Empire Today's reply to:

Empire Today

I have read your post from 2008 and would like to apologize for your cancelled appointments and that you were not satisfied with our sales representative and appointment. At Empire, customer satisfaction is of the utmost important to us. I realize some time has passed, but I would like the opportunity to discuss your experience with you and address any concerns you may still have with our company. This way, we can better improve on satisfying you and other customers in the future. If you are still interested, I can be reached at customersupport@empiretoday.com or call 888-588-2315 x4195. Rebekah Clerk, National Customer Service Manager
author's review
ID
#113408 Review #113408 is a subjective opinion of poster.
Loss
$50

I had a horrible experience with Empire Today. I had several cancelled appointments and two no shows.

3 salesmen later I finally had one that showed up. I had called the help line and was given a $100 concession for all the trouble. When the salesmen arrived I told him I wanted one of the 50% sales items that were being promoted online and on TV. He came to a price on one of the items and then was hesitant to give me the $100 owed to me.

He then said the blinds really weren't on sale but that I was given a special price for all I went through. He also said that when a sale was advertised that nothing was really on sale, it was just a way to get people to call Empire. That is 'bait and switch' and very illegal. Either he was lying about nothing being on sale or the company operates illegal practices.

I finally convinced the sales rep to give me half of my earned discount on top of the sales price.

I am waiting to hear back from the area sales manager on why I didn't get my full discount and about the terrible sales practices. I haven't tried other companies that sell custom blinds but if you try Empire get ready to fight with everything you have to get mediocre service.

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6 comments
Anonymous
 #204855

i worked for Empire. BUYER BEWARE :cry

Anonymous
 #193249

I had laminate flooring installed 2 years ago and it is now buckling! I called Empire and they siad it was due to "topical moisture" and was not covered under the warranty.

I called the manufacturer, qucik-step, and they said it was covered unless there was a flood or leak. The problem is, they said Empire agreed to handle all warranty issues. Does anyone else see a problem with that?? I then tried to get an independant inspection and was told by the only 2 in the area "We work for Empire and it would be a conflict!" The flooring cost 2,500 installed.

Now I have to try and find someone who has not worked for empire to come inspect and then file a claim wiht an attourney. I am prepared to ask for the flooring replaced as well as any out of pocket. my job number was fv34775 out of South hackensack, NJ.

I have been in contact with Helen in dispute resolution who said she cant help me. I called her back but she has not returned my calls.

Anonymous
 #169772

It looks like most of the bad reviews are written by women. It seems to me Empire Carpeting takes advantage of women.

I know they would never get away with what they do, if I was involved. I'd have them steppin and fetching out the door.

Anonymous
 #30120

I used to work at Empire Today in NC and I can tell you first hand that it is a total rip off. I know that the sales man need to make their money, but they mark the flooring up and are told to start at 6% or higher over the company starting price.

What a person buys from this company they could go to Lowes, Home Depot, or some other mom and pop flooring company and get the same flooring at half the price. I have never in all my working years worked for a company such as this one. They do not care for the customers, nor those that work for them.

By the way when they hire installers they only check the US citizenship of the owner of the installation company they contract their work out to they never check the citizenship or background of the workers. That means you never know who is coming into your house.

Anonymous
 #9240

i was looking for- empire carpet -on , i found the customer complain and read it carefully ,,,,, now i have a nother thought about bying my carpet from empire ...i am going to wait to see what they would do to make their customer --- very satisfied---.. if no action were taken ....

home depot will be very happy to do it for me with less headech................ raedalazaizeh@yahoo.com

good luck Chikitten2002

Anonymous
 #3758

Thank you for brining your concerns to the attention of Empire. We are dedicated to providing world-class customer service to every customer.

Unfortunately, we are unable to reference your account with the name provided on this website.

We would like to work with you to resolve your concerns. Please contact us at CustomerSupport@empiretoday.com for further assistance.

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Empire Today's reply to:

Empire Today

Although your post is from 2008, I would like to apologize that you were not satisfied with your window treatment installation and experience with our customer service. We know it must be frustrating to make several phone calls without receiving a response to satisfy your concerns. Although some time has elapsed, we would like the chance to further discuss your experience so that we may better improve on satisfying you and other customers in the future. If you are still interested in reaching out to us, you can email me at gcielocha@empiretoday.com or contact me via phone at 888-588-2315 ext. 3369. Gina Cielocha, Marketing & Communications Manager
author's review
ID
#112455 Review #112455 is a subjective opinion of poster.
Service
Empire Today Installation

Empire is one of the most unprofessional, irresponsible companies I have ever dealt with. I ordered windows from them in the beginning of November 2007 and as of today they are still not installed properly.

Trying to deal with their customer service people is impossible. I have been lied to by several different members of their staff. Every time I have called I have been told a new story. I have spent multiple hours on the phone trying to get them to be responsive. While their staff usually returned my calls they rarely had any new details on my installation.

I would highly recommend against using this company for any of their services.

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5 comments
Anonymous
 #66826

I had wood floors installed and they are lifting,I called CS,Inspect Solutions came out and did a inspect on the floor,what he is stating in the report is this kind of floor should not have been installed because we lived by the beach and have high humidity,yet in the same report he claims its our responsibility. I called SC and they never called me back. I will take them to sCCourt.

Anonymous
 #57697

Wow. All this bashing...

Do any of you know that Empire-Today has a 'call center' full of mexicans that don't know what they're talking about or how to direct a call? Well, that's pretty much what you'll get when you call that 888 number.

Call your local office.

Not the freakin call center. You'd be shocked that the company isn't as bad as the call center would lead you to believe.

Anonymous
 #51232

I had scheduled empire rug to come and install rug on my stairs and part of my wall on 1/30/09. They said they would be there between 11-2.

They didnt show up until 430 ( when we called them to see when they were coming they said they would be there in 20min, they ended up at our house an hour after that phone call ). We they came in, they went to install the rug and said that they couldnt do the job because they didnt have glue. So they left. We called the 1-888 number and was told someone would call us the next day.

By 11am no one had called us so we called them. They put us on hold for 15min the first time, 10 the second time and, then 5 mintues the third time. After finally talking with someone ( and at this point we were so angry ) they told us WE had to reschedule!!!! They offered no compensation, no apologies..

They said the boston office was closed and there was nothing they could do.

So i called the consultant that came to give us the estimate and he told us "oh no, you should call all THESE numbers instead!". Im thinking to myself "Are you friggen serious???" I will NEVER recommend them to anyone...they are horrible and dont care about customer service AT ALL.

Anonymous
 #19086

Dear Mr. Scott,

Have you bought anything from them?

By your statement, no.

Do you work for them?

We don't know.

Are you a psychic?

Go make you decision, buy their product and then come here and post.

Empire Today, has had days and days and days to respond here.

Why didn't they?

Come up with something better than your weak, inept excuse for fairness.

Stop being a shill for a sham company.

thanks,

Neils

Anonymous
 #6227

I didn't find any rebuttal from Empire. It's easy to slam someone when they can't comment back.

Unl;ike others, I don't make a decision by listening to only one side of the story. Where can I see Empire's remarks on this customer?

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Empire Today's reply to:

Incompetent installers and terrible customer service

I have read your detailed post from 2008 and although some time has passed, would like to truly apologize for you and your wife’s experience with our installation team and the inconvenience caused in your home by the installation itself. We know it must be frustrating for an installation team to arrive unprepared and to not have the job completed as expected. At Empire, we are dedicated to customer satisfaction. We realize some time has elapsed, but if you are still interested, we would like to hear more about you and your wife’s experience so we can better improve on satisfying you and our other customers in the future. If you are still willing to reach out to us, I can be reached at bmoscatello@empiretoday.com or via phone at 888-588-2315 ext. 5234. Bridget Moscatello – Vice President of Customer Care.
author's review
ID
#112364 Review #112364 is a subjective opinion of poster.
Loss
$2400

I went to the Empire Today website and was impressed by their customer service awards and next day installation at competitive prices. I called them out for an estimate and the sales rep talked on and on about how their installers are experienced and they work for 100% customer satisfaction.

We hired them to install laminate flooring in the entryway, kitchen, and two bathrooms. When the installers arrived, they didn't have the tools or materials needed to do the work. The head of the crew went back to HQ to get the supplies; meanwhile the rest of the crew began tearing up the old flooring using my tools without my permission. They used my putty knives and screwdrivers in a fashion they were not designed for. When I noticed this, I asked them why they were using my tools and not their own, and they told me they were working on wood floor yesterday and didn't have the tools they needed, which didn't make any sense. A few hours later when the head person came back, I asked if I would be reimbursed for my tools, and she said yes.

The project was supposed to be done at 6:00pm on the first day, but they weren't even half done so they came back the next day to finish. I wanted them to finish on the first day because I wanted to inspect the finished work before they left, but since they had to come back a second day, I had my wife watch them. When I got back from work it was about 11:00 pm and I was tired. I asked my wife how it went and she said fine, but pointed out a few notes they left me. For starters, they didn't finish the borders on the flooring because the carpet installers (who we were getting through Home Depot) could roll the carpet to the edge. This seemed fishy since Empire Today's laminate flooring isn't glued to the floor. Without the borders what would hold the tile in place? Next they told her that we could caulk our own floor because in their opinion the grey caulk provided didn't look good and brown caulk would look better.

They were also supposed to reinstall the toilets but told my wife she'd have to go buy the wax gaskets herself. The water supply line to the icemaker in the fridge wasn't hooked up because "it wouldn't fit", the cabinet in the kitchen wasn't reattached to the wall, there were holes in the walls in the bathrooms, and the trim that they put up didn't line up at all. The list of problems goes on and on.

They were supposed to come out the next day to reinstall the toilets, and I figured I'd point out all their mistakes when they came back. Problem is, they never showed up. We waited all day in an empty condo (we are waiting for all the remodeling to be done before we move in) with no toilets and no running water, and we called them repeatedly and they assured us they were on their way, but they never showed up. As evening approached we called Empire Today's customer service and told them what had happened and they said they could send someone out on Monday, four days from the call.

We've waited patiently and now Monday has arrived and the manager who is supposed to come by hasn't shown up and when I called they said he's not in his office. I asked for his cell number, and they said they can't give out that information.

This whole situation has been a huge headache, and I'm so pissed now that it's going to take a lot for them to make it up to me. If you're thinking of getting any flooring or window treatments done in your house, don't use Empire Today. They will treat you like a piece of ***.

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10 comments
Anonymous
 #64812

I can relate to your frustration. It is so annoying indeed. How can there still be people out there with such incompetence? It baffles me :x

But, the good news is that I came across a really great website the other day: it is called hellopeter.com

Hellopeter.com is an amazing website dedicated to customer service. Customers, like yourself, can write a report on the site for free and about any company, and then the company responsible will have the opportunity to respond - they usually do respond because it is more embarrassing for them not to.

Trust me, try it out.

Regards

Claudio

Anonymous
 #60083

Would someone supply me with an address of Empire Today, LCC. I have been trying to send a certified letter to them about not honoring a warranty.

I just thought it would be only fair to send them the same letter that I sent to the BBB, Texas Attorney General, Fair Trade Commission and The Texas Board of Realitors. I would at least like to give them the chance to rectifly the complaint before I take further action.

Anonymous
 #55582

Ask the installers for their proof of citizenship.

Anonymous
 #31540

To the people commenting that I'm just some miserable guy looking to complain about anything, that's just rediculous. I am a very happy person and I don't complain about much.

On the rare occasion that I do complain, it takes something major that I think warrants complaint. I actually came to this website because I made a call to Empire and they said they'd get right back to me. We were in the middle of moving into our new townhouse and there was nothing but a telephone and a computer in the place. So after waiting 2 hours for them to call back, I started surfing the internet and searched Empire.

I found this site and decided with the free time I had while I was waiting for Empire to eventually get back to me, I would write this. In the end, they never did call me back, and I had to make 5 calls to eventually get in contact with the manager who said he would come out but never did. It took them 2 months to come out and fix the floors and reimburse us for the damages. And the "New" installers who Empire assured us were more compitent wound up tearing a corner of the new carpet and we had to have our brand new carpet replaiced.

Seriously, I have never in my life seen such lousy, incompitent service.

If you've had better luck with Empire, that's great. But that doesn't make my experience not true.

Anonymous
 #30577

Well in response to this post, I can state not all cases are this bad, Empire Today has the best Customer Service Reps Around.

Anonymous
 #27921

I guess misery really does love company. It's like all of the negative folks at work getting together to talk garbage and unfounded gossip about other people. Positive people are typically too busy to bother with such things and have better things to do with their time rather than complain.

These type of negative people are always looking for troubles, problems, and conflict to talk and complain about. And the funny thing is they always seem to find/attract it without exception!

How and Why I came across this blog is odd as I wasn't really looking for it. But felt I really needed to share my experiance.

I am very busy saw the commercial so I thought I'd call. A very professional knowledgable individual came to my home. He explained everything to my satisfaction and we discussed their low pricing guarntee and great financing. So we went ahead with the transaction. Their carpet installers showed up the next day. They were quick and did great work. No Complaints!!

An extremely please and satisfied customer. I recommend Empire to everyone with no complaints.

I only wish more of the people with great experiances would share their experiance. I'm sure they would out weigh the negative 100 to 1.

Anonymous
 #20744

Why don't you try their service and see for yourself, Ronald Scott. Even if they did have a response, it'll be of excuses and reasons to cover their ***.

Why would people go out of their way to write such a long story on the their experience with bad service if it really didn't happen. Who in their right mind would waste time to bring a company down? *** people.

*** Empire Today!! I've used their services and got the exact same unprofessional treatment.

Anonymous
 #15286

:grin This reminds me of the house cleaning people I tried out one day. They wanted to use 'my' cleaners.

And the dust broom for ceiling webs got tapped into my carpet! :cry It just boggles my mind how some people do their jobs. :? Im a nurse and Id like to know how people would feel if I use a wash cloth on their face that I had picked up off the floor!

Or how would you like to be in pain and call for your medicine and be told, "I'll look into that and get back to you". Then never show up! Come on people!! We all need each other in some form or another so just do what's right and do your best!

And remedy problems as quickly as possible.

And do it nicely or get a different job or take a vacation. :grin

Anonymous
 #14280

Empire today sucks! They can write back all they want.

Anonymous
 #6225

I didn't find any rebuttal from Empire. It's easy to slam someone when they can't comment back.

Unl;ike others, I don't make a decision by listening to only one side of the story. Where can I see Empire's remarks on this customer?

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Empire Today's reply to:

Hard wood installation

Although some time has passed, I would like to apologize that you are not satisfied with your hardwood flooring. Customer satisfaction is extremely important to us and we want to ensure you are happy with your products and installation. If you are experiencing problems that are covered by the manufacturer product and installation warranties, we are happy to work with you on a resolution I would still like the opportunity to discuss your experience with you and address any further concerns you may have with our company. If you are still interested, you can email me at gcielocha@empiretoday.com or contact me via phone at 888-588-2315 ext. 3369. Gina Cielocha, Marketing & Communications Manager
author's review
ID
#111544 Review #111544 is a subjective opinion of poster.

i will not purchase another thing from empire home carpet / hardwood flooring. we are having problems with this floor we has installed and they did send a adjuster out just to send me a letter we don't think there is a problem.

When I have floor boards popping slowly up on the $ 7,000 floor with a 25 year guarantee. The person that installed this floor said to use swiffer and i did and the adjuster for the company said we should not use this. I did tell him they told us to he said you can't win with a big company. So what I can do is let the public know not to deal with such people.

Try Luna maybe you can get treated better. and this is the second time i did business with empire and my last.they just want your $$ and tell you to get lost.

But keep in mind a 25 year guarantee. What bull sxxx.

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6 comments
Anonymous
 #135045

you people need a course in flooring and hidden fees go ahead and use lowes are home depot above empire and youll be sorry.I personnaly used all of them and empire stands out from the rest by far in fact there all i use.I never had a more proffessional experience in my dealings with flooring products.although they werent always the least expensive they delivered a high quality product and installation was excellent.Do your research there the only flooring company that is rated aaa with the bbb then check lowes and home depot.empire all day all the way .......

Anonymous
 #133236

Do not use this company. They do not stand behind their work or warranty.

They installed hardwood floors in my home at the cost of 5,600. The floors became totally dull. I called them about 15 times, and all they did was give me the run around. Someone finally came to my house after numerous calls looked at the floor and made his own decision to close my case without even informing me.

If you want to get ripped off by them this is the company to call. They should be put out of business!!!

Anonymous
 #79403

Terrible product. The nice wood floors I was supposed to have have sections of finish that have flaked off in the last two years.

And that great 25 year warranty on the finish is worthless. I will never use Empire again.

Anonymous
 #57771

I am a carpenter, in bus. 25yrs and one of my customers just had a wood floor laid in his home.

I have never seen such a lousy installation ever. They used duct tape to hold the boards together while the glue dried! Never saw a professional company use duct tape before. The glue seeped thru the joints it is yellow the floor is dark stained, really looks like ***.

They also must have gotten glue on fingers cause its all over the floor.

This is the most pitiful job I have ever seen!

I have instructed the homeowner to call empire back and have a sup come and look at installation and see if this is acceptable. If they don't fix it the next step will be to the MHIC in Maryland.

Anonymous
 #29835

You can win no matter what the company size is, just have your facts & paper trail. My wife & I beat a global auto manufacturer through the BBB.

The car dealer also told us we couldn't win; we kicked *** & took names because we took emotion out of it & presented just the facts. Bottom line, always get it in writing; especially when they want to subcontract & then you need to get even more in writing. The BBB is your friend, but they don't like emotional, irrational or any non-professional attitudes or presentations.

Act like your giving your boss a quarterly state of business report & they'll give you more respect than the "BIG" company. Good Luck!

Anonymous
 #13323

I, too, had a problem with my floor. It had worn where my computer chairs were. ( I had it installed in October 07 and it was worn by Mar 08) They just came out yesterday and replaced the entire floor.

Demand to speak with the home office. They will fix the problem. Also, file a complaint with the BBB on their site if you cannot get satisfaction.

The home office IS interested in satisfying customers. Also, note that the laminte floor warranty REQUIRES you to use "quick step" products. I had empire send me a starter kit (for nothing--home office, again). It took a little time, but the did honor their warranty. Keep on them. Also, you can alway file a American Arbtration Association (AAA) arbitration for your dispute (read your contract).

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