The Brew Cabin

Tony,

I ordered 300 Marshall's Perfecta flags from my local stockist (Keyline). In 'phoning for a quote, I had made it clear that I wanted 5 packs of 60 as supplied by Marshalls, the idea being to make sure that they were from the same batch. I was told that they had just had a delivery from Marshalls and could supply straight away, so I placed my order.

It turned out that they had only 3 full packs in stock, which they delivered a week ago, and they said they would make up the balance and deliver it within a few days. They said that this would mean having flags from two different batches but from the same factory, so should be OK. I agreed but emphasised that they had to be two full packs from the same batch, not odds and ends, and they assured me that this would be so.

Despite their assurances, they later made up the shortage of 120 flags from broken packs and left these in piles on my drive whilst I was out today, stacked flat with some face up and some face down. Looking at a few of these, there are scratches on some of the faces which seem quite deep and may or may not weather out. Also, the patterning (stone chipping size) on some is much finer than on others so they don't look like they will be a good match. Until they have weathered I won't be able to judge the actual colour match.

Do you think I should insist that the stockist takes them back and supplies two unopened packs from the same batch? Or am I expecting too much?

My wife has just told me that she has counted the flags in the stacks and there are about 30 extra (i.e. 150). It's too late (6.35 pm) to 'phone Keyline now but I assume that they couldn't locate full packs and have left the extras so that I can pick and choose suitable ones. This is not easy with flags that have efflorescence as I'm sure you'll agree.

Not sure what to do now. Any advice welcomed, please!

Did you give a written order to Keyline or was it all done on the 'phone?

Basically, they should supply you with flags from the same batch, as that is what you ordered and you did make it quite clear to them. If a contractor had been treated in this way, they would take them back and ensure the order was filled as requested, and so, IMHO, they should do the same for you.

Contact Keyline first thing Monday and speak to the depot manager, not one of the underlings. Don't have a rant, but explain the situation calmly, and tell him that you've had to postpone a contractor as you couldn't risk having them lay the flags as supplied by Keyline, and that you've had to pay the contractor for a wasted Saturday - that should get you a bit of sympathy.

If you get no joy, then contact Keyline's Head Office and contact Marshall's themselves. Even though it is not their problem, directly, they can exert far more pressure on Keyline than you or I can, and they are usuualy quite keen to help out with this sort of 'customer erelations' problem. :)

Don't give up!

Tony, thanks very much for your advice -- excellent as always. Unfortunately my impatience to get the job started has led to me starting to use the suspect flags so I can't now return them which, as you will see, I should have done.

The situation was that I had already persuaded my son to swap his weekend shifts to help me lay the flags, so
I decided to inspect the flags one-by-one to see if I could get enough good ones out of them. I found that most of the scratches rubbed out fairly easily so I simply put to one side those that were chipped and/or had obviously bad facings. I was left with enough apparently good ones to do the job and I managed to segregate them so that those with like-finishes went together (this took HOURS!) because some had a 'finer' aggregate content than others. The idea was that I could use one lot on the patio and the other on a part of the path that was visually separate.

Having now laid what looked like the best ones in the most prominent positions on the patio, I've found that a number of them have a flaw which can only be seen when they are damp, either from rain or rising moisture. The effect of the flaw is similar to having a 75mm crack from one edge through which moisture creeps and locally migrates, though I can't actually see a crack, and it is the same length and position on all.

Looks like I'm stuck with a patio/pathway that will always look flawed unless the surface of the flags (Perfecta buff) stabilises over time. I hope that others learn from my mistake -- and thanks again for your advice which I should have taken.