Empire Today - Chicago

prompt service, done exactly as I asked

They were unpleasant to deal with over the phone and they were overpriced.

The Company began in the basement. Their quote was very reasonable and included everything. They didn't try to nickle and dime you. The carpet was reasonable and the padding seemed good. They didn't charge extra to pull up the glued carpeting in the basement. However, the special epoxy / liquid nails they used to hold down the tack strips in the basement did not hold that well. The carpeting in the rest of the house went well and we are very satisfied.

This is by far the worst experience I have had with a store / service provider in my life. The Job # was WT-66304-737631. One of the 3 shades was defective upon arrival and, upon inspection, they were of poor, sub-standard quality. They have flimsy plastic releases, which control the shade and the cords are much thinner than any shade/blind I've owned. In addition, the shades are a brown tweed and the cords and pulls are bright white. I phoned Empire on 3/30 (the day of installation) and asked to have the shades removed and my Empire Today card (through Wells Fargo) credited in full. In almost every instance of my contacts with Empire, I was promised a call back "that day" or "within 1 to 3 business days." This RARELY happened. As with my call on 3/30, I had to call back about 7 days later (4/7) and was given a $250 credit and they scheduled a "remake" of the defective shade. I was told they would expedite this remake. After 3 1/2 weeks, I called and was given no status on the remake. I had to call back several days later. Finally, the shade was ready and I arranged to be home for the reinstallation (5/13). The new shade had been cut completely differently and did not even match the existing shades. The installer took pictures which he e-mailed to his supervisor. I spoke to Bill Alevedo (my primary contact during this ordeal) and, again, requested that the shades be removed and my account be credited. I was told that the best they could do would be to repair the original shade and give me a discount. I asked two questions: 1) How much would the discount be? No definite answer. 2) Why didn't they repair the original shade to begin with? The answer was "All I know is what they're telling me." I told Bill Alevedo that I would accept nothing but a full refund. He said he would "check into it." I told him I am now pursuing the dispute via Wells Fargo's process. It has been one week since I mailed my letter to Wells Fargo. I have not yet heard from them, but it's probably a lengthy process on their end. I have also never heard back from Empire. Had I read the comments regarding Empire's horrible service and product for window treatments that currently exist on Angie's List, I would never have used them.

Excellent...very efficient at scheduling and installing. The products installed were good quality but not "top of the line". Two years later, the products and installation are standing the test of time.

Everything went perfect. Job was done in one day, the quality was better than I expected as this was rental grade carpet. The carpet was nice and tight and they spent a good amount of time on the stairs to the 2nd floor and they look great. I would definitely call them in for a quote when it comes time to do my personal residence.

I was really impressed with the estimator who came out. I had expected someone who just knew how to calculate costs, but she knew a lot about the carpets and was able to help with recommendations. The installers were on time and finished quickly. No problems.

They indicate that they have quality carpeting. It isn't. Do your research before you by. It's pretty cheap stuff.

They did fantastic! They took precise measurements and time to get things right. They spent all day doing it. I'm on the 4th floor, they had to go to the 1st floor to make any of their cuts. They did a marvelous job. The carpeting was installed great as well. This was my living room, dining room, and hallway. I had got an estimate from another carpet company that was supposed to be very reasonable and Empire had a better price.

Meet with sales guy on Jan 30, selected window treatments for 3 windows (2 roman shades and 1 roller style). Was told the window treatments would be ready 7-10 days after measurement taken; Measurements taken on February 2. Called both the sales guy and service number on March 2, well after 7-10 day time period, to ask where my window treatments are. Sales guy has no information. Service number puts me on a hold a bunch of times then say think maybe something on backorder says will call back the next day with more info. No call back so I call again on March 8. Sales guy not answering his phone. Service number again puts me on hold, shuffles me around says one of windows treatment on backorder will have Chicago office call me the next day with estimated date. I don’t receive a call back so I call again on March 10, Sales guy still not answering his phone. Service number won't let me talk to a supervisor, keeps me on hold a couple of times, tries to tell me that a supervisor will call me back but I refuse and demand to speak with supervisor immediately. Finally they give me the Chicago area manager (I don’t remember exact title), says my one order is on back order will call me back with estimated date. I tell him I don’t want a call back since they’ve never call me back, I want them to install whatever they have first thing Saturday morning and to cancel the backorder item because I’m tired of waiting and tired of their bad service. March 13, the install arrives as scheduled and surprise, has the window treatment they kept telling me was on back order. The window treatments get install. They are okay but the hardware (strings for adjusting) are cheap quality. I might add I still haven’t heard from the sales guy but have received both an email and phone survey. Update September 11, 2010 - the 2 of the window treatments are falling apart - glue is comeing apart. They will not refund my money, they will only come back to fix them, I'm not sure they are even fixable. Short story - Do not use this company, they have horrible service and crappy products.

First of all, the salesman was unprofessional and used high-pressure sales tactics. We had the carpet installed first, which turned out fine, no complaints with that. The installation of the tile is a completely different story. I was unaware that they do NOT remove the old baseboard from the flooring prior to installation. Upon completion of the job, they placed their white baseboards over the existing brown baseboards. It looked extremely tacky. In addition, I recently noticed in this current month of January, that one row of tiles are cracked down the middle. I still have yet to call them about that.

They were fine. They did exactly what they said they were going to do. The salesman was right on time. He was very punctual and very friendly. The installers were awesome. Our basement has a lot of funky angles and outcroppings. They worked from the day they showed up until around 10 at night to get the project done. Everything looks great! We had a problem with the seam of the carpet and they came right out the following day to rectify the problem at no additional cost.

They did the work quickly and they did a good job with the work. I was pleased with the service they were able to provide. I have been very pleased with their carpeting.

Salesman met the price we needed, installation happened on time and they did an OK job. The carpet is not entirely adhering to every spot of the stairs, and I think that's because we selected such a stiff carpet, but I'm thinking they could have dont it better. I also thought their carpet choices seemed on the cheap side, so if we were doing any rooms of importance (e.g., living room or bedroom), I probably would look elsewhere.

It was the second time we used them and they were excellent. They were timely and the price was right.

We had used Empire in the past (in a different state) and had a much better experience then. This time around, the representative was very unprofessional. It started with him coming into our house and immediately saying "Can I have a glass of water". Note I said "saying", not "asking". My wife and I kind of looked at each other, a bit suprised but we gave him the benefit of the doubt. He took the measurements (2 bedrooms, 2 smaller sunrooms, hall, stairs), and then the hard sell started. He told us we were getting 60% off because of a current promotion, and 5% off because we are repeat customers. The estimate was $4,600, meaning the full price would have been over $7,000. When my wife and I would try to discuss the cost he kept interrupting, using an old sales tactic to prevent the customers from thinking. He then tried to push their 1 year, interest free option, but we said no. I told him I'd call him tomorrow after we discussed it, and he was visibly frustrated and said--with annoyance--"Then I would have to come back tomorrow". I said fine. He said "what time can I expect your call tomorrow", again sounding annoyed. I said probably by late morning/early afternoon. He called the next day around lunch and said "You told me you were going to call and never did". I told him we hadn't made a decision yet (we wanted to shop around now) and he asked when he could expect my next call again. I said "when we make our decision". He actually said "when will that be?" I terminated the relationship at that point. Here's my overview--they do a great job if you need immediate installation and have no special carpet needs (they're selection for next day delivery is fairly small but probably covers 75% of the carpet people want). You will pay for it, however. Also, this salesman was extremely pushy and unprofessional, enough where we'll never use them again. A side note--we went to home depot and got a better quality carpet (not offered by Empire), the same carpet pad, and saved over $1,000. And it was installed in a week.

Rep. came in the evening (which was convenient for us) to provide samples and estimate. Work was scheduled for the next day. Workers arrived promptly, did work quickly and efficiently (took about 6 hours) and even though we were told we would have to dispose of the old carpet ourselves, they took care of it anyway (that was GREAT.) They moved all of the large pieces of furniture, we didn't have to do anything. Floor looks great and is exactly what we wanted.

Very poor experience overall. We called Empire to get a quote on carpet purchase/installation for a basement we've recently remodeled and possibly for our living room as well. They were responsive enough and able to get someone out the same day. When the sales rep showed up he had samples of berber, plush and frize although we had requested a pattern. He seemed confused and asked us what we meant by "pattern" (despite selling carpeting for 11 years) so we showed him a sample of Mohawk carpet we had gotten at Home Depot. He assured us that Empire carried the "complete line" of Mohawk, but when he returned from his car with the samples there were only 9 patterns to choose from, none of which we really liked. He took measurements and quoted us around $1900 and said he could place the order with a $400 check. We advised him we weren't comfortable writing a check at this point since he was the first to provide a quote and he assured us that if we decided to go with someone else it wouldn't be a problem to cancel the order and get our money back. We said we still preferred not to have to make a deposit at this point and he started with a variety of high-pressure tactics: "Nobody in the carpet industry has ever had a 2-for-the-price-of-1 deal," "I drove all the way out here even though it's out of my way...if you don't buy today Empire won't send anyone back," "Home Depot only carries discontinued lines and they'll charge you $35 to come out and measure..." He even tried to lay a guilt trip on us for not purchasing window treatments 3 years ago when we had Empire provide a quote. He was extremely condescending and seemed incredulous that we wouldn't buy from him that day. He begrudgingly left us with a quote...we are still shaking our heads at the unprofessionalism, especially in today's economy. Maybe Empire isn't hurting for business.

The installers did a terrible job and when i called in for help they would not honor the warranty they did not do the repairs i requested on the installation. We got the job because of one of there "special offers" and they were terrible. I couldn't get past square one to get them to honor my 20 year warranty. I would never use them again!!

Installation Guys are great. Salespeople and Customer Service are AWFUL!

They had the job complete within 24 hours. Their price was a little high, but the fact that we didn't have to mess around and the job was done within 24 hours was worth it. They came out the same day we called. We looked through their samples and picked what we wanted. They came out the following evening, did the job, and it looked great! They cleaned up well. They were efficient and did exactly what they promised to do within the time-frame. I feel we got a quality product without any hassle.

I was very happy with the price - it was considerably lower than two competitors that I contacted, and I am thrilled with the quality and overall experience. No problems. The installation itself took about 4 hours. During the installation, the foreman even called me up to show me how the carpet would look going over the stairs without using the existing metal thresholds that I had originally wanted to use.

They failed to show at one appointment. Then we called them and reschuled. They came, but they didn't have enough carpet, so they had to come a third time. The individual gave us his phone number, but when we called him about the problems, he never called us back. Their price was good. It was such a hassle to deal with them. We did get a small refund.

It was close to the holidays, and Empire was quick. The carpet is great so far! They were thorough. They did an excellent job! There was no damage done to my home. They cleaned up after themselves well. They confirmed everything, before they installed the carpet. All of the seams were hidden, and made unnoticeable. The finishing was done very well. The prices were very good, for the quality carpet and service I received.

The finished product looks wonderful. We were disappointed at the installers that were sent out, though. The installers were from another country and they kept speaking in Serbian in an angry tone, obviously complaining and angry. They did not clean up after themselves and damaged some of our plants, phone and computer. My husband felt uncomfortable when they became angry after they found out we complained about their work. They explained that they did not work for Empire directly but for another company that Empire hired. Empire offered to hire a cleaning company but they ended up giving us a discount on the work. We would use Empire again because they were very responsive about our complaint.