Empire Today

We had carpet installed in 2018 and at the beginning it looked good but not too long it starts to roll up in every room. It's supposed to be high quality carpet so I'm thinking it's probably due to how it was installed and likely not enough slack was taken out. I reached out to the company a while ago and nothing so I figured I'd post my finding here. We almost didn't go with them because the sales guy was rude to my wife but the manager convinced us to go with them. Here's some pictures of the rolls which is in every room and hallway. Update 10/15/2024: I got an email saying they would contact me within 3 business days. Well, 3 business days have passed, and nothing. This is what happened last time I reached out to them. Update 10/17/2024: I got online with a recorded person who essentially told me I'd have to pay for a carpet restretch. They don't want to attempt to make it right; they want to just get you on the phone to record you. I wouldn't do business with this company at all. They won't even assess the situation. Don't give these people your money!

The worst Customer service! Twice I made an appt for a repair. Only 6 months after installing, a plank came off. The first appt I was given a morning time frame by Janette Burris the customer service mgr. They didnt show up. 2nd time I was confirmed to be the first stop by email. No show again! I called in and was blown off by Devan who transferred me while I was still talking to her!! Worst service!!

I have always been the person to sort of roll my eyes at extravagant complaints, thinking there must have been some kind of miscommunication or over exaggeration. I was wrong. I was naïve to believe that established companies would blatantly lie or flat out refuse clear communication to their customers. We signed a contract with Empire for vinyl flooring. In our living room we had laminate flooring and a 9x12 carpet inlay. We specifically asked the sales rep how they would fix the difference in level and he assured us there would be no additional charges. When the contractor came he said they would not be demoing anything and instead be gluing the new vinyl on top of the old floor and he would purchase plywood to fill in where the carpet was and this would cost an additional $500. Now, I’m not going to ramble on about this ongoing argument with them. Empire refuses to provide an itemized receipt for the additional charges we specifically told the contractor we would not sign for and a deduction for the demo they didn’t provide. The contractor himself said “yeah, a lot of people we see have issues like this with Empire”. The customer service harasses us weekly, each time a different associate and never receiving any kind of confirmation on the communication with the previous person. If you email them, they just call, even when I requested documented communication. I beg you, support small business. With the current economy, unemployment, the best thing you can do for yourself and your community is to not use these big box corporations. The contractor hired by Empire, PHENOMINAL. Empire is rude, unprofessional and incompetent. From their sales reps to their management. It is very clear the entire company has ****-poor communication even within their own departments. I promise you will not gain anything from a company at this scale that you would not receive from your local provider.

RUN, do not walk away from Empire Flooring. After close to 5 months of the WORST customer service I have ever endured, this job is over. The salesman seemed to be a great guy, until omission after omission came up....and he would not return my calls or texts. Calls to customer service were met with “someone will call you back within 72 hours”. I am still waiting for call backs from June. And it is October. First, the LVT I had selected for the bathrooms was not the correct type for our particular floors. With the installers standing in our home, I had to make a immediate decision on replacement flooring, without a price or really, any choice. Calls to the salesman are still unanswered. My call to customer service was to be returned in 72 hours. Still waiting. Hardwood never would have been my choice for bathrooms, but that is what we got, courtesy of an uninformed salesman. On the morning of the carpet install, I was told the installers would not remove or install the custom baseboard I had purchased, painted and ready for them...the salesman had told me them installing it would be no problem. Salesman did not include it in the order. Salesman would not return calls. I ended up having to hire someone last minute to remove and install baseboard, that day, at my expense. Empire refuses to reimburse that expense and said I should have called customer service. Why call? They never call back. Our home was damaged during the carpet installation and I was told to call customer service. Still waiting. The ONLY good part of this nightmare was Bryan, the window treatment specialist and installer. He was prompt, answered and returned calls, answered questions and was the consummate professional. I have a short list of Empire employee names I have been let down by, been spoken down to by and have behaved in every way other than professional. It saddens me there is no one to speak to about my nightmare of a renovation. Reference Activity ID: 1-3973029894

We met with a salesman in our home, and he went over a lot of things with us, and made us feel pretty comfortable. He accidentally selected a different color of flooring on our contract, but assured us he’d put in a change order to fix it before the installation. The day of the installation arrives, the two installers show up, and they bring in the first box of planks, and it’s the WRONG COLOR that the salesman selected. The change wasn’t made. Since that day, we’ve been trying to get an answer from the company. I call them, their call center answers and promises to refer our problem to a specialist. No specialist ever calls. At this point, I just want out of the contract. I no longer have any faith in this company, and apparently, a lot of others agree. Oh, once the 3 day rescission period ends, forget about ever hearing from your salesman. He’ll stop returning your calls. If you haven’t signed, DON’T. This is not the company you want to do business with. Find somebody with a good reputation. We didn’t do enough homework. Don’t make the same mistake.

I got carpet installed and less than 2 years it is coming out on every room, I called them and they said, installation is not covered after a year, When I told them to come and look as they would be ashamed of the work they did, her response was.. "it might be the way YOU WALK, or maybe you moved too much of heavy furniture" ... so never working with them again

Joe Welsch and Empire Today really worked to make our home look great. Ordering and installing the carpeting went smoothly and we love the new look and quality of the carpet. The kitchen/dining room floor was more challenging. The installers said our floor was warped and the laminate when separate when it was walked on. Okay, time for use to change the order and put in vinyl, although that's not what we wanted. But Empire didn't do work they knew would be shoddy. But Joe had another installer come out to see what they thought. They agreed with the first installer, so we scheduled the vinyl installation. However, when they arrived the next day, they said they could fix the floor in a few steps and Empire Today agreed to let the work be done free of charge because of the various things we had been today. Today our floors look great and we are very appreciative of what Joe and Empire Today did for us.

They advertised $99.00 per room. When the lady got to my house, she said something entirely different. She told me that it was for people who paid $2000.00 for their carpeting. They gave me a deal put the carpeting in my house that I had to pay within a year. The workers who came into my house went into my room and closed the door to put the carpet in. They took a wall fixture out behind the dresser drawer. I don?t know if they took anything more.

unknown

Update since posting my initial review with the grade of "F." I have upgraded Empire to a "D" for the time being. The general manager has come out to my home and has agreed to credit me for this carpet towards installing something better. I will return to update as things progress. My hope is that with the new carpet, my opinion will continue to improve. Note that I am not getting the same carpet again and would not recommend that particular carpet. But I will choose a new carpet with the advice of the Empire Salesman, combined with the advice given by the GM today. I will report back after that carpet is installed.

This is possibly the single worst home "improvement" project in my life. I've been a landlord, I've owned 3 homes, and have rented several as tenant. So I know home improvement, I know home repair. Further, I've had plenty of jobs dealing with the public, and I know customer service. I have never had a worse product or customer service than with this company. I have tried for three months to resolve my concerns in a pleasant manner and at every turn have had my reiterated concerns either ignored, or told that nothing would be done. The rough story follows. I was planning to copy and paste parts of emails, but their email communication clearly states that they are not to be copied or shared. So I'll simply write, in my own words, what happened.

I purchased the carpet in May 2011. I had quotes from other places, but the Empire salesman assured me that their customer service was bar-none. I believed it, and payed more for the Empire carpet than another quote for that reason. I told all of my salesmen the same thing: we live here, we are looking for a mid-grade carpet with a superior pad. We don't want junk, but we don't need luxury level, we're looking for a nice quality carpet that will last us at least the next 10 years. We have no pets, 1 child who is very easy on carpets. We don't wear shoes in the house (unless they're house-only shoes). We don't entertain. We don't do anything unusual on our carpets, and the rooms they're in aren't our heavy-use rooms in our home. I told him we vacuum once a week, and I use my carpet extractor monthly (more often in the event of an unusual spill, a house-guest coming, etc), and we get it professionally cleaned yearly (or more if unusual circumstances, like after firestorms).
He sold me the Townsend carpet. When it arrived, I questioned whether it was the same carpet. The installers kind of nodded in that, "I barely understand you," type of way. The pile looked much looser than the sample. But I let it happen. They tore up parts of our wallboard, ruined lots of baseboard, one piece went entirely missing, and in many places the carpet didn't really meet the wall. Something was mumbled about it meeting after a break-in period. I covered those parts with furniture and decided I was too busy to deal with it. I repaired the walls myself.
Very soon the carpet began to look old, a couple of months. Over the next year it began to look worse and worse. I tried several at-home cleaning products which someone, whether the salesman or the installer or someone else who came out later, I honestly can't remember which, said were all fine ways to clean it to maintain my warranty along with my extractor and regular vacuuming. The professional cleaners tried all they could to revive it. After 3 years, I decided to put in a warranty claim, the carpet was embarrassing.
The warranty process lasted for just over 3 months, during which the responses were extremely delayed, sometimes weeks. The 3rd party who came out to evaluate basically indicated that he sees this all the time, that this type of carpet wears like this. And that this type of carpet requires special care, which not one person mentioned during the purchasing or installation process. I received a letter, later, stating that daily vacuuming would have been necessary. Really?! Daily? I don't know anyone who does that. I've had cheap carpets in rentals (that I was living in) that held up better and with only vacuuming every couple of weeks. I had tenants who were disgustingly filthy (when I was a landlord), but the carpet cleaned with a deep cleaning, and looked acceptable. And no carpet has ever been universally matted down like this. One of my questions to Empire was whether maybe the installers had brought me a different carpet from the one I purchased. That question has been unilaterally ignored. They merely keep saying that the carpet is wearing normally. I've said that I asked for and felt like I paid for a mid-grade carpet, and it's wearing like the lowest grade carpet ever created. They didn't respond to that. I was trying to be fair in asking the question that maybe I don't actually HAVE the carpet I paid for, that maybe the mid-grade carpets from Empire don't really wear like this, but since they repeatedly haven't answered that question, or rather simply say that it's wearing normally, I'm left to draw my own conclusions.
They have also not agreed to send an actual Empire representative out to see my complaints. I've asked twice. They merely say that they rely on that 3rd party's opinion, which was one man. I've asked for a second opinion. The last email from them stated merely that they will help repair the frayed edges where the carpet meets the tile, but nothing more. The last email was a case-closed type of wording. I politely responded that I understood and would post my reviews accordingly. No response whatsoever. Should I have raged and been obnoxious in order to get better service? That's just not me.
I am merely out the $2259 that I spent for this hideous carpet. I feel angry and swindled, and my home is an embarrassment to me when anyone who knocks on our door. You get new carpet to improve things, not make them worse. I wish I had my 20-year-old carpet back! I still have it in my bedroom and it looks FAR better than this new carpet. My babysitter got some low-grade carpet from a discount hardware store that's wearing better than this, and she has a construction worker living in her house who doesn't remove his shoes before walking through the room. She vacuums once a week at best. She has 2 dogs, and had 5 adults living in the home (now 3) and her carpet is wearing better than this awful rag I have on my floors.
I'm very upset with Empire's product and service, and while I'm constrained by the email passage about not sharing the content of their emails, I'm not prevented from cautioning other area consumers from using this company. I do intend to post this review wherever I can find consumers who can be swindled; I'd like to protect you from an experience like I had. I will also be putting in a claim with the BBB when I can find the time. My life doesn't include a lot of time for pursuing wrongs, I usually just swallow them and move on, but I've made an exception in this case because it's probably the worst case I've experienced.
Good luck with your own carpet experience, and I hope whoever I choose to replace this nasty stuff will offer me the opportunity to post a glowing review instead. But it will most certainly not be Empire.

unknown

Empire Today "San Diego"
We had our carpet installed about a year ago. the installation went smoothly.  It looked great for a few months. At 6 months old it started looking not so hot. At 10 months old I called customer service. It was actually matting in spots. I talked to Vivian and she has been a great help through the entire process.
Empire Today sent out someone to take photos of my carpet. The photos were sent to a 3rd party. It was determined that the carpet failed. I was told that it was either the end of a roll (got smashed down) or a problem in the factory when making the carpet. Really? I set up an appointment to have it replaced. (as crazy as the explanation was I thought I'd give them a chance to do it right) We set appointment to install new carpet. The day arrived. No call with a delivery time. Around 9 am that day I called in to see when the crew would be here. I was told by a man in the delivery department that my carpet was in Los Angeles and they could install it tomorrow. I don't think they get what an appointment is or the hassle of packing up a house. I called Vivian and requested a refund. Two weeks later it arrived in the mail. I had other carpet companies come out. One salesperson upon looking at the condition of the carpet knew what brand it was. Turns out they didn't sell this brand for long because it just doesn't hold up. This was sold to me as the most durable and stain resistant carpet they carry. It's just very cheap carpet. I'm going with Nylon carpet from Costco. It will cost a few thousand more but I think with carpet you do get what you pay for.  My fingers are crossed.
The brand was Solerno "Connect the Dots" and "Dawning Chamos".  We had two different carpet styles installed.  What a  
coincidence that they both had the same problem. 
Don't walk but run from this outfit. p.s. my new tablet sprouted legs and ran away after the installers were there. You do the math, can't prove it but I think I know what happened to it).
I also left a review on Yelp.  View that for the photos of the carpet.

Job well done we are very happy!

I really liked the attention they gave us, it was very personalized. It was installed really fast.

Per our request, we had a sales representative come to the house . . .very hard sell. . .was there for two and one-half hours.  Told us we had a 30 year warranty.  Had a very professional installer,  VERY UNprofessional satellite manager. Not 30 year warranty. . .also, a hard copy of the warranty was not provided. . .had to go online to read warranty. . .1 year limited on installation and 1 year to report on laminate faults.  After six months, the floor started "peeling", "lifting" and "buckling". Hired our own leak detection agency. . .no moisture leaks.  Two  months later (June),  satellite manager came out - tore up floor (approx 6' x 18"), gave unsubstantiated reason for problems throughout the installation and said he would replace the torn up boards if we signed a release on the rest of the floor. The satellite manager actually screamed, called me names and hung up on me. . .tried to stall in order to go over the 1 year limited warranty.   Hired attorney two days before the end of the limited warranty and went straight to CEO.  Ended up with our attorney able to settle out of arbitration.  We were told that Empire will reinstall entire floor at no cost to us. . .would rather have them rip out floor and refund money to go another route, but. . . after all of the sleepless nights, additional fees for attorneys and floor torn up for 6 months, at least they are willing to take care of it.  By the way, Empire was recommended by a neighbor who has had no problems (approx. 100 sq ft).

Per my 02/01/12 agreement  with Empire, as of March 29, 2012, I, Karen Pye (the customer) am notifying Angie's List to indicate that my complaint has been resolved to my satisfaction.

Called Empire (800-588-2300) to get a look at samples and an estimate for flooring replacement in our double wide mobile home. Brian, the estimator, arrived punctually the next evening. He showed us samples of vinyl flooring and measured the areas to be done. We were having the kitchen (including pantry and under the stove and refrigerator), dinette area, hallway to the bedrooms, laundry/entry area (including 2 closets) and the guest bathroom covered. This included removing carpet and pad from the dinette and hallway and removing the toilet from the guest bath. Brian broke down the costs and discounts and answered any questions we had before we decided to go with Empire's offer. We set the start date for the following week. We received a call the day of the install to let us know when the team would arrive. They were here 15 minutes early! They removed the carpet and pad and decided to leave the old vinyl. Based on the age of the home and the condition of the subfloor, it was recommended that a new 1/8" thick subfloor be installed prior to installing the new vinyl. We were advised of an additional charge of possibly $1000 but the team foreman had to confirm the actual charge. After a phone call, he said that the flooring would be included FREE of charge! So the flooring was put down, then the glue and vinyl. All seams were matched perfectly and all cuts were made accurately. Then 1/4 round was installed along all the edges, metal strips were installed where the flooring and remaining carpet met, the toilet reinstalled, a complete cleanup was accomplished and a post installation walk-thru was done. The team stayed until the job was satisfactorily completed. All heavy lifting (refrigerator, stove, washer, and dryer) was done by the team, although the units had to be disconnected and reconnected by us. Overall an excellent job and a superior experience! We would use them again and recommend them to others. A friend, who is a former building contractor, marveled at the great job that was done.

They were good in their job and prompt. They cleaned the entire place after the installation. I will use their services in future.

Our sales guy was DEL DONK, and he was fantastic. He came out to the house and helped us select the right carpet for our rooms. He was very helpful and professional. A few days after we ordered carpet we realized we needed to change the color in one of the rooms. Even though the carpet had already been ordered, he told us it was no problem and took care of exchanging it for the new color. The carpet still arrived on time and was installed as promised.

They were cheap. The installers didn't have enough carpet so part of the carpet had become a jigsaw puzzle. The seams did not look very well so they sent another technician to repair the seams. The supervisor was supposed to come out to look at the job, he didn't show up the first time but then finally called and came out. He did have the carpet replaced but it was a long process. It did get taken care of but personally I will not use them again.

THEY DID A GOOD JOB. THEY DID OKAY. THEY REPLACED THE CARPETS AND THEY CHECKED IT OUT. THE FIRST TIME THEY DIDNT SPEAK ENGLISH AND THE SECOND TIME THEY DID, SO IT WAS EASIER TO TALK TO THEM THE SECOND TIME.

THE SALESMAN WAS KNOWLEDGABLE AND RESPONSIVE TO OUR QUESTIONS. THE OFFICE STAFF WERE POLITE AND PROFESSIONAL. THE INSTALLERS WERE NEAT AND HARD WORKING.

EMPIRE CARPET COMPANY IS VERY EXPERIENCED. ALWAYS DO A VERY GOOD JOB.

INSTALLERS WERE VERY COURTEOUS AND CAREFUL. THEY DID A VERY PROFESSIONAL AND EXCELLENT JOB IN A TIMELY MANNER.