Empire Today - Chicago

Excellent end to end product and service

negative experience from this company

Fair negotiations and fast install.

DO NOT PURCHASE FROM THIS COMPANY! WORST COMPANY EVER! TOOK MY MONEY AND NEVER INSTALLED IT!!! I purchased the flooring for two bedrooms in May 2021. the First available Installation date was 6/23/2021. They indicated it would take four hours to install, but I needed to be available all day. Empire confirmed the date prior to the install date. Day of install, I heard nothing. at 11:30 am, I called trying to get anyone to answer. Finally got the salesperson and he was able to confirm they would be at my condo at 2 pm. The installers called and confirmed they were coming, but had to leave at 4 pm. One installer did arrive, took a look, and said he couldn't do it today. I asked if they could at least remove the carpet and leave the materials. The answer was no. rescheduled (after 10+ phone calls) to 7/1/2021. Empire confirmed the day before. We were moved to first thing in the am due to rescheduling. At 11 am, no word from Empire, no show again. Finally, Bev called to reschedule with no explanation as to why. but now for 7/13/2021. I am not confident that day will happen either. If I could give negative stars I would. BUYER BEWARE - Do not use Empire Today. Helen, the installation manager in Chicago has been no help. Cannot get a hold of her. When she did finally call back, very rude. Bev (Ext 2361) was also rude. Clearly, they deal with dissatisfied customers all the time. This is just not acceptable.

When they pulled the carpet out of the truck they laid it on the dirty driveway then carried it into the house. Communication was very difficult as only one of the three-spoke a very limited amount of English. They seemed surprised we asked them to take their shoes off before walking through the house, after we finally got that through to them, when they went back outside, they just went out in their socks walking across the yard and driveway, then back... walking through the house with dirty socks. The carpet looks fine, but, professionalism was lacking.

The appointment and getting an estimated was easy and no issues. The sales guy was knowledgeable. However, once we booked it and scheduled the installation it went downhill. They rescheduled the first time, installer couldn?t make it and the second time they didn?t even give us a courtesy call. We called multiple times and all we received was scripted responses. We contacted the sales guy directly and we never heard from him. We ended up cancelling. We lost a month just waiting and getting installation rescheduled. Worst customer service. Surprisingly cancelling was a better experience, they tried to save us but they couldn?t even get answers from the installation manager. Luckily we were able to get our full refund, hopefully we don?t have issues getting it since it?s suppose to be mailed.

I would definitely recommend

The floor looks beautiful after installation. Good values. Some defects but get corrected after contacting the customer service

It took Empire 8 months to get my floor right. Our floor had to be laid down 2.5 times before it was done right. Our first installer came into my house and was untrue to me twice about how my moving floor was correct. Only to find out from our 2nd installer, that the 1st had taken shortcuts on our floor. After taking off a total of 9 days for a 2-day job, our floor is acceptable, though not perfect. They broke an outlet. I was offered a whopping $200 for time extra 7 days of time and frustration. Please, go somewhere else. This large company does not care about quality.

Empire Flooring did my kitchen floor and baths with laminated planks. The salesman said they would do it all. They sell their own hand picked and pricey floors. The installer arrived unannounced about 11AM on the day he started. He refused to reinstall my toilets, iron handrail, could not remove the old floor, did a poor job at some transitions, spent more time worrying about not having enough material than doing the job right, and did not have enough 3/4 round trim, he also did not caulk transitions as much as he should. The final insult was he removed a metal furnace duct floor grille and ran the subfloor and new floor over the open duct. The work he did do was fine. I thought I would have to paint but it was not required. I have called Empire Flooring and Jerimey their salesman several times but no avail. I am just being ignored for some reason. The cost was high enough plus the extra $550 for the subflooring made it an overall bad deal. Empire Flooring does not have a customer service you get an answering service. I have yet to talk to someone in charge of their subcontractors. You give your money to a salesman and you get whatever the installer wants to do. Like it or not. I guess I should have purchased the Home Advisor yearly fee. They recommend Empire. Save yourself. Hire your neighborhood carpenter who you can find when it is all over. I would say that their warranty is not worth the paper it is written on.

Good customer service

very professional very good

It has been horrible. On the first day of install the floor look messed up, obviously, the installers were not professionals. They kept coming back to fix the issues, but never with the correct material. Going on for 3 months, and still not correct.

Quick install. Great installers.

Great

With my install, concrete grinding had to be done, according to the installers, to ensure that my luxury vinyl flooring would be properly put in place. The installers tried to isolate the area of grinding but it clearly was ineffective. Literally, a cloud of concrete dust was created in my entire home that took approximately two hours to settle. This dust coated every surface in my home including the interiors of all my kitchen cabinets and closets. Also, all the walls and ceilings were coated with this concrete dust. The installers did a superficial job of cleaning my home and left. It wasnâ t until the next day that I realized the gravity of this dust accumulation. It has taken me seven days of cleaning to address this concrete dust nightmare. Empire customer service has not taken any responsibility for this excessive cleaning and has set an appointment on November 9, for the installers to come back because of a **clickingâ issue** with the flooring AND at this time they will help me with the clean-up. Implied in that appointment is the obvious fact that I was supposed to live in this dust. I initially gave the installers and Empire very high evaluation figures. Unfortunately, I must retract these ratings considering how things unfolded. In essence, I would have to remind customers of Empire to not sign any paperwork until cleanup is satisfactory. In my case, it was an extremely unclean situation that may not be normal. I purchased a premium product from Empire for four rooms and expected a premium installation. In my estimation that includes a premium clean-up which did not happen.

Great installers. Job went great. Kept us informed when decisions could be made.

They know what they're doing. Not the least expensive but you get what you pay for. The job was done quickly and looks great.

Professional and great sale

Made the appointment and the salesman was here the next day. Very professional and showed lots of samples to go with our new paint. They were here the next week to install. The install team was very professional, showed ya a sample prior to install to make sure it was what we picked out. They did a great job! Everyone took necessary precautions during this time as well which was appreciated!!

NEVER HIRE Empire Today, FOR FLOORING OR ANYTHING!!!! I have been patiently trying to work with Empire to get my floor fix properly. I FINALLY received a call from a representative named Yvette today at 2:23p. She did not have any of the notes about the case except the one scratch that the installer did when he moved my chair after he was finished. She claimed that the installer said that I did it... BUNCH OF LIES. Yet, I have my messages to the sales guy complaining to him about it back in 2019 when he scratched it. She had no notes from the two inspectors that came out and said the floor was done wrong and how it is uneven. She informed me that the sales representative should have told the installer that they needed floor boards to place under wood. WHY IS THAT MY PROBLEM? Like I explained to her, I am not the sales person or the installation person with Empire. I hired & paid for flooring experts to do my floor, and I just want my floor done professionally or my money back to hire professionals to do it right. She stated that she will need to contact the sales manager to get in touch with Jesse E Harris (the sales representative) because he is no longer with them, and she will call me back by Thursday. However, she called me back at 4:30p while I was on a call with a client, and left a voice message that her marketing manager told her that because THEY do not have any notes of calls or messages, they will not be doing anything further. I can not control their workers and if they take proper notes. I have PLENTY OF NOTES, including my text messages and notes I kept after every conversation. Therefore, since they refuse to provide professional service and fix the work I paid for. I will have NO CHOICE but to move forward with getting an attorney and filing a lawsuit. I am frustrated, stressed out, and tired of being patient with them playing games. I DO NOT CARE HOW LONG IT TAKE, I WILL SEE THEM IN COURT!!!!

Very pleased with Salesman and installer.

They sent a little Mexican dude who did NOT want to do the job, and he was late. I disputed the deposit charge with Amex.

It could be better if the schedule for installation could be relayed to us a day prior. Given a time frame of 8am-6pm is too long and being advised on the same day of the arrival time of the installers does not give us flexibility to make our plans.

Empire was not the cheapest, however it worked for us. We found a good solid product that was in the middle. Our salesman was fine, but not all their sales reps are the best. Similar to many sales teams, they push what they want you to buy, just ask lots of questions. We had talked to other companies to compare. That was very helpful. We had Shane Shannon locally from Naperville and he was excellent. I also felt they contracted with good installers. These guys did a great job. I was concerned at first because Empire uses contractors. But, I didn't have any problems.