Greetings, We purchased Hallmark engineered flooring for our adjoining kitchen and sunroom renovation project. The wholesaler delivered the order that consisting of 2 lot #'s to retailer. Neither we nor the retailer realized there could be such a color variation even though the labels both identified the product as "Pearl".

The installer did not inspect the materials or lay out the floor prior to nailing down the flooring in the kitchen. Nor did he stop installation when boards from the 2nd lot # were of a much different/darker color. Half of the room was absolutely perfect and beautiful. Boards from the 2nd lot were interspersed with the desired product resulting in a schizoid look in the remaining half of the room.

Over the course of 5 weeks the retailer ordered 4 boxes 3 additional times in an attempt for us to fix the bad half of the room. None of the product in the 3 subsequent deliveries came close to the product in the desired color. We had to remove entire floor and start over with another manufacturer.

After seeing photographs of the installed floor a manager from the retailer's headquarters agreed with me that we had a valid claim with Hallmark. Due to the wide variation in color it was impossible to complete the project successfully despite 3 attempts to obtain materials that matched what we selected from the sample in their showroom.

Hallmark immediately denied the claim for a quarter of the costs of the materials stating "installation is acceptance."

The installer's boss is working with us as he's embarrassed his employee didn't stop working when it was apparent the boards didn't match. He's since found a similar product with a different manufacturer. He told us that he's never experienced such a color variation in lot #'s despite being in the flooring business over 30 years.

Just a warning to every homeowner and contractor.....Make sure Lot #'s match.

If they don't then open every box before one board is installed.

Not doing this cost us $1300 and set the project back at least 8 weeks.

The only thing keeping us sane is that my husband kept the counter section with the sink intact allowing him to reset it on two cabinets from the existing kitchen. He's disconnected / reconnected the plumbing more than a dozen times during the course of the reno that started in early July!

The retailer is just as disappointed with Hallmark as we are, and the store manager apologized profusely for the lousy experience we had with Hallmark.

I assured him that we did not hold him or his co. responsible and would likely return for future projects - but would steer clear of Hallmark products. Marie S.