Hahaha. That is not the "closest match you will get". Obviously. Professional floor people can get that match much, much closer. And your installer can spend some time with a sample piece of wood doing just that.

Stair treads should be one piece. Rip those out and get real wood treads and have them stained to match.

"Mid range quality"

Agree. Since the installer didnt stain them they also should be charging you hourly T&M to continue helping you. Let me guess, who bought the materials?

not sure what you're getting at. Flooring was bought from a full service flooring store, who is doing the install

I understand that you want it to match, and that is clearly not a match. However, though I am probably in the minority here, I actually like the look. There is enough contrast there that it looks like an intentional design choice.

Well that wasnt clear in your post. You payed for mid grade quality and im saying thats what youve got twice now. If it was a seperate independant installer they wouldnt be liable for the factorys goofs and obligated to continue replacing successive attempts.

Engineered wood and solid hardwood will definitely take stain differently. He may very well be 100% correct.

The gap between the tread and nosing is going to fill with unremovable crud. The nosing and tread should have been glued together then installed, not installed separately. That is if you're foolish enough to play matchy-matchy with raw wood and prefinished.

Code says that you can’t have more than 3/8” height difference in risers, so this cheap hack of slipcovering stairs was developed. That mismatch, but fuller wallet, is what you get when you take the cheap veneered approach to try to not have to demo and rebuild the whole thing with solid wood treads.

Do it right and do it once. Not the $1.98 way.

I agree it doesn't look right. I would not want to have to look at that every day, every time I have to go up and down the stairs. Unfortunately I also agree with other posters that when you cobble together engineered wood, rather than real wood treads, you aren't going to get such a good result regardless. I actually re-did my stairs which were plywood covered with carpet when I moved in. I replaced with real oak treads and risers. While I don't remember the cost, I remember that it wasn't horribly high - it was the labor to install that was much higher than the oak itself, and you are paying the labor regardless if its oak or engineered wood.

One thing that might make the color difference in those treads less noticeable is a stair carpet runner. But stair runners can be $$ too - they need to be installed properly so as not to be a trip hazard, and good enough quality to withstand all the walking up and down.

Stair treads are not the same as flooring material. Trying to use manufactured flooring material as stair treads is not a good idea---as you have discovered.

As stated in previous posts, manufactured wood and natural wood are very difficult to color and get a matching look.

No matter how good the company/person is, that is a hack job. Color and installation.

The best fix? Take all that off, get real wood stair treads, and have as close as possible stain color match.

There is one factor in your favor here. Staining dark is easier to match than lighter colors.

If I were doing that job, I would use white oak treads(pretesting stains and finishes before installation), since my installation would be using screws and plugs, which would require staining after installation.

Then finish with a durable finish.