Empire Today®

If I could leave 0 stars I would. It started well, we were contacted immediately and scheduled an appointment. Our salesman came out and had a great personality and wasn’t pushy. We picked flooring to be installed on 7/13. On 7/12 I received a call from a woman (in the office) who informed me the they weren’t sure the material would work in our sunroom. She said she was going to contact the installers and get right back to me. This is where everything became unprofessional. First this woman never contacted me again. But I did receive a text saying I needed to accept the changes made to my order. I looked over the information and didn’t see any changes except the date form 7/13 to 7/17. I contacted empire to ask what changes had been made and also I explain about the conversation I had with the woman earlier about the flooring material not working. They assured me everything was fixed and we moved the install to 7/20. 7/19 we received a reminder of our appointment and we moved everything out of of sunroom to prepare for the install. Morning of the install we received a call letting us know all of our materials were loaded onto the truck and on its way to us at some point of the day. Almost 3 hours later I missed a called from a man from empire. His message went on to say that our salesman had made a mistake and should have contacted us, that they would not be able to do the flooring as plan because the material was not up to par with our sunroom and would fail. So my biggest problems with empire is they don’t seem knowledgeable, nobody seem to really know what was going on, it was a waist of my time and I pulled my credit for this. And even worst no one was responsible and everyone just passed the blame. Not a good company if you ask me. I will never go through empire

As an award-winning journalist with an investigative reporting background, I am shocked that Empire Today has been in business as long as they have with how poorly they treat customers. We had a luxury vinyl plank floor installed last August. The salesperson assured us that this was scratch-proof, but that if we did have any issues, the warranty would cover it and that Empire had a great warranty. Well, six months later, the floor is covered in scratches from light use - essentially from pulling out a chair here and there and walking across it. It's in a dining room, so we hardly ever eat in there and mostly walk through it. We have sat at the table a handful of times in six months. Yes, we have pulled out chairs for those times, but who would expect scratches like this from such mild use? We're pulling them out gently, not dragging them across the floor. Clearly, this floor was defective when installed if it was supposed to be as scratch-proof as the salesperson said it was. Their customer service manager (based in Massachusetts) has been extremely rude and unsympathetic and insists the manufacturer warranty and the one-year Empire workmanship and servicing warranty don't cover scratches. This goes against everything the salesperson told us. The one-year warranty has a list of what is not covered and scratches is not among them. It says you can obtain warranty services for defects. When I suggested that these scratches were a defect that got worse over time, the customer service manager LAUGHED AT ME and said she had my email saying that we caused it by pulling out chairs. I asked to speak to someone above her, and she refused to give me another name. I said, I'm upset enough to go to the Better Business Bureau and you're telling me there is no one else I can speak to who is above you and has the authority to potentially rectify this? By this point, I was raising my voice as she was so rude and unsympathetic. She repeated she was the customer service manager and there was nothing else that could be done, other than express our frustration to the sales manager so they were aware that possibly their sales team was giving out incorrect information. However, the sales manager, according to her, would not have the authority to rectify the situation because, apparently, she is the only one within the entire Empire Today Corp. who can be bothered with customer service problems. What??? She wished me a good day and hung up on me, not caring that I was prepared to go to the Business Bureau, write negative reviews, and do whatever I could to resolve this. She chuckled again and said, “You do what you need to do, but the warranty does not cover scratches.” I have never dealt with a customer service manager who was so unhelpful and rude, just shutting me down completely. Unbelievable and we will be taking this to the Better Business Bureau and making sure everyone we know does not use this company.

We used Empire to replace our carpet in the finished basement. The installers carpeted over tile at the entry way that was not supposed to be carpeted leaving a lip and incline in the floor. We had to have the carpet pulled up and tile removed. We also purchased the protection plan that covers accidents, tears, snags and unraveling. We have a 5 foot tear and multiple snags. I contacted Empire to have them repaired under our protection plan and the claim was denied. They want to charge me $600 for a repair that should be covered under the protection plan.

Awesome. Looks fantastic and they were quick to come back and fix a couple issues that came up. Highly recommend.

My wife and I have never been treated this poorly by a company in our lives. Empire Today goes above and beyond other companies like Comcast into another stratosphere when it comes to horrible customer service, reliability, professionalism, communication, and overall competence. When we had our original tiling installed a little over a year ago, the installers showed up at around 5PM to do what they said was expected to be a 6-7 hour job. There's no actual window provided, so I just had to take the day off work and wait. We tried to reschedule for another day, and were told by Empire that we would be their first stop in the morning. I got an automated call that morning saying that they would be there no later than 10AM. They missed 3 different time windows that day and ended up eventually showing up around 4:30PM. At this point, I had already missed 2 days of work and boarded our dog for 2 days, so I just told them to go ahead with the installation. We thought the tiles looked pretty good at first with the exception of some gray boot prints and smudges on the tile. When that weekend came around we tried cleaning these spots up, but to no avail. Over the following months we tried various methods of cleaning, but had no luck with these gray marks. Not only that, but the floor was now collecting an ever-growing amount of brown dirt across all of the tiles. By June, the floor looked so bad and our frustration level had grown so high that I placed a call to Empire today customer support to see if they could help with the issue. The customer support person initially asked questions about what cleaning methods we had used, and I tried to explain that we had tried a number of different methods but that none had worked. She then scheduled a local 'installer' to come out and look at our floor in early July. He, again, showed up several hours later than expected, but took pictures and explained that he had seen this exact issue on this color and style of flooring before, and that he would pass the information along to Empire HQ the next day. I didn't get a response from Empire customer support for another 2 weeks, and at that time I was told that "the information he gave us was poor and he did not give us photos or any valid information." Upon receiving this bizarre answer, I asked if they could just use the photos that I sent back in June (attached) instead. They agreed, but apparently the manufacturer stated upon reviewing the photos that there was not a defect in the tiles. I asked to speak with that customer support rep's manager and she was supposed to call me to discuss... that was almost a month ago and I haven't received a call from her. Last week, after trading many voicemails and e-mails with the customer support rep, I finally heard back from a manager from the New York installation department who confirmed that this was a known issue that was Empire's responsibility to fix- although he said it was due to the grout not being sealed / finished properly during the initial, not due to a defect with the tiles themselves, and that they would have required professional cleaning, which still might not have worked. He said that if the tiles were removed and the same style & color of tile were installed by an installer he trusted, he was confident we would not have that same issue. So we set up yesterday as the installation date for the replacement tiles. The installer showed up yesterday around 8:15AM (in the usual unmarked van with no contact information). He took a look at the floor and said that it's just dirty, and it just needs to be cleaned! He also said that if we replaced the floor with the same color & style of tile, we would encounter the same issues. He then proceeded to tell my wife that she just needed to mop it, and informed her that you can buy mops at Home Depot! When she tried disputing this and explaining that this was actually the opposite of what we had been told previously, he said he would have to call his manager. Instead, he got in his van and DROVE OFF!!! I left voicemails for 4 different people at Empire whose contact information I had gathered during this process, as well as the general New York and Boston customer support voice mailboxes, and also sent an e-mail to [email protected] trying to get an explanation. None of them answered or called me back. Early yesterday afternoon, I finally did hear back from someone else in the installation department, who sort of apologized for the behavior of the installer and tried to reschedule the installation for another date. However, at this point I'm demanding a full refund so that we can get our floor redone by another company. If we just schedule Empire to come back out and install the same style & color of tile, based on my experiences I have no idea: a. If anyone is going to show up b. If they do, if they'll actually do the job they were assigned c. If they do, if we'll just experience the same problems with these tiles again, causing us to go through this same **** all over again. The person I spoke with yesterday said he would talk to management, that he would pass along my request for a refund, and that they may be able to get me "some percentage" of my original money back, but that the company doesn't give refunds. But I don't trust Empire Today, and I will not be satisfied with anything less than a full refund. I don't have an infinite number of vacation days or patience to continue to be put through this.

Awful. One of the worst vendor experiences I have ever had. I am still dealing with them one month after installation. Moved my furniture and stayed home from work to meet them - company lost the order and did not show up. Company promised a discount and reschedule. This started a string of at least 5 times when people from Empire said they would call me back and never followed through. The installation went fine other than the driver not being able to find an 8-story building that I live in. Company kept promising a discount for losing the order, having to reschedule and kept not calling back. Customer service blamed Accounting, Accounting blamed the Sales Rep, the Sales Rep blamed a fax machine, all the while I was promised corporate would call me back. It's now a month later and as of my call this morning they had closed my ticket and transferred today's call around until I reached an answering machine. I would never recommend Empire to anyone. I would suggest anyone/everyone avoid them. They are disorganized, lose paperwork, do not take responsibility for actions, do not follow through, and they lie.

The salesman was very nice. However I insisted I wanted the direction of the flooring a certain way, but the installer argued against me. He came alone and took all day. He then rushed at the end leaving things unfinished. I was promised that it would be corrected. Calls to customer service went on for two weeks and they finally agreed to do it, if I paid another $200, after having paid over $3000 already! I would never hire these people again!

Unprofessional and incompetent are two of the best things I can say about experience with Empire. After calling me at 7AM for today's installation, they promised to be at my home before 10AM. Not arriving at 10AM, I called and was told they would arrive by 2PM. Not arriving at 2PM I called and was told they would be here in 30-minutes. Not arriving by 4PM, I called and asked to speak with a supervisor. The supervisor told me my contract said "we are committed to arrive between 8AM and 6PM." After I told her about my earlier in the day conversations, she said she would have to speak with a manager, who left for the day, to see if I qualified for a discount. I waited on the phone while she called him. She gave me a $75 discount and then told me the installers would not be arriving today. They would arrive between 8AM and 6PM tomorrow. I asked if she would try to schedule my installation early in the morning. She said she could not because the schedulers had left for the day. Net net, NO ONE WORKS AT EMPIRE. Make your own carpet or go somewhere else.

Very well, installers were efficient & cleaned p including garage before they left.

Although we didn't schedule our install through Angie's List, potential customers would benefit from our experience. We had carpeting replaced in several sites in our home. The local installer was very helpful in setting things up, but that was the only real bright spot in terms of service. The carpet appears to be of good quality and as ordered. However, the install left a lot to be desired. During the install, we found a number of issues afterward. There were areas that were not tucked properly under baseboards and dressers, which I had to go around and address; while that was annoying that I had to fix their work, it was not hard to do. However, I discovered other issues with the install. We had a light broken, multiple walls scratched up, baseboards gouged deep into the wood away from the point where carpet meets the baseboard (with multiple sites that were very deep and not within the terms of agreement for installer expectations), razor blades left behind on our garage floor, boxes and carpet left in our garage, and damage to one of our dressers. I brought these up to the installer and to Empire, and to their credit they apologized and picked up their debris and they paid for the light. However, they failed us as customers on the other aspects. They initially worked with us to fix the other damage and had me get estimates. They became slow to respond to the remainder of the issues, and required more estimates. in the process of trying to get more estimates and continue the process, they changed their position and refused to accept responsibility and pay for repairing the other damages. I offered to send more pictures, to again open up my home for them to send people to look at the damage, and provide additional estimates. They refused to work with us. I reviewed the terms with them, and the extent and location of damage was outside these terms. They still refused. I will not use them again and would caution anyone who would consider their services.

Horrible .. installed laminate flooring OVER my real hardwood floors .. horrible installer .. horrible customer service .. I wish there was lower than an F

Installers were rude. They damaged my fridge and walls. I paid for a high end product and they delivered a cheap msg.

Horrible company to do business with. Paid for quality luxury vinyl Tile planks to be installed in family room. After just 4 months the flooring has numerous scratches. Everything scratches this flooring, including something as small as a pebble stuck in your shoe. It looks like flooring that has been down for years instead of just 4 months. Numerous calls to Empire resulted in promises that someone would call us within 24 hours. 3 phone calls within less than 2 weeks resulted in no phone calls. Finally after 4th call they responded. Sent someone out to evaluate floor and who do they send....an installer. Problems have nothing to do with installation, so why send an installer to look at the dozens of scratches. The issue is the poorest quality of LVT flooring available, not the high quality, scratch resistant quality we were told it would be. Here it is two weeks after it was inspected and photographed and again multiple calls, all going to voice mail has resulted in once again NO callbacks. Looks like we are stuck with it bacause they obviously don't stand behind what they sell and couldn't care less about good Customer Service. I have also left a review on yelp and sent email to what I believe is their Corporate location. Next I'm going to file a complaint with the better business bureau. Do yourself a favor and bring your business else where.

They put the windows in but never put any form of insulation around the windows. This made the new windows colder than the windows we actually had. They put in the slider and broke it. They took the door and said they would be back later. There were going to leave the door open and cover it with a tarp that I supplied. When they did come back, they had a door that I did not order. It took about 9 months to get finished.

My family has used Empire Today in the past and have had a very positive experience with good pricing and quality work. Unfortunately, our most current experience has been nothing short of atrocious. Our disappointment started when we looked over the completed work that was done. 1) There were two hardwood floor boards in our kitchen that were loose and squeaked when stepped on. 2) There were two end transition floor boards (between hardwood floor and carpet) that were also loose and needed to be fastened down better. 3) There was missing floor tile grout behind the toilet in our downstairs bathroom. 4) There was a hole in our dining room carpet and there was also a silver dollar size piece of carpet with a noticeable color & weave defect in the middle of the carpet. We did not initially notice these problems until a few hours later. The next day we phoned Empire Today customer service to discuss these problems. Empire took down our complaints and said we would get a callback within three business days. After the fifth day we phoned again only to discover that our initial call was never passed on to our local office in Boston and our carpet complaint was never filed. The Empire representative then expedited our complaints and we receive a call the next day to discuss the matter. Empire said they would send out workers to fix the hardwood floor boards and the missing tile grout issue. Empire told us that the carpet problem was a separate issue that we would get a callback to discuss that issue within three business days. It took twelve days from our initial phone call to get someone from Empire to return to our home to fix the problems with the missing grout, hardwood board issues and carpet issue. When the workers came to our home the only things fixed we the hardware floors and tile grout. The workers told us that the carpet issue was a separate problem and another crew would have to fix that one. We called Empire again that same day and we were told that someone would call us back the next day. The following day we did get a call from Empire and I used my iPhone to send pictures of the carpet hole and defective area in the carpet. Customer service said the carpet would need to be replaced and told us that a crew would be out that Friday (three days later) to replace the carpet. On Friday we expected to have the carpet replaced only to get a call from Empire telling us that they were cancelling due to them not having enough workers or time to get the job done. We called Empire Customer Service again and were told that the workers would be out the following Friday to replace the carpet. Empire did show up around 5pm the following Friday but the crew was only going to repair the carpet hole and not fix the defect. We sent the crew away because we were told by Empire customer service that the carpet was going to be replaced and that is what we wanted done in the first place. Again we placed another call to customer service and asked to speak to someone higher up in Empire. We were connected with what Empire calls a "Resolution Specialist". The person we spoke with said we would have the carpet replace the following Wednesday. We then got a another phone call that same day stating that Empire would replace the carpet the next day (Saturday). We waited the entire day for Empire and around 5pm we got a call from the assigned workers telling us that they were cancelling because they were tired and wanted to call it a day. As of this writing we are still waiting for a callback from Empire management to once again address our carpet concerns. Bottom Line . . .We will never use Empire Carpet again, EVER! Their costumer service is the worst we have ever experienced. We have been lied to by Empire and they have no regard for excellent customer service. Their sub contractors do what they want and it seems to us that Empire has no control over the work parceled out to their contractors. BE WARNED - Empire is bad news. WE DO NOT RECOMMEND!!! Bill and Teri Dunay

They came to provide an estimate for blinds for around 18 windows. The pricing model is totally uncontrolled. Started with some arbitrary very high number, more than $10,000. I told then, your blinds cost me more than installing the brand new windows. The Sales person came, totally unprofessional. Very rude, doesn't behave professionally.

After confirming twice by email and once by phone that morning, I received a call an hour before the scheduled window saying the agent would not be coming. I had arranged work and child care.

the carpeting in our house when we moved in was in bad shape. The previous owners had two young boys and two cats. It was dirty, worn, and smelled pretty bad. The Empire salesman showed up with samples and the whole process was quite painless. We got our quote, scheduled our installation, and the installers showed up a few days later... The installers were probably contractors and spoke very little english. They worked very hard and for probably 12 hours a day over two days but it was difficult to communicate with them. They were friendly but not very professional. On install, the carpet looked great but it has worn TERRIBLY. They did not use a power-stretcher when they installed the carpets which means we now have wrinkles in the carpet as it has stretched out. The carpet in the basement was installed very poorly and as a result, I replaced it with laminate over this past new year's break. Although the quote for carpeting and installation was great, it was not worth the money. I am kicking myself for selecting Empire and it makes me sad that my beautiful home has such lousy carpeting in it now.

Everything went fantastic dealing with them. The floor looks very nice & they work very fast! ------ About 3-6 months later, I notice something on the floor. The floor is deteriorating, I call them and they send a guy that put the floor in and they asked if they came to inspect the floor and I said no and he came out with pieces of wood and said this floor is messed up, it's all messed up. They sent me an inspector to come and inspect the floor, and after that they were supposed to call me in 2 weeks and they never called me or anything, I keep calling for them to send me a copy of my warranty and they keep saying they sent it or it's coming. I then spoke with a supervisor and said it would be sent right away. No. Nothing. At this point I have called a lawyer and he told me to go hire another inspector to inspect the floor.

From start to finish it all went great. Had a sales rep ( Chuck) at our home within a day or two. He was professional, on time and very knowledgeable about the products . There were no pressure tactics to get us to commit to a contract , we did have an estimate from another company and he made a call and matched the price. He took all the measurements that night from the rooms and hallways and set up the installation at our convenience. Day 1 of installation: They have separate crews for carpet and wood laminate , day 1 was the wood laminate. It was a crew of 2 men right on time and very professional, Before they started they had me look at the samples that we chose for the floor to make sure that it was correct and they were off and running seemed to have worked non-stop all day until it was finished and did a walk through with me to make sure I was satisfied. They cleaned up all the debris from the work and swept and vacuumed the work area before they left. There were no problems at all during the installation. Day 2 Once again the carpet crew ( 3) was right on time the next day. Pretty much the same scenario showing me samples and verifying the colors for each room of carpet. As soon as i said a color was correct one of the guys immediately started working on the room, while the other started ripping up old carpet from the living room. Once again they worked seemingly non-stop until complete. cleaned up all of their debris and vacuumed the rugs. Very professional and polite when speaking with them. A few days later the wood laminate developed a squeak that sounded like stepping on a partially deflated whoopee cushion. I called the 800 number as they are looking for 100% satisfaction and they sent the laminate guys back out and took care of the problem within 48 hours. so all in all I am 100% satisfied with Empire and would be happy to use them again. Lance A

Empire provided a quote to replace the carpet on our stairway, the upper landing (Hallway) and a small craft room. All carpet was to be replaced with hardwood with a 50 year warranty. We booked the appointment and set it up for the next day (Saturday). Saturday morning we received a call from Empire stating that the contractor's saw had a frayed power line and his assistant didn't show up to work. We were told we would receive a call back shortly after the contractor when to Home Depot to buy a new cord. We then received a call from the scheduler stating that since they had to move furniture, it would require two people (there was no furniture to move so this was disturbing). They called a third time to let us know they didn't trust the original contractor and they were going to find us a new one. They called back and said they found someone but they don't trust him to do stairs or wood (I have no idea why they would call someone and then let us know they couldn't do the work - not sure what the point of the conversation was). They then offered us a $100 credit as the install would have to be delayed until the following Saturday. I spoke with the Manager mid-week (after finally calling him since he was not calling me as he said he would). The manager apologized and offered to take an additional $200 off of the price, but that was the maximum discount allowed. We left the appointment and said we would call the manager directly if things do not go well. Saturday arrives and the contractor shows up. He measures and goes back to the truck to find that the incorrect stair treads were provided and since all items are shipped from New York (and they don't work on Sundays) we would either have to wait until Monday (we both work during the day) or delay to the following Saturday (for a third time). The problem was that they wanted to install some of the flooring but only partially as they couldn't finish most of it due to the stairs issues. Anyway, we told the contractor not to bother and called the manager to cancel the order. He was quite irritated by the cancelation and said that we should have allowed at least some of the flooring to be installed. Since cancelations are not possible once work begins this would have locked us in to Empire. Please note that we had the living room flooring installed by Empire a few years ago. Although the negotiations on pricing were horrendous and the sales rep was very rude, after we agreed to a price, the installation went okay. They were supposed to send two people but only sent one and it took an extremely long time but the end result was quite acceptable. I guess it depends on who you get and the luck of the draw.

I contacted empire today for an estimate for replacement carpet and blinds for one room of my house. The sales person was prompt, professional and easy to work with. I signed a contract with them approximately a week after they visited they were supposed to call within a few days to schedule a remeasure of my windows for the blinds. They never called - I waited a week. I called and the central customer service office told me that it was scheduled (however no one told me and no one showed up). More weeks of calling and getting the run around, I finally called to cancel and even that didn't go through, I had to call again. As of this date I'm supposed to get a refund within 10 days, I'm sure that I'll have to call back or contest it through my credit card company. After that it was weeks of calling and waiting to be called and confusing emails reminding me about installations that hadn't be scheduled. I would resolve something with central customer service and then the installation manager would call and tell me something else. Absolute nightmare to deal with. And no one even cared about losing my business. I don't know how they stay in business and how their rating is so high. Run away from this company.

Excellent. Rep. showed up on Friday, a little late, but not to bad. took measurements and quoted me his "first" price. I told him no way, he called his boss and got me a much more reasonable price. Showed up promptly the next day and installed about 1,000 SQF of carpet in 6 hours. Great, hardworking installers did an excellent job! All in all a great experince and will be using Empire in the future.

After receiving a very high estimate from one of the big box home improvement stores to have our basement stairs carpeted, we decided to get an estimate from Empire. It was very easy to schedule an appointment online. Bob, the sales rep, came to the house with several carpet samples. He was very helpful and cordial and quoted us a fair price. The installation was scheduled for the next day. The two men who installed were very professional and courteous, and completed the job in about one hour. Overall, we had a great experience with Empire and would definitely recommend them.

So after they made me prepay, I witnessed them cutting and binding the carpet in the dirty gas station parking near my home. Then, I refused to have them bring this rug into my house and cancelled my order. Almost a week later, no refund!!