Carpet and Flooring Reviews - Empire Today

Company did a horrible job installing vinyl floors. They are uneven and moister leaks out because they did not properly sealed the ground beneath.

I left a company I was contracted with to let Empire handle the job and it was a bad decision. Before you relax and expect the work to begin make sure you have the balance waiting at the door because the installers greet you making it very clear that they wont move an inch or do anything until they are paid in full.

So now that the project is completely paid you have to now trust and hope everything goes according to plan and contract.First the communication is horrible between empire, the 3rd party contracting company that installs the floors and carpet, and myself. It seemed like everyone was on a different page making this project very difficult.1st day of installation one of my rooms couldnt be done because the order was incorrect and the material was not there. I was told to contact my sells representative but he was unavailable.Also I wish it was explained better the 8 item max of furniture that they will move for you keep in mind a mattress, box spring and legs are all individually counted which doesnt really give you 8 large items. If they move your bed you have to put your own bed back.when I expressed my concern to my sales representative I was told that they are a flooring company not a moving company which he felt the need to say to me not once but twice and they dont have time to spend 2 hours moving peoples furniture.

This same sales man stated I contact him if I need anything but everytime I reached out he was unavailable and not good a responding to my text messages which left me with no other option then to call the office and speak with a manager. Once I did that a manager told me she would have another manager contact me shortly well that was 3 days ago and I still have not heard from anyone at all. The molding I ordered was overlooked and the 3rd party installers which knew nothing of what I had ordered with empire put down the wrong molding I am now still waiting for correct ones to arrive and was told it could be 2 weeks before I receive them.

For the amount of money that was soent for this project I expected much better service and as the sales rep felt need to tell me empire is the largest flooring company in the country so I even more expected nothing but the best in service. Im very disappointed that my concerns seem to have fallen on deaf ears.

I scheduled an appointment to get an estimate for carpet installation. I scheduled my appointment between 9 am and 11 am.

I received a phone call stating a representative would arrive at 10:30 am. At 11:05 am, I called 1-85*-***-****, and a sleepy phone rep answered. She informed me that someone was at my home at 10:30 am, and they called me. Which was not so; I've taken off from work to accommodate my appointment.

There was no knock at my door or a phone call. She stated the sales rep canceled my appointment because of a no-show. I was furious. I decided to call again to get a rep who was not sleeping.

I called 1-84*-***-**** and got an outstanding rep. I explained my situation, and she informed me that they needed to cancel my appointment because no one was home.

She contacted the sales rep and said that someone would call me. Unfortunately, I would instead not get a call because it is unprofessional not to contact a customer, especially a customer who has taken off from work, a customer who was excited about having her home carpeted and turned around to be disappointed because of laziness, inconsiderate, and irresponsible Empire salespeople.H

EMPIRE FLOORING IS NOT AN HONORABLE COMPANY

The Salesman (Paul):

I had flooring installed throughout my house (kitchen, stairs, hallway, living room dining room, front door and garage entryway landings, and the landing upstairs) in March 2023. From start to finish, this company displayed poor customer service, as the salesman who showed up at our home smelled of cigarette smoke and had animal hair all over his coat. Without asking, he took off his coat and put it across the back of my sofa. And I could not take my eyes off his coat because it appeared dirty and full of animal hair, and it was lying on the back of my sofa! However, I said nothing as he introduced himself to me and my husband. We offered him a seat, and he sat down at the dining room table. I told him that our house was 25 years old, and it was time for the flooring to be upgraded and what I wanted to be done. I told him what floors I wanted to be done (see above) because I was changing the color of my home etc. He recited back to me and my husband the areas he heard us say that we wanted to be done. When it was time, my husband walked throughout our home with him, showing him the exact locations while he measured those places as I looked on. As the salesman showed my husband and me different kinds of flooring,, we sat quietly as he ran back and forth out to the car to get various items. I told him what floors I wanted to be done (as seen above) and he appeared to be taking notes as he confirmed my locations. When he finished, he left our home about 23 hours later. I had developed a headache from the stench of cigarette smell, as my husband and I are non-smokers.

*We requested that Paul send us via US mail a copy of our signed contract, but to date, we have not received it by US mail. Our 1st one was emailed to us. There was an amendment made to the contract because Paul did not include our entryway landings in the paperwork, so it had to be changed by Empire. I never signed/dated a 2nd amended contract, because I felt it should have been completed right the first time and I could not review it, and I wasn't willing to make that same mistake of not being able to view it.

Phone calls:

On 04/07/2023 I had gotten a VM call at 10:41 AM from 866-588-**** from a person who gave her name, but I did not understand, nor did the transcriber on my phone. She said, Hi Mrs. Link this is **** (sounds like Eva), I received a call from the call center that you were looking for me today. Please give me a call back if no one from our Columbus office has spoken with you today. Our telephone number is 866-588-****.

On 04/07/2023 phone call was received via VM at 2:39 PM (Burlington NC) I received a call from Thomas: Hi this is a message from Mr. and Mrs. Link I am giving you a call regarding your installation today trying to get some more information on the issues you were having, so feel free to give me a call my number is 336-263-****, thank you.

On 04/13/2023 phone call was received via VM at 9:42 AM (Burlington NC) Hi this is Thomas calling from Empire, I was calling today to let you guys know that I saw that the guy we had to come to complete your carpet has injured his back and he won't be able to make it out today, um give me a call my number is 336-263-**** um we are trying to see what's good day to reschedule.

On 04/19/2023 a phone call was received via VM at 12:37 PM Hi this is Kayla calling from Empire today just calling to see how everything went with your service, if you have any questions contact us back at 877-588-**** ext. 2 have a great day.

**There were plenty of other phone calls made due to continuous issues with the installation of the flooring and carpet and trouble with the installers.

The First Installers:

The installers showed up at my home about two and a half weeks later which was around 04/07/2023, unprepared (I got a text from Paul stating he was in my driveway, and he asked if we were expecting them). They rang the doorbell, and my husband met them at the door. They spoke little English and appeared to be mad as they kept flipping through the work order pages. The head guy kept calling his supervisor and he left my home to go outside to speak with him several times on the porch/walkway. When he got back inside, he spoke with his co-workers in Spanish for a couple of minutes, so I asked him if something was wrong and what was being said. He stated that he did not have the correct product to start the installation that the salesman's measurements were all wrong and that he would need more material. He stated he would have to call to try to order more products that were needed before he could do anything. And in the same breath, he told us that we had too much stuff in the house. That is when I told him that my husband and I had been informed by the salesman (Paul) that Empire would take care of the furniture and stuff that needed to be moved, which were several plants and boxes, living room furniture, refrigerator, stove, bookshelves, etc. out to the garage and deck area. The head installer (I think his name was Juan or Luis) told me that the salesman did not tell us the truth and that we had to remove the items before they could start the installation. I was upset, but I told him that it was no problem the stuff would be removed from the home by the next day. My husband and I removed all the stuff that night. Nonetheless, the head installer (I think his name was Juan or Louis) kept going outside and back indoors to talk to the Supervisor about the missing supplies, the measurements, and what was needed. This went on for about two hours before he (the head installer) got so frustrated with it all that he left our home cussing. But before leaving, he handed me a card and told me that he worked for another company on his regular job and that we should cancel with Empire and go with the company he was working for because it would probably save us some money, it had quality products, and that Empire sucked, and they don't do right by their customers. He stated that Empire does this *** all the time and that he was tired of their *** I was trying to make sense of what was going on as the guys were piling out of my home. Red flags started going up everywhere in my mind as I began to think about the difficulties that we were experiencing in the little time we had spent with the company already. Nonetheless, I thought they were leaving and coming right back the next day, they didn't say either way. All I know is they never returned that day! I felt violated! My hopes were let down, and I felt like my husband, and I had been taken, because we weren't informed that they weren't coming back that day or the next day, and they were not answering their phones any longer for my husband and I when we called them to see what was going on. They played phone tag and kept answering their phones and saying hello continuously as if they could not hear us until we hung up. We were exhausted with the company!

I had a private contractor who was upstairs (fixing my bathroom subfloor due to the toilet leaking) saying how unprofessional the guys were as they were cussing and going on in my home. I peered up the stairs at him a few times, and he just shook his head in disgust at Empire's ill display of customer service. The contractor upstairs later told me that we should have hired him to do the flooring and saved ourselves the hassle because none of what we were experiencing should have been tolerated. At this point, I was embarrassed and ashamed that I had picked such an inadequate company as Empire.

When I called one of my friends (Sondra) to tell her about the incident, she stated that she was not surprised as they had given her poor service as well and that she would never use them again or recommend them or their services to anyone. She went on to say that she wished she had known I picked Empire to install my floors because she would have told me to run!

The phone call to Empire:

04/08/2023 Was on a Saturday, hence I caught *** trying to get someone on the phone to tell me what was going on. More importantly, when I looked up the company number, I got the run-around to even get someone to speak to me about my problem with Empires installers. The guy stated that he was in customer service and did not know how to help me, and he gave me a phone number to call. I called that number, and it kept directing me back to the guy I had spoken with. After speaking to him about twice, he finally ended with, I don't know how to help you, all I can do is let Empire know you called and give them your phone number. Well, I was not satisfied with that so, I kept calling until I finally got someone who told me that I would not get anywhere on the weekend and to try to call back during weekdays during business hours.

Once the weekend had passed, If I remember correctly, I called back and got the run around after being transferred here and there for about a period of two hours, it wasn't until I demanded my money back (the down payment, which was half) and or cancel the job, that Empire miraculously found someone for me to speak with. The lady was helpful and got me linked with a person named Eva. And then later a supervisor, Thomas (See phone call/VM above). Thomas told my husband and me that he used to be an installer and that now he was a supervisor and that he would make sure that from here on out our process ran more smoothly, but it did not. It took about 2.5-3 weeks for the process to begin. Our belongings were out in the garage and our plants were on the back deck, where some of the plants ended up getting sick because they were not used to being outdoors.

The Second Crew (Installers):

About 23 weeks later the second installers came into our home and I allowed my husband to deal with them because I was drained from all the confusion with Empire. Per my husband, the installers did not have enough flooring to complete the job, and they did not have any of the quarter rounds. Our floors are dark brown, waterproof laminate and when my husband saw that they were about to lay white quarter rounds he stopped them and told them that is not what he ordered. Then he came to the bedroom to get me. I verified what my husband was saying was true, and the guys made a call, and they got the order changed, which took another week to come in. Once it came in, they installed the quarter rounds, which I am not happy with, because it looks like amateurs did it. When they started installing the flooring, they did not have enough supplies, so they had to call the supervisor to bring in more flooring. Someone showed up that day with 2-3 more boxes because they did not have enough for the kitchen.

Transitioning piece for carpet to floor (waited almost a month):

They completed the carpet in the living room, stairs and upstairs landing on the first day of installation. Which looked good to my armature eyes. However, they did not install the transitioning piece because they said they could not do it until my kitchen, dining room, and hallway flooring was completed. It took about 2 weeks after that for Empire to send out a floor crew to do the laminate flooring, because the first installers refused to come back when he came the second time, he stated that there were still issues and that he was not going to just install anything in our home. He refused to return after they had been here twice already. Hence, Empire had to find another team to send out. After the flooring was complete, we had trouble getting Empire to come back out to lay the transitioning strip. It took them at least 3 weeks to return to lay the transition strip between the dining and living rooms. How ridiculous!

Call about the Quarter Rounds and Flooring needing to be repaired.

About 5 months later the flooring in the kitchen started buckling and lifting, and a quarter round came apart on the corner of the kitchen floor. We called Empire, and they came out to assess the situation they checked for water damage and there was none found per Empire floor repair guy; hence, they fixed the floor and left our home. Pictures were sent on 9/14/2023 through an email to Krista Scott.

Flooring lifting again / Call made in Dec of 2023:

On December 21, 2023 (just before Christmas), the flooring started lifting again in the same spot and my husband called Empire, and they sent Jesus out to inspect it. He pulled the flooring up, damaging it, to look for water damage, to which none was found. He then asked me to go to the basement to look for water damage under the kitchen floor, and he found none. Not only that, but he only that, but he took pictures of the floor. My husband told him that the flooring was buckling between the dining room and living room where my computer desk sits, so Jesus took pictures. My husband reported that Jesus stated that there was no water damage and that he needed another box of flooring to repair the kitchen floor, however, the supervisor refused to allow Jesus to do the work. Jesus also did a live video with his supervisor and the supervisor asked to speak to my husband, and the supervisor stated, that because we had a spin mop bucket sitting in our kitchen it was the cause of our floors buckling. My husband stated that he replied, how can another floor in our master bath which was installed by another company be okay and Empire's be messed up when both were cleaned the same way and are not buckling? The supervisor did not like that comment as evidenced by his voice going to a higher octave, and he began to argue with my husband. The supervisor assumed that there was water leaking from somewhere, and my husband advised there were not any water leakages. Hence, my husband showed him that the kitchen sink was dry and that there were no leaks. He asked what my husband used to clean the floor and my husband said Mop and Glow the supervisor said that my husband did not know the rules on how to maintain and care for the floor and my husband replied he was not given any. So, the supervisor stated that he would send the rules out to my husband, which were not received. There was a back-and-forth exchange between my husband and the supervisor. The supervisor stated he was going to review the pictures and get back to my husband by the following Monday or Tuesday, but he never called us back again. Jesus left the home without reattaching the flooring. My husband called the supervisor back and asked him if Jose could come and glue the floor back down and the supervisor sent Jose back 5 minutes later.

Since we had not heard from them, I made a call to them sometime in mid-January of 2024, because the flooring had become very dangerous as we were tripping over the flooring that came undone that Jesus pulled up.

On 01/19/2024 I received a VM from Kristen with Empire stating that she was reaching out to me regarding the service request with Empire, and she asked me to return her call at 877-588-**** ext. 3157. I spoke with her sometime after this, and she stated that she had to speak with the supervisor. When she did get back with us after that she said that they were not going to fix the flooring in the kitchen because it was determined site related, there was clouding on the floor from that showed that there was some type of cleaning solution used and that there were scratches on the floor that they saw in the most recent pictures and that it was not covered under warranty. She stated if we were not happy with that decision, that we could hire an inspector to come to the home and give us a report to give to the Empire, and they would decide from there. Since then, my husband has fallen on the flooring that Jesus had pulled up flaring his back injury further. I replied, why should we have to keep spending money on their faulty flooring? She gave me information to contact inspectors. I requested during this email a copy of my signed contracts, and she sent me contracts with no signature on them. *There were a few emails back and forth about this in Jan and Feb of 2024. We are left with two whole planks that have come up completely in our kitchen, causing other planks to lift that we constantly trip over. On Christmas Day we had our grandkids over and had to put a big kitchen rug over the surface that Jesus pulled up and destroyed, so they wouldn't get hurt too. I am disabled and my husband is suffering from a severe concussion and back injury that he is still being treated for, and we do not want to get hurt by this faulty flooring. I would warn anyone to stay far away from Empire company, they are bad for business. They do not honor their work or the use of cheap products and if anything goes wrong, they look to blame the customer, so they do not have to honor their warranty. Their words and product are no good!

* I couldn't figure out how to upload text, emails, pictures, etc. But I will send them to Pissed Consumer directly via email from my phone. I am currently using the home computer.

I called the Company and soon received a letter in which they said they tried to contact me so to call them and I did. Left voice mail after voice mail.

Finally got through and they asked for pictures. From the first phone call to my next conversation I was told it was to go to Sacramento headquarters for review. I received a call and they had never reached me but left message .

I called left several messages and gave up matter never was resolved now I live with 2 black lines that have surfaced on my white carpet. To begin with when the installer came there was a language berrier and at the end of the install we had to call them to fix the mistakes he made.

We had flooring put in our bedroom a few weeks ago! We SPECIFICALLY said DO NOT REMOVE the baseboards while installing the flooring! After seeing the finished, they not only removed all the baseboards but they damaged some of them & then stuck them back on half *** with gaps between the wall & baseboards also they were supposed to put 1/4 round all the way around the room, but did not! I have called & complained repeatedly with little response! So today they were supposed to show up & repair the half *** job they did but NO ONE SHOWED UP!

So I have moved everything out of my bedroom twice & am left hanging in the wind again! No call, no nothing!This whole process has been a complete hassle from the start! The customer service has been horrible with no urgency to resolve our issue!

So unprofessional & no customer care!

Im furious!

Oh & they were supposed to mail my contract because I cant open the pdf, for some reason, but once again no follow through!

I purchased LVP in January 2022, I have had to have it replaced in areas 2 times. Recent was three weeks ago, same issues with the flooring.

I have had over 3 inspections to see what the issue was with the flooring. Everyone that came over said that they have had this problem with the material before. Then I was moved to the new market manager. I wanted to replace the LVP, but they wanted to charge me for labor again instead of just materials.

I finally arranged to have it repaired their way, and again...same problem. The market manager coordinated a visit on Saturday May 27, 2023 to look at the issue. No call no show. I called the market manager, no response.

I just want this material out of the house since it is a problem. or is it they didn't level the concrete out (that is probably a bit part of it...you can actually feel walking up and down when walking on it.

But hey, I'm not the flooring professional...but I do run customer service and how do you handle an already upset customer...don't follow-up like they do! I could go on, but I'm not giving free advice.

I do not recommend having your floors done by them. We installed our LVP and carpet from Empire Today.

They sold us saying that the carpet and LVP are covered under warranty and would take care of any accident. We recently informed them that we have some scratches on our LVP and our floor is damaged by water. They declined our request. We raised it again and they declined it once again.

Not a single person came to see what is the damage and without seeing it they declined. Did multiple follow-ups but no response. I was on hold for more than an hour, and they are not picking up my phone.

Worst after-sale support and not worth going with them. You can get the same services in less amount from your local market

For the second time using Empire Today, the salesperson mismeasured. There was not enough products to do the job in the time frame promised in my contract with them!

I then had to take a day off work, unplanned, causing my own business to suffer and their only compensation was an offer of $50! Can not reach anyone to rectify this! No one calls or emails back! The only supervisor i was able to speak with, Liam, was rude and condescending!

Terrible business practices Empire Today! I guess fool me once shame on you fool me twice shame on me!

Ive had it with the run around. Ive been trying to get satisfaction from day 1 of my installation & was passed from one person to another.

Person A (who came to my house & was subsequently fired) passed me to person B who said I had to talk to person A. I called & called to get a resolution but have NOT gotten any @ this time. The rep from the NY group (Kim) barely responded to my messages. Now I was passed to someone from the CT group & she has to check with the NY group.

Now you want to charge me for what you should have done in the first place. Unacceptable!

I have been waiting over 6 damn months for a simple tile repair. The managers do not do their job to call the customer back; the installer wants to do it his way rather than the customer.

I will never spend my money with this company again. I still have not received a phone call or repair.

I saw advertisements on the TV about how well this company installs with no problems at all clearly however this was not the case for me I made my selections my home but they dont give you any kind of picture of what you bought and it was a long time between the purchase and the installation so I thought this was odd. However this was during the pandemic so you have to make allowances but it was like pulling teeth to get them to come out and do the work that they have been hired to do and paid in full for their services.

The installers arrived at my home with no masks and proceeded upstairs to lay the floor in a small bathroom. They came ill prepared to do the work I still only have 2/3 of a floor in my small bathroom because they didnt have enough tile to lay down when they came however this room had been measured how is it possible that if it was measured they didnt bring enough product to finish the floor. So they called me upstairs to see the tile that they had laid on the floor and I discovered that there was not enough tile to complete the job this didnt seem to faze them at all they said that the warehouse had possibly made a mistake however they had measured this room when they first come here if you measure a room should they not have come with the right amount of tile to lay on the floor. So I went back upstairs to check on the job and they ripped up the floor that they had laid down and put some thing on the floor that is absolutely ugly and even there wasnt enough tile to complete this job and presently my toilet resides in my bathtub.

So I went to the master bathroom to see how that was going and I had instructed the installer to please let me see the floor before he started laying the tiles that didnt happen when I got there he had laid the perimeter to cover any water damage that is there and when I arrived and saw what he was doing I told him that I didnt like the way he was laying it down. He felt insulted at my request I thought this was my house my floor and my money apparently this didnt make any difference to Empire Today in the office their interest lies in money not in service so after the frustration of this hours of failure on their part I asked them to the My Home the man that was installing the master bath when they went in there and picked up all the tiles ran out made a call in Spanish to his boss so I could understand a word he was saying . I repeatedly called the district manager about this problem and to my surprise I got a call from the person who runs the distribution center in Norfolk who was so rude I wont even begin to tell you what he said. I continued calling Empire Today to get this problem resolved and I was just put off lip service.

I continually called Empire today to reschedule the service and to my surprise one morning at 8:00 AM they were pounding on my front door no notice theyre coming really. After all this happened I called Empire Today and they said they were too many issues that they would not fix the problems that they created that they were going to take my money and just leave me with no toilet no floors in my master bathroom and in the small bathroom. I tried to call the corporate offices of Empire today but you cant reach them because unless you have a mailbox number you cannot talk to anybody thats in authority.

They provided poor service they were not honest and they just took my money and ran. If you want the job done right do not use Empire today they take your money and run.

In the beginning back in the 1980 they were great thats why Ive been a customer since

However the past 10 years the customer satisfaction was been on a decline

They are conviniente for the payment process but the quality is not what once was and they dont stand behind their promises

I have caps on my floors the outdoor rug got mildewed

Bought an extended warranty with Empire which covered several items including $100 carpet cleaning rebate after one year. Submitted the receipt one day after carpet cleaning occurred.

Since then, have made at least 15 calls with 15 different stories, including several promises of a call from corporate, which, of course, never received!! An obvious scam!!