Empire Today

The job turned out nice, the workers left a mess and we did have issues with stuff with them, they did straighten it out, but the quality of the work is good and their product is really good.

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The appointment to meet

with our estimator was scheduled quickly within a week.  She came to our home and measured, asked for

what we were looking for and provided samples that were close to what we

wanted.  I found my choice of flooring within

ten minutes!



Jolene was very

knowledgeable and very professional; she made me feel comfortable with my

choice of product and vendor.  Once I

chose the product I scheduled my install within two weeks. 



The installers came and

worked on my floor for two days.  They

were at our home before nine am and did not leave until around seven pm.  They were very courteous, very accommodating and

if I was not happy with something they promptly corrected the issue. 



I had baseboard replaced

prior to the install in a few of the rooms in the house and I wanted every room

in the house to match.  When they started

installing their baseboard I noticed it wasn?t the same and I did not like

it.  My sales person quickly got someone

on the phone who then contacted my installer within minutes.  The installer went out to purchase the same

exact baseboard and quarter round I already had.



I am very pleased with my

choice of flooring, my sales rep Jolene Damian and the guys who worked two long

days to finish the project.   Everything

was completed on time and without any issues.



 



 

they had a limited amount of carpet to choose from and the samples were less than adequate. when i told them exactly what i wanted it took 3 weeks to hear a reply and the price they gave me was not competitive it was actually higher then most other similar providers

The service was horrible! From the moment the salesman came to the house all he could do was complain about how long it took him to get to my house. "I drove an hour and a half to get here" was the introduction i recieved from him. After we got passed that, I had him take a look at a small sunroom I wanted to put carpet in and stairs. He took his measurements and introducted his products. I made a selection and he gave me his price, which i believed was a lot considering it was a small room i wanted to do. I told him I had to make a call to my mother as she was the one who was paying for the project. I get off the phone and told him it was too much money, he gave me a mean look and suggested we get a cheaper carpet, at that point I told him thank you but Im going to look at other companies and compare prices. Already with a bad attitude he said I should leave a deposit because he will not be returning, I kindly told him I can not do that. That's whe he gave me a mean stare again and his exact words were, "So I drive an hour and a half and you freakin' people can't make up your freakin' mind!" Not saying anything else he picks up his stuff and walks out, slamming my front door. He didnt try to work with me but got an attitude and stormed off. From the very beginning this guy was very rude and unprofessional. He is a salesman for a well known company and its his job to come to houses for a "free estimate." I did not assume that I will have to surrender a payment to him at that very second. First impressions are everything and he left a sour taste for me. I will not be doing business with empire today in the future. I called the company back and reported him because people like that do not deserve to be working with people.

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The salesman was so professional and knowledgeable. He helped us choose the correct flooring for the finished basement with an average price for service.  The team came to place the material promptly.  The last box of tile was unlike the other tile that was place and we told the installers we were very unhappy with it.  The tile had mostly beige colors, but the last box had large white blotches that didn't look good at all.  We called and were told the intaller was on vacation and would get back to us, but this didn't happen.  Now we are stuck with the mismatched tile.  We also discoved a quarter side hole in the wood covered support beam that was probably caused by the large intalling tool used.
The carpet on the stairs was perfect.

Either very good or a disaster, depending on how you look at it. The salesman, John, showed up on time, was very knowledgeable, and very helpful. That's the very good part. You want all the details, you got it.

The installer was over 2 hours late and did not even call. He did call in the morning to say he would be there between 12 and 1 PM. At 1:30, I called the office since they were not here, and the person I spoke to, Lisa, put me on hold. She got back on and said she couldn't get anyone on the phone but left messages, after not being able to find our order, finding it, and discovering that someone had but our phone number on Michael Dunn's order. BIG HELP !! I called the installer back myself ( I managed to get through- BIG SURPRISE) and he said that he would be here within an hour. Guess who was not there within an hour. Back to the office and , this time, Veronica, and got the same "can't reach anyone" response. .The installer and his people finally showed up at 3:30 !!! We had a problem communicating as we do not speak Spanish and his English left something to be desired, but we got through that. They finally finished at 8:30 at night !!! We thought that was the end of it . WRONG !!!

The next morning at 7:30 AM we are woken up by a phone call from a different installer saying they were coming to deliver our carpet...that we had had installed the day before. I believe this is Michael Dunn's carpet. Again, we had a communication problem...I was half asleep, and he could not understand that the carpet was delivered and installed the day before and what he had was not ours. I finally got the message across and I thought it was over.

WRONG !!!

I got 2 phone calls later that day asking for a Michael Dunn (not sure of spelling) and confirming that they were calling the correct phone number. Yes, the phone number was correct BUT THERE IS NO MICHAEL DUNN AT THIS NUMBER.  This is the THIRD time I am telling this to the Customer Service people. If they keep calling he is STILL NOT GOING TO BE AT THIS NUMBER!!

Again, on 2/14 we get another call from an installer, and again I have a fit at customer service, and again I get 200 apologies, but nobody has gotten off their butt and corrected Michael Dunn's order, which would resolve the whole problem. !! This time I get a $100 discount for my trouble. Again , I think this is over. WRONG AGAIN!!

Today, 2/15/14, I get ANOTHER call from an installer trying to deliver something. I no longer have any clue what he is trying to deliver. I also no longer care. If Michael Dunn doesn't ask why his carpet hasn't been delivered, I can't worry about it. I called Customer Service again, and spoke to a John, who was very courteous and apologetic and said he would handle it. Between   that phone call, and my calling John back AGAIN, I got 2 more calls, one from the office and one from the installer.

It's only 1:11 PM. Who knows how many more calls we will get before we call our attorney.

By the way , the carpet is great, but not worth the harassment and aggravation. If you go with this company, beware.  

They came out to do my floor and they did a great job. It was fantastic.

Called the day of service at 7:45 A.M. saying the carpet installers would arrive between 9 & 12 noon.  They arrived at 9:01 a.m.
They moved furniture  from each room as they lay the carpet (charge figured into total price).    No damage was incurred.  The
2 workers were polite and professiional.  They removed old carpet and any debris.  They had me inspect it all before calling in to
their office.  They were here for 9 hours & worked continuously.  I've hired them before & will continue to as the need arises.

I called the 800 number on 8/6/2013 and got an appointment for an estimate for between 3-5 on 8/7/2013. A very nice woman named Cathy Lyon came to my home with carpet samples. They had asked me on the phone what colors I was looking for. She was very patient with us and made several trips out to the car to bring in other sample books. The books don't have prices on them. I was able to see the carpet colors in the room I needed it for instead of a store showroom. This helped a lot. Cathy explained the warranty and how I should clean this carpet and what I shouldn't use on it. I signed the paperwork at 6pm. They put the carpet in the next morning at 9am. They called to say they were on their way 45 minutes before arrival. It took on 30 minutes. They were friendly and respectful. They cleaned up the area and left the warranty agreement. I thought the price was a bit too high and there was a very large piece of carpet overage that I thought might mean that I bought too much , but that always seems to happen. Lets face it - this service is fast and convenient. Cathy Lyon was pleasant and helpful. I have no real complaints. I will use them again rather than make the rounds at the carpet stores where I can only imagine what the carpet will look like in the room.

Carpet installation was fine.  But this marble saddle has been a nightmare.  The company suggested I go purchase a saddle to match my tiled floor which I didn't have a problem with.  Empire has now missed 2 appointments.  The installers are really the problem.  They missed the first appt. because they showed up at 10:40am when I'd specifically asked for "After 12" and today they didn't come at all, but called at 6:30pm and told me they'd be here in an hour to which I said, "No way".  Hoping to just get the $80.00 back I paid for the stupid thing.  Totally disgusted!

It didn't go- because they don't show up..I guess I'm lucky, based on the other reviews I would have been unhappy with the work anyway.

The third time the carpet was installed, it was done good enough but not great.  The first time they came to install the carpet, they put the wrong padding down, tacked it to the rise of the stair instead of tucking it under the lip of the stair, the ends that were tacked to the rise were cut like a child would have cut them AND there was a 2 inch gap between the hall carpet and the bedroom carpet.  I could see the wood floor below!  I had them come back to reinstall it, they did but it was already coming untacked within a few weeks and the hall carpet had a huge seam in the middle of the hall.  They came to reinstall the hall and retack the bedroom.  It is a year later, it looks old.  The carpet in the three other bedrooms is over 10 years old and looks and feels newer than the carpet I got from Empire.  To get the third installation, I needed to post a negative review on a website.  Then the corporate headquarters finally got back to me and arranged for the third installation because the numbers I had, the people were completely unresponsive.  I was calling almost daily with no response.

I ordered my flooring. It was a high pressure sales situation. The price was OK so we went with it.
When they came arrived, the installers wanted to put the flooring down and put new moulding up on top of my existing moulding. I told them this was absolutely unacceptable and they said they could remove the old moulding but didn't have anything to replace it with. I ended up replacing the moulding myself upon completion.
The quality of the flooring they installed is just OK. It is very loud in the bedroom now. More so than the rest of the house which has a much higher quality laminate. It just feels cheap and it also seems to scratch very easily.
I would not use them again.

At the time of estimate, the sales rep Charlie was nice enough, and explained the different types of products and the process. I had never had this done before, so I had some questions as to how it would align with our baseboard moulding, etc. He explained that they install something called quarter round, which is a "small bead that runs along the baseboards, that I wouldn't even see." He took it upon himself to select the primed color, which he insisted would match my baseboards. He also required me to select an install date right then and there, saying something about needing to get it in the computer, blah blah blah. I selected a date about a month in the future, when I knew I would be available.
We attempted to get a couple more estimates. One (Modern Carpet) never got back to us after coming over for the measurements, and the other was $1500 above Empire's quote. Therefore, we decided to go with Empire. I had selected an install date on a Friday. On Tuesday of that week, I received an automated phone call confirming my appointment for the next day (Charlie gave them the wrong date). I called the main customer service number to correct the situation. The rep with whom I spoke was unable to contact the local office to confirm a date for Friday. He advised me that he left a message explaining the situation and asked them to call me to confirm. Several hours later I had not received a call, and called the main number again, this time spending nearly 30 minutes on hold before a rep answered. This rep was able to contact the local office and confirm for Friday.
Friday morning I received a phone call from the local office asking for my address. I had not noticed that Charlie entered my last name in the address field on the paperwork. This error aside, I had provided my address for the estimate, and I also confirmed my address both times I was required to call customer service earlier that week, so I'm not sure why the local office did not have access to the correct information. Four installers arrived Friday morning, only one of whom, Kevin, spoke English. He explained the process and the installers got to work. About an hour later he and another installer left to go to another job, leaving me with two installers who spoke very limited English. As they worked I had a couple of concerns, mostly about the quarter round. However I was unable to have a meaningful conversation about these concerns with people who don't speak English. Kevin called later in the day to see how the work was going, at which time I tried to explain my concerns about the quarter round (nail holes, areas that didn't line up, damaged quarter round from misplaced nails...).  However, it's difficult to explain issues over the phone when I am not able to directly show the person what the problem is.  The installers later finished the work and left. 
Although they swept the area and replaced the furniture, the house remained in disarray.  During the install, I noticed they had taken it upon themselves to use my dining table to place their tools, jacket, etc.  They did not cover the table before doing so.  The rest of the furniture they moved into the kitchen, but did not place sheets over the doorways or the furniture to limit the dust.  Therefore, I was required to thoroughly clean every piece of furniture after it was replaced.  I was also required to thoroughly vacuum and clean the flooring, which was brand new (the steam mop head came up black). Furthermore, I later discovered a piece of razor blade that somehow ended up in our bathtub, even though they weren't working in the bathroom. 
Upon signing the paperwork once the install was complete, I noticed a checklist where I was instructed to indicate "yes" or "no".  I indicated "no" to the following items.
-Installer walked through area(s) to be installed and verified any pre-existing conditions.
-Furniture moving requirements were discussed and agreed upon prior to installation.
-Installer walked through installation with you upon completion.
-Did you recieve your Product Care Handout?
Furthermore, I will never understand why contractors lie to potential customers. Contrary to what Charlie had described to me, not only does the quarter round more than double the width of my baseboards, but I can see nail holes and caulk from across the room as well. Furthermore, there are sections of the quarter round that do not line up with each other or were just sloppily installed and damaged in the process.  The flooring itself looks fantastic and our moulding is of decent quality, but now we've got sloppy looking primed pressboard with nail holes all along the exterior of the room. The job just doesn't look finished.  Perhaps Charlie could have explained that the quarter round would need to be painted post installation.
 
Following the installation, I noticed some other issues with a couple of the transition pieces, as well as a section near the door to our deck which sinks down and buckles when stepped on, to the point where it's already starting to crease.  I called customer service again to express these concerns, and was told a rep would get back to me in one to three business days.  Two business days later, I finally spoke with a rep, Bob Sanzare (sp?).  I explained the concerns about the buckled section, the transition pieces, and extensively about the quarter round.  At this time I asked if they carry quarter round to match the flooring.  He explained that they do, but generally people prefer the primed color which apparently looks better when lined up with the door frames.  In our case, however, the quarter round extends horizontally close to an inch beyond our door frames, so it looks odd in that regard as well as the sloppy install.  (Once again, something Charlie could have explained and maybe given me the option for the matching quarter round).  Bob agreed to send out a crew to address these issues and advised I would be given the option to swap out the quarter round if I so chose.  I was required to wait another week, as their local delivery had already occured for that week.
Today, the crew arrived (after asking my address again), at which time I went over the issues.  They had no idea about the quarter round!!!!!!!!!!  I had an entire conversation about it with customer service and was required to accommodate their delivery schedule, only for the crew to not be given the information or materials.  They were only advised about the section by the deck door.  To make matters worse, apparently that issue had not been described properly to the crew so they did not have the proper materials with which to address the problem.  They repaired the transition pieces, but otherwise the visit was a complete waste of time, for them and me.  It may have been helpful for a rep to have come out beforehand to inspect the area, so that the crew would know what to expect and would have had the proper materials.
The crew contacted management, and customer service subsequently called me back to make another appointment.  I am now required to wait another five days for the issues to be addressed, as if I don't have a job and can simply be available at their convenience.  Furthermore, I have nine boxes worth of media that have been sitting in my back room for the last two weeks, that I cannot unpack into their cabinets until the issues are corrected.  Should Empire be able to correct these issues to my satisfaction, it will have taken nearly three weeks to do something that should have taken no more than a day or two.  Three weeks!!!!

HORRIBLE!

The salesman was a real jerk.  He was obviously trying to sell the whole package to my wife and not me.  Even when I objected to the cost, he assured that the cost would be the same elsewhere and that he was giving me a great deal since I was getting laminate flooring and carpeting done as well.
The truth was, that Empire is very pricey but they do the work asap and I had to get the work done quickly as I was moving in within the week.
The work went okay and it was done to satisfaction.  The window treatments looked awesome and my wife was very happy.
That said, I am glad I waited 4 years to submit this review since one thing that you would expect at such high cost is customer service when items break and are under warranty.
Recently, one of the blinds to our patio door vertical blinds broke and the blind itself was not closing when opened and then closed.  The treatments are covered for 'life' so I called to have it looked at and repaired.
Call # 1 yielded me a Ref# and a promised call back...after I had to wait 15 mins to talk to someone.
I received a call a day later on my answering machine to get a hold of someone named John in their installation deptartment.
Call # 2 yielded me nothing and they could not even get me to even leave a message to this John guy.  Total time wasted - 20 mins on the phone.
Call # 3 I was finally able to talk to the guy and we arranged to have someone come by and look at the problem and possibly fix it.  He did say that although it is under warranty, there was a $65 charge to have someone look at it since the work was done 'a while ago'.  Fine, I said, just do it.
Call # 4 I waited until 2:30 PM for this installation guy so I called their Customer Service(?) line.  After waiting 15 mins to talk to someone, I was told that the time range to expect the installer was between 8 AM to 6 PM (!!)  Also, the installer had a flat tire (nice that they did not call to tell me this), and thet he might not make it so could I reschedule.  I said okay and had to be put on hold 4 times (can you believe that!!) just so they could get me confirmation and a new Ref #.
As of this writing I am still waiting for the guy, but I want to make sure that who ever wants to deal with these bozos it is buyer beware.  I will never ever ever ever use or recommend these guys!  Find someone else instead.

The sales man came to my house with samples which was great.  He spent time talking to me and made sure he knew exactly what I wanted.  I selected one step down from the best quality carpet they sold based on color and was reassured that the quality was excellent.  I explained I didn't want seams in the hall and that was my primary reason for replacing what was already there.  It took 3 times for them to install the carpet correctly because each time something major was wrong with the installation.  First time there was over a 1 inch gap between the installed carpet and the carpet in the other rooms.  It was also cut so roughly on the tops of the stairs that I think I could have done a better job.  The second installation, there was a giant seam in the hall just as I had asked them not to do. Then they became almost impossible to get a response from them.  They didn't return phone calls, claimed the sales man who sold me the carpet no longer worked for them so there was no way to prove that I had specifically requested no seams in the hall.  I posted on another review site the terrible service and the corporate headquarters got in touch with me.  Finally, someone came over and installed the carpet correctly.  After many missed appointments for assessments and installations, all was good I thought.  It has been a year now and the carpet is terrible.  In one of the bedrooms off of the hall I have 15 year old carpet that looks and feels like it is brand new compared to the carpet put in by Empire.  The quality is terrible.  The reason I am posting this now is because Empire called the other day to see how the carpet was.  They offered to come and look at to see if they needed to replace it.  There was no reason to as there are no tears, no rips, no bald spots or stains.  It is just matted down, looks and feels cheap even though it was the second best carpet and I was assured it was still very high quality.  I also would never want to go through the installation nightmare again.   Dealing with the company and the various installation people (they sub-contract and the people who came to do the assessment was never the ones who came and installed it) was a nightmare.  The quality is terrible.  (Oh and they also put in the wrong pad the first time!!)

The workmen were great. The quality of the wood was inferior. So they had to come back and pull some of it back up and do it again. They were a little slow and tough to get a hold of. We got them eventually but they were a little troublesome. It turned out to be a much bigger hassle than we anticipated. They were apologetic. The workers cleaned up their work and were very professional. Our problem was not with the workmen but with the company itself and how they interacted with us. I would recommend the workers but not Empire Today.

Their service was average.

See above description

The installer arrived at the scheduled time with the carpet we had previously chosen. He was pleasant and worked efficiently. The steps look great and he did a good job of anchoring the carpet down. I don t recall the price but it was well within reason. I would recommend this company.

THEY DID A NICE JOB WITH THE CARPET. THEY GOT THE JOB DONE QUICKLY AND LEFT NO DAMAGE TO MY FLOOR. THE CARPET IS WEARING REALLY WELL, AND WE COULDNT BE HAPPIER WITH THEIR SERVICE.

THEY BROUGHT SAMPLES TO OUR HOME AND I REALLY APPRECIATED THAT. I THOUGHT THAT WAS CONVENIENT AND HELPFUL IN CHOOSING THE BEST CARPET FOR US. THE PRICE WAS COMPETITIVE AND THE INSTALLATION WAS QUICK.