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Posts
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Gene,
If they catch you using material they sold you for residential, they will black ball you from buying thier product at all. At least that’s what happened to a local fabricator a few years ago. I Agree with Lenny, the 800lb gorilla has definitely lost some weight and it will be interesting to see how they respond. Norm, the Gibraltar distributor is Wilsonart International in Tampa, 813-247-2502.
Mike, they’re not gonna catch me cause I am not using Corian residentially anyway, i was just suggesting to others what they hafta do and if it’s possible to just use coian commercially> Ya know the thing i feel uncomfortable about is the Humbling experience we would hafta go thru. Some of us are good at what we do and to spend 1000 bux, thats not too bad, but two days outta work sitting in a class to make a square 30×25 vanity top with a dark edge on one side is just outright painstaking. I wish they had a test for maybe even two hours and if you pass , great.Spending that time and money for their product sounds to me like me paying 200.bux for a Tommy hilfiger shirt to advertise his product.
Don’t get me wrong I understand the concept of why you have to be recertified if you change shops or shop names. i just think the fabricator should be certified only period!!!!! The rep always tells me the same ole baloney! that the certified guy can go somewhere else,blah,blah,blah. Well that goes hand in hand, In my case I spent my own money on vegas shows, Pinske classes, Avonite, Corian etc, and now if the company only is to be certified you have certified fabricators leaving shops because of lack of work or whatever the reason…these shops are certified without a certified fabricator and they are still doing the work by the guy who is a roofer and now it hurts us all when that top goes into a customers home, yes they were certified but the guy who made it can’t even spell Corian, never mind Gibralter…I think whoevers name is on the check should be certified along with the attendance in class! this way Bosses will be nicer and respectful to their certified workers so they don’t leave…anyway im ok with Corian commercially and it has to be a big job for me to want to support them residentially, i wouldn’t go thru all the hoops for a 5 sheet job,I hAVE DONE THE CERTIFICATION AND BECAUSE OF AN ERROR ON THEIR PART,they say i hafta do it over, So,hopefully they’ll realize that before this gorilla just out right dies of malnutrition ,rather then a minor weight loss..LOL.Avonite Foundations has identically all the same ingredients anyway….according to Avonite literature.In my opinion Corian is bland and boring anyway…too sterile for me unless you thermoform it into cool designs and mix it up…The kindest words I can say about the Corian organization is they are “INSENSITIVE”…I wish they would help out the small businesses more……
Your going to hurt thier feelings GeneThey want to know what you are going to do for thier sales. Even though we are Corian certified we sell more Staron and Avonite because of the color selection and the price point.
Refresh we are the same as Mike G. Small shop and have been certified since 1985 but I sell more Staron over Corian because of pricing. Right now I can sell Staron for 20 to 30 % less than Corian.
Corian use to help the small shop, ie co-op advertising help with local home shows and the like. Now they don’t know I am alive and my Corian Distributor is just as bad. I keep their name in my adds because people recognize it and that is about the only reason.
I know that one of these days I will call in an order and they will tell me I can’t purchase any more Corian because I don’t sell enough.
William
I know about the not selling enough thing too, that sux..You spend all this money and time and then if you don’t have enough people requesting it they rip up your file and don’t return your money. I just feel like they robbed me without a gun. I’m sure that back before Granite was considered a countertop they can have that kind of egotistical attitude as to where Corian was being specked everywhere, but now Ballzy! Then don’t forget after you spend all that time and money you have to buy their gun, their tips..unless you integra on down. I just got back from a friend of mines shop and he’s not my competition he’s my friend, and if some customer wants Corian in their house I’ll just give him the job if he wants it. That is the nicest thing i can still do for this Arrogant substance known as CORIAN….
Gene, you sound like me. It’s nice to be able to vent our frustrations with friends that understand.
Gene,
I have been doing this only about six years now, but I don’t remember ever losing a job because I don’t sell corian. I looked into it, made a phone call, and got treated like others report about. So this is what you do when a consumer walks in and asks about corian.
“We do many types of solid surface, of which corian is a brand. Are you looking specifically for a corian color or are you just looking for a solid surface countertop?”
Ninety percent of the time, the customer is calling all solid surface corian, so we head for the boxes. Once in a while, they are looking just for corian, have their color picked out and aren’t budging. So here is the next step.
“Well, we don’t sell corian, but we have a brand that is called a corian clone. The guys that started it were ex corian big wigs, the material is identical and the fabrication processes are near identical, plus, without the big ad budget, the pricing is a lot more competitive and the quality is the same.” Off to the boxes we go………… almost every time.
That one customer every three months or so, won’t budge, wants corian. Here is what you do.
Take em back to where the old corian book is kept, open to that dog eared page, the one about the cooktop cutouts requiring the high strength cutouts in the corner. Then open the avonite book and show them their method with no high strength cutout corner required. They will ask why, they always do.
“Corian has a heat cracking issue, so they want you to make these little circles in the corners, they claim it helps. Personally, I wish they would just fix material problem so that it could be done like Avonite.”
Works every time. Never lost a sale.
Is it completely fair? No, but neither is their attitude of limiting the number of shops that sell their product. Solid surface is a comodity product now, and all corian has is their reputation to sell. The only shop that I know of that sells it locally, was known as a mill, pumping out crap work for the big box stores with some commerical. They had a few decent fabricators, but most of the guys we hired that used to work for them were hacks. Are they selling lots of sheets, probally, but they don’t represent the industry well, much less corian.
Me, I wouldn’t turn down a sample box, but they would do like every other brand that comes in my door, repspect that I was Avonite certified years ago, don’t have a single warranty issue against me (one fake that got caught by the distributor, guy damaged the top himself and blamed it on us, got their warranty voided for doing it), and act like they were not doing me a favor by selling sheet goods to me. If like Staron, they want to point out the different ffab rules, great, leave me a book or tell me about it.
But, Kiss my a** if you think I would take training like a newbie, much less pay a dime for it. Plenty of choices out there, most of their decent colors have been knocked off years ago, and there are companies that are better at making solid surface anyway, Avonite and Staron both have stuff that makes corian look sad. They are no longer the market leader.
Just my opinion, could be wrong.
When we started out (recently and very small) I expected my experience to be just what you guys describe. Turns out, I was wrong. I have received more personal attention and more support from our Corian/Zodiaq rep than any other material. Guess I am just lucky.
Makes life much easier. I haven’t had to go through the solid surface 101 lecture since
Chris
My Corian Distributor’s Rep (well, not exactly a distributor, but its complicated) is not only an excellent rep, he is a personal friend.
Chris, it does have alot to do with where you are located, and who your distributor is. That being said, I think I sold a Corian 810 sink about six months ago, needed a small one for a 18″ deep vanity.
I sell Corian (Well I have the ability to sell it, but don’t sell hardly any at all), It usually takes my Rep a day or two to get back to me when I call and then I am told they are going to do something for me with enthusiasm and them I don’t hear from them.
Now with that said, in my situation, replace the word Corian in all the above post with LG HI-MACS and you have my exact position. I did Hi-macs with another company that went out of business locally and we started our own business and got all my accounts set-up and now the call to Hi-Macs rep and I was blown off for awhile and then told they have 2 fabricators in the area already doing Hi-Macs and thats all they need. One of those is a Stone shop that sent two guys to a class and now they do Hi-Macs and I have seen there work. I will try and get some pics of there work (scary)
, v-groove roll there edges (shows glue line all the way down the edge), seam at a 45o angle in the corners (see the seams easly on two jobs I saw). I enjoyed doing Hi-Macs and would love to start doing it agian, but our distributor doesn’t want to do business with us. I think it has something to do with our old company (Owner did not get along with rep, now rep is V.P. of company). He is still holding a grudge agianst everyone that worked there including the little guys….I get steamed just talking about this.
I am done hijacking the Corian discussion. sorry.
Robert
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