Art Of Tiles, Newtown, NSW

THE WORST EXPERIENCE WE'VE EVER HAD IN A SHOP If you like your tiles served up with unbelievable rudeness and aggression then Art of Tiles is the place for you. We first went to Art of Tiles because we try to support small and passionate businesses in our local area whenever we can and they seemed to be one of those. How wrong we were! All seemed fine until we had a problem with an unused box of tiles that we believed they had offered to take back if we didn’t use them. They believed otherwise. It was probably just a misunderstanding that could have been quickly discussed and resolved, but the rude and aggressive response we received from the male owner of this business when we phoned up truly floored us. His first reaction was to accuse us of being liars and he basically said he had our money now and couldn’t care less about us. At one point we actually felt physically threatened after he had shouted down the phone at both my wife and I on a number of occasions whilst we were also struggling to look after a, by now, crying baby. We have been renovating our house for over 6 years and have dealt happily with over 50 suppliers, retailers and tradespeople in that time – and have NEVER had any problems before now. Neither of us have ever experienced such an aggressive attitude from a shop-keeper before – and we hope to never have to deal with something like this again. There are plenty of other fantastic tile shops in the local area – shops that we will happily be using for the rest of the tiles we need for our renovation. Tempe Tile Centre, Kalafrana Ceramics & Beaumont Tiles are three we would recommend to help you avoid any chance of an experience such as we had with Art of Tiles. The other tile shops also have a great range of tiles as well as seeming to be better value (another example, perhaps, that Art of Tiles are only really motivated by money). We feel sorry for his business partner as she actually seemed like a genuine person, but his aggression and bullying were so unacceptable that we have felt compelled to try and warn others before he has the opportunity to try and bully more people who are just trying to buy some tiles. In short, do all you can to avoid giving Art of Tiles any of your hard-earned money. Aggressive bullies need to be taught that there are consequences for their behaviour. In this instance, it seems like money is the only thing he cares about, so perhaps losing a little will help him learn some humility and old-fashioned customer service.

Friendly advice, and very approchable... Thanks for all your help! ps, thanks from tuk-tuk