say in selecting slabs. So find one that will accommodate you with a reasonably clean waiting room, a receptionist, and sales people with better manners than a rabid pitbull.

Thank you Marcolo for the wise wisdom and advice.

Seattle area here. We went to several of the big stone yards in the area with our 9-year-old in tow and never experienced what you experienced. In fact, he had a lot of fun looking at all the slabs (which pretty much all had at least one slab in a stack of the same kind showing). We never had an issue with rude, unhelpful employees. A couple of stone places let us wander on our own, but when we had a question we could find someone to answer easily. A couple of others had someone walk us through, but we didn't wait more than a couple of minutes for someone to come out to help us. In at least two of those places we had workers move slabs, so we could see ones further back in the pile. No one gave us a hard time for asking them to do their job! We did not have a KD with us, fwiw, and I'd be pretty ticked if that were the reason for the poor treatment. In other words, I'd be looking for a new stone yard if I were you, even if it meant driving a ways.

We did find that it's easier to get pricing from the fabricator because it seems that's just how they do it since they wholesale to the fabricator, but I just told each stone yard which specific slabs I wanted them to price for the fabricator. Then I got the prices from the fabricator in the next day or so. We also had several slabs held for us at various stone yards, and once we had made our final choice, the fabricator handled releasing all the other holds.

This post was edited by WindyCityLindy on Tue, Oct 14, 14 at 17:47

I have to say, in general I have found the granite suppliers to be the snobbiest, most elitist, most unhelpful businesses of them all by a long shot. Even over the phone It's really befuddling. It's so bad you find yourself wondering if they WANT business.