Empire Today

The in home consultation went fine.. That was the only part of the process that I didn't have a problem with. Our sales rep Laz was great. Everything following that was a disaster. We were scheduled for our installation on February 11th. They said that we had a window of 8 AM to 6 PM so I took Friday off, the 11th and I also took off that Monday the 14th just in case the job took a few days to complete. So Friday rolls around, no one shows up no one calls. I called to follow up to see what time they were going to arrive and I was told that the job was rescheduled for the 14th. Mind you, no one called me to communicate that so I said fine, all good, I took off the 14th as well so see them on Monday the 14th. The 14th rolls around same thing happens. I sat all day no one called no one showed up. Wasted my while valentines day sitting around waiting on them. I finally called them around 4 PM just to be told that the same thing happened, I was rescheduled for the 18th so now I'm p*****. I've missed two days of work and they keep changing the daye without telling me. They said it was a supply chain issue but now its resolved so they'll be there Friday. Mind you, the first time they flaked they told me the installers forgot to load my flooring on the truck. So now the story has changed but whatever. I really wanted my floors so I said OK! I'm gonna give them another chance and if they don't show up on the 18th that's gonna be 3 strikes and they're out! So the 18th rolls around, no one shows up. I call at 12:30 because I was getting antsy and I was told that I was rescheduled YET AGAIN for the 19th. I told them don't bother, just cancel the order. I'm not wasting another day sitting around waiting for something thats never coming. And the fact that Ive already paid the deposit, I should not now have to chase you for my floors. I put my house back together because I had rearranged my furniture at that point to clear the floors so that they can come in and do the work. And 4 hours after I put all the furniture back, someone calls me saying that they're on their way with my floors. I told them NO! I already canceled. So now I'm in the process of trying to get my money back so we'll see how that goes. But I definitely don't recommend doing business with Empire today. This is not a new thing for them. I have read other people's reviews where the same exact thing has happened so apparently this is a pattern for them. I only wish I had read more reviews before I signed a contract to get flooring through them.

This company is very unprofessional.  We hired Empire Today - which is based in Phoenix - for a job in Tucson.  We were told it would take one day for the install.  It's just 3 rooms and stairs.  On the day of the install, a contractor showed up with two workers that did not speak English.  The contractor said he couldn't fit all the carpet on his pickup truck so they will have to come back tomorrow to finish the job.  I walked outside to see the carpet piled up on a pickup truck, unprotected from the desert elements and a 2 hour drive from Phoenix.  It even rained that day in Casa Grande.  The last thing you want in your house is your new carpet full of desert dust from a two hour drive to Tucson.  I assumed a company like Empire would have a truck to transport the carpet.  I guess I was wrong.  
I called the Phoenix location and complained about the fact the driver couldn't bring all the carpet down in one truckload and it taking 2 days for the job.  I also was concerned about the new carpet being transported in the open on the back of a truck for two hours and I know it rained in Casa Grande.  The installation manager (Joe) told me the job was really a two day job.  I explained to him the contractor gave me a different story and he said they would have to come back the following day because all the carpet wouldn't fit on the truck.  Joe just said it was a two day job and that it didn't rain on the carpet on the way down.  Not sure how he would know that as he wasn't in the truck, but whatever.
So, the english speaking contractor unloaded the carpet in my driveway and left the two Spanish speaking workers to work.  They only worked for about 4 or 5 hours the first day and 3 hours the second day, so it was obviously a one day job.  We complained to the Phoenix office again and I spoke with a different "Joe" who threw the sales person under the bus and said he "over promised" us by saying it was a one day job.  When confronted about what the contractor said about the carpet not fitting on the truck - he chose to ignore that response.  He offered me $200 back.  I laughed at that since this was a $5300 job.  He then tried to negotiate with me like I was buying a car and offered me $350 back.  Really - it's a $5300 job. 
The workers told me they would be back at 9:00 a.m. the next day to finish the project.  Well, about 9:40 a.m. the contractor showed up.  He asked to borrow our cell phone since he didn't have service on his cell phone as he didn't pay the cell phone bill or something.  He talked to the workers that said they were at breakfast at would be there in 40 minutes.  So, they showed up an hour and 10 minutes late.  I also found out the workers lived in Tucson -so, they were not driving down from Phoenix for this job.  The workers left the house a mess.  My wife and I spent a couple hours cleaning up after them.  The carpet was installed and looks good - but I would not recommend this company to anyone.  Go elsewhere.  The office in Phoenix couldn't care less as long as they got their payment BEFORE the job was started.  What a joke!  I also wondered if the installers were legally authorized to work in the US.  They spoke no english.  When I complained about this to Joe - he said I should call the contractor (who left the job after the first 10 minutes) to ask questions.  Wow.  Stay away!!!

I had used empire flooring in 2008 and they placed laminate flooring in 2 of my bedrooms and did a beautiful job so I decided to have them back.  I did not realize that they did not have a market in Tucson from late 2008 to present but they remained in business in Phoenix.  The sales people(husband and wife) were not very knowledgable however they were both pleasant and accommodating.  I was told that the vinyl flooring I chose could be placed over ceramic tile but that it needed to be embossed first.  I was told the job would be a few hour job and that I did not need to move the refrigerator and the stove.  The date for installment was set for 6/29/12.  I received a call from the sales person indicating because of the embossment this would be a 2 day job, so we set it up for 6/28 and 6/29, the embossment to be done on 6/28.  The crew were suppose to arrive in the morning.  At 1:30pm. a crew of 3 men showed, only one of which spoke English.  He told me they were there to place my vinyl floor.  I explained that the floor needed to be embossed first and he said, Oh, you want us to take up the ceramic tile.  Anyway, I called the sales person as he had told me to do this if there was any problem.  I explained that the crew was at my house but they didn't seem to understand about the embossing part.  Dan, called the crews boss and after multiple calls back and forth between the crew and their boss, there was an understanding.  The sales person, Dan, apologized for not realizing they did a self leveling patch vs. embossing and assured me that the patch was the correct way to go.  Now the time was 230-300pm. The leader of the crew who spoke English told me that his boss, Juan, did not send him with enough patch so they could not complete the job today and said it would be much better if they just came back early in the morning but couldn't promise me they would be there at 8am.  I spoke to Juan and he told me that he would have the crew come early in Phoenix to pick up more patch so that they could drive down from Phoenix by 900 or so.  I said I did not want someone at the house working on the floor late in the evening.  He promised this would not be the case. He also told me he would be in constant touch with me via phone as the job was coming along and he did not call me once.  A 2 man crew arrived at the house to patch our floor and went out to our garage to get the patch.  They told us that the patch was not the correct stuff.  They called Juan and Juan said he would call the crew that was coming and have them pick up the correct patch before they came.     The 2 man crew, one of them Dan told us they would be unable to patch the floor and also told us we had to move the refrigerator and stove and they helped my husband move them out into the living room.  At around noon, a younger man with an older man came to start the flooring.  The younger one spoke fluent English so I asked him if they picked up the correct patch and they said they did not not get any message from Juan.  I called the sales person again for assistance.  He called Juan and then had Juan call his crew.  After Juan called the crew, they left to go get the correct materials for the patch and came back at 130pm to start the job.  They finished the job at 1015 at night, doing both the patching and the placement of the vinyl.  They worked very hard and did a good job on all except for the follow through on the pattern where the seam was. My husband and I moved the stove back in with the dolly without a problem, however when we moved the refrigerator back in, the floor was marred in a couple places.  The next day or so, customer service with empire called and asked me to call them back so I did. I told her the entire story.  This is when I was told that they would replace the entire floor for me on 7/11.  As stated above, although the owner and his worker brought the vinyl down from Phoenix to replace the flooring, they decided that they could patch the floor instead and left the vinyl in my garage.  They were here from 130 to 630pm and the job looked awful.  You could tell that someone had cut out a piece of vinyl and replaced it with another piece of vinyl that was much smaller than the original so that it looked damaged.  I was told by Rudy, one of the workers that I should wait a couple days and if still not satified call Joe(the owner) not customer service and was given his cell number.  I called his cell on Monday 7/16 and his voice message said he would not be in until 7/17.  I left a detailed message.  My husband and I went out of town for 2 days so when I did not hear back from Joe by Weds, I called him.  Again he said that he had not listed to his voice messages and was just getting back from vacation and he would call me back on Thurs.  He did not call me back.  I called customer service again on 7/20 and was told that someone would be coming to replace the vinyl floor completely tomorrow 7/21.  As stated above, the job was scheduled but not assigned to anyone so no one showed and after calling customer service in Phoenix and then Customer service at National we were once again rescheduled to have our floor replaced on 7/27.  Each time we were told someone was coming, of course, we had to move everything out of the kitchen again.  My husband and I received many calls after the 7/201 mix up from Aricellia who is the office manager in Phx, stating she wanted to make everything right for us.  She said I should work with her or Joseph Shwab and gave me her number and extention as well as her extension number.  We had a lengthy conversation on 7/23 and I voiced all my concerns and she said she wanted to reimburse me at least $150. for my troubles and that she was going to meet later with Joe and see if she could get me more. I asked her to make sure that whoever came to do this job would know how to lay vinyl that has a pattern to it and would be able to carry the pattern through at the seam.  I also voiced my concerns about the moving of the refrigerator and stove  and I asked that they bring the necessary supplies they needed to move the refrigerator and stove without tearing the floor. I also asked that they come early so that they would not be here late at night.  She did not call me back Tuesday and I received a message at 455pm on Weds that it looked like everything was in order for the replacement of my vinyl flooring on 7/27 and she said she would be in touch with me on 7/27 and she also gave me her cell number to call her if I needed.  She never did call on 7/27 and she also did not follow through on any reimbursement of monies like she said she would.  The 3 man crew came down  on 7/27 and finally the job was done correctly, however they did not bring any materials to move the refrigerator and thank goodness we had some supplies they could use.  They informed me they were not told to bring any supplies with them to help them move the refrigerator and stove.  Every step of the way in this job, there was lack of communication and incompetency in each dept. of this company.  I thank God that this nightmare is now over. One last thing............when they sell you the vinyl they show you how easy it is to patch a scratch on the floor by bringing in a piece of vinyl that a triangle has been cut out of and then they take it out and put it back in and you cannot see the patch at all so you think WOW, this is great stuff.  However, they do not tell you how easily the floor is scratched and marred when furniture is moved.  They do not tell you it is best to take the little feet off the bottom of your table or put felt pads on all the chairs at your table etc, otherwise the vinyl with have circular dents in it.  Oh well, you live and you learn.  This was a very unpleasant experience from beginning to end and I feel most of the problems are du