Hampton Flooring Center

I reached out to the company via email telling them of our situation and asking if they provided the services that we required. They replied within 24 hours that they indeed did do this work and asked if I'd like to set up an appointment for a walk-through and follow-up proposal. We set up the appointment for the following week. An employee of the company showed up on time and we had a proposal a week later. The proposal included a total estimate of $350 for the work. We were told that the job would take about four hours and it was scheduled for the work team to arrive at 1 PM last Thursday. I took the afternoon off from work to accommodate this. At 1:30 PM, after no one had shown up or called, I called the company and asked about the appointment. I was told that the morning job had run long, but that the team would be there and I'd get a call when they were on the way. I called again at 3:00 PM and left a message on the company voicemail that I still had no team and no call. At 4:00 PM, I called yet again. At this point, I was told that this was normally a very reputable installer and that they were very sorry. I indicated that I very much hoped that the work could still be done either that day (even if late) or the next day. We had to move all the furniture and other items out of the rooms and as a result, a full floor of our home including our bedroom was basically unusable as a result. I didn't wan't this to continue through the weekend, with the loss of the use of this portion of our house for what would have been almost a week. They were understanding and indicated that they would contact the installer again. I will note that after these calls, it became apparent to me that the company really does not do this type of work themselves. It was obvious that they use subcontractors for the work. This isn't bad in and of itself, but it wasn't what I originally asked or what I was told. I asked if they offered this service and they said "yes." The answer should have been "no, but we can arrange for it to be done." At 5:15 PM, I finally received a call from the installer. He was very apologetic, indicating that I had been missed on his call list after his morning ran long. It was obvious that the work wasn't going to be done that day, but I also let him know that I absolutely needed it to be done the next day. He asked how many rooms needed to be restretched -- I'd have thought he'd have already had this information -- and I told him. He told me that he could work me in the next afternoon at 3:30 PM and he'd call my mobile by 1:00 PM to confirm. At 2:15 PM the next day, when I had not heard from the installer, I called him. He told me that 3:30 PM was a go. The two-man work team of the installer showed up on time and were polite and ready to work. They looked the rooms over and got their supplies, including the power stretcher. They did good, quick work and explained what they were doing before they did it. They were gone with the work done in 40 minutes. Ultimately, we were happy with the actual work. The carpet was obviously incorrectly installed originally. Several inches of carpet were removed in both rooms, inches that were just extra. No wonder it buckled! There were dark marks left on our baseboards in several places from the power stretcher. This isn't ideal and if something could have been placed between the unit and the wall to protect it, I'd suggest that going forward. However, the machine might not find secure purchase on the wall in such an instance. Regardless, I'd suggest that others considering this work ask about wall protection before moving forward. In the end, obviously the communication was lacking at every step of the way on the originally-scheduled work day. Moreover, the next day my promised confirmation call still was not forthcoming. And while the $350 estimate seemed reasonable for four hours of work, it seems unreasonable for 40 minutes of work. That bumps it to an hourly rate beyond what my doctor or lawyer charge. Even if you add reasonable travel time on either end of their visit, this is a charge-per-hour most people would envy. We now have carpet we can once again enjoy and it will now likely last much longer. That is all to the good. The process in getting there was an ordeal I don't want to repeat at an hourly charge that seems too great. This is doubly-true when one factors in two afternoons of missed work. Plus, we'd previously had Friday night dinner plans, but cancelled them since the original proposal called for four hours of work. We could have kept them if we'd known it was a 40-minute job.

The job was done in 3 separate visits, we had to move furniture from room to room as rooms to be done needed to be empty. Would be nice if they provided this service even if they charged for it. Anyway, the workers were on time, the first two visits were a very professional crew with the 'old guy' who was a real expert. He did my stairs and what a beautiful job. One the third visit, the crew that showed up was a sub-contract crew and you could tell, they rushed through the job. I had to call the owner to have him send out someone to fix the problems, he took care of this right away. The person who showed up was the one of the guys who made all the mistakes, he took care of the problems but all the while was telling me that his crew just never gets folks complaining and having to come back. Still, you know how you have that awkward moment when you complain about someone and thats the fella they assign to make you happy. Anyway, the carpet is wonderful, the install was great when they use their installers and they do correct any mistakes in a timely fashion. So overall I recommend these folks.

It took about a day and a half. They did a beautifull job and left it nice and clean.