Big MASH...and I am MAD!

Actually happened 5/178/15, but just posting now.

The tile for the backsplash was ordered a LONG time ago and even after it was finished, I could not drive the 3 hours to pick it up for 2 weeks. That means the tile was sitting in their warehouse for 2 weeks and it was a total of 8 weeks since ordering.

I was excited to finally pick them up, however as I walked up, from 4 ft away I could see they were WRONG!!!!!
I was SO mad.  What happened to quality control?  The factory could see it was wrong and in the 2 weeks they were waiting for me to pick them, they could have fixed them.
The tiles I saw in front of me had NO color and hardly any crackles.  It almost looked like tiger stripes...all horizontal crackles and no vertical crackles.  They were basically off white, which I could have gotten at Home Depot.

Not only did I waste a 3 hr trip and wasn't taking these tiles home, but the tile installer had ONE window for us to squeeze into because he won a bid for a 90 unit apartment complex.  He was going to stick me in before he started that huge project and now that was not going to happen.

While we were face to face, they agreed the color was wrong and here it is....

The two smaller tiles at the bottom are the samples I left with them to match.  They made the samples, so there was no reason to believe they couldn't make them again..just in a longer size tile.

The first women I spoke with agreed they were not a match and told me they would talk to the factory and see what could be done.  They mentioned they could add another layer of tinted glaze and re-fire them.  I wasn't sure at the time what that meant, but you can bet I started my research as soon as I got home.
I left and just 2 hours later on the phone the tiles suddenly started to match the samples.
Because they were not face-to-face with me anymore they started making excuses.
I was mad to begin with, but now I was livid.

From my research, re-firing tiles make them more brittle and that means during installation, they could break.   Pratt & Larsen said they would try anyway and then we'd go from there.  Well, everytime I talked to them on the phone, the manager kept saying the re-fired tiles looked great.  I finally had to tell her I don't care if SHE thinks they look great, I have to think they look great.
It was like passive-aggressive bullying and so unprofessional.

When they were done a few weeks later, I drove 3 hours yet again to check them out.  My daughter went with me for support and to be a witness. 

When I got there, the mgr and I had that "girl doesn't like other girl" stare and she went to get my tiles to show me. She went to get the factory manager and they layed them out on a table (which I forgot to take a picture of).  Instantly I knew they would not work.  The tiles looked like a checkerboard.  Many different colors and it was insane that they thought these looked better.

We went round and round and these are their arguments and my rebuttals:
Pratt & Larsen -  these are handmade tiles and there will be a variance in color.  Because they are sprayed by hand, it is impossible to control how much tint is going on each tile.  

ME - how to they spray the tiles?  do they stand on a ladder and spray down so it's more even or do they stand on the floor and spray the hose out so that the closer the guy is to the table, the more glaze gets on the tiles, kind of like a hose.  If you spray out 10ft, you'll only see sprinkles, while at your feet, it will be a downpour.

Pratt & Larsen -  we stand at the table and spray out.  We do not stand on top of the table. If you want a tle that is the same, it would have to be machine sprayed.

ME - 
1) I went above and beyond what other customers do and I had a Pratt & Larsen 2x4 sample and waited 3 weeks for the  3x8 samples to be made to make sure that the color would look great in my kitchen.  All 5 of the 3x8 sample tiles I received had a 10% variance.  They are not identical, but definitely in the same color family, so I ordered 32 sq ft of 3x12 tiles.  My order was solely based on those samples I received by your salespeople and factory.

2)the saleswomen in my city knew I was having an extremely hard time finding a backsplash tile and if the variance was more in the 75% range like the ones I see here and the tiles would look like a checkerboard, she would have told me without a doubt to pick another tile. She would have said that these would not work for me seeing how my kitchen was a difficult one.  The salesperson at this factory showroom ALSO did not say anything about a 75% variance in color when I placed the order. 

3)there is not one sample board on your showroom wall or the showroom wall 3 hours from here that has these tiles with a color variance like my tiles.  There would be NO WAY a customer could ever know that the color variance is 75% and not 10% by what they see in the showroom.


Pratt & Larsen - the factory manager went around the showroom to find a sample board to prove me wrong.  He returned with a sample piece with 4.5 tiles in a straight row and right beside it was another 4.5 tiles in a straight row ('stacked' is what they call it).  There was a 1/4" trim piece placed vertically separating the two stacked rows, which breaks up the color.  One of the field tiles was cut in half and 1/2 of the tile was placed at the top left and the other half was placed at the bottom right...completely separated from each other. Which tile do you think was cut in half and placed away from each other?  You guessed it, the lighter tile.

ME - I see there is a color difference in one of the tiles, but you strategically cut it in half and placed both halves very far from each other.  You didn't even keep the lighter tile as a full tile.   I also find it interesting that you added a decorative, darker, vertical 1/4" trim piece of tile in between the straight stacked tiles, which separates the lighter tile (cut in half) so the lighter and darker tiles are not next to each other kind of like you don't like it either and needed to find a way to distract people away from it.
Pratt & Larsen - silence.
Me:  If you are saying there is NO way to make my 32sq ft of tile to look like the 5 sample tiles I received, then I need a full refund. I can't have checkerboard as my backsplash.

While I was saying this, I was completely freaking out because I looked for over 3 months and I exhausted every tile place and couldn't find anything. 
So....I started crying. 

I didn't want to cry and I definitely didn't want to continue crying, but I was so frustrated and disappointed.  The factory manager sat there quietly, then looked at all the tiles and asked if I could pick 10 or so tiles out of the bunch where the variance would be OK.  I picked out 10 or so and put my 3x8 sample tiles in there too to use as a guide.  He said he would try to do them and get it as close to this range as possible.
I asked him if he said it was impossible earlier, how will it be possible?  He said he would tighten down the procedure and try to make it work.  I confirmed it would be done on a new set of tiles and not re-firing the current tiles a 3rd time and also that it would not cost me any extra money.
He said NEW tiles and NO extra money.  So....I started crying again and thanked them.

I won't be completely relieved until I see the finished product which should be early July, but at least they were trying.