M D CARPETS

The Short Story: MD Carpets performed perfectly and at a great price. The Long Story: We needed new carpeting for our master bedroom, hallway, and stairs. I made a fairly accurate square footage estimate of 43-yards. We were interested in a dark burgundy color and had trouble locating a candidate. We checked at two home improvement big-box stores and didn't find anything even close. We eventually located an acceptable option at a carpet store in Chula Vista. This store is part of a chain and advertises on several local television stations. I arranged for them to measure the job site and was a bit surprised to learn they required a $200 measuring fee. I figured no big deal based on the quoted price per yard and my square footage estimate, and the fee would apply toward the purchase. The representative showed up on time and proceeded to spend about 1/2 hour making a very detailed plan of the work, which included many jogs, two closets, and irregular walls in the hallway. When we checked at the store the next day my socks were blown off by their quote of almost $4,000, including installation! This is almost twice what we were expecting. They said that they needed to order 71-yards to complete the work. We know that more material needs to be ordered to allow for fitting, but almost twice as much! The salesman then refused to negotiate price with my wife, who then became angry and stomped out of the store. We then stopped at another non-chain store in Chula Vista and found a carpet not quite what we wanted but it would do. These folks seemed more honest and were surprised at the 71-yard quote from the previous store. They also had never heard of a measuring charge being as high as $200. We were ripped off at the first store! The second store then measured the job and came up with a quote of about $3,500, which blew our socks off again! They said we need 70-yards! Okay, time to reconsider, at least we didn't get dinged for the measuring at the second store. We then remembered a small carpet store right in our neighborhood, M.D. Carpets, and stopped in to look around . The showroom wasn't fancy, but we found exactly what we were looking for in a Shaw product. They gave us a very competitive per-yard quote and we had the job measured a third time at no charge. M.D. came in at 66-yeards and agreed to install the carpet with 6-pound pad and new tack strips for $2,000. The installation was performed on schedule and was very well done. The installer was meticulous and a perfectionist. He worked non-stop for 10-hours and we are very happy with the work. There is only one seam and we have about 4-yards of irregularly shaped remanents. It would seem that the 66-yard measurement was most accurate of the three. Note that that the installer also did the measuring and he whipped through it in about 5-minutes. We realize that we can't accurately compare the prices from these three sources since different carpet products were specified. But the two lessons learned are: 1. Never pay for measuring! 2. Get multiple bids, not just for the carpet per-yard cost, but for the whole job after it's been measured. M.D Carpets gave us a great experience and we would recommend them to anyone.