Congoleum
reviews and complaints

Purchased and had professionally installed about 4 years ago, as part of a complete kitchen make over, before end of year two noticed at two major spots where the surface wore off. Luckily not in very visible areas, until recently where friends and family are now asking about our "new" floor, who was manufacturer so they can avoid - and asking why we haven't complained and gotten resolved. Always on my to do list and then recently I came across a box of some left over tiles. Hence now starting the complaint process.

Photos attached

Michael Manna
4 Cronin Way
Woburn, MA

[protected]

Congoleum DuraCeramic PS24L01547

This is the poorest quality floor available! I had this floor professionally installed
about 2 years ago. To date, there are 100+ areas where the top layer of vinyl
has come off. This product is supposed to come with a lifetime limited warranty.
This damage is not due to improper use. In fact, the white areas started to
appear within days of having the floor installed! Another problem is that the
floor color is a very dark brown/black and the next layer is almost a white.
Obviously any time the top color is penetrated, a glaring white spot will
appear. Break off a piece of the tile. What you have is a sheet of “Resilient
Flooring” with a wear surface so thin that you can tear it like a piece of
paper.

I purchased the flooring from Weivoda Carpet
Girl in Grand Forks ND. They refused to back up the product, as did Fargo Paint
and Glass and Congoleum. An “independent” inspector was sent by Congoleum. OF
COURSE, the “independent” inspector sided with Congoleum and said it was due to
us dropping and dragging things on the floor. If you so much as drop a fork it
gouges the floor! As a “goodwill gesture”, Congleum offered to provide a credit
for 39 cartons of DurCeramic material or a credit of $2398.22. Like I really was
going to snatch up the chance to have the same c*** installed again, plus have to pay for someone to remove the old
stuff and install the new stuff. The money offered didn’t even come close to
the expense that I had put into the flooring.

I will never again purchase anything from Weivoda Carpet Girl, Fargo Paint and Glass or Congoleum. I think you
should think twice about doing so either!

One year ago I had Congoleum Duraceramic professionally installed in my kitchen. After 9 months, 5 tiles had areas where the thin veneer had peeled. The Installer graciously offered to replace the tiles with extra tiles I had kept. This was a mistake as the tiles should have been covered under warranty. Two months later, 3 more tiles had bare spaces where the veneer had peeled. My installer this time reported the damage to Congoleum. The Congoleum representative came out, examined the floor and took pictures. After about 3 weeks I was told that Congoleum concluded that the damage was caused by dropping objects on the tile. This is completely arbitrary and Congoleum offered no substantiation for this conclusion. I refute this conclusion. I am a senior citizen living alone and not given to fits of clumsiness, in fact the only droppings I recall was a vitamin pill. This is a low traffic kitchen. The total number of tiles damaged is 25% of the tiles visible (not covered by appliances). Either I have a bad production lot or this product is severely flawed. Based on the current rate of failure, all tiles will probably be damaged.

We had installed 4 years ago with a major kitchen renovation. We have been going back an forth with the company to get repairs completed and have had no luck. A year after install when we noticed the white edges under a chair we contacted the installer. They no longer were in business. So we went directly to the manufaturer. They would not help in any way since the warranty only covered manufacturing defects and nothing else. Scratches, sun discoloration, wear from chairs, dropped items... none of it is covered in their LIFETIME warranty. We are trying to sell our home and the floor is a major sticking point. We cannot afford another $4000 floor so we are taking a hit on our selling price. Another local installer cannot even get replacement tiles to fix the messed up ones.

I am not able to attach the many photos, documents, faxes and letters to and from Congroleum that I have as they are not in the accepted formats. I would like to forward them to someone if necessary. I purchased the tile in quetion in March 2008. Immediately I noticed nicks, chips, peeling, etc.. and contacted Congroleum. Their inspector blamed it on installation and maintenance; negating any responsibility. Remember this tile was NEW. As a goodwill gesture and after many phone calls, they finally did give me a refund for the tile and installation, but they never admitted their tile is defective and is a problem standing up to normal wear and tear. Now I have to spend quite a bit of money to remove this tile and put in a new sub-floor at my expense because the sub-floor may not be useable.
I WOULD LIKE EVERYONE TO KNOW ABOUT THIS TILE SO THEY DON'T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE I DID AND BUY IT. It is not cheap.

We had lots of money spent on having the Duraceramic floor installed in the kitchen 4 years back (in 2006), attracted by the appearance of the material and lifetime wearout warranty. About 2 years ago, the white spots started to appear, first in the area where the chair legs were, then in more trafficked parts of the kitchen (next to the fridge, next to the sink, etc.); the spots are growing and look really ugly. When we complained to the retailer through which we bought the tiles, they sent the info to Congoleum, and an "expert" showed up in a couple of months. He took a bunch of photos, and from the conversation with him I thought we'll get a replacement floor or compensation. Instead, we got a letter telling that the spots are the result of "abrasion", not of wear, and the manufacturer is not in any way responsible.