Are my travertine tiles not as good as they should be for the price?

[WordBear]

I paid £60 per sqm for these honed filled 457 x 305mm tiles from Mandarin Stone. My tiler says they have more chips and marks on them than they should do. Unfortunately it has become apparent that my tiler is rubbish so I'm not sure whether to trust his judgment. I've noticed some grey bits and some rust which from reading this forum I know are not good. The tiler's comments have got me worried that the tiles are below par. Could anyone offer their opinion?

 

[WordBear]

More photos

 

[WordBear]

And yet more photos

 

[One Day]

The rust is natural, the cracks are natural and that is what all stone suppliers will argue.
Personally, I think it looks pretty low-rent for that price though.
Now it's on the wall though, I suspect you're stuck with it.
We've a supplier here (Rockform) who sell some beautiful vein-cut travertine with pretty much zero filler, and for not a lot more than you have paid.

 

[jobdone]

As impish to much filler but they are now up so no going back. Fixing means acceptance

 

[Dumbo]

I always tell my customers to look at the reverse side of honed and filled travertine to see what they are buying .

 

[TheAofT]

Agree with all of YOU.
Wouldn't pay a half of the price.
Unfortunately, be prepared for patching and refilling work at some point.

 

[WordBear]

Oh dear I wish I had realised before the tiler started fitting them. I thought Mandarin Stone were supposed to be good? Very disappointing. I'll send them some photos anyway and see what they say.

I haven't even mentioned how different they are from the sample!

 

[Dumbo]

Horse bolted and all that. But I believe you there is something called sale by sample so if its not alike you're entitled to your money back

 

[Blunt Tool]

Filled and honed travertine kinda gives you an idea that this ain’t going to be a perfect condition stone. Travertine IMO is pretty much a lottery wether you get a batch that is mostly good or mostly bad doesn’t matter wether you paid 60 per m or 25 per m. If you know the supplier/shop really well they might let the tiler go thru the whole batch of what they have and pick but usually you get what you get. Even if you put back some to get replacements you run the chance of being completely different. Mandarin stone is a good supplier that I often use.