Rock Tops Granite goes bankrupt - steals customers money!

[Angry Homeowner]

Rock Top Granite - owned by Charlie Theide and Bob Gasiorowski - are bankrupt! Company took customers money up until the day before closing their doors. Many of us are left with torn up kithens and NO countertops. We are unable to reach anyone at customer service number either. Appears that employees have not been paid in some time either. We all got "Scrooged" this Christmas!

[Jamie in Fishers IN]

Rock Tope Granite took my $2,200.00 check and cashed it knowing they were closing their doors. Now I have a torn up kitchen and no countertops or money to buy new ones. I'm a single parent and budgeted for this home improvement, and now along with a lot of others I'm left with nothing but a tough lesson. This is SO WRONG!

[Lisa Vandemark KY]

I am the wife of one of rocktops employees, we were moved by the company to run the nashville store,I quit my job of 15 yrs to go forward with rocktops and here we are no money just Scrooged for christmas they have just taken advantage of everyone. for god sake they flew one of there employees to nashville to help out and just left him stranded all by himself until he could get back. this has been the worst experiance in my life. just wanted to give the employees side of things they worked 150-200 hrs without any pay. merry x-mas to Robert and Charlie

[Meg - Indianapolis]

I am lucky I had mine installed on Dec. 10th, just a week before it got ugly. Unfortunately, I have issues with the quality and nobody to take my call. The service team called on Dec. 18 to cancel their appt. and rescheduled for Dec. 22 -- of course, NOBODY SHOWED UP OR CALLED. I think this company has had poor service from the beginning and am not surprised with the previous comments. I think a lawsuit is in order for these theives.

[Rock Tops - part 1]

Here’s how the Rock Tops, Inc owners, Bob Gasiorowski and Robert Charlie Theide,(missing for the last week of business) addressed their employees about the closing…they didn’t. On Friday, December 19, they called via telephone from some other location and had a manager tell everyone to leave the building. He didn’t say we were laid off or out of business. It was apparent the way they conducted business that it was a foregone conclusion. The owners didn’t run the business, it ran them. If you had any business background, you were perplexed by their business sense. Managers were employed that didn’t have any leadership qualities; nor did they attempt to lead. There was an “every man for himself” mentality throughout the business. It was truly mind-boggling. The owners would tell you it was the economy that brought them down--wrong--it was themselves. No management structure and No business foresight. Locations were kept open that were not profitable. The idea of “he who has the most store locations wins” ultimately loses. Approximately ninety percent of their business was from Ohio to Georgia. So they open a second plant, in Michigan, just 60 days prior to closing their doors. Outstanding foresight, Great location. That’s a darn good financial move to increase your shipping costs. When there were product issues, customers waited weeks to months for a remedy in part do to the distance. A central hub location down south would have decreased shipping expenses, in addition to reduced labor, real estate costs, and turnaround time. Their computer network wasn’t even close to a work in progress. It was embarrassing how the system was constructed. Who pays an IT person six figures a year and has a network that would have a difficult time keeping pace with a delivery system carried out on horseback?You could have contracted an IT person periodically throughout the year for a quarter of the cost. The pay structure was atrocious. The pay did not reflect ability of position. Who pays one cnc programmer six figures and another one literally a few dollars above minimum wage? Who pays measure personnel 65K plus including benefits? No disrespect to the people who filled these positions or received this level of pay, but these jobs did not warrant this level of pay. This disorganized pay structure existed and it aided in decreasing the profit margin. There were discrepancies in every department. The good ole boys network was in place here; this was a part of the contributing factors that led to Rock Tops demise.

[Rock Tops - part 2]

Oh yeah, and we all received a 15% pay cut which started in September, and was to end by November 1st per Charlie.The owners also stood in front of us and told us they had not been taking a paycheck. According to their accounting department, they were still receiving paychecks. Nothing was private in that company. This company would end up collecting 100% of the money for the orders placed by their customers and make the installation date about 60 days later. The owners claimed they were passing on savings to the customers by collecting all the money up front.They spent it all prematurely. There was zero foresight in this business. It was day to day. This company’s equipment and products were getting repossessed the last week in business and they were still carrying on like nothing was happening. This company collected Three Million Dollars from November 1st up till the time they closed their doors in December. Their creditors weren’t being paid according to the accounting department, and ultimately not their employees. Not too mention the 100’s of customers who didn’t receive their product. The employees did not receive their pay for the last two weeks. Some of the “managers” stuck around the following week. They must have received their pay otherwise they wouldn’t be there…right? Thanks guys…some of us knew what you were made of. These managers talked out of both sides of their mouths. 20 million dollars a year in sales and no customer service department? If you tried to call them with a problem in the past, good luck. Some of the customers were literally told to “pound salt”. Check out http://www.rocktopsripoff.com for some disgruntled customers. Thanks Robert Charlie Thiede and Robert Gasiorowski. You should have stood up in front of your employees and at the very least told them it was over. Only a Man could have done that. Apparently your absence the last week of business explains everything. I am sure you had a “Good Time” at Christmas with OUR TWO WEEKS of pay.

[Angry in Michigan]

The same thing happened to me from the Saline, MI store. They took $2460.00 from me on 12-6-08 and was supposed to install on 12-23-08. There are HUNDREDS of customers these snakes have robbed. We cannot just let them get away with this. If you live in Michigan PLEASE file a complaint with the Attorney generals office. These guys have NO intentions of making this right and they should not be allowed to do this. PLEASE everyone file a complaint online with AG's office!!

[Mac]

I have been taken by this company out of their Byron Center, Mi store also. Had an install date of the 15th of Dec. and then they switched it to the 23rd of Dec. We are without our counters, sinks and appliances still. And our promotional bath counter and sink.$3,200.00 Total.

[Ron]

My wife and I paid our deposit on November 23rd after visiting the showroom. The salesman (who claimed he was related to the owner) must have know what was going on because he discouraged us from paying by check and prodded us to use our credit card. Still a horrible thing that the company has done, but now at least I can dispute the charge with my credit company.

[tip]

I saw the story about their Macomb Twp. MI store on the news Friday, they tried to interview one of the owners at his mansion but of course no one answered the door. One lady could see her counter tops sitting with her purchase order inside the window of the store, but has no way of getting it. This is criminal for them to take money right up to the time they closed their doors, hope they see the inside of a jail cell for what they have done to all the honest people now left with empty kitchens & bathrooms.

[DETROITSTONE]

FOR ALL THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN LEFT WITHOUT GRANITE COUNTER TOPS WE WOULD LIKE TO OFFER OUR HELP. WE HAVE BEEN IN BUSINESS FOR OVER 10 YEARS . WE ONLY EXPECT CUSTOMERS TO PAY IN FULL ONCE INSTALL IS COMPLETE . FOR ALL CUSTOMERS WHO GAVE A DEPOSIT , PLEASE BRING IN YOUR RECIEPT AND WE WILL OFFER TO PAY 10 % OF YOUR DEPOSIT TOWARDS YOUR GRANITE AND IF YOUR JOB IS MORE THAN $ 3000.00 WE WILL GIVE YOU A FREE SINK . ASK FOR CHERI , PLEASE CALL FOR OUR TELEPHONE NUMBER WE ARE LOCATED IN SHELBY TOWNSHIP ON 23 MILE RD.

[ga worker for rocktops]

THEY OWE ALL EMPLOYEES A MONTH OF PAY AND SCREWED ALL BUYERS IN GEORGIA THIS IS NOT HOW BUISNESS IS CONDUCTED IN THE SOUTH I WAS CONCERED WHEN THEY MADE PEOPLE PAY UP FRONT BUT WAS ALWAYS REINSURED IT WAS NORMAL PRACTICE,THIS IS LIFE CHANGING FOR ALL EMPLOYEES AND HOMEOWNERS THAT ARE OUT ALL THIS MONEY THANKS FOR NOTHING AND MAKING ALL US EMPLOYEES LOOK LIKE CROOKS I HOPE U ALL GO TO JAIL OVER THIS OHH YEA IM GOING TO SUE THE #@$% OUT OF THEM TOO OR DIE TRYING......

[Former worker]

It's just typical Charlie and Bob. 2 great scam artists. They started in Macomb MI taking cash deposits and splitting them up amongst themselves and not putting that money into the company like they should have. Money problems lingered from then on. I recall Charlies brother who was a partner and co-founder of the company being snubbed into allowing Bob Gasiorowski come into the company. He was short changed on that whole deal, they were a reputable cocmpany before Bob. The greed took over and Mike was forced out with his brother saying they were going bankrupt then. They, Charlie and Bob, are greedy people who only care about themselves. They weren't paying taxes on the money they were splitting up between those two I am sure. Under the table or whatever you call it I bet those pockets are overflowing now and they are laughing all the way to the bank. I bet they have some sort of off shore account to hide that money in. They will need it once they get out of prison for defrauding thier customers. Sorry to the employees that they are cought up in the whole mess. It's just wrong to keep people in the dark just so they can fatten the wallet a little more. I bet they aren't sleeping too well these days.

[Erika]

My husband and I are looking for answers. We just purchased our countertops from the Byron Center location paid them 2,700 dollars, and never received them. Now we can't do anything because we have no money now. Who ever is involved in this needs to pay for what they have done..Please contact me if you have any suggestions for us . We have reported this to the attorney general and small claims court, please be sure to do the same thing if you are a victim of this crime. contact me at [e-mail]

[IDIOTS]

I can't believe all you people paid in full for something before you received it. Anybody who does that deserves to have their money stolen.

[Angry customer]

We were taken for over 7 grand! Unbelieveable. We of course had to pay 1/2 down and 1/2 at time of measure. Boy, do we feel stupid!!!!!

[Angry customer]

You are an idiot! Whatever happened to honesty and decency? Why can you no longer trust anyone?

[Boogeywithstu]

Angry Homeowner wrote:

Rock Top Granite - owned by Charlie Theide and Bob Gasiorowski - are bankrupt! Company took customers money up until the day before closing their doors. Many of us are left with torn up kithens and NO countertops. We are unable to reach anyone at customer service number either. Appears that employees have not been paid in some time either. We all got "Scrooged" this Christmas!

Sorry to hear you were fleeced. This guy was once a neighbor of mine and an occasional bowling partner, but I always sensed something was "not right" with Mr. Theide......I would recommend a class action suit - post haste!!!

[Keith]

We have setup a website to act as an unofficial clearinghouse for any legal action or news about Rock Tops. www.michstone.com and click on the Rock Tops link.

[Liz Riesberg]

My husband and I had our countertops installed by Rock Tops in August but we recently had to have our sink reinstalled as it "fell" away from the granite. The guy who installed it did not do a very good job - the reinstall was in November. We were told that the installer was fired. We consider ourselves very lucky that we got what we paid for but are sorry to hear of all the horror stories.