Did I choose the worst tiler in the world? scratched tiles

[miller745]

Thought I'd found a reputable tiler, locally based and has photos of his work, 30 years experience. This was after arranging 4 quotes, having 2 arrive and 1 giving a price.
After he'd grouted, he noticed loads of scratches on the tiles and said they must have been in the tile before he started and after grouting the white grout was showing the defects up.
I'm not so sure now, had half a box left over which I've got the wax and dust off, none of those are scratched..Topps don't seem very helpful, they haven't even asked for the batch number. Just straight up blaming the tiler.

During, with the wax left on bigger pic

Wax cleaned off and grouting started bigger pic

After

I'm not sure what has happened, the tiler said he's only used sponges and soft items. Bad grout mix which was too abrasive?
Any tips if the scratches can be fixed/made less visible? I've tried toothpaste. Next step is 50/50 mix of white vinegar and olive oil. The tiler had me supply the tiles, grout and trim, I thought so they can't be blamed for buying the wrong tiles or wrong colour grout - maybe it's a way out of problems like this?

 

[miller745]

I didn't pay any attention to the state of his tools, I've got no idea what is what for tiling so it was all left to the professional, or so I thought!!
Going to have a close look over the spare tiles again, and I left a few alone to try and rub the wax off with some force, to see if that was the issue.
The scratches are noticeable from certain angles. Weird how the area above the hob is the worst, around the sink is almost perfect and the last wall he did has a few. Do you normally clean/change the float before? Maybe he wasn't thinking and just started doing it...
Still got some grout left over, so I'll do a test with the remaining tiles to see how much force is needed to scratch them..
A shame for sure, it was looking so good and the end result is disappointing!

 

[miller745]

this for sure seals the deal

Yeah from what I can tell there aren't many scratches that line up - some definitely do. But the scratches are all over the place, every direction. Most tiles around the hob are the worst, there is the odd tile which is perfect in amongst all those so does this point to an issue with the tile manufacture?
I had some good success with olive oil and white vinegar, so the scratches are much less noticeable now - but they're still there and they always will be. Most of them are tiny scratches, there is one you can dig your fingernail in.
I'm not really sure how to proceed. Get the tiler back to re-grout some leftover tiles with the float he used (at least I have a photo of that) and see if those tiles scratch as easily. That will prove it was him but he may say the tiles aren't fit for purpose if they scratch that easily.
Do I re-buy the tiles and get him to remove these and re-fit the new ones FOC? Are there guarantees none of those tiles will be scratched on round 2? not really..
The wax comes off with water and a sponge, no scrapers were needed/used. I still need to clean the leftover tiles properly and look for scratches, up to now none of those look scratched - at least I can go back to the tiler and say this - also that photo in the first post where the scratch lines up definitely proves it was him. In the bottom photo below, right side and 4th tile down these vertical scratches line up as well
Current state;
Only natural lighting bigger

Worst angle to see the scratches, bit closer, still natural lighting bigger

Worst angle, all lights on + camera flash bigger

 

[miller745]

How is Barkeepers Friend best used? Sprinkle some onto a damp cloth?

Topps weren't interested in looking at this from the start, it took several days before they even asked for the batch number.
They've ignored that I found one tile scratched which hadn't been touched by anyone - I cleaned it up from a few of the leftovers.
Apparently they've gone through "a lot of the boxes from the batch" and can only provide a photo of two tiles which aren't scratched. (i only had one box out of the 4 to get a batch number from as the others went into the recycling on the first day of the job)