UNIVERSAL CARPET

I had to ask Tony the sales rep 8 times for a quote. Even though we spent over $2000 he refused to honor the $100 coupon that was in the newspaper. They sent out a worker that had only ever installed tile in showers, not floors. Additionally when he came the first day to do work he showed up with his pants half way down his back end. I pointed out to the worker that he put down the floor improperly. He ripped it up and I showed him how to install it properly. The majority of the days he didn't event show up for the job. The tiles are uneven and way too slippery. In fact we have fallen 5 times now. Additionally the tiles were chipped during installation and filled with grout. Also he didn't use proper grout. I asked the company many times to not send the guy they were sending and to send someone else. They said he had to be the one to complete the work and would not send anyone else. I tried calling Tony and they said he was in Iran for 6 weeks. I then asked for the owner Muhammad and they said he was in the Middle East for a month. Customer service apologized and fired the installer, but they still want to be paid for the floor that is uneven, cracked, slippery, ugly grout, and needs to be pulled up. The installer came the last day and said he had been fired and was going back to the office to be pick up his final paycheck. But now Universal Carpet is saying that they never fired him and that he is one of their best tile layers. Customer service told me that the owner doesn't care and is going to take us to court for the payment. It has been a nightmare.

Our visit to the floor room was good at first and the salesman was friendly. They had a 0% interest special at the time that we really needed since we were in the process of moving into our home and did not have the money to pay upfront. Being told that the deal was only valid until the end of the month (June) we made our purchase just in time to take advantage of that offer. We later found out that the expiration of the offer was a blatant lie since the next advertisement in the mail showed the offer was still available. High pressure sales at its finest basically. The installation company they use is very terrible. They left gaps where the carpet meets tile or wood. Left damage to the paint on our walls and scraped the walls while removing carpet. They were supposed to come to fix the job but was told by one person the installer had a family emergency and couldnt make it then another within 30 minutes later that he was stuck at a big jobsite. So which one is it? Maybe they were too lazy to come make things right or wanted to wait it out so we forget and let it go. So we rescheduled the appointment for the following week. I waited at home with nothing to do for 3 hours until I decided it was about time to call and see what the hold up was. There was no answer and it turns out the customer support line is not open on weekends. So I called their installation line and was told the appointment was cancelled because we already sent pictures of the paint damage. But they still needed to come fix the gaps that were left in the carpet. Appointment rescheduled again for the following weekend. They did offer to give us 50% of the cost to touch-up the paint and that is still a claim in progress. It took a week to get a reply to the claim and so far it has been about three weeks since we filed the claim. Waiting to hear back about when they will mail us the check still. One last thing, if you see their advertisement in the mail and for some reason think that LA Carpet and Universal Carpet are competitors, don't be fooled. They are the same company because the email address to file the claim refers to LA Carpet. We were thinking of having more work done to our home in the long run (remodel bathroom, kitchen, hardwood floors) but after this experience wil never contact them for any new business nor recommend them to anyone that we know.

We couldn't be more pleased with our experience with Universal Carpets in Irvine. We had received a quote from another carpet company, but it exceeded our budget. We saw their ad in the Penny Saver, and went to their showroom on a Sunday afternoon. The salesperson was knowledgeable and helpful, and listened to what we needed to accomplish. She recommended the same carpet we had seen at the other store, and the price was about 20% less than that quote. She came over the same afternoon to measure and was able to order and have the carpet and upgraded pad installed in less than a week. The installers were excellent, and cleaned up carefully when they were finished. We highly recommend them, and would use them again.

We started looking at countertop options right before the Christmas holidays and went to the San Juan Capistrano LA Carpet location. I had used them previously for my kitchen countertops and had a very positive experience. In the store we met Moris who showed us some samples of the type of counters we were interested in. We really liked a crushed marble sample he showed us which had large pieces of marble instead of small pieces like you see in quartz countertops. He also told us this was a less expensive type of stone. A couple weeks later I called Moris at the San Juan store and the number was disconnected. Since I live close by I stopped by and the store was gone. We could not find that type of stone anywhere else, so we went to the Irvine LA Carpet location and explained our situation. They told us Moris was at Universal Carpet which is part of LA Carpet and gave us his number. When we called Moris and told him we would like to move forward with getting an estimate, he had trouble remembering the type of stone we were looking at even though I had the model number that he wrote on his business card. He said he would bring samples to our estimate. He arrived for the estimate on time and took a look at our bathrooms. He provided an estimate that was a little higher than what he quoted at our initial visit with him and he wrote quartz on the estimate. Unfortunately, he did not bring the right sample of stone that we were interested in. He said he remembered the stone now, but was having trouble locating the sample since the other store moved, but he would look through their warehouse for the sample. This was MLK Day. He also said he would call later that day to schedule a time for the installers to come by and build the template. He didn't call for over a week. The following week I called again and he said he found our sample and that I should stop by the store to see it. I did and the sample was on his desk, but again it was not the right sample. It was the same sample he showed us at the estimate (quartz). He did this a couple more times where my husband and I would have to come over to the store to see yet another sample of the wrong product. Finally, over a month later he found one similar to our sample. It was the crushed marble, but did not have the large chunks we wanted. At this point we could not find another store who carried this stone and only found prefab counters in the same stone. Plus, we are expecting in a couple months and wanted to get our bathrooms completed right away. So we agreed to do the stone he found. When we asked about the pricing, he said it was the same and that it was the same as quartz; again, not what he told us initially. We really felt that Moris was not being honest with us or really trying to find the sample. Plus, we still don't understand why he couldn't find the stone based on the product code he gave us at our first visit. The installers were always on time, professional and friendly. Their installation was not perfect by any means though. The edges are not perfectly straight, especially corners, and we had to call them back to enlarge the drain holes for the master bathroom sink. There are also some scratches in the stone (very hard to see though) from the installation tools they used. From a glance the counters still look very good though. I was very disappointed in this experience. I was a repeat customer and also was looking to have tile installed in my master shower and bath floors, but I ended up using a different company for this service even though I saw that they carried the materials we were interested in. I also feel that the costs were too high. In the end, I felt very distrustful of our sales person and resented the fact that it took over a month to get the counters installed after our estimate.

The delivery date of the carpet to California changed 4 times in the process for no particular reason we were aware of. Installation was completed in one day, because we removed 90% of our furniture. We had numerous discussions with Alex (Store Manager) who assured us that the seams would not be visible and would not be in high traffic areas. This turned out to be false. Alex totally misrepresented the details of how the installation would be performed. We relied on his assurances and were extremely disappointed in the outcome. In the complaint process we were passed around to various entities of the company, and responsibility was always passed on to the other department. An independent carpet inspector reported that the seams were done to acceptable standards, he would not entertain anything about the representation made by Alex. Again, Alex totally misrepresented how the installation would look.