Carpet and Flooring Reviews - Empire Today

On April 2, 2018 I met with a salesman of Empire Today to select carpet. He was pleasant, professional and helpful.

Due to a busy install schedule the carpet could not be installed until April 13th. I agreed to the date and 1130 install time. I had to take the day off work for the install and it was important for them to be punctual. The scheduler called me at 10:30am and stated that they were on the way. At 11:30 I called and again, I was told they were on the way. I waited all day and did not receive a call until 330 from an installer that claimed he was at my house when in fact he was not! I continued to attempt to contact a manager and did not receive a call until 530pm. The manager identified himself as Chris Miori. Despite being a manager Chris was unable to provide me a reason why they were a no call no show. He was unable to provide me any information at all.

Chris claimed he was only able to offer me a $86 dollar credit. I was shocked after taking a day off work and a no call no show that $86 was his offer of resolution. After all Chris is the General Manager, he should be able to do more and must have some idea of what happened, but apparently not. I declined use Empire Today and told him we could cancel the contract. I told him I would go to RC Willey or another reputable company in the area. I told him I did not want to continue doing business with them and canceled the order.

The following day I received a call the following day from another manager. He was apologetic and stated that he could have an installer there on April 19th. An installer would be there between 300pm and 500pm. He explained that Chris was aware of this and was hopeful to retain the business. In addition I was told they would also give me an area rug, and an additional $50 off. Specifically the rug would be a piece of carpet that could be used as a rug but due to the company not having a binding machine it would not be binded. I agreed to give the company another try.

On April 19th I waited for the arrival and once again no one showed up at 300pm as Chris and the other manger promised. It was not until 800pm that the installer showed up after a plethora of calls to Chris. Once again Chris despite being the manager had no explanation of why they did not show up. The installer who clearly was unaware of all the issues began his work and was very polite. A few minutes into the job he alerted me that he was not provided enough material for the job and would have to come back another day, but he would finish what he could with the material he had. At 930pm I told him that my family needed to go to sleep. I attempted to call Chris but he did not answer. The following day Chris informed me that he was asleep when I had called. I was shocked by his response of sleeping when his customer and his installer were still dealing with the job.

The following day Chris explained that they needed to send the installer with more material. He was scheduled a third time for Saturday April 21st.

Throughout the process I spoke with a manager located in Chicago by the name of Angelica. She attempted to bridge the lines of communication and I was told since she was from corporate that she had more authority to help rectify the situation. I felt this was ridiculous for many reasons, she was in Chicago thus a time zone challenge, and second, Chris was a local General Manager of the area. Additionally the communication between the Chicago corporate office and local office was inaccurate, they were not communicating. This was evident after Angelica was able to provide me with an additional $50 discount, for a total discount of $130, when I was presented with the bill from the installer he was on the phone for 20 minutes because the discount was not reflected on the account.

It took four weeks to complete the job. One no call or show from an installer, and two additional trip to complete installation. Two days of work that I took off for installation and countless calls between local and corporate management. The rug they promised was a piece of uneven, odd shaped scrap that was left over from the my job, this piece would have been discarded after the job.

Upper management is clearly insulated by lower sub-par supervisors. When problems arise lower supervisors are neither empowered nor savvy enough to authorize compensation or solve the problems. Amazingly Chris the local General manger failed to even follow up or come in person to check the work that was performed after all the problems.

The company touts affiliations of reputable business agencies and services but in no way shape or form shares the levels of commitment and service. My hope in taking the time to share my experience is to prevent others becoming victims of Empire Today. I would sooner walk on a dirt floor before using Empire Today for any flooring needs.

Because they use local contractors, installation results may vary. But the corporate office is the same and if you should happen to get a terrible contractor like we did -- you're out of luck.

The first issue came when we tried to use their price match guaruntee. They wouldn't honor it until after several phone conversations with a very rude Kevin Konfirst, who is some sort of inside sales director.

Last year we has laminate floor installed in our home. The installers came and the job was not done well. There was bubbling and the seams did not connect well and it was generally shoddy. They came out to try to repair it, but it needed to be replaced. Many calls to Empire Today finally got a new crew to come out and reinstall the entire floor. This was a massive headache in and of itself.

After the new floor was installed, we noticed immediately that the seams were bubbling up and that the floor looked terrible. After waiting for over a month for a manager to come and inspect the flooring he did. We didn't hear from him for another month. Call after call finally ended with us being told today that they decided that the floor wasn't defective.

This is insane. But they did offer to replace the entire floor again (but not give us a refund). So, there's nothing wrong with it, but we'll come fix it anyway? We just want a refund at this point. Worst experience of this type we've ever had.

They sent out an "independent" inspector who was so incompetent we couldn't even get him to come on a day we were home. Scheduling was a nightmare and we never heard from any of them again. Then I complain again and they act like they tried to contact us but we never heard from them. The said that our new floor of LESS THAN A FEW WEEKS OLD was water damaged. But they'll send the "independent" inspector out again. Insane.

My husband and I purchased hardwood floors through Empire Today back in December 2015. This past December 2017 I started noticing splits and cracks in the flooring.

I contacted Empire and they sent someone out to look at it. The person said they never saw anything like it. He said Jan 2018 is their slow time and someone would come out to fix the problem boards. At the time there was about 20 boards messed up.

In January the installer came out around 4 in the afternoon. By then there was about 50 problem boards. He said he could not do it because it would take to long and it looks like the entire flooring should be replaced. So I called Empire back.

They scheduled me for another date. The installer Rich Starkey came out to do the work and he also said it was a lot of work and he contacted Empire because he did not know what to do about all the problem boards. Finally after a few weeks Empire contacted the manufacturer. The manufacturer sent out an inspector to look at the floor.He tooks some test.

I asked him what is causing it. He said he was not able to tell me even though I was the customer. I have Made plenty of call to Empire (Kris Rubino) left messages and it took at times a week to get back to me. Finally last week Kris called and said the manufacturer denied the claim.

He said it was due to low humidity in the house. I asked him for the report . He emailed it to me. What he failed to tell me was that the inspector also said the flooring was not acclimated to the house.

This was not done prior to installing the floors. He said he would check with the bosses because he did not think it had to be done prior to installing. Tim Sherwin the regional manager called me and said it does not have to be done in my house because it was already done at the warehouse. I asked him for an email stating this and he said no.

He said the customer knows that it is a next day service. From what i have been reading on the internet hardwood Floors needs to be at the least 96 hrs acclimate in the house. prior to installing the hardwood. This was definitely not done.

If I ever have anything this major done I will check on the customer reviews before I sign the papers. I have been reading plenty of reviews about Empire and I now know I am not the only one with problems from this company.

If anyone asked me about my flooring I will discourage them from going with this company. I will let them know the terrible customer service that I received.

Project manager (who had my flooring) was 2 hours later than installers and started the installation without showing me the product. Flooring was red, not brown and almost completely installed before I saw him or the flooring.

I am so disgusted. I've been trying to finish this project for 2 months now and to have this happen now after painting my whole condo, and with so much stuff in my living room for this long is just ridiculous. Looks like they switched the product. The name of the product was Newport, but they brought Bruce to my home.

I, in good faith paid cash for this project... Won't do that again! Waiting to see how long this will take and how they will handle this.

I want my floors replaced or to be reimbursed minus the installation so I can get this project done... I will try to update soon...

I have been speaking with customer relations for many months since the day it was installed. I did not like the installation from the beginning and wanted them to stop. The installers said they had to do the job and that we could complain later. (I should have sent them home without finishing).

Customer Relations have been helpful in trying to resolve my installation problem. It is very difficult to remove quarter round and caulking that was installed unprofessional and sloppy the first time.

Empire Today has sent crews out 4 times to try and fix the initial installation plus 2 supervisors. The original crew, that I requested not to return, came back to remove all of the white caulking and white quarter round. They also left marks from the old quarter round and left over white caulking in different areas. I felt intimated by this original crew when they returned. They really did not want to remove all of white caulking that was applied everywhere. See the photos. I was told by the salesman a small bead would be used by the bathtub areas, that was not the case. Caulking was everywhere.

In the original 15 page contract, I requested two bathrooms done with vinyl, which seemed like a good product. But a large roll is hard to manage by one person. The product is good but the installation was done unprofessionally. Glue and cement was applied to the walls and doors that should have been on the floor.

Right now I am negotiating a large reduction in the installation cost due to the many times I had to wait for a 4 hour window and it still needs a lot of work. My baseboards have been damaged from the previous white quarter round. The paint the last crew used was white and my baseboards are a beige color.

The old caulking is still showing in different places and by removing the caulking more damage was done to the baseboard and flooring. Empire Today wants to re-install the flooring with a good crew. I am done, and I do no have the time to spend the day or 2 with any more Empire Today crews.

I will have my local flooring expert put new baseboards in and do a professional job at a great expense to me.

Hope these details are clear to anyone following this installation problem.

This is how it looks today.

Toni Burke

Monday and Tuesday my floors were replaced. By the time of completion I still had no word about Wednesday which the carpet was to be done. The floor person then upon my telling him my concern. He called at 2pm and found out we weren’t on the schedule. So we were told that someone would be there in the am.

I called in the am to two different departments to let them know I had an appointment at 10 am and was going to be gone left my number and asked to please call me.

The driver came at 10:30 am and had to come back as I was gone. I did get an automated voice mail at 10:20. He came back at 12:pm and was so pleasant and accommodating. Which by this time I was disappointed that no one called me back. But Bruno turned my disappointment into joy.

His experience was appreciated. My carpet looks great and I’m very happy.

Back in September 2015 I hired Empire to install LVT . I have had moisture issues since the installation.

Empire denies that the moisture due to a water leak resulted from them. I paid an extra $1000 to have the damaged tiles repaired. The repair work was never done properly. Tiles are popping up everywhere.

It's a tripping hazard. I have been fighting this issue for two years. No satisfaction. They have offered me $1000 to make me go away.

The assessor they sent out 3 months ago gave me a written assessment of the shoddy work the contractors performed. His suggestion was to rip the entire floor up and redo it, or else receive a full refund. Empire is not willing to do any of that in spite of the written assessment one of their employees left in my home.

My assessment of Empire Today is to stay away from them! I am wanting to be fully reimbursed.

I recently had carpet installed at my home by empire. this was one of the worst experiences of my life.

first of all, they showed up with the wrong color of carpet different from the one I ordered. they insisted that that's the one I ordered.. secondly they took much longer than promised for the actual process. they did not tidy up at all and left the whole house in a mess.

the installers were surly and obnoxious.

based on my experience, I would advise any one contemplating carpet installation by this company to run far far away. ..

We met with Dinah to review samples and schedule our installation. Due to the challenges with the layout in our home we scheduled the installation over 2 days and included the installers to move the furniture.

I spoke with an Empire represenative 2 days before the install to confirm the plan. On the first day off the install we had prepared 2 bedrooms with only bed frames and matresses to be moved out. The installers arrived and I showed them the areas to do that day. They told me that they were only there for one day and that because the third bedroom was not ready they would not be doing the work.

I suggested they do the first bedroom and when working on the second room and stairs we would shift the furniture over so the last room would be available to carpet. Neither worker spoke very good English and refused to talk with me about completing the work. I had a call from Empire who explained that this was only to be a one day job, that Dinah was incorrect to schedule it as she had and that we'd need to reschedule. She also was unwilling to work with me.

The workers proceeded to leave the job.

Not only had this been a horrible experience but I'm out 2 days of work, I don't have my new carpets and my life has been unnecessarily disrupted by tearing apart my rooms. I've cancelled my order and will purchse my flooring elsewhere.

The team member that came out to my home to give me a quote preferred to tell me about his side business as a car salesman and tried to sell me a Tesla! Wow, My wife and I both had to remind him that we are in the market for new laminate flooring for my whole house.

We just bought a new vehicle six months ago! We were not offered a quote of any type other than being handed a tablet with a price of $6.40 per sq ft. I asked for some formal quote on paper and was told that Empire does not offer a quote, it is for visual purposes only. At $6.40 per sq ft for laminate, that is and outrageous price.

We were prompted about 6 times for a $25 deposit before we basically had to ask the guy to go. Once he understood that we are not going to make a deposit, he very quickly packed his samples and was gone, didn't even ask for directions out. I simply can't believe as a business owner myself, that a company this large operates in this manner.

An email through the Empire website resulting in no response after four days. I currently have an appointment with another flooring company that has already via phone exceeded the customer service of Empire

I would never recommend Empire, nor would I ever use again. First, their salesperson assured us the hardwood flooring we selected was very durable and would not scratch, even when we told him we had a large dog.

Well that was a lie. Our flooring already has scratches. Secondly, we have two areas which seemed "soft" to us. The installation supervisor came to inspect and told us they did need to re-do those areas because they were not level and would eventually crack the boards.

After having a *** of a time finally getting installers scheduled, we find someone to come to our house to let the installers in since we both work, and the installers tell us there is nothing wrong with it and the installation supervisor didn't know what he was talking about. So they didn't do the repairs (what a waste of time for the people we asked to come to the house to let them in) When we called supervisor back, he again told us they had to be repaired and they were not installed correctly. SERIOUSLY? We have no idea who to believe.

Supervisor calls us again today trying to schedule different installers to make the repairs. So, once again, we need to have someone take time to come to our house to let these people in and we aren't even a sure at this point if the floors truly need to be fixed. We at a loss for what to do. Who do we believe?

We are hesitant to let them even touch our floors again and worried what they will do to the a structure of our flooring. This company contracts with people who cannot even I agree if the installation was correct or not! Called corporate office trying to get someone a bit higher up to fix this entire mess. We haven't heard back from them yet.

HORRIBLE company! Sales people are misleading, installers can't decide what is the correct way to install floors. To really top it all off, the quarter round they use is not even stained wood. It is a piece of wood with a wood-like sticker on it!

HORRIBLE quality! I would never recommend EMPIRE, especially for hardwood flooring. As of today, I have not heard back from corporate headquarters, only the installation supervisor, whom I am not even sure to trust!

I would actually rate them 0 for sales, -0 for installation, and 0 for quality! A rating of 1 is too good for this company!

DO NOT PURCHASE PET PROOF CARPET FROM EMPIRE TODAY!! Let me share my experience.

On 6/26 this very nice sales lady named Angela Pittman from Empire Today came to my house. She said that the Empire Today Pet Friendly Pup Pet Urine Protection Carpet I was purchasing I would be able to clean up myself and it would not leave stains or odors behind. I said are you sure? Yes, don’t worry about our Empire Today Pet Friendly Pup Pet Urine Protection Carpet.

I also explained that I would need a transition piece to match the rest of the flooring in the house. On July 7th the installers from Empire Today came to my house. First words out of their mouths, “I am not sure if we have enough of the Empire Today Pet Friendly Pup Pet Urine Protection Carpet for this job” This should have been my first sign. They finished, I explained to them that they had the wrong transition piece installed.

Their comment was, “You have to call the office”. I called the Empire Today office and got the run around for about a week. I figured it would just be easier to go to my local Home Depot or Lowes and get the piece myself. I have an elderly dog as well as a young puppy and as you all know poo happens.

I follow the sales ladies from Empire Today instruction and try to clean the Empire Today Pet Friendly Pup Pet Urine Protection Carpet myself. Needless to say my stairs still smell like I’m walking through urine. This is beyond disgusting. I call the Empire Today main office.

The Empire Todays main office gave me the song and dance about how they will take care of the issue with the Empire Today Pet Friendly Pup Pet Urine Protection Carpet and pass it on to the right person. I should get a call the next day. No call came. Imagine that.

I called Empire Today back, they said we promise someone will call you tomorrow. Someone from Empire Today finally calls, gave me the same song and dance. It’s like Empire Todays customer service is reading from a script. Yesterday I called Empire Today again, supposedly talked to a manager.

He says no one is in at the local Empire Today office to take the call but someone will be calling me. At this point I schedule a sales appointment with Empire Today. It’s was amazing someone from Empire Today was able to come out that same day. My thought was great Empire Today can sell me carpet, but not fix their Empire Today Pet Friendly Pup Pet Urine Protection Carpet.

Amanda from Empire Today, the nice sales lady shows up. I explain the issue I am having with Empire Today Pet Friendly Pup Pet Urine Protection Carpet to her. She did acknowledge that there was a problem. She calls her manager.

With a look of utter sympathy she says you have to have this professionally cleaned before we can do anything. I said so every time my dogs have an accident on Empire Today Pet Friendly Pup Pet Urine Protection Carpet I have to call a professional? She said yes. She apologized that the Angela did not explain that to me when she sold me the Empire Today Pet Friendly Pup Pet Urine Protection Carpet, but there was nothing further she could do.

Around 6 that same evening I get a call from Michelle at Empire Today. She apologizes for all the different stories I have received from Empire Today regarding Empire Today Pet Friendly Pup Pet Urine Protection Carpet that most certainly there is something that Empire Today can do to help me. She said that all she needed to do was look up the warranty for the Empire Today Pet Friendly Pup Pet Urine Protection Carpet. Amazingly enough, she was having computer problems.

She promised to send her information to me via email and I would get a return call from her the next day. I did not get an email or a return call. No surprise there. I gave it one last shot.

I called and spoke to Michael got the same script again. I would never purchase flooring of any kind that only a professional must clean. I guess Empire Today expects me to shell out $125.00 every time my dogs have an accident on their Empire Today Pet Friendly Pup Pet Urine Protection Carpet not only that, but to have to wait days and just live with the smell of dog *** for that long. Why does Empire Today bother selling Empire Today Pet Friendly Pup Pet Urine Protection Carpet when Empire Today will not stand behind their products?

I don’t feel like I should have to do the labor to fix Empire Todays mess.

All I want is for them to take the Empire Today Pet Friendly Pup Pet Urine Protection Carpet out of my house and give a full refund. If they sell Empire Today Pet Friendly Pup Pet Urine Protection Carpet, Empire Today should stand behind the Empire Today products.

On August 25 Empire sales rep John Reardon came to my house and sold me on a bunch of false promises. I ordered 905 square feet of porcelain tile to be installed throughout my house starting on September 5.

I received a phone call the Wednesday before installation to confirm my appointment and to make sure that I prepare all areas to be tiled. The next Saturday I was called back from Bill saying that they did not have the tile I ordered in stock and would not be able to do the install unless I picked different tile. I specifically said I wanted that tile and I would wait for them to call me when they had the tile in stock. The following Thursday I received a call from Empire to confirm my new appointment.

An appointment that I never made. I asked if they had the tile in stock to which they replied no and I asked how they were going to do the install with no tile. For the next three weeks I was called to confirm an appointment that was never made even though they still did not have my tile in stock. Finally, on October 5 I called Bill and he said they did get my shipment of tile in and they would be able to do the install starting on October 11.

When I spoke to Bill he had no idea that I was supposed to receive baseboards with the install. When the installers showed up they complained that the work order was all messed up and I would have to explain in detail all that was needed. Once shown what needed to be done they broke out their string to check the subfloor for level. They found several spots that were not level and started to complain that this job was going to be bigger than they anticipated.

They called their boss John who then called me and explain everything the installers had previously explained. He added that the job was bigger than they thought and didn’t want to do it because of lack of time. They were looking for an easy job. John then stated that we could go ahead with the install but it was going to be an added 3k for a few bags of concrete and some grinding.

Leveling a subfloor does not cost anywhere near that amount. He threw that price out there so I would refuse. Empire hires subcontractors to do their work. This is no surprise.

But they do not do a fair estimation for the work to be done. John Reardon only measured and gave a 6500 estimate. Once the subcontractor got there the estimate grew by 3k. This is absolutely ridiculous.

After waiting over a month for an install with my entire house packed into my living room I am still without tile and am forced to find another company that can do the job at the quoted price.

I would never recommend Empire for any services past a basic carpet install. It is probably the only thing they are capable of doing because it is “easy work” Steve

After many emails and photos the original installers returned. I had requested that they not return several times.

I had said from the beginning if they thought the installation was done correctly I did not want them back. But that did not matter. The installers were argumentative and even suggested we call someone else to fix it and bill Empire Today. They reluctantly did the work they were sent out to do.

They removed some of the white caulking and replaced some of the qtr. Leaving white caulking and covering it with clear did not work and mitering should have been done at the corners. So it looks better but it is still unprofessional. They also did not take any responsibility for damage at installation.

Tiles were knocked loose and fell off later and chips in the baseboard were new. They did remove the cement from the walls and the door.

I had vinyl installed and it came in one big roll that was difficult to move around, this is why there was other damage. Here are the photos after it was fixed.