Empire Today

Installed Wood Laminate Flooring & Carpet. Highly recommend Empire flooring! They were super fast, like lightning speed fast with delivery and installation of my flooring. Salesman Jason was awesome to work with. Both times i called for consult appts he was professional, accommodating...

They were super efficient. They were her on time. They took the old tiles out in really good time. They didn't leave a mess. Very pleased. Money wise, on their products, exceptional. They are coming in to do the carpeting on the stairs. They were just very professional from the time the fellow came over to take our order and work with. The guys that came in and did the work they were efficient, they did a great job and it didn't take them that long. Compared to other companies out there they were very well priced.

2 people (a man and a woman) from Empire showed up at my door at 2:00, the scheduled time was between 1-3pm.  I was looking to have carpet installed in my new home. The very first thing I noticed as I greeted them at the door was that the man smelled distinctly of alcohol.  I thought maybe it was liquid lunch Tuesday but I let it go.  It went downhill from there when he only brought in 5 different samples to look at and said "tell me what you like and we'll give you a good deal" and "today I can offer 50% off everything we have...I thought I was going to get the deal of a life time when I heard that but I still wanted to see more samples and had to ask him if he had more.  He responded by saying "yeah, do you want me to bring them in?".  All I could think was that shouldn't even be a question I have to ask.  He noticed I showed some interest in a certain design and immediately tried closing me by telling me he liked my choice and would go outside to get a contract.  Bear in mind the whole time the woman has been getting measurements.  When I would ask her a question, she would say she didn't know and I should ask the guy with her.  Problem was that during the entire hour and a half they were there, the guy would continually go outside to his car to 'take a call' or to 'get something'...he was never around!  This happened about 10-12 times during this sales call.  In no way was I made to feel like a valued customer or that my business meant anything other than a commission for him.  I was not educated about the carpet other than him telling me the difference was in the warranty.  Nothing about the quality of each piece, or the may it's made, or why one is more expensive depending on the pile or face weight of the carpet...no education at all!   When he presented me with the pricing, it amounted to approximately $10,000 for 1300 sq ft of carpet...BUT, he was going to give me 50% off remember?! I had no idea if I was getting premium carpet or the least expensive because he never told me anything about it.  When I expressed my concern over the price, he assured me that he's been doing this for 16 years and he knows carpet so I could rest assured I was getting a great deal from him.  All I could think was that he may have been doing this for 16 years, but that doesn't mean he's good at it.  At any rate, I decided after he walked out for the umpteenth time to take a call I'd had enough and asked them to collect their stuff and leave as I was not comfortable with the pricing and other aspects of the sales call...especially the smell of alcohol that permeated the air.  Like a spoiled brat, he picked up his samples and left without saying goodbye as if he was picking up his ball and going home.  The woman asked if she could call me and come back alone to which I responded YES...she's yet to contact me.  
2 days later I received a call from Empire wanting to know why I didn't complete the deal...when I explained everything that happened, she said she would notify that office of what happened and have them give me a call.  During that call she also told me she had no record of this man being assigned to this sales call and did not know who he was!!  Empire can't even keep track of their own employees!!  As of the writing of the review, I've received NO call.  Obviously Empire banks on uneducated consumers buying into their deceptive sales techniques and catchy wording like '50% off'.  DON'T BUY INTO IT!!! There are other companies with better reputations that care about their customers...Empire is NOT one of them!!!

Contact Empire and they had a sales rep out the next day
(Saturday). He arrived on time, was polite, took measurements, selected the laminate
floor, and received a price quote within two hours. Received a call the
following Monday from Empire asking if I wanted to go ahead and have a
financing representative drop by to finalize and schedule installation. When he
came, I began to get that uneasy feeling when he said he needed to take
measurements, and then I could pick out the flooring. Wait! I just spent two
hours on Saturday doing this part. When I voiced concern, he told me there
would not be any more hiccups, and even discounted the final price a bit.
Feeling a bit better. He advised that installation would begin on Thursday and
last through Saturday. I let him know I had a medical appointment Friday
afternoon that could not be rescheduled, and the installation crew would need
to accommodate. He let me know it was not an issue, and to tell the lead on the
installation crew when they arrived.
 Thursday came, the crew was on-time, and things seemed to be
going very well. I let the lead know that Friday I had an appointment and they
would need to break off two hours early. His response to me was that he comes
in from Austin, does not work on Saturday, and would like to stay and work
while I was at my appointment. What? First, I was told work was Thursday
through Saturday. Second, stay and work in the home without me there? Don?t
think so. I let him know I would do what I could, but the appointment could not
be rescheduled.
 
Friday came, and progress on the floor was good. Until I
reminded him of the appointment. Once I did, he said he needed to get the job
finished that day, and needed to stay in the home whilst I was away. I then
made it clear that I was not going to allow that, and that they needed to
finish on Saturday. To which he responded again that he comes in from Austin,
and needed to finish today. If not, he would have to come back Monday. So, I
told him, Monday it is.
 During the weekend I had time to evaluate the work being
done, and was beginning to find small things I was not happy about. But, I held
off until the work was done on Monday came and the work was supposedly
completed. During my walkthrough I found many issues. First, they had to cut
the front portion of each step to make the square. They were originally rounded
off, which created an issue with laying the laminate flat. Understandable?
However while cutting, the workers tore into my banister with their saw,
chewing up the wood. When I brought it to the leads attention, his response
was, ?I did my best.? What??? Next, the reduction of the stair size left a hole
in the wall between the stair and the molding. The lead told me he was not
responsible for fixing or repairing that because it is part of the original
stairs. What the?? You cut my stairs to accommodate the laminate, leaving a
gaping hole!!!! The final straw was finding a two-and-a-half foot scratch deep
into the laminate in the master bedroom. The lead said he had no more
materials, and would fix after he ordered more at a later date.
Needless to say, I did not sign the final paperwork. I then
called the main office and the lady who answered said she would contact the
installation manager. I asked if she could have him call me because I had
pictures and wanted to explain. To which she replied, ?No. He will call the
crew.? Really??? I?m the one who is having a not-so-good experience here. Not
the crew. Needless to say, I have not received a call back from anyone. The
lead seemed to want to appease me, but I?m not happy at all. Wish I could post Images to
show that lousy work.

The estimate started off okay, but ended incredibly poorly.  The estimator showed up about halfway through the 11-1 window I was given, sat outside the house for a bit, drove off, and then returned a little bit later - at this point, he actually came up to the house, introduced himself, and we did a quick walk through while he asked what I was looking for.
I was very up front that we wanted a neutral, inexpensive carpet since we are selling the house and that I would need to take the estimate to my husband for approval once we had the full numbers.  At htis point, he brought some samples in, and left me to stare at them while he measured and worked up the estimate.
After he was done plugging numbers into his iPad, he came back with the estimate of $3600.  Now, I am not a carpet expert - this was a bit higher than I expected and I had told him I would need to talk it over with my husband.  At this point, the gentleman (David. A Smith), started to push a hard sale on me, and while he offered to bring the price down to $3500, I was clear I couldn't commit until I had spoken with my husband, and asked who quickly we needed to call to still get the price.  
At this point, Mr. Smith made a snide comment about how it was too difficult to do this and my husband should have been present for the estimate and that I was getting the best price possible.  He then, gathered his things up without making eye contact, mumbled a "Thank you" over his shoulder, and pretty much stormed out of my house in a huff.  Needless to say, I was stunned.  If he had shown any understanding go the fact that we have a limited budget and I don't make the sole decisions, we might have been willing to find a way to afford the install even though it was higher than our initial budget.  Instead, I was disrespected, treated as if I cheated him of his time (when estimates are NOT a promise of a sale) and behaved very poorly.
Needless to say, we will not be using Empire Today for ANY flooring business, at this property or future projects at our new house.

My advice would be to ignore the commercials for this company and stay far away from them. The term customer service is not in their dictionary since the installation department does not back up the sales department.
Our salesman was good, he showed up at the exact appointment time and gave us good advice (I hope) on what would look best in our home.  He walked us through the whole project and by the time he left I had a good feeling this would go well. I was totally wrong. I had just had a bad experience with another home repair company and I explained to our salesman how frustrated I was with their lack of communication and I couldn't deal with that again.  This company just added to it.
In the packet that the salesman left it stated on the date of the service someone would call you that morning to give you a time frame. I waited all morning to find out my time frame and finally called the number listed for the installation and was told that "yeah they had left a few minutes ago and should be there in a few hours". 
Once the crew finally got here they tried to talk us into shortcuts that would make the job go faster and I guess easier for them.  We told them that is not what we wanted or paid for and to do it the way we wanted.  I called my salesperson and he said he would call the installation manager and discuss this with him.   I will say at this point every time I called my salesman he was very receptive and said he would take care of it.  I don't know if he did and the installation manager just ignores him or what.
 The second day they showed up at a reasonable time and worked hard all day so I thought things were on track. Ha!  On the third day I was once again wondering where the crew was so at 1:00 pm I called the installation department but could never get through. I left a message and then called again 45 minutes later and left another message.  I finally called my salesperson and he was able to track them down and tell me they had a problem due to the weather.  I asked him if it would have been so difficult for someone to call and let me know instead of just leaving me sitting there waiting all day.  Once again I explained that this experience was not going well due to communication problems and I was not happy.
Because the crew was so late they worked until after 9:00 pm that night and they rushed the final room they were putting the tile in. The next day we noticed bubbles in the grout because they rushed the project.  My husband called our salesman once again and he put him in touch with the installation manager. They exchanged several e-mails and it was finally decided that someone would come out on Saturday to make the repairs.
 Of course we were told that someone would call on Saturday with a time frame but once again no one did.  At 1:00 pm we tried to call the installation department but could only leave messages.  We finally called our salesman and he said he would get right on it.  After a few more hours of not hearing from anyone, we called our salesman back again and he seemed surprised that we hadn't heard anything.  As of this writing we still have not heard anything so I guess this company took our money and didn't live up to their promises.

Update:

So I was finally contacted by someone in the regional office and they apologized and gave me several excuses of why this has happened and that it should not happen in the future.  So they scheduled us again for this Saturday (May 30) and someone did call us to tell us that someone would be here between 10am-noon.  At 11:00 am that repair guy called and said he couldn't make it until between 3:00-4:00 pm because another job ran long.  We said it didn't make us happy but we would accept between 3:00-4:00 pm. At 5:00 pm we called him and he returned our call and said he was about an hour away and did we still want him to come?  We said yes and now we are waiting to see if he shows.  I changed my rating of this company from D to F because while the quality of the product is nice they don't contract out to reliable installers and when you want the job done that is important.

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Empire Today performed superbly in replacing our worn out covering with a new and wonderful luxury vinyl.  First of all, the workers showed up promptly on the day they were to install and began by moving a few very heavy pieces of furniture (without breakables) and placed them out of the work area. They then took out and removed all of the old carpet and covering.  After removal, the surface was evenly prepared so that the new covering would adhere properly to the floor. After laying down the new covering, they made sure it was sealed and then tacked in quarter round to hold the seal around the edges.  After our inspection and approval of their work, the workers lifted the heavy pieces of furniture back into the rooms and put them in their proper places.  The entire job was completed in a day, which is exactly what the representative said the time frame would be.  We were extremely pleased with the prompt arrival of the work crew, the quality of their work and the speed at which they completed the required work.  There was nothing promised that was not delivered within the agreed time frame.  We are so pleased with our floors that we are going to have Empire Today finish the rest of the hard floor areas in our house later this year and then next year we will have them put new carpet on the remaining portions.

The salesperson was very knowledgeable and had a variety of products within the price range we requested. She in fact hunted down the best deal she could for us. She did not have to, I would not have known. The appointment to install had to be changed several times due to medical problems in my family. Empire was very understanding and had no problem with rearranging schedules at the last minute. The installers were professional, courteous and fast. The entire process took two days. There was only one error. I had requested a specific type of installation on my stairs and it did not get done, the first time. Once I pointed this out the installers fixed it right away. They even helped my aged and infirm mother with moving furniture not required for the installation.

The sales man that came and showed us some flooring, I of course wanted the most expensive thing. He said this is what the special is. I looked at it and it was nicer than what I had picked out so, he got us a really great deal on flooring that was on special. It was hard wood flooring, like laminate. I would use them again.

I called Empire Today on April 30th and set up an appointment for an estimate on May 1st. The salesperson came out at the time scheduled, brought several floor samples of what I was looking for and gave me the total cost. They would have started the following day as they advertise but I had other commitments and could not schedule until the following Thursday. The installer and his helper came out on Thursday at the agreed time and began work. They were very polite and worked very skillfully and quickly to install the floor. This included taking out carpet that was down over this area. When they finished, the installer Jason, walked me over the entire job to verify that I was completely satisfied and assured me if I had any future questions or problems I could call him direct. They also cleaned up all debris from the job. The floor looks terrific, and I am totally satisfied with the job. I should also mention that my salesperson came by in the afternoon to check on the work progress which I couldnt believe because you very seldom find a company doing quality checks. On Mothers day I had about 25 people over and believe me the floor got a good workout and still looks fantastic even though tables and chairs were moved over this area all day.

They were supposed to be in next week to lay the floor as soon as our foundation repair was done. Now we are back to square one, the other quote we wouldve gone with cannot not do it for 3 weeks!

Total installation in just over two days with one return visit for rework of one threshold. The work was clean, quiet, smooth and efficient.