Empire Today®

They are a rip off. They had to come back and repair something and they charged us $175. This past year the linoleum that they put down started to chip so we called them back and they said they weren't under warranty anymore so they charged us $175 to come out and fix it. There was nothing wrong with the man that was doing the work, this was a salesman, he was pretty swift and once you see him sell, you'll never see him or hear from him again. He gave them the wrong instructions so my husband had to come back and remind them that that was not what they were supposed to be doing, and they were supposed to take off the hardwood and they were laying it and nailing them over the hardwood so we had to get them to come back. This was with the estimate and they were charging us with $5000 and they were supposed to come in and take up the hardwood and lay down a subflooring for that floor and they will put the linoleum on, and they were not going to do that until we called it to their attention and then they fixed it.

Why Empire: We were interested in their $99 per room sale. Note that this sale is for all flooring materials, but does not include labor. We were aware of this, since we read the small print on the commercial, but others may not be. Sales: I set up an appointment through Empire's website. This process was simple. The salesman, Robert White, arrived on time with plenty of samples for us to choose from. He measured all of the floors to get an idea for square footage, and discussed with us our options between hardwood, laminate, and carpet. Robert was knowledgeable in helping us to decide to put in hardwood, rather than laminate. He was not and quot;pushyand quot; in the decision-making process, but after discussing the pros and cons of each, we decided not to go with laminate, mainly for resale reasons. Once we heard the overall price, we were a little surprised -- he quoted us somewhere in the $16,000 area for all of the work. I said it was a bit higher than I was willing to pay, and Robert dropped the price, eventually offering us the and quot;friends and family discountand quot;. Robert had to call his manager to receive approval to give us such a good deal. In the end, the price was just over $12,500. Now, I'm a very skeptical person, so I don't really believe that the and quot;friends and familyand quot; discount exists. It might, and I hope it does and that Robert liked us and wanted to help us out, but the whole thing felt a bit like a sales tactic. While I felt great that we got and quot;such a discountand quot;, the next day, I was a little disappointed that I didn't keep haggling down the price. Once we agreed on a price, Robert went around the whole house and measured more precisely. When he was done, he wrote up the contract, and we signed it. For those interested, Empire offers no-interest financing options, which Robert discussed with us before finalizing the documentation. Once everything was signed, Robert walked us through the installation process and told us what to expect. Overall, the sales process was easy. Robert was very friendly and a good salesman. I would use Empire again based on this experience. However, I have two tips for those who choose Empire. 1) Their prices are clearly negotiable. Do not take the first, second, or even third estimate they give you. Keep haggling until you get a price you're happy with. 2) Get estimates from other companies before Empire. Empire offers discounts if you sign up for next-day installation, which you cannot do if you still want to meet with other companies. Empire also offers price-match. Installation: We were having hardwood installed on one day and carpet the next. Different teams (sub-contractors) performed the installations. I received a phone call about 30 minutes before the teams arrived to let me know they were on their way. Both teams showed up on time, showed me the product they would be installing, and charged my credit card before work began. Both teams completed their work within a day, though the hardwood install took nearly 11 hours, but it was a lot of hardwood. The work began with the removal of my existing carpet. I had planned to stay in the house and work during this, but the noise and sawdust from sanding was too much and had to leave for a few hours. However, upon my return, the old floors had been removed, including all nails. Everything was swept and clean, and the team had begun installing the hardwoods. Everything looked great. Unlike many other companies, Empire is able to install hardwoods in one day because the wood is already finished - all they have to do is nail it all down. No sanding, finishing, or polishing is necessary after the wood is down. Once the installation was complete, the hardwood team noticed that a few pieces of wood in the middle of the dining room floor were slightly damaged and stayed late to pull the wood out and replace it. I had not even noticed the damage until they pointed it out. That was a great indicator of the excellent work they did. The carpet install also went very well. The floors throughout the house look great and I am very happy with the end result, especially since we were able to completely redo the floors throughout the house in just two days!

The entire process was a hassle and estimate did not meet my particular wants/needs.

They had to come back out a few times to finish the job. But they were punctual, professional, and the quality of the work was great. They had a nice supervisor.

We made an appointment with Empire to discuss recarpeting my condo. It's a rental property and the representative who scheduled our appointment knew it was our rental property and we had to make arrangements with our current tenant, not to mention having my husband off of work, to come meet the salesmen. We had our entry way previous done a few years back with Empire and we let them know some of the transitional pieces had broken and come unglued and we would also like them to repair those. The window of 1-3pm came and went and my husband called Empire to find out of the salesman was caught up somewhere else. He called the 800 number and found out they couldn't reach anybody to come out. They didn't call either one of us to notify us! Needless to say, we will not be doing any more business with Empire. What a waste of time.

This is my second time using Empire Today for carpeting, and I'm completely satisfied with their service, from sale to installation. I liked being able to choose from carpet samples in my home so that I could easily match colors. The salesperson was helpful and not pushy. The installers were wonderful. They reviewed the work with me before beginning, and asked questions throughout when they ran into problems. They moved furniture as needed and left my home neat and clean, with beautiful new carpet! I would definitely use them again.

They were professional, prompt and efficient. They were in and out of my home and the carpet looks great.

My dog had dug up the berber carpet at my boyfriend's rental house, so it had to be replaced (the carpet also had generally seen better days). If this was for my own place, I would have used one of the higher rated places on Angie's List, but we were in a hurry, and these folks get jobs done fast because they already have the carpet in stock. The salesman was a dumb, unprofessional kid (early twenties). He cracked inappropriate jokes, was a little too casual and not business like. He definitely was pushing hard to make the sale though. He wouldn't quote us a price by the foot or yard, but sat and did some magic calculation and came up with a number $2500 or along those lines. This was double what we'd gotten quoted from an A service provider on Angies. We said, if they could do $1200, we would do it. And after a call to his boss, he did. The installers were quick, professional, came when they said, and did a great job. No complaints. They were friendly and helpful. Lesson: never take their quote, but they do good work.

Very professional, from talking to estimator and scheduling install date to the install crew completing the install. Fast, courteous, on-time, completely agreeable to fixing the few things we asked to be fixed as part of install (fixing sub-floor squeaks). Fair pricing given all the work performed.

Empire Today's online appointment system is terrific; very clear and easy to use. Sales representative Ieesa Ross followed up promptly and arrived on time. It was a pleasant experience to be able to view very large carpet and pad samples in my home, and carry them downstairs to get a real sense of how each sample would look. Mr. Ross encouraged me to place the samples on the floor and walk on them to see how they felt underfoot. He was able to arrange my financing on the spot. They really were available to install my carpet choice the next day (I thought those TV commercials were just hype!), but my schedule didn't allow--so we set up installation for four days later, on a Saturday. I received a confirmation call, and the representative said to call if the crew didn't arrive by 10:30a.m. -- they arrived at 10:25am! The 2-man crew worked diligently from 10:25am until 3pm. When they pulled up the old carpet from my basement stairs, I was surprised at how good the wood looked. I asked if I could change my order at that moment, and not have them carpet the stairs, but rather just the basement floor. The crew leader called and got authorization for the change order--no problem. I wasn't able to get confirmation of a price adjustment, but I called the customer service number for Empire and they submitted the request for confirmation of price adjustment for me (my job was a 12 months same-as-cash promotion). I got a call first thing on Monday, and after just a bit of negotiation, I got a price adjustment which satisfied me for removing the stairs from the project. I have an oddly shaped basement, kind of a big and quot;Uand quot; of two rooms that bend around the staircase, and then a hallway to the garage. There was baseboard already there. The crew did a beautiful job--not a seam in sight and the carpet is fit beautifully to the baseboard. Crew leader Adolfo Garcia was very personable. Empire makes it very clear that they no longer cut doors--so the basement door out to the garage is and quot;draggingand quot; a bit, but I have plans to replace the door soon so this is not a huge issue for me. I gave them a and quot;Band quot; on price because it seemed a bit high to me, but honestly I haven't purchased carpeting since the 1980s so maybe I'm just out of touch on what carpeting costs these days. My only complaint is that the sales order copy that I retained is not detailed enough. I have no idea how many square feet total of carpeting I received, and it doesn't detail the materials of my carpet. Not knowing whether it is wool or synthetic makes the extensive product care handbook that Empire e-mails to you relatively worthless because you don't know which cleaning protocol to follow. Other than that, I'm totally happy!

I called and arranged for appt at my home because I had looked at several stores in the local area and even had brought home what I believed to be perfect color samples only to be disappointed that once in my home the samples did not look well in the light with my furniture. The representative came to my home, showed me samples, took measurements, and set up my installation apptmt. The crew showed up near the beginning of the appt. window time. They were fast, efficient, and finished on time. The stairway runners had to be measured on sight, bound and installed a few days later, but the installers arrived again exactly on time and the installation was flawless.

The LVT was / is very very good. We are pleased with it. The initial carpet that was selected and installed was not good, was not what it was represented as and was unacceptable. To the company's total credit after an extended back and forth they did the right thing and took out the bad carpet and installed a new and better carpet. We did contribute to the cost (which seemed fair and balanced on our part). We are very pleased with the second carpet selection. The installers showed up time, did a professional job and were excellent. The only negative we would identify was that the first carpet installed was so bad and it took persistence on our part to get them to replace it. But, Empire did the right thing and did come out and replace the defective carpet. I would use them again based on my experience. Their pricing was excellent.

The salesman was very personable. Empire gave us a 2 hour window and he arrived with 15 minutes left in the window. He did, however, call and let us know when he would be arriving. He brought samples of what Empire carries and showed them to us. Empire carries (at least what we were shown) two quality levels. One he said was guaranteed for 15 years, the other for 50 years (I think those were the numbers). We told him we were exploring having the living room and dining room done in hardwood since our carpets were in need of replacement. He measured the area with an electronic dimension tool and gave us an estimate of 280 sq ft. (I had measured the area and knew it was 250 sq ft). This was within tolerance for us since we would have estimated 10% for cutting/etc and the wood comes in 20 sq ft. boxes. He gave us an initial, back-of-the-napkin estimate and we thanked him for it. He asked if we would like to commit to that price. I reiterated our position that we were only in the estimate-obtaining process. Then the hard sell began. He said he would have to come back out if we didn't commit that day and that he couldn't guarantee the price given us on that day. He told us we could cancel at any time, but he would like to write up the order. We acquiesced. He wrote the order for $2917 and agreed not to charge us sales tax because we properly guessed the trivia question he gave us (I guess to help us in thinking we got a good deal). He only asked for a trivial deposit of $25 (paid by check) and restated that we could cancel at any time, but begged us not to. We thanked him for coming out and he went on his way. Again, he was a very friendly guy - the type of person you would want to buy products from. After obtaining other quotes, we learned that Empire was charging approximately 150% of what the others were charging (for the same quality install and material). My wife and I had agreed that if the price difference was minimal, we would still go with Empire (because the salesman seemed so genuine) but could not in good conscience use Empire with such a steep price difference. I called Empire and told them I would like to cancel the order. After navigating a couple of transferred calls, they asked me why I wanted to cancel and whether there was any way they could keep my business. They offered to go with a less expensive product to bring the price down. I demurred because the other quotes we received were much less expensive for the same quality product and install. I told them that what they were offering was not what we were looking for, and they agreed to cancel the order. They told me I would receive my deposit back in the mail within 15 business days. Overall, the experience was pleasant, however, we could just not justify the premium that Empire charges. UPDATE: I do appreciate Empire's response posted on February 13, 2013. We did end up going with a different company at a much more reasonable price. The other company's pricing was also, and quot;all inclusive and covers product costs, installation labor, and any additional requested services.and quot; We are very happy with the company we went with and might have gone with Empire had the price been much more in line with the rest of the market. The consumer should not have to rely on a and quot;price match guaranteeand quot; -- consumers don't want to do a company's market analysis homework, they want a good job done at a reasonable cost. Good luck in the future - we might include you in estimates for future jobs we would like to have done, but please keep in mind that cost is a major factor in our decision process.

I just moved into a house and the movers trashed the carpet pretty bad. I knew I wanted something installed the next day, so I call Empire. The saleman that came to my house was friendly and did not pressure me. I explained to him that I was on a strict budget and he never tried to pressure me to go above it. On the contrary, he suggested that since I couldn't afford what I wanted right away, I could give him a call next month when I had more money. I am impatient and the carpet that I had looked horrible, so I ended up going with carpeting instead of vinyl flooring in order to stay within my budget. He was honest about the quality and approximate lifetime of each grade of carpeting, which I appreciated. The installers worked quickly and were respectful of the fact that I had just worked a night shift and was trying to rest in another room. Everyone who I have come in contact with from this company has been very friendly. My only complaint is a slight lack of communication. The salesman said that the team probably wouldn't get to my house until tomorrow afternoon, so I didn't think to tell him that I wouldn't be home first thing in the morning. Then, the next morning I got a call at 7:30 from the installers saying that they would be there in 45 minutes. I told them that I wouldn't be there until at least 9am, which ended up being ok with them. The salesman also said that the installers would replace any subfloor that needed to be replaced (and there were two spots that I knew needed to be replaced), but when the crew arrived, they said that they couldn't do the subfloor because they didn't have the materials. Empire does a follow-up call to see how things went, which is terrific. I told the lady about the subflooring and she said she would look into it. She called me back that same afternoon with a fix for the situation. It turns out that if something isn't written on the order, the installers don't bring the materials to do it. Because I didn't tell the salesman about the subfloor that I knew needed replacing, he didn't write it down, and so it didn't get done. So, just make sure you specify everything that you need done. The customer service lady offered to send a crew out that week to fix the subfloor. I am very satisfied with my experience with Empire and I realize that the issues that happened were not a big deal. What really sold me on this company was the follow-up phone call and her prompt response to the issue and offer to fix it. I will certainly use Empire again for my flooring needs.

DID NOT hire them due to bad salesperson experience. It should be noted salesman was unaware of the company’s current Angie’s List rating (thought his company had an A+ rating on Angie’s List). I solicited multiple contractors to bid on installing either wood or laminate flooring for my house. Another contractor had just finished bidding and was walking out when our salesman entered the housing (reeking of smoke). He asked about the other contractor exiting from my house. Upon finding out I was soliciting multiple bids he asked if we were planning on signing “that day” on a contract with him. When informed “no”, he was visibly irritated and stated “I normally sign on the same day.” When informed that this household solicits multiple bids prior to signing any contract he was notably upset and his attitude reflected it. He started to say something and then said, “Fine, I guess let’s do this. Let me go out to my car.” At this point, I had had enough. I stepped outside and informed him that he didn’t need to get his materials from his car. We were not going to do business with him. His response, “Uh, what’s up.” Not wanting to be confrontational, I asked him to please retrieve his briefcase and pen from my house. His response, “Seriously, what’s up bro”. The reader should understand I am a working professional in my 30’s. I am not addressed by my colleagues as “bro” at any time when conducting business. It is my opinion that this is not an acceptable way to address other professionals. I understand you are frustrated about not getting a quick sale. However, customers should be treated professionally at all times. In summary, my experience with Empire Today was soured by a poor salesman with an unacceptable attitude. These are tough financial times, and as a consumer, I choose to invest my money in businesses who are professional. If you are not a professional I will not do business with you.

Last Tuesday, we ordered a bedroom carpeted and specifically instructred Empire NOT to carpet the closet. We made a deposit with the Sales Department, and Empire told us the Installation Team was scheduled to install our new carpet on Wednesday. My wife worked from home Tuesday and took off work Wednesday to accomodate Empire's Installation Team. She processed a credit card payment over the phone Wednesday that was not communicated to the Installation Team. Consequently, the Installation Team did not install Wednesday, rescheduled and showed up Thursday but stopped work and departed the site due to miscommunication about the credit card payment of the balance remaining. Only after 4 phone calls to Customer Service and the Installation Team directly, was the carpet installed, incorrectly since they carpeted the bedroom closet despite instructions to the contrary, by 10 pm Thursday night. We found out since the Installation Team carpeted the closet against instructions, they didn't have enough to carpet the bedroom in one piece and therefore had to patchwork the bedroom floor covering with four separate pieces. I started calling Empire about a $200 rebate on the $1000 spent due to our inconvenience and patchwork installation caused by their miscommunications, failure to follow directions and lack of attention to detail. Despite promises to distribute negative comments about Empire's service and workmanship to family, friends and social media sites like Angie's List, Empire still can't confirm if my $200 rebate request will be honored. I further promised to advertise to my class of over 100 real estate investors in the National Capital Region about Empire lack of integrity, shoddy workmanship and interdepartmental miscommunications that lead to customer inconvenience and poor quality. Saturday I will call back to Empire to verify my rebate is processed since the Supervisor requesting the rebate left work at 3 pm Friday and was unable to verify its processing. Update - 28 Dec - I confirmed that Empire refunded the $200 we lobbied for in exchange for our inconvenience and trouble.

The salesman was very nice. He gave an estimate that seemed reasonable. We discussed the possibility of not being able to install the hardwood over the tile. He said after giving a quote for the total project that he would would have someone come to inspect the living room to ensure that the hardwood would be possible. This person was supposed to come prior to the installation date. I called several days after the initial sales meeting to find out when this review was to happened. Was told that someone would be dispatched but not given a date. On the day of the installation, the crew appeared at approximately 9:00 am. That seemed reasonable since Empire gives you a window of 8 am to 6 pm. I was told that it was not possible to do the living room as I wanted. I talked to a supervisor at Empire. Was told that the salesman would get back to me to discuss the options. Did not hear from him or anyone else from Empire. The crew said that they would be able to return the following morning to do the job. Called Empire the next morning. Was told the salesman was meeting with his manager and would get back to me. I did not hear from him all day. Called Empire and cancelled the order. The main office took my story down and said they would refund me my $50 deposit. I have a new estimate from another flooring company which is at least 15% less than the Empire quote. I am also getting another quote from a second company tomorrow. The work will be done but not by Empire Today. And boy am I sick of seeing those ads on TV!

Miserable. 1. The salesman did not properly measure my house, so the installers were short in supply of carpet and wood flooring. 2. Calling them was a nightmare. Their customer service was lacking, I was not impressed with their organization and communication with installers out in the field. 3. A 2 day project turned into a 3 day project due to not having the proper amount of supplies. 4. Saving grace were the actual installers, they were good and busted their humps in trying to resolve the mistakes of the salesperson and Empire Today office. I would NEVER give them my business again. While the quality of the materials used were fine, the salesman could not measure my house to save his life. The result of that was headache, needless phone calls to Empire, and extra time taken off of work.

I contacted Empire Today to replace old carpet in the upstairs of a split-level house I bought for my meticulously clean 91-year-old mother and me. The floors, walls, ceilings, and closets were in deplorable condition, so I basically scrapped the old for the new. Having renovated a house before, I have loads of experience with contractors, including incompetent ones. (I'll spare you a dozen or so horror stories.) In any case, I learned a lot from my past experiences. I was torn about the order in which to conduct the work. What should come first? Ultimately, I decided to paint the walls first, then install the hardwood floors, even though there was a risk that the floor installers could damage the walls. (Been there, done that.) My sales rep was Ken Norris. He was very professional, thorough, and precise. He answered all of my questions, addressed my concerns, and gave me advice on how to handle a floor molding issue. He was extremely kind and patient with my mother whose job was to select the hardwood. (She is an immigrant and not always at ease around salespeople.) We ordered the hardwood to be installed October 12, 2012. Empire Today called me a couple days in advance to confirm the day and time of the installation. Otto and Marvin were my installers. They were right on time and got right to work. I don't know when I've met harder working people. They put in two very long days, barely talking to each other (i.e., no idle chit-chat) and barely taking a break. They were absolutely phenomenal. The baseboards were not included with the order on Day 1, but they were on Day 2. There was a tricky railing issue. Otto was brilliant with the solution. Bottom line: The job was completed in two days. It is beautiful. My elderly mom is thrilled with her bedroom and the rest of the upstairs. I cannot speak highly enough about Empire Today, AND I AM IN AWE THAT OTTO AND MARVIN, MY INSTALLERS, DIDN'T BLEMISH MY FRESHLY PAINTED WALLS! Finally, I appreciate the follow-up call from Ken Norris, my sales rep. I will be contacting him to replace flooring elsewhere in the house.

inGood: customer service is very friendly Bad: Contract with sales who are paid on commission basis. Dave fed me a story that his wife was very ill and they were going to have to lose their house to bankruptsy so I signed because I felt sorry for him. Bad: Use of scrap carpetting on my balcony without telling me it was scrap carpeting Use of not documented workers as installers. Use of obvious convict as an installer.

Is there a grade better than an A+ because that is what I would give to Empire Today, LLC Carpet. Three men arrived on time. They removed furniture from the rooms. They removed the old padding and thoroughly vacuumed. They installed the new carpet. They vacuumed the new carpet. They politely and respectfully put furniture back into the rooms. I've never seen a team of three men work so efficiently and so professionally. The adjectives to describe these three men are: prompt / efficient / clean / orderly / organized / professional / respectful. This was the best team and this was the best installation I've ever experienced. The carpet looks amazing. Empire Today, LLC exceeded my expectations. I would use them again and I would definitively recommend this company to my friends.

The Install went great, The installers were great and worked hard all day to complete the job in one day,

Someone came out to give an estimate. When she found out we had a better estimate from a competitor, she started bad-mouthing the competitor, which I find rude. She also criticized a couple of things in the house unrelated to carpeting. To get our business, she pulled out the "let me call my manager to get you a better price" trick, and we got the same price the competitor offered. If they can slash their price considerably so easily, it makes you think how much profit they are actually making. She also pressured us to sign a contract on the spot and have the installation done ASAP, although we wanted to wait a few weeks. My husband decided to use them anyway, despite my preference for the other company. Two people showed up on time on installation day and got the work done in a couple of hours and they took the old carpets away. Carpets were installed properly but the installers left some marks on the walls. They also didn't vacuum properly, so we had to vacuum it again. After the fact, I have this latent feeling that the carpet we have is not as good as the sample shown, but I have no way to prove it. I feel it is definitely not as good as the competitor's for that same price, although my husband (who knows nothing about carpets) seems satisfied. If I could do over, I would have used the competitor instead.

Even though it was the morning after a major storm in our area that knocked out electrical power to hundreds of thousands of people (including Empire's Warehouse, but fortunately not us) Empire arrived promptly amidst downed trees and other debris. In one case they had to cut carpet by hand at their warehouse because there was no electrical power to operate their machinery. All of the office staff (talked to two) were professional and courteous amidst a lot of chaos. The installers were very professional and did a great job. They were short about about one foot of laminate and had to return on Monday morning (which they did promptly) and quickly finished the job. Well done all around.

I met with Empire Today to get a quote to remove laminate flooring and replace with hardwood. The salesperson was extremely knowledgeable, but definitely does a hard sale to get your business. I learned a lot from talking to the sales rep and he presented various options and gave me the pros and cons of each. The only issue I have with Empire Today is their quotes are only good for that day -- so they say. So my recommendation is to do all of your research, get a number of quotes and then have Empire Today come to your home last. All in all it was a worthwhile experience and I trusted they could do the work with no problem. I decided to go with another contractor because the price was drastically lower and they were able to include my staircase into this much cheaper quote. Empire Today's quote was $500 more and that didn't include my stairs. The other contractor actually had a better rating on Angie's List so I weighed all the options and chose them over Empire Today.