Empire Today Reviews

Right after that, I took the quote to home depot and showed it to the carpet guy and he almost pissed himself laughing at me. Told me based on the square footage empire gave me, they could sell me a better carpet (higher oz weight - empire was selling 40oz and home depot had 65 oz and 50oz, they didn't even carry the cheaper one) for $3000 based on the higher end carpet and about $2500 for the lower end with installation included (he also doubted that the measurement was accurate based on what I told him). So I asked them to come in and give me a quote and then I called Empire to cancel the order. The guy I spoke to wanted to give me a deal, match home depot or anything to get me to stay but I don't want to play their games anymore.

Buy one room and get the rest free is total crap. The sales person measured our house and gave us an estimate over 30% more than our entire home was including our garage! We were only carpeting the upstairs and the stairs as the whole downstairs is tile and hardwood floors. I asked the person to remeasure and or check their math and they assured me that they were correct. I've been in construction my whole life and never have I ever ran across such a blatant liar. It was downright creepy having this person and this company in our home. They tried the pressure tactics on trying to get us to sign, called repeatedly over the next few days, and we were so freaked out we were afraid that their sales person was going to come back and do something to us because we didn't sign their contract.

Empire is a complete and extreme con all the way. Lowe's came out and measured our house and it was spot on exactly as I had measured the upstairs and stairway. We got 10 times better carpet, pad, complete hallway of the old carpet, and installation of the new carpet (took 6 hours) for 40% LESS than the Empire quote. Empire Carpet and Flooring are predators and con artists. BEWARE!!!!

Original Review: Aug. 1, 2014

Bought carpet from these folks in January 2013. Recently, the carpet began to tear down the middle. Called the customer support number this week for help. Got lots of questions such as: how many kids do you have, and other questions designed so that they don't have to honor the warranty on the carpet. Finally, got someone to come out today.

A guy named Matt ** from the Eagan, Minnesota office came today. This guy is a CROOK! I told him I was recording his visit to protect myself, and he said that's fine, he records ALL of his calls. He refused to give me a business card when I asked. Started taking pictures of the damage. Said, yeah, it is by a couch. He asked for my cleaning records, said the guarantee would not be honored unless it had been professionally cleaned. Well, my wife and I have cleaned the carpet, and besides, that is not the reason it fell apart. The carpet fell apart because it is CHEAP JUNK, even though our salesman (who was another sleaze bag) promised it was good quality.

After this interaction, I told him it would be replaced by them or I would sue them. I mentioned the fact that 1000s of complaints exist against this company, but he didn't think that was a big deal. Really, 1000s of complaints is not a big deal? Since he refused to give me a business card, I decided to take a picture of the paperwork he laid on my table. When I did that, he said this was over and grabbed the paperwork and headed towards the door. Apparently, he didn't like my attitude, because he then proceeded to tell me that he was ex-military and that if I came to his came he would 'show me his medals.' I think that I was supposed to interpret that as a threat? At that point, I told him he had 30 seconds to get off my property before police were called.

To sum up, I am clearly incredibly unhappy. I don't like being sold junk product, I don't like it when scam companies don't stand behind their product, and I very much don't like being threatened in my home. I will be filing suit against this company next week to recover the damages that they have inflicted on me. Additionally, I will be filing complaints with ALL federal and state consumer protection agencies, and I will be creating a website about my experience with this company where I will post the video of this person's visit to my home. At a bare minimum, this Matt ** should be immediately fired. He is clearly not able to interact well with customers. I don't really give a damn if he's ex-military or not, you don't walk into someone's house with a bad attitude and treat them poorly in front of their children. Obviously, I was rude to him as well, but I'm the only one who got screwed here. I'm out the money that I paid for their junk carpet, I'm out the time that I wasted dealing with their useless staff, and I will be out the additional time that it will take for legal action against this company.

I honestly don't think these folks should be allowed to stay in business. Clearly, they think a certain level of very angry customers is acceptable and the cost of doing business. Like Mr. ** said, 1000+ complaints is really not that many. I noticed that the State of California sued them and got a judgment, perhaps other states should do the same.

AVOID THIS COMPANY AT ALL COSTS!!! THEY WILL SCAM YOU!!! READ THE REVIEWS... THEY HAVE SCAMMED MANY, MANY PEOPLE!!!

He packed all his stuff and called his office. They never spoke to me even though I called too. Evidently they told him to do the job. He started asking when my son was home, when I was home, what hours we worked. I told him that was not his business. Then I look out the window and they had laid the carpet out on the street, the street mind you and then rolled it and brought it in. Is that common to put your new carpet out on the roadway that was just recently tarred? Management never got back to me and they got the money. I never signed anything saying I was happy or unhappy. He got my check and that was it for them. Do not use these people.

Original Review: July 30, 2014

We had Empire install Brazilian Cherry hardwood floors...1000 sq. feet... almost our entire downstairs. Had major cleaning up, damaged walls, etc. that we had to fix. After a couple months, noticed white spots on about 25 boards - very ugly. Reported to them. They came, inspected and then said the manufacturer will replace entire floor rather than each board. So once again, we had to pack up the entire lower floor of the house, move piano, etc. and what was to be a 3-day job turned into 2 weeks - torn up house, dust everywhere... not a good thing with asthmatics in the house and 3 dogs!!

They brought the wood and it was so bad they couldn't lay it... The installer who contracts with them refused to lay it - it was crappy wood!! Empire refused to use another manufacturer to get us good wood. We asked for a refund so we could find quality wood with another company... they refused!! So they found more of their manufacturer's wood in California and we are up in Washington... said they would expedite it up... Took 6 days. Really??!! All the while, we are living in a total mess. The second batch of wood arrives and found 3-4 boards in each box that were bad.

The installer had to check very closely each board before installing which took more time. We had to change vacation plans. We were wheezing for two weeks, having to eat out since kitchen was part of this... It was total chaos. Asked for some compensation for all the losses we had... deep cleaning, piano re-tuned, packing, unpacking, etc., etc. We paid $18,000 for the floors and we asked for $3,000 back in compensation and they would only pay $1,000 and only then if we signed this contract saying we give up all rights or claims against Empire, no bad reviews, no "telling" everyone what a crappy company they are but we could still have our 1-year warranty on the floor and then as I am talking to the customer service manager, she goes online and says, "Oh this type of wood can get white spots. It's part of the wood".

Then WHY, if it was normal, no one told us that and why would the manufacturer completely replace the floor... Those boards should not have been in there. The manufacturer didn't "grade" them properly... Well obviously we didn't sign it... We now have a sub-quality floor and watching to see when the defective boards will start showing up, no compensation for our losses/time. It's obvious they could care less about customer satisfaction... I'm only writing this to warn people to beware of them.. We have never had anything like this and wish I had seen these complaints before we bought our floors through them. My bad, but hopefully someone will be spared what we've been going through.

My plush carpet lasted 18 years, damn. It's plain cheap ** carpet and they won't do a damn thing about replacing it. They know it's bad. They sent me a 22 page document about limited warranty. I am not taking the time to read that long document, just so they can cover their ** warranty. I will never buy anything from them again. They don't honor their customer service or carpeting or reputation. They just sell cheap carpeting.

After they left I walked into each room and found piles of debris and in some cases there were screws on the ground. My bathroom was left extremely dirty. I also didn't like the fact that they went into my bedroom to find weights to be used to hold down some of the molding. I called and have someone coming to fix the nail holes. They didn't care at all about the lack of clean up. I even took pictures. In fact, I was taking out the trash later that day and found old carpet padding in my bushes!!

We endured numerous repair appointments, with each one consuming an entire day, only to be left with the same problem (or worse), plus damages and a huge mess. With each appointment, we spent a considerable amount of time preparing for, moving furniture ahead of time, waiting for installers, and cleaning up after each one. We ended up making concessions and settling for less than what we were promised each time, just to have this over with. And even then, although it has been a full 6 months and the repairs are still incomplete.

We have used other Empire locations in the past with good results but apparently this location has lower standards and does not stand up to their advertising. IF, after reading this, a person decides to use Empire Today anyway, pay by any credit card other than theirs, that way when you are left disappointed, you will be able to put the entire transaction in dispute and your credit card company will withhold payment to Empire until everything is settled to your satisfaction. BUYER BEWARE!

After requesting that he just give me a bid on the carpet and setting something up so my wife could see the styles and colors with me he went to work. 1st thing I didn't like was the fact I had my 4 year old son with me and he knows to keep your hands and things of the wall that I just had painted at the cost of $4000.00. Ms Empire man didn't seem to get the training. Leaning the flooring samples against the wall was good practice in his line of work. 2nd after knocking carpet samples into door casing, he didn't seem to navigate the kitchen well tripping over the plumbing sticking out of the wall in the kitchen. Keep in mind that there are no cabinets and the house is being remodeled 3rd. Finally after a few mins of what turned out to be either a 3rd grade mathematics session or down right trickery, he revealed his pricing for my carpet. $949 SF at $3.75 per SF installed.

Now keep in mind that this is a pretty good deal as far as a bid goes, BUT let's not forget about my flooring history... The three bedrooms of carpet is not $950 SF it's really $720 SF that changes the quote quite a bit price wise. Now I will admit that at first I didn't catch the error he had made. I did call him on the phone about an hour later after I confirmed that he was wrong in his measurements and when I got him on the phone and explained my finding, he all of the sudden could not hear or understand me and he would call me back when he wasn't driving anymore. Well I guess he is still on the road because I haven't heard back. ANYONE THAT IS IN THE BUSINESS OF SELL FLOORING SHOULD BE ABLE TO MEASURE THE FIRST DAY OF THE JOB. I AM GOING TO WRITE THIS OFF AS A MISTAKE AND NO WHAT I REALLY THINK IS A DISHONEST ATTEMPT TO MAKE MONEY..... AREA = LENGTH X WIDTH, PAUL OR WHATEVER YOUR NAME WAS.

I recently called to schedule another repair and was told they no longer carry the American Dream Flooring. It's no wonder, as I have come to call it the American Nightmare Flooring. The customer service rep. didn't even offer to tell me where I may be able to purchase the existing flooring, so I could possibly get it repaired locally. Although she was more than happy to have another type of flooring be installed, at guess who's expense. I suggest to do your home work on flooring way in advance and stay away from Empire Today.

To top it off, when you call to complain, the employees and contractors blame each other. I did finally receive help from one of their CSR named Judy who was great and this was the only reason that this nightmare was finally completed... Empire did not even give us a post installation consultation to confirm that the job was complete and billed us anyway. Empire's communication to their customers needs great improvement and they should stand behind what they advertise. I would not recommend this company to anyone.

The tiles we choose was ceramic - thinking that they were porcelain tiles, the salesman did not say a word and packed up and left knowing that what we chose was ceramic. The guys arrived at our home on April 29, 2014 and installed the Oak flooring. Then the next week the guys arrived to install the porcelain tiles. They proceeded to tear up the ceramic tiles that were on the floor. After all the tiles were up, they were preparing to install the tile when I noticed how thin the tile was, and I asked the question: Is that Porcelain? The worker said yes, but it didn't look like porcelain so I walked over to the box and looked for myself and the box said Ceramic. I then asked them to leave and not install ceramic on my floors because I specifically asked for porcelain. I cannot tell you how much I stressed porcelain floors to the salesman.

I called Empire and told them what happened. The salesman Kurt ** then called me and said "I have shown you all that we offer, so I suggest you find someone else to install your floors." Empire was shocked to hear that Kurt told a customer to find someone else to do the job. Empire then sent a different salesman to my home and he showed us nothing but porcelain and we chose one. On May 7, 2014 Empire sent another crew out to install the porcelain. The crew arrived and had the same ceramic tile as before, because Empire did not enter the correct porcelain tiles in their computer system. So this crew left to go to the warehouse to pick up the right porcelain tiles. They came back and started the job.

I took pictures every step of the way because Empire has already shown me signs of being deceitful and not trustworthy - when the salesman did not say a word when he knew the tile we chose was ceramic knowing good and well we wanted porcelain. The tile men did not install the Ditra system and that is the only reason I chose to let Empire install my tile floors because I was told they only used the Ditra system. I asked the installer why he is not using the Ditra system and he said that it would make the floors too high. It probably would have made the floors too high because they only removed the tiles and not the cement that was installed with the last tile floors. If they had removed everything and started from scratch, and done the floors the correct way, the floors would have been the same. I asked the salesman about leveling the floors before the work began and he assured me they would not install floors unless the floors were even.

The floors are uneven in various spots - some tiles are higher than others and they call themselves professionals. It looks like a job I could have done myself. Empire does not follow through to make sure everything was done correctly and the customer is satisfied. The guys who done the wood flooring completed all except on Two sides of the house where you step down in the living room and kitchen because they could not complete it until the tile guys finished the tiles.

But again, there is no communication with this company - no one knows anything. Empire assumes the work is complete when they send the workers to your home. WEEKS WENT BY AND NO CONTACT FROM EMPIRE REGARDING THE COMPLETION OF MY JOB. IF I WOULD HAVE NEVER CALLED TO ASK WHEN ARE YOU ALL RETURNING TO FINISH MY JOB, IT WOULD HAVE NEVER BEEN FINISHED. Because what I was told when I called was, "I thought your job was completed because in our system, it says your job has been completed." I feel like I am paying you for a service so I should not have to call you to complete my job.

Empire should have been calling me to finish my job. When you call on the telephone, no one knows anything. They say let me try to find out. I asked these questions: How much does the wood cost? How much does the Ditra cost? How much does the labor cost? How did you arrive at the price you are charging me? I need to know all these questions, so I can do my own calculations to ensure I am not being cheated or ripped off. Oh forgive me, two people attempted to answer. One person said they charged me $185 per box everything included. Still how did you arrive at that price because another person said $175 per box everything included, so which one is it?

Every time you call, you speak to a different person and receive a different answer. I even asked are you all on the same page? I do not trust Empire because they have been beating around the bush too much and they don’t have any answers and they always passing the buck to the next person. If I go to Home Depot or Lowe’s, they have a price for everything with no hesitation. They provide you with the wood price per sq ft, the Ditra per sq ft, the labor price, everything. You don't have to question their prices or worry about did they make them up because I do not know a company who doesn't have prices. How do I really know if this is a $6,000 job? I know damn well my tile job is not even worth $400, which should be free; someone from Empire should come out and inspect the work.

I thought Empire was actually completing the work; I did not know you were contracting out? Do you know who you are contracting out too? Do you have references from these contractors? Have you seen their work? Do you know if they actually do quality work? Because someone needs to look at my tile - it is terrible. And to top it all off, you would think Empire would have offered a discount for all of the unprofessionalism, being incompetent, and unfinished work they have done. It is called customer service. I think the salesman don’t care because they are out for their commission money. This job started in April and it is now June and the job is still not complete. This is unacceptable. Also, you did not notify billing that the job was not completed, and I received a bill in the mail. How are you going to bill for uncompleted work? I am seriously considering contacting my Attorney after reading all the reviews on your page about Empire and how they rip off people.

Getting back, the salesperson took the measure, and said the price was $2500 for 500 sq. ft. The carpet at the small store was $3.10 installed. I said their price was too high, and offered to call their sales mgr. I do not remember doing this 6 years, so I may have been a sucker and paid full or almost full price. She called the mgr. and they talked for 5-7 minutes, just like buying a car, haggling over price. She kept saying I was ready to buy (just like a car) and they would lower the price, to about what the small reputable store was quoting.

I said I needed to consult my spouse and get another quote. The salesperson then said, that if she doesn't write up the contract right then, she can't guarantee the price. I said, "That is okay, I will wait a day and you can come back tomorrow or two days later." She said she is very busy, and if she doesn't do it "right now", then she said she may not come back. I hate buying a car, and now always use a buying service though AAA, Costco, or USAA. I know Costco sell no-haggle carpet, but it's always top-end.

Two hours later the rep had only taken measurements of our house - nothing more. The rest of the time was spent talking with us or him out in his car talking on his cell phone. Then he gave us the bomb: for the 1,524 sq ft measurement the regular price would be over $22,000! But his sales manager was going to give us a discount that would drop that price to a little over $17,000. WHAT!?!? Who in their right mind would pay that for laminate for only 1,500 sq ft? I didn't even want to pay $12k for bamboo! And this guy was trying to get me to pay more for his laminate! He told us that that price included the padding and the small amount of vinyl we wanted to put in our guest bathroom but not the subfloor that had to be replaced in the house. (For that price, the subfloor should have been included.)

We asked about the carpeting in the two bedrooms we had requested and he completely forget about the carpeting and said he'd have to reconfigure the price (it would bring the price down). We asked what thickness the laminate was. He said it was probably 3/4" thick. We asked what millimeter? He couldn't answer the question. We asked about the thickness of the padding. He couldn't answer that question either. It seemed he had to call his sales manager for every answer. So I advised him to tell his sales manager to envision HIM going out with HIS wife looking for flooring and receiving a quote for $17k for only 1,500 sq ft and ask him what HIS response to that would be and then come back with a more realistic figure for us because they just insulted us.

When our sales rep returned the price dropped to: $7,800 for laminate (including padding - the best padding they had but it was only 1/8" thick), $1,500 for carpeting (including padding - our choice of ANY carpeting from expensive to cheap), and $300 for vinyl. We still had to pay extra for the subfloor because we didn't know how much was damaged and would need to be replaced.

At this point, he is only offering us ONE type of laminate (the 8mm thickness; they have nothing thicker and nothing thinner). We really want 10mm thickness with as thick a pad as possible underneath because we're laying the flooring in a modular home and it gets cold during winter. But they don't sell 10mm laminate. And they don't offer different thicknesses in padding. However, we CAN choose whatever color we want... as long as it's one of 8 colors. We get a choice of 10 vinyls. And the best variety was in the carpets.

Needless to say, we thanked him and said goodbye... FOUR AND A HALF HOURS LATER! I'm so disappointed. I really thought I'd be placing an order today. We have samples from Home Depot and Lumber Liquidators and the price quotes I have from both of them blew Empire Today right out of the water. And I remember walking out of Home Depot thinking their prices were high. Boy was I wrong!!!!

Again since there was a Berber in that room previously and owned a dog at that time, I felt it was due to the quality of the carpet that it didn't even last a year. My choice was to pay extra to upgrade my selection; however, I thought I bought the highest quality carpet or receive a voucher to have my carpet cleaned. I chose to have the carpet cleaned. It looked ok for a month and I am in the same boat. I cringe every time I look at the carpet. SAVE YOUR $$$. Don't buy anything from Empire.

Received several emails confirming Saturday but I didn't care because if they happen to show on Saturday we would be fine. No show on Saturday, so I expected them to show on Sunday. I got up Sunday and broke the bed down as they asked and moved it out of the room. 10 am comes around and so I call Empire myself and they tell me they are not installing because they did not receive the carpet. They claim they tried to call but there are no missed calls. I am not happy with the service. Trust me when I tell you not to let them in your home. Home Depot or Lowes can do a better job.

Original Review: May 16, 2014

We had laminate flooring put in our living room, the worst job you ever seen. Took a month to get the job done and still to this day it's not complete. The whole floor was put in backwards by admission of the manager, they busted a custom made door to my closet and the floor has waves and was scratched by the employees. I called the headquarters multiple times and what I got is a $250.00 refund on a job that cost over $2000.00.

I would NOT recommend Empire Today to anyone who wants a professional job done. The worker who originally put the floor in spent more time talking on his cell phone about how bad his boss and his company was that I was concerned immediately and when he started the floor he didn't have enough product to finish the floor (transitions). Every worker that came in after the floor was put in, their immediate reaction was to shake their heads and asked who did such an awful job.

I've called. We play telephone tag or just never get a call back from the area manager. I have left 3 messages since her last attempt to call me. I haven't had the money to replace the carpet and Empire doesn't seem to care about anything more than initial sale. Now I have cancer and I've been on chemo - compromised immune system with an unhealthy carpet and still no phone call. I understand they are contractors and not always honest but Empire should stand behind their customers in these situations and not a dishonest and greedy contractor, especially when another contractor stated wrong pad for this type of floor. Just want my money back so I can get a new carpet. I'd love a resolution that would make me follow up with a positive comment.

Long story short, after a bunch of phone calls Empire manned-up and told the installer to do the job right and they (Empire) would absorb the extra costs, whatever they were. Although it was aggravating, at least Empire worked with us to get it right and then absorbed the price of the extra work that had not been quoted to us. For these reasons, as well as the fine quality and competitive prices of their products, I would use Empire again without hesitation and I am happy that I took the time to write this on their behalf.

I told him, along with my dad, that we would have to think about it first and we would like to call him back. His entire demeanor changed from professional, to angry. He was very defensive and aggressive and said, "What is there to think about?" I explained very nicely, it is my dad's decision and he would like to either pay it all off if he has the finances to do so, or do a payment plan. Clearly, he would like to pay it all off if possible.

And he was still very aggressive about the pricing, saying that if we were to call him back another day he would be wasting his time at our home when he could be making a sale elsewhere. I understand needing to make money, but there is a way to do it, and being unprofessional and rude is never that. I've seen other reviews where people have only had the rep come by, and have had similar experiences where they were incredibly aggressive and rude if you did not make the decision to use their company THAT DAY. Needless to say, I am glad I experienced this so that we did not end up using their company because even the reviews on their installations are not good.

Do not bother getting an estimation, because they will try to pressure you and give you all types of guilt if you do not use them. That's ridiculous. At the end of the day, I am the customer whether I use you or not. It is about what I want, not what you want. You need to be respectful of my decisions, even if it is not what you want to hear. It left such a bad taste in my mouth that I felt the need to write a review, which I never do. But I don't want anyone to experience the lack of professionalism that we did, or experience such rudeness that is totally uncalled for. Seriously, don't waste your time. Now I have to sage the house to rid the negative energy he left in our home.

Now I have these issues and have been trying to get satisfaction. After 3 missed appointments out of 5 for inspection and repair, they sent someone after I wrote to the BBB, yet I am still experiencing issues with the metal plate they supposedly fixed. It's coming loose again. However, they have not responded to my phone call. I would not recommend anyone use this company or their products!

On installation day, Owner entered home at noon to find the local installer for Empire had poured Concrete material (Sakrete) around and over the drain, making the drain inoperable forever. ** protested immediately about the complete drain closure and the fact the floor is still quite unlevel; and the installer said he could get jackhammer and try to remove. After repeated calls to Empire customer service personnel, a Tim ** only offered to come to pour more concrete material in hopes to try to level floor. ** said, no and requested other means to recover damages. ** said, home has never flooded by natural cause, thus he saw no problem. The owner was very CLEAR about the drain accessibility and the company and installer seemed to disregard the request and the complaint. Obviously, some confusion in the organization’s communication from owner, to office, to their local installer. We now have inoperable drain, which was a great feature of the home if needed, and also an uneven floor.

After he left, I inspected what he had installed and there were several cracks in the wood were he had nailed, deep gouges in a few pieces and plenty of dents and chips. I called him right away and he said that I was looking at an unfinished floor and that after he puttied and the floor was finished it would look much better. The next day, (which I wasn't planning on spending having flooring installed) I spoke with him again concerning my unhappiness with the floor. He said that he was having several issues due to the type of product that I had chosen. I told him if the salesman had been forthright about the product he was selling and mentioned that this product had these types of issues, I would have chosen a different product or gone with another company.

Long story short, after the floor was almost finished being installed (it has never been completed) I found myself extremely unhappy with it and called the General Manager. She sent a representative out to inspect my floor who took pictures and asked me if I was open to another product. I told her yes. I have been waiting for almost two weeks to hear what my options are concerning my flooring and they have still not communicated with me. I am upset and hope I hear something soon so I can get on with my other home improvement projects that have had to be postponed until this issue is resolved.

I call the company and got a nasty attitude from a supervisor who transfer me to the local branch who all I got was a voice mail. No call back yet. I will never use this company again or recommend them to no one. Save your money and go to Lowe's or Home Depot as this company don't care and all they want is your money and do a crappy job. I am so piss that words can't say how I am feeling as this is the worst job I have ever seen done and the customer service sucks, the worst I seen. Stay away from this company.

Arrived at 11 a.m. Time window was 9 to 11. Proceeded to unroll the carpet on the driveway to cut it. The drive was still covered in and salt from winter. Of course when they rolled it up to bring it indoors the sand and salt were rolled onto the top of the carpet. When moving the sofa on the lower level, they left a scrape of 4 feet down a wall. Bad seams in this room. 3 HOLES left in master bedroom walls. These walls were done in a custom faux finish. Denied they did it. Finished the job at 9 p.m. Calls to service for damage to home netted me an appointment that was not kept. After hours of waiting and numerous calls to the Service Dept, I was connected directly with an INSTALLER that said he had been called that day to come out. Said he will as not sure why because he installs carpet and has no clue what to do about holes in the wall.

To finalize the trauma I got an estimate for the same carpet and could have saved $2000 if I had shopped around and waited for the installation. I am not certain that the product I purchased is what they installed. Quality???? Moral - get other estimates and use a charge card that will allow you some recourse.

Today, 3 weeks later I have tried to call twice to find out about the blind and was told by the same Cathy rep that she was out sick for over a week. That still leaves over a week where anyone could have followed up with me. This company obviously spends most of its budget on marketing and advertising and very little if any at all on customer satisfaction and quality training purposes. I have paid damn near $3000 for ONE blind and couldn't get the courtesy of one that works with no headaches or a follow-up as to what's going on with it. Mind you each time I have had to have my pregnant sister drive 2 hours to let them in as I work out of the country, and as one reviewer said about warranty - if I let it expire, it would be on me. As the youngens say SMMFH@U Empire!!!

The same week I received my blind in Dec. I had my next door neighbor over for dinner and she almost immediately ordered 9 of the same exact blinds from a design store in Livingston, NJ upon my recommendation! Till this day not only are ALL of her HD Silhouette blinds still working, they are on her window and NOT in some warehouse somewhere obviously being ignored!!! But with that said, I also know it isn't a Hunter Douglas issue! ALL READERS PLS BEWARE!!! Another thing to note that all the reviews say "resolution in progress" but that's actually not true in my case, and I am sure in many others!!! But in the cases where they just might be why do customers have to get resolutions ONLY AFTER it has come to this point of aggravation?

Original Review: April 9, 2014

Great marketing. Devious sales person. All salespersons lie, this one was king. Lifetime warranty against product defects. Whose life? 12 months "free" service calls. Minimum $95 after that for evaluation/repair. Installation required cash up front from people who don't speak English. Linoleum is the worst ever. Not my first. The worst. Cracking, tearing, breaking, etc. Only my printer paper is thinner. They disgust me. Oh, and I didn't pick them. My wife got caught up the daily advertisements, and never asked me. They are shysters.

2nd scheduled appointment, Empire called and said the installer had death in his or her family, could not install that day. STILL HAVE NOT HEARD FROM SALESMAN. Empire called me on Monday April 7, 2014 to confirm an installation for Thursday April 10. No such agreement was made or even discussed first I heard this date. I now have an appointment for Saturday April 12th. I will let you know what happens. It’s been 3 1/2 weeks trying to get this work done.

On 3/27/2014 I received a call from Empire informing me that they would not be able to complete the project as scheduled because they did not have the transition moldings that were needed to complete the project. I was assured that it would arrive that night at their warehouse and they would come out the next day to complete the project. I now had to take off another unscheduled day from work because they failed to order the correct materials. On 3/28/2014 again I received another call from Empire with the same excuse I received the day before that they did not have the transition moldings that were needed to complete the project. So after placing my order twenty days before they still did not have the proper materials needed to complete the project. I contact the corporate office and spoke with the Resolution Specialist for the area who informed me that she would work with the local office to get this resolved. I also contacted the Manager for the Orlando area who informed me that he was unaware of the matter and would look into it and call me back with a resolution.

The Manager called me back as well as the Resolution Specialist and they both assured me that they have order the materials and it would arrive in the morning and the installation would be completed the following day. On 3/29/2014 the installers arrived at my house and began installing the flooring. Upon examination I noticed that there was a big gap between the flooring and the transition molding that was being installed on the steps, with little children in the home this posed as an extreme safety hazard. The molding is supposed to be flushed with the flooring. I immediately ask them to stop installing because they were not installing the correct material. At this point the job is not complete and I have heard several broken promises that they would order the correct material. I cannot continue taking days off from work to wait for Empire to order the correct material that needs to be installed, nor have I received an update as to when this project will get completed.

3/29/2014 - Installer arrived and began installing wrong material. Job stopped and remains incomplete

As of 4/3/2014 the job remains incomplete. We have been walking on the dusty sub-floor for the past nine days, to date they still have not received the materials to complete the project. Flooring is your business, how can you not have the materials to complete the jobs that they were paid for. This is worst experience I have had with remodeling a home. I will NEVER use this company again, and neither should you.

In the past I had my carpet replaced with Ferber. It was not real. Looked very nice. But they forgot a closet and cut a square to do a patch job on it. They gossiped to my neighbors because one of the workers know them about how poorly my closet was packed with junk. They broke my living room ceiling light from hammering too hard upstairs and they broke the glass out of my entertainment center. Only gave me 100.00 for damages. Couldn't find a light so had to buy a ceiling fan. And couldn't afford an entertainment center so I had to buy a cheap walmart brand that ended up costing me about 500.00.

They did a very tacky job on my stairway and never came out to repair. We just gave up. They had cut it too short. We used a staple gun and it's being held together with that. Thank goodness that I did not let them come out for an estimate on my ceramic floors I want now. I will pay the 3k and have home depot do the job and get 1/2 the home done. Thanks for all of your reviews to remind me that these people are criminal. They do steal your money and need to be out of business. Hope this happens someday. Oh yeah we are forced to put one star. They don't deserve that.

NOW THE PROBLEMS BEGIN. We encountered a minor problem, where one of the threshold pieces was lifting from one end. While this is a minor fix, I decided to follow through with the “WARRANTY” and contacted EMPIRE, in an effort to have someone come out and re attach the piece. We called the customer service as required and scheduled an appointment for the repair. NO ONE SHOWED UP. NO ONE CALLED, even after we contacted customer service later that afternoon. We again re-scheduled a repair for the following week. AGAIN, NO ONE SHOWED UP. NO ONE CALLED. That evening we called and spoke with a “customer service representative and a supervisor (Joel). He was going to contact the crew and have someone call us back or he would call me back and set up an appointment for a third time. AGAIN, NO ONE SHOWED UP. NO ONE CALLED, NOT EVEN THE SUPERVISOR.

I am now upset and more than disappointed. I again called the customer service line. Spoke with another Supervisor named Joe. NOW I BEGIN TO SEE AND UNDERSTAND HOW EMPIRE PLAYS THE GAME. The sales department takes your money. The customer service department passes the buck, and you are left holding the bag. After today, three weeks later, the threshold has not been repaired, the manager has made notes to be sent to the installation/repair for review and I am not happy about the procedure, or the time frame that has taken to avoid a minor repair that has brought this on.

We have a brand new kitchen and they destroyed the kickplate around the cabinets. (They ultimately fixed this, but not without hesitation and we had to buy all the replacement material ourselves). A couple of weeks later, I was on my hands and knees cleaning with a fine white cloth, and noticed a quarter sized dent in the kitchen, and some warping in the living room. My husband and are just sick about this..... $7000 later, and feel there is no one to turn to, unless we take legal action. We did put in a request for them to come back out to take a look at it, but if the same crew is sent out, they will most likely treat us as if we are high maintenance pains in their backside. Again, we are just sick about this.

I had to wait for my paperwork to be emailed and electronically signed then they said it would be 3 days before they could schedule the install because I needed to make sure I wanted to do it. Needless to say the next week when I was out of town they finally came and installed my carpet. It is of ok quality. It definitely will not last the 20 yrs promised. And the pad I do not believe was what I ordered. The sample pieces felt a whole lot thicker. So then comes the big kicker. My payment was supposed to be for 2 to 3 yrs with the 1st year same as cash. Not so much. I am now paying for 61 months 5 yrs and 6 months same as cash. I received a phone call well several from financing with different congratulations on your financing for 1 yr same as cash blah blah blah. The reality of it is THEY SUCK. Terrible organization. Too many promises made that were not true. Now I just hope nothing goes wrong so I do not have to deal with any type of warranty issue. As previous reviews have stated that too will be a nightmare. Overall I would NOT recommend this company and nor will I ever do business with them again. Now if I can just get my loan paid off asap I will be a lot happier.

Floor Quality and Workmanship: It took two full days and when the flooring went down there were soft spots in the floor and the cove base in the bath began pulling away. I was told my floors needed more prep than planned for and maybe this is true. But, I believe there should have been at least two fully skilled floor layers working on my floors rather than one with a trainee on site. With my own know how, I adhered the areas in need on the cove base with calk using some added pressure to reinforce the cove base. That seemed to do the trick and I thought this would be the end of my flooring issues but I was mistaken. Four days after the floor had been installed we were moving the new couch into the house when the flooring ripped an eight inches in diameter hole over a "soft" spot.. The couch legs had pads on the bottom and there were no sharp edges that would have indicated that the legs of the couch would have caused this tear. Again, I was forced to use calk to glue the torn vinyl back down. I set a shelf board in top of the repair and placed the couch on top of the shelf to add weight.

Since my sister (still in a fragile state of mind) was being discharged from the hospital the following day, my options were limited. RESOLUTION: I did call "Empire Today" to complain and they said they would be happy to come out and repair the damage. I still had several concerns however: One: Patching a brand new floor (it was patched; I patched it . . pretty well too). Two: The quality of the flooring and/or the workmanship! Would a new tear in a different area be likely in the near future? Three: With my sister's psychological issues there ARE and will continue to be limits to having workmen in the house while she's present.

THE RESOLUTION: I addressed these concerns with Empire Today's customer service Representative Christina and a negotiation of a 10% refund along with EMPIRE's one year warranty of the floor being repaired was the deciding resolution. Although, I'm disappointed that there were issues with our vinyl flooring and with the installation, I'm impressed with Empire Flooring's Customer Service for their prompt response and willingness to make right my less than satisfactory experience.

Remember, 2 rooms are supposed to be free, so you can do the math. Still way too high. Later he called back and asked what I was expecting to pay and I said no more than $3,000. Magically, his boss called me that night and offered to do the job at $3,000. However, since then I had gotten another estimate from another carpet place and it was for $2,400. I told him I had an offer for $2,400 and he said he would see what he could do and call me in the morning. Instead what I got in the morning was Empire showing up wanting to install carpet. I sent them back and never did get a call back from Empire. These people are rip off artists.

It was like pulling teeth to get the price of carpet per sq. foot. The labor costs were totally unrealistic. The salesman never did tell me the exact sq. footage of the house that he measured other than to say it was around 1200. When I measured it later, I came up with about 900 sq. feet. Needless to say, I will never do business with Empire Today nor will I ever recommend them to anyone, friend or foe.

When I called Empire to get someone out there to see the quality of my carpet, the person who called me back said, "Well, all carpet mats and crushes." Basically the sales person sold me a dream to get the sale and I'm told something different now that I bought the carpet. The carpet is also bubbling in the master bedroom. It's also very worn looking in our bedroom where we walk to the bathroom. I wish I had gone with Home Depot or Lowe's or another company that actually cares about making things right. I can't walk into a store and talk to the manager. All I get is "Vacuum more or pay more and we'll come out to look at it." We will have to buy new carpet in the next 5 years.

After measuring the home we were told the 1st option would cost 11,500. 7500 for the hardwood and 3900 for stairs and upstairs hall/bedrooms. He said they could figure in the vinyl to make it work as it was another 750.00. The 2nd option would cost 6400 for carpet replacement throughout only. No hardwood or vinyl. The last option was 9900 with carpet with hardwood replacing tile in entryway, powder room and kitchen as well as the vinyl. We decided on the first option with hardwood downstairs and carpet everywhere else. We were ready to sign the necessary documents when Mark realized he forgot the contract paperwork. We agreed to sign the following day.

My husband had written down his own notes the previous day as we were going over the 3 options, which frankly I thought was redundant but in retrospect am grateful he did. Mark arrived the next morning and while reviewing the contract Mark said the 11500 would cover carpet upstairs and downstairs with hardwood in entryway and kitchen only! I told him to get his notes from the previous day when he told us he had redrawn them when he got home so they would be neater. Well we said that was not what we signed up for and he grabbed all his things and practically ran out the door!

We were stunned at first, then mad at the HUGE error but are now grateful (but disappointed) after reading all these reviews. As today is Sunday, hubby is going to call and complain tomorrow but it sounds like it won't do any good according to other experiences I'm reading about. Although I am disappointed with the experience I AM glad it fell through as it sounds like many others here have had worse experiences with Empire.

After one year the carpet has buckled up in 4 rooms. Called customer service and they said they would send someone out to re-tighten, but it would cost $200.00. Told them no thanks, the job should have been done right the first time and I would rather pay a real professional to fix it. Hopefully people will read these real reviews, not the ones they show on their website. I surely wish I had. STAY AWAY FROM EMPIRE.

Four weeks later Empire called to say it was top layer moisture build-up and was my problem. I am still a little shocked since the flooring (Home Legend Uniclic Bamboo) was glued down and the instructions that came with the flooring state "Uniclic angle is a revolutionary system for installing bamboo floors without using glue" and an underlayment must be used on concrete. $8,000 for a floor that is inferior quality.

They had placed furniture in the way so I could not get to that room. The carpet sounds like it is cracking when you walk on it. (as if it is dry rotten on the back). It is no better than an indoor outdoor carpet. The padding is the lowest quality you can get. I am on a cement slab and you can't even walk barefoot on the carpet, it is so cold. I went to fix my curtains and the carpet is so thin the tack board came through the carpet at the sub-base. The pile of the carpet is coming out and it is all over my house. Some guy John keeps calling from customer service and when I call back or leave a message I never can speak to anyone there. Then he calls back and says on my answering machine "I understand your are having a problem with the install." This is not a good experience, if that carpet was 60% off it would have been almost a 1500.00 carpet for this room. No way is this a quality of that price. Also, the installers did not speak English and the only thing they got right was the color of the carpet. Will not use this company again.

Empire promised us outstanding product and that they would stand behind everything. Empire's published commitment is complete support and services for the products we install. Award winning customer service before, during, and after the installation. Valued customer for life. Wow what a joke. 2.5 years later carpet shows signs of degradation, wear, crushing, and matting. Additionally, we have multiple bubbles in every room of house.

We contacted Empire to request they address these issues under our warranty. Empire sent representative Jamie to our home. During his inspection Jamie indicated this carpet looks 10 years old and whoever did your installation did a terrible job. As it turned out Jamie was a salesperson and had been assigned to our appointment incorrectly. Jamie called his boss to inquire how to handle the situation, and his boss told him not to say another word and to leave. They would send an adjuster as this was a warranty issue, not a sales issue.

On January 8, Gina (Install Manager) from Empire came to our home. Gina was surprised at the poor condition of the carpet as it was only 2 years old. Gina noted the bubbling, matting and crushing in multiple areas, and indicated she would submit a claim for replacement. Gina's report indicates home is well kept, carpet is matting and crushing. We were contacted by Karin ** approx 1 week later with a copy of Gina's report. Again, the report indicates crushing and matting of the carpet. Curiously, Gina's report completely omitted the multiple areas of bubbling throughout the house. Through our research we have found that bubbling is generally caused by poor installation, not coincidentally Gina is Empire's installation manager. Karin ** informed us that they were disputing the claim and would submit our complaint to a third party independent inspector.

On January 16th Michael ** who represented Inspect Solutions came to our home to inspect the carpet. Michael informed us that he had 30 years experience in the carpet industry. Michael spent over 1 hour in our home examining our carpet using various tools such as ultraviolet light, magnifying glass, and a grooming tool. Additionally, Michael took several pictures of the rooms in question and close ups of the carpet in order to show the poor quality. Michael indicated your home is remarkably clean and the carpet is as well. Michael also indicated there shouldn't be this much wear outside of high traffic areas and the bubbling indicates poor installation. There is no way your carpet should look this poor after only 2 years and minimal activity in the home. I'm not going to say you were ripped off but. Michael's final comments to us upon completing his inspection was your carpet is not wearing well and was not installed well. Once Empire gets my report I'm sure they will be calling you to replace the carpet.

1 week later we received a letter from Bill **, Empire's customer service manager. Bill's letter indicated our claim was being denied. A copy of Michael **'s report was included with the letter. Upon reading Michael's report we found it was fallacious, and in fact completely the opposite of what he discussed while in our home. It is clear that this company is under contract to Empire and therefore incentivized to provide reports which preclude the customer receiving any type of settlement report points below:

1. Customer contacted Empire previously to address bubbling issues and Empire re-stretched the carpet. This is untrue and did not occur. Empire never re-stretched the carpet for us.

2. A carpet grooming tool was employed in several areas of matting and crushing and it returned the carpet to a nearly new appearance. This is untrue. Michael used the tool (essentially a large comb) on 1 stair and commented that while this was a high traffic area the fibers were crushed and untwisting. Additionally Michael noted that almost all stairs were bubbled indicating poor installation.

3. Inspection indicates the carpet is wearing normally. This statement is in direct opposition to the statements Michael made while in the home your carpet is not wearing well and was not installed well. Separately, the report also indicates the condition of the carpet is FAIR. Good quality carpet should not be in FAIR condition after 2 years in a low occupancy household especially in light of the 15 year warranty.

4. While Michael took several close up photos showing bubbling, crushing and matting, these photos were not submitted with the report. Photos were submitted showing views of entire rooms, not close ups of the bubbling, crushing, and matting.

5. Reference item #2. Report indicates a carpet grooming tool was employed in several areas of matting and crushing. Michael used the tool on 1 stair, however he submitted photos of 2 rooms which he indicated were groomed to show that there was no matting. Michael did not groom or comb two entire rooms of our home. This statement is ridiculous.

6. Report indicates there is matting and crushing in traffic areas. Michael fails to report the matting and crushing in non-high traffic areas. Michael also fails to report bubbling in the following areas: master bedroom, top of stairs, 2nd floor hallway, unused guest room, guest room and 17 of 21 stairs.

Summary:

5. The carpet is 2 years old yet appears to be 10 years old. The household was described as extremely clean and is only inhabited by 2 adults and 2 cats therefore not highly trafficked. Shoes are not worn in the home.

We did not receive the product we thought we were purchasing. Empire denies any reasonability for product quality and poor install.

The final straw was that they unplugged my freezer in the garage for their tools and never plugged it back in. By the time I discovered it all the food was ruined. Adele told me I would receive a check for $200 to compensate me and it is now three weeks later and I am still getting the runaround. I have already taken to social media to share with everyone and asked them to share what a joke customer service is. My next recourse is the Attorney General's office as suggested by a friend. Terrible experience and service.

I am still having to pay an additional $500.00 for work I feel could have been avoided if the sales rep had done their job a lot better and explained in detail how a floating floor was going to feel. Some people my like the cracking and popping and walking on sponge feel but I didn't. Just make sure what you are getting before you sign that paper! Satisfied with the work A&W did, not the way Empire handled the whole deal!

Original Review: Dec. 24, 2013

The sales rep told me I would be completely satisfied and if I had ANY problems Empire had an excellent record for taking care of their customers. Wrong!! I was not aware of what a floating floor meant, because I have never had a wooden floor before, I just thought it meant it would not be nailed down. The floor cracks and pops it feels like I am walking on a sponge. Some of the boards have cracked and the transition pieces they glued down are coming up. I called and got the run around about how they could come out and glue the floor down for an additional fee $500.00 fee. I felt they should pay for it but I said okay to the $500.00 because I want my floor fixed. They were supposed to send according to them their very best crew out on Saturday, December 21st, 2013.

No one ever showed up after I spent time taking all my china and other dishes out of my china cabinet so they wouldn't get broken, unfortunately I dropped and broke a bowl that is 40 years old and can never be replaced. I called and asked why they didn't call or come as they said they would. They said they were trying to round up someone, ROUND UP someone, they said they were sending their very best installer. Then they said they would come on the following Monday. Well, on Monday, it was pouring down rain but they wanted to come but I said NO it's raining and I don't want my new wood floor walked on while they have to go in and out of the rain. Finally I was so mad I told the lady Janette I wanted them to just come out and take the floor up and give me my money back. She had another man call me and I say man not Gentleman called me and he was not very nice at all. He told me I could not get my money back POINT BLANK. NO REFUND. What happened to satisfaction guaranteed. Not at EMPIRE TODAY!

Original Review: Dec. 12, 2013

First Empire Carpet did not show up on the day they said they would, when I called to find out where they are, they said since we did not confirm the night before they cancelled our installation, even though the person who sold us the carpet said Empire would call that morning to confirm the order and let us know a time frame when they will be here, so we rescheduled for Thursday and was told we would be the 1st stop. Empire Carpet never called the night before, which was Wednesday so I called to confirm the installation. They called Thursday at 7:30am and said we were the 2nd stop, so another lie was told and said they would be here between 12-1pm. They called back and said between 12-2. They got here, the only problem was they brought the wrong carpet. We were also told we need more carpet and the estimator who did the measurements did it wrong. Horrible service all around! DO NOT USE EMPIRE CARPET!!!!

I called their customer service dept and spoke to a Richard who said he would document my case and a rep would get back to me. That afternoon a C/S rep by the name of Adele called back and took all my information, she also told me there was no documentation regarding any credit that I was supposed to receive. She told me that she would start a file and document everything and that a manager would be calling me within 3 days. That was on 12/7. I called her on 12/12 and told her that no one had contacted me. After putting me on hold for 10 minutes she got back on the phone, apologized and said a manager would be contacting me this afternoon. I still have not heard from anyone. I have filed a complaint with the BBB, I am filing a complaint with the finance company, Wells Fargo, to dispute the balance on the account and have contacted you. My hope is that this can be resolved without legal action but I will pursue that route if need be.

I called for service a week later for carpet seam(s) which had raised due to "according to the contractor", when they use the seam tape, it shrinks and makes the seam raise. I found this explanation hard to accept. I remember walking through many new homes prior to buying this home in 2004 and had not seen any issues like this. I also had the contractor redo the vinyl seam in the dining room where he installed the particle board. The seam was very noticeable and the contractor had to pull the vinyl up using a heat gun and use leveling compound to make the transition more dynamic. Several days later, the carpet seams once again raised up so I called for service and left 3 messages and got zip.

Through the BBB process, I ended up talking to the Bob ** (GM) and found him to be a nice guy who was genuinely concerned about my issues. Empire Today uses subcontractors who sometimes have a bad day which turn into a poor install. This combined with limited follow up on behalf of Empire Today turned into a terrible situation for me. My $9000 floor covering install turned into an unexpected $14000. My BBB case is listed as Resolved but it really isn't. I am not happy.

We got a new account with the $5,100.00 balance in November with a minimum payment of $175.00 a month. Then the last week of November, we received a statement that the $1,600.00 must be paid by 12/13/2013 2 pm or we must pay the 27.99% accrued interest of $447.84 for a total $2,04784. Bret ** says he misunderstood us, it was coming do any way just pay it. His Sales Manager never called as he said he would. Wells Fargo by the way is our bank. They refuse to protect us as a credit card customer. Too big to Fail, I guess They are real smart. It is not much but we will pay them their $1600.00 if we have to and take our $7,000.00 out so they cannot charge such high rate with our money with someone else.

I asked as to why the Sales Representative did not mention the fact and she indicated that I should have checked the web page to learn about the carpet warranty limitations and maintenance procedures. Who gets their rugs steamed cleaned annually? As I purchased carpets for a large living room and second floor stair hallway/landing, I figured that the salesman would have mentioned that carpet on a stairway would not last long He did not! Also, there are only three people living in this home and one uses a stair lift to move up and down so her feet never touch the carpet. There is not a lot of traffic on the rug; it appears to be just plain junk and not inexpensive junk at that!

As Empire is going to nothing to remedy this situation, I can only advise you NOT TO PURCHASE ANYTHING FROM THESE PEOPLE in order to be spared the grief of warranties that do not warrant anything and guarantees that that are beyond useless. I am going to have the carpet replaced but NOT BY EMPIRE!

Fifteen minutes into his measuring. He asked to use my bathroom. He was gone for like 45 minutes and when he opened the bathroom door, the smell was offensive!!!! OMG!! I couldn't believe what I was experiencing. He then used my entire can of air fresheners in an attempt to conceal the stench!! How upsetting!! He finally finished the measurements and I asked him to email or send me the quote via regular mail. He insisted that he will be done shortly, blah, blah, blah. In the end he tried to force me to purchase his overpriced carpet. I told him he needed to leave my home. He continued to pressure me. I had to threaten to call the police in order for him to realize that I was serious.

It was the worst experience I have ever had!!!! I have been in sales for over 25 years and not once did I EVER behave in that manner!! I will never use Empire Carpet even if they gave me the carpet and padding for free!!!! These guys are the worst EVER!!!

We called their customer service #. They were extremely patronizing & sarcastic, basically did not care that this job was not being done. I called our rep also & left a message. Finally, about one hour later, it's completely quiet. So we go out to our living room to see what’s going on. This guy has now stopped working & is sitting out on our step talking on the phone. At 9pm, the other guy finally shows up. When I asked him where he had been since he was 3 hours late, it’s dark out, our furniture is out on our lawn, his response to me: "If you needed me, you should of called my cell. You had the #." First off I did not have his cell #. Secondly it’s not my job to call him & thirdly could he of told me this guy spoke No English - he basically laughed. Finally our rep calls me, our furniture was moved back in & we were told this job would have to be finished tomorrow.

I originally set this up to be done on 2 consecutive Thursdays due to my work schedule. This guy proceeded to complain to me & my husband about how much work he has, no manpower & how he is not happy with the company, etc. So now I had to miss 8 hours of work on Friday to be home all day again for what was supposes to be "next day installation". JOKE!! The next day I receive a call from some manager who stated, "Sorry, I didn't get the message last night. I was out playing poker." The most unprofessional group of people ever! This guy goes on & on about “what we can we do to compensate you", "we don't want to lose you as customers", "this has never happened before", etc, etc. So I was to hear back on Monday from him & our rep about this so called compensation. We stated what our request for compensation was which was comp the floor & we'll pay for the 4 bedrooms.

Monday rolls around & NO CALL from either of these people. We called both... no reply. Tuesday, we receive a call from our rep stating their compensation is $300 off!!!!! WHAT A JOKE. That doesn't even cover my 8 hours of missed work. Keep in mind they’re charging us $6700 and offering $300 off. He then asks if Thursday is still good for our carpet installation. Are you kidding me? I will NEVER use Empire again!!!! We now have a bill for $3300 for this disaster. I also have contacted the BBB, the Attorney General. I will also be contacting an attorney if I receive one bill from these idiots!!!!

The carpet is awful. The areas where there has been any traffic is nasty matted down. I have had the carpet cleaned professionally and still no difference. The carpet cleaning technician also said that the carpet was breaking down. The pad is not good and shouldn't be flat. Empire Today sent their guy to my home 3 different times. The 1st guy took pictures and told me that it did seem as there may be a problem with the lot that the carpet came from, but he would have to take the pictures to the office and I would be contacted. I did receive a call and I was told to have my carpet cleaned again professionally and call back to have another rep out to take more pics and inspect the carpet. I did and when they came out the 2nd time, pictures were taken again. The guy said he could see a major difference; however, it may be normal wear and tear. I cannot believe that it is just my husband and I.

I received a 3rd call from the assistant at Empire Today and she said there was nothing they were willing to do. I told her that I was so upset and also my sister-in-law whom I had referred to them also was very upset. The carpet is trash and what a rip off. I received another phone call about 2 weeks later from the General Manager that said he was sending an independent carpet inspector out which he did. The inspector did his tests and I received a call about a week later from the General Manager telling me it's normal wear to carpet and nothing he could do but to offer to replace the carpet at 1/3 the price if I agreed to sign contract. I think a class action should be started against this company. There are a lot of consumers that are also unhappy with the carpet they got from this company. I am contacting the BBB also to report this company.

She then sent installer out to fix the other bedroom. SAME PROBLEMS - warping, buckling, and popping out. Now Empire claims that it is our fault, that there is a leak in our condo, and they will not repair or replace (however, inspection before we purchased showed no leaks). If Empire cannot properly install bamboo flooring in South Florida, why are they taking our money?

Original Review: Sept. 17, 2013

We contacted Empire Today for an estimate on new carpeting in our entire house. An Empire Today salesperson came out with samples of carpet and gave us an estimate of approx. $3,000. He assured us that the carpet was good quality, and that there is a 10-year warranty should anything happen to it, such as excessive wear or stains. It also came with a 1 year installation warranty. We decided to purchase. Not even 2 months later, the new carpet looked worse than the 10-year old carpet we had replaced with it. It was worn down to almost nothing and it was falling apart from the seams and from the middle of the floor. We do not by any means abuse our carpet. We never wear shoes in the house, we vacuum at least twice a week, etc. So we called Empire and they told us that they would send an inspector out to look at it. Instead of an inspector, an Empire salesperson came out, but even he told us that there was clearly a problem with the carpet and that he said he would request a full replacement of an upgraded carpet. He took pictures and went on his way.

Over 2 weeks later, after not hearing anything from Empire, I called them to check on our claim. The lady on the phone told us that the claim had been denied because, from the pictures, they could not see any defect in the carpet or the installation. When I asked to see a copy of the pictures, I was told that the salesman who took them passed away and they did not have access to his computer. After fighting with them for weeks, and filing a complaint with the BBB, they finally "offered" to replace our carpet with an upgraded carpet, but they called it a "goodwill replacement" and wanted us to sign a release form saying that they are free and clear from any problems we may have from here on out, we are not allowed to publish anything negative about their company, and we are not allowed to take legal action against them. We refused to sign such an "agreement" and decided instead to hire a certified inspector out of our own pockets.

(Side note: When we told Empire we would not sign the agreement because needing warranty work should not void a warranty, they tried to further get us to sign it by saying that's not what it actually meant. We had our lawyer read it and he told us Empire was lying, because it clearly states all of the above.) Hiring the certified inspector was the best $200 we spent. He was very precise and ran many tests on the quality of the carpet. It turns out the carpet was not installed properly to begin with, and on top of that, the tests on the quality came back under federal standards. The quality of the padding did come back within federal standards, but just barely. So all in all, they sell the cheapest stuff they can get and lie by saying it's good quality and that there's a good warranty on it. We are now suing Empire for our money back.

I have read many reviews where customers are unsatisfied with the quality of the flooring Empire installs and how Empire does not hold true to their "warranties." I urge you to run far and fast from this company. It will save you a lot of money and a lot of headache. And if you already purchased from them and are having trouble with their terrible customer service, please do yourself a favor and get a professional to inspect it for you - not one that Empire or even the carpet manufacturer sends out. You have to hire an independent contractor YOURSELF, or else they will not run all the necessary tests.

Today, I had Lumber Liquidators come out for an install estimation and they measured almost 100 sq feet less than Empire Today did. I am getting my quality laminate installed for half of the cost of Empire Today. My purpose here is not to give them a bad reputation as I didn't end up going with them, but to inform potential buyers who may be on a budget. I did the math and had I went with Empire Today I would have spent almost 10 a square foot to have the old removed and the new installed. No, thank you.

When they were taking out the drain, they dropped part of the pipe. Had to saw a hole in my garage ceiling to get it out. They then went to the local hardware store to get a piece of wood to repair the ceiling. When they repaired it, they moved some containers out of the way. Didn't notice until a month later that the Christmas houses I had in there were broken. Also I had wainscoting on my wall. They cut it to make room the surround and it was all jagged. Ruined it. Not long after this, I had major health problems and didn't call them for quite awhile. They told me that the men no longer worked for them so they couldn't help me.

Now, 5 months later, I have stain issues on PET carpet. I followed the Manufacturer's procedures to try to remove the stains but it didn't work. I called the Manufacturer back, who said I had to file a claim through Empire Today. I contact Empire Today and after explaining I needed a mailing address to file a claim, I was put on hold twice and each time I had to explain again to the same rep what I needed. I still do not have a mailing address to file a claim! I am considering contacting another company to have them REDO THIS MESS and chalk this up to one really bad mistake on my part, a really bad nightmare that I look at each day and one really bad company to deal with, and it won't happen again!

Original Review: Aug. 29, 2013

On July 14, 2013, I placed an order for a large, bound carpet and 3 area rugs. The salesman was nice enough but way too chatty. Apparently he distracted himself because the order never got submitted. He told me the bound carpeting would take 2 weeks to arrive at my home. After 3.5 weeks and no word from Empire or the salesman, I called the Customer Service number. The Customer Service person could find no order (even though I had an order number). I knew I was in big trouble then. The customer service rep was nice and kept saying "I am so sorry, I need to call the local office to see if there has been an order number mistake." I was promised a call back that day.

No call that day or for 3 additional days. I called back. I spoke with another customer service rep who was apparently reading from a script and kept saying "I'm sorry you are unhappy." Really? I was told the local installation manager would call me back that day. No call. I waited 2 days and called again. I did speak with the local installation manager who told me that the carpet was now at the binder (we are now 4 weeks out on a 2-week job). He said he would call me back with the install date. No call.

I called Customer Service AGAIN. This time I spoke with a supposed manager of the local operation. His English was fractured and I got frustrated and told him to cancel the order and that I expected my $100 refund back immediately (after all, they took and cashed the check immediately). No check as of 8/28/2013. I have filed a report with the BBB and posted several blogs.

I would think long and hard about doing business with these folks. They absolutely LIE when there is no need to. Had I been told the truth on call #1 (that the salesman lost the order or his mind), I would have been okay with a human mistake. But to be told repeatedly that "you will receive a call back" and no call is forthcoming, to have to repeat the story over and over and over, and to now be waiting for MY money is ridiculous.

They are also very proud to be the most expensive flooring company out there. As a consumer I would recommend that you take the time to get a second opinion and don't rush into buying a floor from high pressure salesperson. The company's ads are so misleading that even most of the salesperson don't understand them. Don't believe me. Just ask them to explain how you are going to get 2 rooms for free or the next room for $99. I would bet before they leave they will make a call to the sales manager who will then try to sell to you over the phone. All I kept hearing from the sales manager was, "Any excuses your customer tells you why they can't buy the floor today, then they are lying to you."

I'm sorry but 90% of my past customers never bought from me on the first visit. They either needed to talk it over with their spouses, maybe wanted to get a second quote or wanted me to bring different samples to pick from. But on the second visit, most of the time, I would close the sale and the customer was very happy and didn't feel rushed into a floor from a pushy salesperson. If you are thinking of buying or working as a sale rep, do your home work and google them and look at all the bad reviews. There are way too many bad reviews. I would hope a red flag would go up before you do business with this company.

Now my light doesn't go on. I couldn't find anyone to fix my damn table and there could be mold in the ceiling now. I got to get a electrician to check the light to make sure it won't start a fire. The laminate is coming up. The wood work is flimsy. NEVER WILL I USE EMPIRE TODAY AGAIN!!!! Not only that but I refuse to refer my friends and family to them.

I was happy for them to leave, but it was late and I had already made them fix seams in several areas. I was pregnant at the time and didn't have the ability or time to deal with my dissatisfaction. I dealt with the issue of how my stairs looked until after the baby was born and finally decided to call Empire after myself and several other people, including children, were getting injured in tack strips poking through on my steps. Not too mention the fact that they didn't cut the carpet correctly and there was blue padding showing on the edges of several of my steps.

So now the nightmare started. I called my trusty sales rep who left me his card and said to call at any time. I called him to talk about the issues and he directed me to customer service and said he couldn't help. He basically said he was paid his commission and the job is complete on his end. Unbelievable!

So I called customer service at their 1-800 number. Complained about the tack strips and the uneven carpet. Also complained about the installers and requested that they don't send the same guys back. I was then contacted by their Baltimore/Washington office customer service representative who should seek a new career that doesn't involve her talking to real people. She was unfriendly and was simply calling me to book the appointment. I also told her my concerns and told her I didn't want the same installers back in my home. I was shocked and pissed off when the same damn guys showed up the next day. I allowed them to hammer in the tack strips since that was crucial to be fixed and the damn guys literally pulled my carpet back from the wall and cut the blue padding out so wouldn't be visible where all the uneven cuts were. They pushed the piling over and said it was fixed. I demanded they replace the stairs and get it right. They told me my wall was crooked!?! Regardless, they proceed to call their supervisor and spoke in another language about the issue, which was not only disrespectful....it's just wrong.

They leave and I received a call from the unfriendly lady scheduling another appointment for a sales rep to come out to show me samples because they don't make my carpet anymore. Keep in mind I bought the carpet in December and they stopped manufacturing it in January. So now I have the issue where they told me they would replace the stairs with a different carpet. I was pissed and told them I wanted them to at least replace the hallway, too, so it matches the stairs. And that it's bad enough that it will not match my three rooms. They had the nerve to tell me that I have to pay for the labor of the hallway replacement.

I demanded to speak to a manager when she called to schedule it last Wednesday and she told Me she would send it to the manager's meeting the next day. I never heard back from her or a manager. I decided to call back today, which is a week later and the unfriendly lady told me that she finally got a message from management saying that I still have to pay for the hallway labor. I asked again to speak to a manager and she wouldn't let me. She told me management made the decision. I asked her for the manager's name and she wouldn't give me a name. She told me the email just came from management. She proceeded to book an appointment and I demanded yet again to talk to management and also demanded to have new installers come. She pushed me to agree to pay for the hallway (165 dollars) before she could be it.

I don't know what to do at this point. They are not understanding the fact that they screwed up the install and it's not my fault they don't have the same carpet I ordered. I shouldn't have to pay for the labor in the hallway. Empire needs to admit to this and pay for the hallway and stairs. It's bad enough I had to pick a color close to what I have in my rooms in a different type of carpet so it won't look bad. It still won't match my rooms and it'll be a completely different carpet. Does anyone have any suggestions on who I can contact at Empire outside the Baltimore/Washington office and someone who is responsible for that office??

So as you can imagine many of the fresh meat (being led to slaughter) has many of the high sales numbers and are lifted up at sales meetings as if they are the next big thing. In the meantime those leads are taken away from the hard working dedicated and very experienced reps so their numbers/success suffers. At which point the management says, "Why are you having a problem? Come on get with the program". Or "generate some of your own referrals, go door knocking in your neighborhood, or mail your existing customers for referrals to generate sales" (at your expense of course). And since they are constantly hiring this is a non stop process. I say hired but you're never an employee, you are a contractor so you are responsible to get/pay for your LLC etc, etc. I hired on with 3 people in my class. After the training I was the best rep doing $75,000 my first month and only getting leads for 3 weeks.

I believe I came in 3rd or 4th out of 25 reps total for that office. I received a 1% bonus ($750) which did not even cover my gas expenses for those 3 weeks. This was one of the problems with the bonus structure, you soon discover you had to reach $75,000 in (installed) sales to just have your gas bill paid! From my experience about 10-15% of the reps were able to do this on a consistent basis. There was another bonus if you did over $100,000 in (installed) sales but this was very hard to do. You basically had to run 4 leads per day to even have a chance at doing this. And with new reps getting leads first and less leads to spread around, getting to that level was extremely difficult. The turn over rate was astronomical. You would see new faces on a weekly basis. Churn and burn was Empires process.

A few months after I was hired they started a new training procedure, instead of 3 to 5 very sharp trainees per class I began to see 8 to 12 (bodies) new trainees per class so you can imagine what happened to the leads at that point. Hundreds of leads were wasted on dozens of reps out of training that did not even last a week! This was like Empire physically reaching into my pocket and taken money. Then about 4 months out of training Empire started a grading system for reps. This was from A to F - A=best rep to F=worst rep. Bottom line if you were not a A or a B rep you were out of luck when it came to leads. And get this, if you were given a lead and the customer cancelled the appointment, it was still counted against you. Well as you can imagine I went from an A rep out of class (after 50 cherry picked leads) to an F rep left out to dry. It took almost 3 years for me but again I had 25 years sales experience and a work ethic to back it up. But for most reps it's crash and burn real quick. So if you are thinking about working for Empire do your research and know what you're getting into.

As far as Empire from a customer stand point: Read these reviews, 95% of what you hear from customers is true. I LIVED it for almost 3 years. I won't repeat any of them as they are quite obvious. Let me just say that as a rep it became increasingly difficult to back the ads. What a scam most of them are, I can't believe they have not been sued yet! I do not believe the founder of Empire would ever have believed his company would end up like this. And I don't know if all the locations or offices are like mine (God lets hope not) but according to inter-office resources, that place was the accumulation of every bad soap opera you could imagine! And again it's a miracle they have not been sued in this area also! Let's just leave it at that! STAY AWAY!!!

Since then, I have been calling the customer service, the sales guy, and the person who was supposed to come over and adjust the doors and no one is taking the responsibility! They keep telling me, "We will contact you by tomorrow!" The worst experience ever.

We called Empire and they sent a person out that oversees the installers. She told my wife she was going to stop by because she had a feeling. She took pictures of the damage and told us to get estimate because they do not sell bamboo. At the time, it looked as if Empire was going to step up to resolve the issue. They called a month later to tell me that the owner of the installation company was willing to pay out of pocket for the damages, but Empire told him that we wanted it to go to his insurance. That is not the truth. I could care less how it’s paid as long as it is resolved.

Once I was contacted by the insurance company, they told me that they spoke to the installers. The installers informed them that they might have done some damage, but not all that we were claiming, and they would not be fixing my floor. We called Empire back to see if this was standard practice for them. After waiting a day to get a call back from a District Manager, her response was “It is not our problem.” I'm not sure if this is a battle between the install company and Empire or what. If this is a bluff on both their parts to not pay or fix the floor, they are sadly mistaken. I am a person of principle. I will pay three times the amount in lawyer fees than I did for the carpet in the first place. I will never use Empire again.

You run your car to the ground and there is no compensation. Their products prices are inflated. They ran a $99 ad. Our job was to convince the customer that the product was $99 and the material and installation would be several thousand dollars. I had trouble with that and because I had trouble with feeling comfortable with my explanation, the company began to have trouble with me. I felt as an Independent Consultant, I also had the right to make a sound decision about what I found acceptable. This is when you discover that you have no rights. Everything is fine until this point. There is no discussion. Empire rules and you are out.

After spending weeks regretting your decision, you are too far to quit because you need some money to pay the next bill before you can start looking for something else. I had a lead taken from me and given to someone else in front of me instead of offering me a gas card. I have seen worse than that from the Empire's Managerial Staff. I am a sixty-three-year-old lady living on a budget and was tossed out in the cold. Everything was good as long as I was bringing in the money but a couple of bad weeks based on a bad advertisement they ran and I was penalized. They came with a lot of reasons but all were unreasonable. They were ready to try out their new trainees and after they had invested $300 per week, per person. It was time to send the sheep out to repay the money.

Somehow I can't help but feel that there is something unlawful about the way they conduct business or it should be unlawful. You get the feeling that you are working with mobsters. There is so much to tell about these people, you don't even know where to begin. If you keep your mouth shut, you might last 6 mo. Whoever heard of an Independent contractor not being allowed to speak or give an opinion. I was told that they can terminate me at any moment's notice without a letter or discussion or conference call - just like that. If there is anyone out there who has a legal answer to this question, please contact me.

A second bathroom was not worked on at all. I had left my contractor in charge as I had a medical issue. Lisa refused to work with him and was very rude and unprofessional, resulting in the installers having to come back for a second day. The actual installers were very good; however, having at least one person on the job that is proficient in English is essential. Empire Carpet needs to redo their billing and not hide or mislead customer with their charges. Lisa in the Raleigh office needs to learn to be more professional and work with customers and not speak to them as if they are too stupid to understand.

After that joke of an estimate, to keep the day I took off from work from being a total waste of time, I agreed to carpet for a flight of stairs which wasn't a bad deal at $424 - except when they came to install a few days later, they brought the wrong carpet. The strange thing was that it had the same name as what I picked from the book, and was on my receipt, but it was definitely not what I had picked out. The installation manager and salesman were very apologetic, and I agreed to have the salesman come back to show me the samples again, and they would re-install the right carpet at no cost if I wanted, or I could keep what they installed.

Fair enough, at least I thought, until he "forgot" to show up for our next appointment. Now I have to waste more time trying to get a resolution. BTW, the installer didn't do a good job either. The carpet isn't tight, especially along the edges of the stairs against the wall. When the installation manager said they'd re-install the right carpet for me, the installer acted upset and started telling me that now Empire would charge him for two installs, so he'd lose money - as if that were my problem and I cared. I had to literally tell him to take it up with Empire, not me. I'm done with Empire and would tell anyone not to even bother doing business with them.

Three years later. I'm ashamed to say my entire carpet would eventually have to be replaced due to a shabby job Empire Today has done. I HATE my carpet due to all the buckles and it's in areas that's NOT HIGH IN TRAFFIC. I don't keep company like that other than my kids and husband. I'm very ashamed and feel taken advantage of. Bad company! I wouldn't recommend them to anyone. I hope someone reads this and this saves them some money.

My husband and I are both in the restaurant business as managers and had to rearrange our schedules so that we could both be home for this appointment. I explained that this appointment was very important and how hard it was for us to rearrange our schedules so that we could both be there. The girl on the other end said and I quote, "Sorry you'll have to make another appointment, not my fault." So because I am in a time crunch, I went ahead and took the next appointment they had which was between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. on Monday morning.

I had to rearrange my schedule again for this appointment but my husband could not. Well, on Monday morning at 10:35 (remember my window for my appointment was 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.), I received a phone call telling me that they couldn't make it. This is unacceptable! They wanted to make another appointment with me and I said never. This is no way to run a business. This is a large company and is being run without their customers' needs in consideration at all. I will never use Empire or recommend Empire to anyone. I should know better and will be making an appointment with a local, not corporate, business.

One week later the next rep comes by - fast-talking like he was an auctioneer. When I tell him I want carpet for the $99 room special, he says it's all discounted. I had to pry to get him to be direct and say it doesn't exist. It will never be that cost. It will be about 40% off retail is what he says. Bottom line, they advertise that there are carpets for $99/room and you pay for padding, installation, etc. It doesn't exist. They should be banned from advertising and wasting people’s time.

I reschedule for today, 4-9-2013. The sales agent comes at 9am. It’s starting out good so far. He came in, measured and with the $100 off, the installation fee was still going to be $1,495.00 for 1 room. I asked him twice in disbelief if that was truly the price because to me it sounded ludicrous. He stated that the prices were matched with competitors and industry prices. I asked how much Empire was charging by square foot to install, and he stated $3.21 per sq. ft. He said I could call any other big name store, Menards, Lowe’s, Home Depot, and they would charge the same if not more.

I thanked him for his time and was on the phone with Menards to see if what he said had any truth in it. After speaking to several contractors who literally laughed when I told them Empire's story to me, they stated that Empire charges outrageously and most contractors charge $0.39 - $0.59 cents per square foot. So now, buying carpet that cost me $395.00 plus the contractor’s fee which is $350.00 I am going to pay $750.00. That is really far-fetched from Empire’s leading competitor and industry prices. Thank God I listened to my gut, and instinct told me that something was just not quite right. Thank you Empire for nothing.

About 10 of 3, I called Empire since their rep had not showed or called. Come to find out that missed call was their rep. The customer service person could not get a hold of her either. So I said forget it and cancel the appointment. Of course she called later that evening and wanted to reschedule. Sorry. Yesterday, I got a call from Empire telling me about deals. I said that I wasn't interested and tried to explain why, and they had hung up on me. Their first impression sucked and I do not want to do business with them.

It's just common courtesy. I will never do business with them as they got an F on first impressions and customer service. If that's how they handle the first part of the process, lord only knows what the rest of the process would be like. I'm baffled at how they have won so many awards as they've presented on their website. However, if you do a google search on Empire Today carpet reviews, they suck. Do not recommend this company. The traveling salesman who was supposed to come to the house ... it was obvious that he could've cared less.

Empire rewards the deceptive reps, which are usually the ones that are making the most money, by taking it from you the customer and paying themselves and the company. I learned a lot working there, and that is, I would never do business with these slime balls and crooks. The entire company is all about hoping that people are dumb enough to pay the prices that they con you into. Empire even goes as far as to teach the sales people how to gain the customers’ trust and then nail them with the highest price possible. This is a flimflam company. My best advice would be to stay away from Empire; they are all con artists and will lie to your face!

I have now had 3 calls from them this morning. We cancelled the contract and I faxed them a cancellation letter. The last 2 calls, a manager Linda and the sales rep but said companies do not put that much material in a home without payment in advance. I assured them both that we never pay in full upfront, and I was told that could not be possible. The salesman said the same thing, which is crap as we have never had to pay in advance for contract services. I was also told that my credit card would guarantee that the work would be done properly, but we all know that is an uphill battle of wills. I am uncomfortable that they have our address and have been in our home; I guess the alarm will stay on all day from now on! Don't trust anything they say.

I had to drive 45 minutes to the bldg in terrible weather. I got there; he was telling my tenant the floor has structural problems, just after he was telling me over the phone. He and the installer are my tenants. The only way to install the carpet without any indentations is to put a sub-floor in. I am the customer; I pay him and he is telling my tenant all this. I got there with an $8,100 cashier’s check. He took the check, even though he had cancelled the delivery of the carpet. He insisted that the problem was between me and the tenant, and I asked him, “Who is the customer and who is paying?” Unprofessional customer service, the job was not done, the inspection of the bldg. was cancelled, 2 weeks have passed, and the tenant will not get in first of the month, and yes I would like to sue, also!

After 5 months of documentation, letters and transcripts, Capital One turned it over to Visa, who sided in our favor that we were victims of bait and switch scam. The other interesting fact was that the padding was below 4.5 and we paid for a padding that was 61/4. The 20-year warranty was only valid on padding 4.5 or higher. Our warranty was non-existent even before it was even installed. The case was closed by Visa on Nov. 11. We just started to receive harassment letters from Empire Today that we owe them $3,087.00. We have responded by phone as they asked and explained we do owe them anything. They did call back and have sent another letter threatening a mechanic lien and credit reporting.

We will need to hire a lawyer. Stay away from Empire Today as they are scam artists.

"Oh yeah, I wasn't going to charge you any way!" It was shady sounding now. After he left, we called around and found a very good company (locally) for nylon carpet which is better. We could pay about $100 more for carpet that would last as long as the one we are replacing (26 years). My husband then decided to measure the rooms, since we were feeling a bit ripped off from Empire and our floors are only 375 sq. ft. Don't believe this company!

Once more, we told him that we are waiting for our mom to come home before making any decisions. I asked if the price would still be good in a few hours when my mom had a chance to look over everything. At this point, the salesman becomes extremely agitated and insists that he would not have time to deal with us later in the day and that if we wanted the lowest price, we had to sign on the spot. Not falling for his aggressive tactics, we informed that we would not be signing. He hastily gathered his belonging and literally stormed out of our house. Also, one of the first questions I had asked when he arrived was how long the estimate was good for, his response was 30 days. However, upon his exit from our house, he insisted that paper he has written our estimates on was for his record and that we could not keep the estimate. This left our family with no proof of any of the prices that had been discussed.

The next day he promised to come back, the head guy disappeared again for the entire day and again left the 2 kids. They’re still not done with the job after being promised a day. The 3rd day they were short materials. The fourth day they came back. They didn't finish the molding on the second floor landing. It's still unfinished. I have pictures and I have witnesses to the man not being here half of the time. Don't get me started on the financing issue, between Empire and Wells Fargo, I don't know who is worse. It seems impossible to get competent people to work nowadays; horrible. I really truly think Empire Today is a huge scam and even bigger joke. I hope one day they go out of business for consumer's sake. Just go somewhere else to get flooring. If anyone needs pictures to see I will send!

After calling Empire Customer Service, we were told someone would be out to check the floor. The first contractor said it wasn't mold and that we weren't cleaning the floor correctly but after being unable to clean the staining himself, he agreed that he would send it up the chain. A second contractor came out, said it wasn't mold and that we weren't cleaning the floor correctly and that if it didn't come clean after using Simple Green (it didn't), Empire would replace the floor. A third contractor who didn't seem to have been appraised of any of the previous discussion came out, was blown away by the poor installation and agreed that the floor was faulty.

At this point, our Empire Customer Service rep stopped returning phone calls. We went back to the 800 number to try to start again and finally ended up with the same rep who promised to send yet another contractor out to look at the floor. Finally, a full review was done. The contractor said he had seen this many times and wrote a report stating that it was a known flaw in the floor's manufacturing. Again, our Empire rep disappears for a while. Next, a salesperson comes to the house and tells us we can pick a new floor, but only from the three versions of their cheapest floor - not comparable to the floor that we originally paid for. We picked a floor and then, surprise, no follow up about when they will install.

We called the 800 number again, got shuttled around some more, finally we were set up an install date. The day came and no one showed. We called the 800 number, got shuttled around, got told that not only do we not have an install appointment, but there was no record even of a salesperson having visited our house. At this point, we just want a refund and to never have to deal with Empire again. As of this point (November 2012) Empire is still dodging our phone calls and refusing to give us a straight answer about what we can expect. This is the most atrocious customer service I have ever experienced in my life.

I got a call the next day (Sunday) reminding me of my Friday install (installers can arrive anytime between 8am and 6pm). I got a call and an email on Monday, reminding me of my Friday install (installers can arrive anytime between 8am and 6pm). I got an email on Tuesday saying I “must call them and confirm the Friday install or they will call me,” which they did before I saw the email and I was reminded that installers can arrive anytime between 8am and 6pm. I get an email and a call on Wednesday, reminding me of my Friday install (installers can arrive anytime between 8am and 6pm). I got a call Thursday reminding me of my Friday install and that the installers could arrive anytime between 8am and 6pm. Did you get all that?

So, Friday arrived... at 3pm I called Empire. After pressing several buttons, the message said, ''Installers can arrive anytime between 8am & 6pm. You can hang up now or wait for a customer service rep.'' Ok, ok, I get it, they're probably on their way. At 6:05pm I called Empire, “I want to cancel my contract! You ** call me everyday and then don't show up?!” Peter the Slick called me 5 minutes later, ''I am so sorry! This is not the way Empire works. I've never received a call like this (sob, sob, sob). Can we please put your carpet in tomorrow (Saturday)? If you don't hear from someone by 10:30am give me a call (which is the message I am supposed to hear when I call them, but never did!).” I agreed; the installers arrived at 9am and were very nice men. One of them speaks perfect English and they do an excellent job of carpeting the upstairs. I told them that I hope they will be the ones coming back to do the downstairs Berber when it comes in.

Two days later the Berber arrived; I got a call, “We will be coming between 8am and 6pm on Wednesday.” I called back, “No you won't! Allow me to tell you when is convenient - is that ok?” We decided 2 Fridays later - 11 days. On Monday the calls and emails started again. Enough is enough! I told them and they didn't call again until Friday morning at 8am (the date of the install) to say they will be there between 2 & 6pm. “Excellent,” I said! At 5:54pm on a Friday night they came screaming up my driveway. Ok, ok, it's the same crew; excellent! I'll forgive the fact that my night will be ruined to get this over with. The lead man started measuring, “Oh, did I tell you that I'm a general contractor? Well, I am.” I noticed that he's measuring 2 ways; I asked, “You're not putting two seams perpendicular to each other in my Berber, are you?'' ''I have to, they didn't send enough material to do just one seam.'' Berber is fairly hard to seam in the first place, putting 2 seams in will be noticeable. How much more carpet did he need to send? Fifteen inches! He sent 30 feet when he needed to send 31’3”!

I called Empire to say that I had had it with them; to take the carpet back and refund my money. Of course, that department was closed so they'd call me back Monday morning. It's now Monday afternoon. I just called; ''Someone will be calling you back in 1-3 days to let you know what your refund will be.'' Oh, I already know what it will be! End of story: Avoid Empire today at all costs! There is no such thing as a sale; there is only salesmanship! They are clueless as to scheduling and the customer service stinks!

He graciously reduced the price to $2,700. I still balked at that price. So, he called his manager and offered me a deal of $1750 if I agreed to have the laminate installed the next day and selected the laminate they wanted me to purchase (I didn't like the pattern and color). Then, I was the recipient of a pressure sale pitch to have it installed the next day, saying this was the best price ever and that I would never get a better quote from anyone else. Now mind you, it's standard practice to have laminate or hardwood flooring acclimate in the house for 7 days. Otherwise, bucking or warping could/would have occurred. There was not a peep from the salesman about that. Had I done the next day installation, there was a good chance things would have gotten screwed up (buckling/warping of the floor), and then the fight to have it fixed. He left when I said I would not pay more than $1,000.

Empire Today's competition came in and gave a no hassle laminate floor quote of $1,080, which actually looked very nice. I since have had the kitchen flooring replaced with 5/8ths inch intertwined bamboo for $1.08/ sq. ft for about $1,000, a big price difference. Stay away from Empire Today.

I have called to complain and have been told various offices would be in contact with me. It is an unsettling business practice to outline the specific refund policy (written in legal verbiage) only for them not to adhere to their own policy. It is further upsetting to have to continuously pursue a refund that could have been handled more professionally and promptly. I will not be endorsing the use of Empire Carpets at any point to anyone. The quality of their product pales in comparison to other companies offering more competitive pricing and installation. The customer service is abysmal and evasive at best.

Granted, this does not factor in labor costs. I'm not an idiot. I knew that I would not exceed $1,000 for flooring. More than that is just ridiculous, especially on a grad student budget. He seemed generally upset that I would not budge from my cap of $1,000. I told him before we got started that I was just feeling out what the costs would be. During this time, he never brought up the free installation. It's his job to mention these specials to please the customer, not mine. He started with the high pressure tactics such as, "You called me here. I know you want this" and "This is how I make my living." Then he tried to negotiate down the cost, which just made me very angry.

The cost is what the cost is! He was pushing for me to commit to the floor (which I wasn't that crazy about) despite me telling him that a purchase that large would require reflection. At that point, I just shut it down and got direct with him that we would not be purchasing their product. He then insisted on calling people to see what else they could do. I was so angry by that point. I held my ground with no and eventually he left. Bottom line, if I'm going to spend >$10 per sq ft for flooring, it better clean and mop itself, cook me dinner and tell me I'm pretty.

He measured the area, which was 300 (three hundred) square feet, tapped some numbers into his calculator and told me the price would be $3,000! (Without showing me any samples!) I was stunned because I know for a fact that the job should not have exceeded $700. In fact, I had a friend who got wood laminate for 3 large bedrooms for only $1,800 from Home Depot, which is where I will be headed next. Needless to say, I threw the guy out of the apartment. And judging by all the other negative reviews here, I'm thankful this ended like it did, and I didn't give Empire any of my money! I just wanted to add my 2 cents about Empire.