Awnmyown, in my experience, it is the rare thing that works out flawlessly. Most things in a remodel come with at least a headache or two.

I do wish that more people would fight back when businesses insist on getting the majority of the payment up front. If you have paid with a credit card, you do have recourse through your credit card company. Cash or check and you are at their mercy. Wanting to get paid in full is a big incentive to complete the job in a satisfactory manner. Installation is just as important as fabrication so why should they be paid in full for work they haven't even done yet?

Of course they are responsible for your sink as they had no business taking it without your permission (not to mention uninstalling it!!). If you had known they were taking it, you could have had them sign something stating the condition of the sink when it left your house. I did that when my templaters took my SS sink, and took pictures of it as well. It was returned in the same condition. Had it been a special order sink like yours that would be problematic to replace, I would not have let go of it so easily.

Are they saying that you are responsible for the scratched sink? Have they offered any resolution?

Awnmyown:

You're wasting perfectly good panic. Stainless steel sinks can be refinished easily. It's not a big deal.

I'd think it was a big deal if some ding dong came into my home and scratched up my brand new sink out of sheer carelessness. Okay, maybe it's not such a big deal in the entire universal scheme of things, but when we pick out brand new beautiful things for our kitchens, we'd like the opportunity to enjoy them, at least for a moment, in all their lovely newness. Can't the OP be allowed a little rant to blow off some steam??

That sucks. I'm sorry.

"You're wasting perfectly good panic. Stainless steel sinks can be refinished easily. It's not a big deal."

+1. easily done with a kit available at typical big box stores. Anyone competent to polish stone should be able to polish the scratches out of the sink.

Re: the fabricator taking the sink; fabricators gradually develop a database of sink cutouts (we have well over 1000) but in the event a customer has a special order or custom sink the fabricator typically will take it back to the shop so it can be measured as a 1st step in creating the CAD file necessary to make the cutout.

No one is challenging the need for the fabricator to take the sink (but they should have announced it up front!)
However, taking it means they have an obligation to make sure that nothing happens to it.
If they are so cavalier about something that belongs to their customer, I'd worry about the quality of their work in general.
And they would never have gotten 90% down off me; that's another red flag.

50% down is standard. They should repolish the sink to your satisfaction. No other solution is acceptable.

Thanks all. I actually looked around and everyone up here is running 90% down. Just can't avoid, though yes, I paid by MasterCard for the extra protection.

Likewise, half of it is a rant, and the other half, is the principle of the whole thing. They argued that "on site" in their agreement means I should have known they were taking the sink. It doesn't. That same agreement said we'd discuss seam placement, and when I asked, they said it wasn't something they discuss with me. The agreement also said the price would increase according to templating, yet they waited 2 weeks to get approval on that increase from me. Needless to say, I'm frustrated with them.

They also required the faucet and cooktop "on site" and neither of these were removed from my home. The sink and cooktop BOTH have CAD files available online...when I asked about these in the showroom, they told me that they'd use them for fabrication...yet took the sink. Why not the oven? Don't know. Heck, they have to cut holes for the bar counter and didn't take the mounts...

I like consistencies. I like companies owning up to their mistakes.

In the end, yes, I can polish the sink, or have them polish it. But I like knowing that a company prides themself in how they treat their clients, and I was upset that this wasn't the case. I'm awaiting a meeting with the manager and owner, to figure out how we solve this. Yes, a quick polish by them is more than acceptable by me. I'm reasonable. I chose them based on two positive reviews by close friends, and another couple of positive reviews from online folks. I thought that would be good, but of course, I sometimes just have some bad luck.

Ranting done. Hopefully we're able to sort this out and I can enjoy my pretty kitchen. And be less accommodating in the future.

When I received my sink it came with a template that was completely "off" from the actual sink. The fabricator said they had the CAD file for the sink, but I didn't trust that it wasn't set to the inaccurate template. I WANTED them to take the sink because I was very particular about my cut-out. But I did expect them to care for my sink and not damage it, and that was their attitude as well. In your case, the cooktop and faucet likely fit over top of their respective cut-outs, so those cuts don't have to be exact. The sink cut-out does.