Empire Today Flooring Reviews and Complaints

This is an email regarding my horrible experience with Empire, that I sent to the CEO: I am contacting you today as a valued and repeated customer with Empire Today. My husband and I used Empire to install laminate flooring in our kitchen this past summer, and were so pleased with the job, that we asked Empire to come out again to give us a quote to extend that same flooring into our living room. The salesman came out on 2/20/2017 and we signed a contract to have the same flooring put in and scheduled an install for Saturday, 3/4/2017. My husband and I pulled up the existing carpet the night before the install. When the installers came on Saturday, they discovered that the salesman had put down the wrong flooring and it didn't match. That same day (Saturday), they returned to the warehouse to find that the flooring we wanted had been discontinued (Empire should have told us this before we ripped up our floor). After numerous attempts to contact customer service on Saturday who could resolve this issue, Empire told me that their headquarters was now closed and would not be open until Monday. Imagine my frustration at this, as I am 30 weeks pregnant, have two dogs who now cannot walk about the house, since we pulled up the carpet and now have bare flooring with exposed nails showing, and have to now wait until the next week. I explained this many times to the Empire customer service, but no one ever offered me an apology or seemed to know how to resolve this issue. After I had to contact Empire on Monday, 3/6/2017 (as no one tried to contact me!), I again spoke to a supervisor who set up the salesman to come back and show us new flooring. The supervisor also said he would call me back to discuss pricing, as I believed I was owed a discount and he was going to look into that for me. He never called me back. The salesman came out on 3/7, showed us flooring, and, since the flooring we wanted had been discontinued, Empire told us to pick new flooring for the kitchen AND living room so that they matched. We picked the flooring, signed the change of order form, but the salesman assured us that someone would be contacting us regarding the new pricing. Fast forward to today, 3/10/2017, and, again after no one contacted us, I called Empire AGAIN at 3:30 pm, and spoke to the same supervisor, who said he would have someone call me back within the hour. Well it's 6:00 pm now, and there is a message from Empire stating that I am now getting charged, not only for the original flooring, but also for the additional flooring that I have to put in since empire messed up my original order. When I just tried to call them back at the number they left (for the Chicago/Milwaukee headquarters), their mailbox is now full. I am writing to you as CEO because I have tried all other possible outlets and no one can give me a straight answer. In fact, it seems that no one knows what is going on, and they do not seem to care either. I have not been issued an apology. The only people who showed understanding and apologized where the installers, and it wasn't even their fault!!

I WILL NEVER USE EMPIRE AGAIN (and I have a lot of flooring left to do in my home). I would like to start by saying that the end result is beautiful and the installers were quick, professional and very helpful. This is not where my problem lies. My problem is every other facet of this company. We interviewed/received quotes from several different companies. We narrowed down our decision to two. We went with Empire (a slightly more expensive option) because we were told the floors were made in the USA as opposed to China. THAT was our deciding factor. The day the installers get here we notice the boxes all say "Made in China". Wait. What? We call the salesman, no answer. I call the main office number and tell them our issue. What is their explanation? "The floors are made in the USA but the boxes are made in China.". What? The boxes? This is the story you are going with? Ok, the boxes. I make them promise that yes, the floors are in fact made in the USA. We google the name on the box, "Valinge". Guess what? MADE IN CHINA- but I mean, we knew this. We call again and all they can tell us is there was no excuse for the lie and the customer service person trying to get us off the phone and that all we can do at this point is cancel the order. Well, that would be great and we could go with the cheaper option since they too were made in China if perhaps maybe all of our tile and carpet hadn't already been pulled up. I'm hosting a party in 4 days!?!?! How long will it take to get floors? What the...fine, just put it down. Half way through the installation I look at the padding and I ask "Is that the upgraded padding that we had paid for, you know, the quiet walk?". He tells me no, that this was the standard padding and that they don't use the upgrade on this type of flooring because it actually makes it echo even worse. Now, rewind...sitting at our breakfast table, the day we signed the contract I ask "How much extra are we paying for the upgraded padding?". He tells me something like 20 or 40 cents a square foot and he had knocked down the price. Ok, cool. But now today when we call the main number they tell us we did not pay for upgraded padding. What? We call the salesman he says no, we did not get charged for it. Ok, then why was the price we paid the same as when you told me you charged us 40 (or 20) cents a sq ft? Wouldn't that price drop? He says we went over what all the costs were when we signed, and we did, but that's when he told me the price per sq ft. The floors are in, we received no discounts, no refund for padding. Also, when I call to complain I want results. I DO NOT want to hear anything about anyone losing commission or the contract we signed. I know what we were told. I know we were lied to. I know we were blown off. Lack of integrity, that is where my issue lies. Don't lie to me.

We have quite a bit of our flooring in our home by Empire Today. We will never ever use them again. We spent just under $3000.00 in 2009 to put in a laminate floor in our kitchen. It is now junk! Doesn't last and then they want us to pay for a repair person to come out just to look at. Don't waste your money on this company. If you want something that will last and a reputable company that will stick up for their products go elsewhere! What a waste! Now we have to again purchase either a different laminate floor for our kitchen, or live with this *** we have. I'm so disappointed with Empire Today, especially like I said a lot of our home is done using their products!