Empire Today®

The work was done very professionally, but they sent the salesman out the day before and he promised something that the installers couldn't do. The salesman and the installers should be on the same page, but the actual work was done very well and they are coming back to do some more.

The salesperson responded to my husband's call quite soon. An appointment was made; he came over; we discussed the type of flooring we thought we wanted and he educated us about the different types. We chewed on this a few weeks and then decided to go for it. Our salesperson wasn't pushy and we appreciated this. We always wanted flooring as opposed to wall to wall carpeting. We agreed to an installation date and the workers arrived promptly. This really shocked me as we were forewarned that if the workers didn't arrive by a particular time to call the company. No need for that. The leader introduced himself and confirmed that we were to get Honey Oak laminate. He reviewed the work site and his men came in and went to work. They were quiet, respectful hard workers. The leader kept us informed and politely asked of our wishes every step of the way. We already had removed and boxed toppers, but the company also moved and returned our furniture back to it's original place. Because of the large job, they were here all day and basically finished the job. (Only had to come back the next day for about 1 hour for small details). My husband and I was so very happy about their workmanship - covering areas to cut down on dust. We were extremely happy about the final result and would indeed recommend them to anyone.

We had estrimates from several places and Empire was a little cheaper than the next price. We went with Empire because a friend just had carpet installed by Empire and was satisfied with their upgraded line that was installed in the main part of their home. They did not like the standard carpet that was installed in a spare bedroom. We decided to go with Empire because of this, and that Empire promised that they would come and install the next day. We were happy with that, and they did come the next day and install. Everything looked great, and the quality seemed very good. HOWEVER, within a year there was a problem in the hallway. It is very long, and they had to seam it at the far end. In a short time, the seam started to buckle, and you could see it, as a line across the width of the hall. Later, the carpet started to look crushed in some areas. We called and they said to clean it to restore the pile. We did this and it looked good for a short while. We called again and they said they would send someone out to inspect the carpet. They specifically told us to have it professionally cleaned before they came to inspect. We did have it cleaned. The employee showed up, looked at all the rooms, steps, hallway, and made notes. He left. We subsequently were notified by Empire that the inspector said the carpet was not bad enough to replace, and he specifically stated in his report that there was some residue from the cleaning, and that was the main reason the carpet looked like it did. He recommended that the carpet not be replaced. We called several times to discuss this, and said we were penalized for cleaning the carpet. They would not reconsider and basically told us too bad. We have not replaced the carpet, and it only looks nice when we clean it. The carpet on the stairs is crushed, and has two and quot;tracksand quot; or and quot;rutsand quot; andyou can see where people have walked on it. I would not recommend Empire EVER for ANYTHING. Empire did contact us after we wrote our Angie review. They offered to redo the job but we had to pay for the material again. What kind of fix is that? I told them that was a joke, paying them again to put the same poor quality carpet in. Needless to say, I didn't do it. As I said before, I will never use them again. Go with a local business with a good reputation and references.

This is for all those people out there who have wondered if Empire is worth hiring, considering their cheesy commercials. My experience is a qualified "yes.' The salesman was prompt and knowledgeable, the laminate installers were quick and professional, the carpet installers were done in a jiffy. I basically got what I paid for. My only caveat is a) I wasn't thrilled with the variety of options given me and b)after haggling the salesman down a few hundred bucks, I was assured that I had what amounted to the "friends and family" rate on the product Empire gives its own employees. This included the benefit of a BJ's coupon for $250.00 off, plus some discount he was giving me because they wanted to up their sales quota by the end of the month. I checked out everything in detail by comparing it to Home Depot and Lowe's, and guess what? Empire's "rock bottom" price still came out $262 higher than if I had gone the other route. Note: I arrived at this estimate by using a cheaper underlay than Empire was going to use, mainly because I couldn't remember the cost of the more expensive stuff. So at best, Empire was no cheaper than Home Depot or Lowe's. I went ahead with Empire because of the convenience: they were coming the following Monday and would be through in a day, and if I went the slightly cheaper route it probably would have taken at least a week longer. Bottom line: they aren't that much cheaper than the competition, if any, but they will get it done fast and professionally. On the whole, I'm happy.

I think they did a great job. They showed up on time and the price was very competitive. I also like how they followed up to make sure that everything was done ok and that we were happy.

They finished the job. They have next day service.

They were very unprofessional. I did not hire them, and I would not recommend hiring them to anyone. It was a terrible experience.

I am handicapped and the guys came in and said "we don't move furniture if we were furniture movers we would get paid more money. I was told to move the basic things out but I said I can't move a washer and dryer. It started to rain while they were doing the installation and they left paper and stuff outside including a carpet runner for my laundry room. they left a lot of grout sitting in lumps. they did come back and resolved the issue. but they subcontract out and the people that layed the carpet didn't speak any English. all they kept saying was it was bad carpet it is not easy to clean and the only other English they knew was when they came to the door was "pay me now." we had a very hard time. the floor was fine i didn't have any issues with it. but empires response was how do they know anything about the carper it is brand new.

I have gone to them more than once and they are always great. They move the furniture too. If you sing their jingle you get an extra discount. They are amazing. All of the people who work for them are employees, they never subcontract. They are very long term employees. They always try to include someone who speaks English. The sales people are really good. They install the next day, that is what they promote, but you don't have to do that. It can be as fast as next day, the stuff is available and they have a crew.

Had Eric from Empire come out and give us a quote on Hardwood laminate flooring.He explained the pros and cons and showed samples. He quoted on the spot and their quote was within the ballpark of what we were looking to spend. Made the appt. for the install. Got an email confirmation and a call the morning of installation. Two workers showed up right on time and went over everything that would be done. We did a walkthrough of the kitchen and then they went right to work. The workers were thorough and didn't even take a break over the approx. 6 hours they were there. The floor looks great and we are very pleased with the results. The floor has continued to look great even after the hectic holiday traffic.

The guy who came was wonderful. He came after hours to give us a free estimate. He actually gave us advice on some other things of the house. He could help us. That was great. He never rushed. He was so nice that he gave us a Christmas card after we met with him and that was even after he knew that we weren't using him. He was good in his measurements and options. Somebody should hire him. He was really good. We just wanted to go with a better product. We would get a quote and use him in the future.

Empire was quick and professional. While I feel the quality of the carpet was the same or slightly poorer quality than competitors the other benefits more than compensated. I needed the floors completed quickly before I could move in so there time frame saved money in more ways than one. The salesman was accomodating coming to the house late at night to ensure installation when I wanted (less than 48 hours later). The installers were punctual and efficient (although I am aware not everyone will have the same installers). I am very happy with the final result. You do have to play the game though and do your homework but they were willing to drastically reduce their price to beat the competitors once I told them the price to beat.

Called the Empire Today on 11/7/11 and set up an appointment to have an estimate the morning of 11/8/11. We were given a time window when the rep would come between 9-11am which he came promptly at 930am. Johnathan Hudgins came well prepared with carpet samples and knowledge about the products. We were having our 4 upstair bedrooms carpeted. We wanted to have the upstair hallway and staiirs also done but decided not to since it would have been time consuming and complicated. We have a chairlift that goes up and down that is bolted into the steps. Empire would not disassemble it because of liability so we would have had to call the company that installed it and have them come out and do it. It would have cost a minimum of $200 just to walk in the door both days, once to disassemble and then come back to reassemble it. He explained what we needed to do to get ready by moving all the little items out of the bedrooms, removing anything valuable or fragile and take the pictures off the walls on the staircase and bedroom walls so they wouldn't break when the carpet rlolls were carried in. We arranged to have the carpeting installed on Friday 11/11/11 betweenj 800am-600pm. As requested,the installers called around 2p and arrived just before 3p. The 2 installers worked steadily until 8 pm removing the old carpeting and padding and putting down the new. They were very eficient, cleaned up the rooms well and were very polite neat.

Please describe your dispute The sales person, Mike Griffee came to my house representing Empire Today to give me an estimate for the carpet. I had another estimate from another vendor for Karastan carpet. Mike showed me a carpet that he told me was made by Beaulieu. He showed me the paperwork to support this and told Beaulieu is a reputable company and the carpet is comparable to that made by Karastan. We selected the carpet that we thought was made by Beaulieu, and they came and installed it within 4 days (10/27/11). They collected the money before installing the carpet. When the carpet came, we did not believe that the quality was as good as the sample. We asked for a warranty from Beaulieu (for 20 years as they promised). The installers asked us to go to the website of Empire Today and print the warranty certificate. We then realized we were cheated by the Empire, and the carpet an inferior product made by a fake company called ‘Phenix’. I complained to Mike the same day, and he promised to come and meet me next day. Mike came to our house on 10/28/11 and again reiterated that the carpet was made by Beaulieu and showed me a printed paper from Empire Today to confirm this. He called his manager from my home who again confirmed that it was Beaulieu product and he will send me a warranty certificate from Beaulieu. When I told him I will check this with Beaulieu, by sending a sample, he changed his statement and told Mike to meet with him on Monday (10/31/11) and then will contact me to sort out my concerns. Today, Mike’s manager (Tom Harryman, tel 410 859 5582 #3538) told me that Beaulieu name was a misprint and they will not change the carpet. He confirmed that the carpet was actually made by Phenix. They asked me to get lost or get a lawyer to sue Mike Griffee!! Even after the above conversation with the sale manager, Mike Griffee (cell number 1 443 520 0752) insists that he was misled and ‘duped’ by ‘Empire Today’ and he sold me the carpet thinking it was made by Beaulieu. According to him, until today, he had not heard about a carpet company called Phenix, and he has been working for Empire Today for few years. It looks there is a systematic fraud conducted by Empire Today to fool customers. I hope FTC will investigate this and punish them appropriately. As far as I am concerned, I wanted my money returned ASAP. Tim Sherwin, Regional Manager called on 10/31/11 and confirmed that they sold me carpet made by Phenix, and according to him and quot;Beaulieu' was a misprint. He said he will not do anything to replace the carpet. I have reported this to BBB. Please ask your customers not to use Empire Today

Sale and installation were easy enough, but the flooring has proven difficult to keep looking clean and that was our principal motivation to buy it.

We needed carpet in a hurry. They responded quickly, came to appointment on time but we found their selection limited. Probably why they are able to offer such fast service. The estimate was a little higher than I thought it would or should be in spite of the sales promotion. We found a better deal through a local store with equally fast service and a larger selection. If you are in need of fast service though, Empire is worth a look but shop around and compare.

This is actually the fourth time I have used Empire Today and each time I have been very pleased with the products and service we received. For this job, we only had carpet installed in the first floor rec room/office, but Empire treated the job as if it was a mutli-room or whole house project giving us great in-home customer service. We explained to the salesman that we needed an inexpensive carpet that matched the carpeting in other parts of the house because we were selling. He didn't try to upsell us on anything which was really appreciated. Empire confirmed via email and phone the day before the install and the installers called 30 minutes before they arrived. We had to corral our cat and the installers were really patient standing outside until we were able to find our cat and close her in the bedroom. They went above and beyond when we asked them if we could save a small piece of carpet to redo a stair that had an old coffee stain on it. Not only did they save it for us, but they installed it with new padding free of charge and vacuumed our entire staircase. Once again, I am really pleased with the service Empire has given us and I would definitely use them again in the future.

would not go with an in home sales presentation. Time is to valuable and if I don't like what they have to say and offer I don't want to spend 2 hours trying to get them out of my house.

They could have showed up on time. It took them an extra day and we had other work being done in the house so we had to delay all of that because they didn't meet their schedule. Overall the quality and the result we were pretty happy.

The crew was punctual, professional, and efficient.

Their carpet people did a decent job. They dinged some of our furniture but they had it repaired. The tiling was terrible! They people were inexperienced, tiles were unlevel, and they just stopped working on the job midway through. I had to call, and call, and call every contact I had. The primary worker was fired or quit and the main office was useless. Our sales rep didn't return ANY calls. I kept escalating at the main office to get the issues addressed and the management was rude and terrible! I filed a complaint with the BBB against them.

Our salesperson was a little scattered but knew her carpet. We were please with the estimated cost and scheduled the installation. Day of installation, they called to tell us when they would arrive and came on time. Installers were polite and worked quickly. We are very pleased with the quality of the carpet and install job. We would use them again. But I would probably request a different salesperson....

Sales rep was quick and thorough. Crew started and finished on time. They moved all our major furniture as needed and returned it when finished. We knew what to expect and got exactly what we paid for. An excellent experience; we would definitely use them again.

my salesman was Ken Norris and i have to say that he was the most helpful person, he went over and beyond a salesman's duties, he called me on numerous occasions to see how things were progressing and tried like h*** to fix a little blurp that popped up, but in end all was perfect. installers worked all day no breaks, no stopping and did a superb job. they even cam back next day, saturday, to do one more thing i requested.. i have nothing but praise for empire starting from my first mtg with Ke

I would have given the service an "A" but Empire's score dropped to an "F" when I discovered that the installer went through all of my drawers (including my underwear!) and stole a ring. It's very perplexing to me, because the job he did was excellent, he was very nice and he even moved a cabinet for me. I thought he was such a great, professional guy until I went into the bedroom and found that there were drawers were not fully closed, some of my clothing was out of place and my jewelry was in the box haphazardly. Mind you, I did not have my jewelry boxes in plain sight. They were in an armoire, and he went into the armoire. He moved a lamp and a box that was in between two pieces of furniture. I am meticulous, and am well aware of EVERYTHING I own and exactly where I put it, to the point of being OCD. I am in the midst of a renovation, so he probably thought he could get away with this and I would never notice. I felt totally violated. I called the local number that Empire provided me the day of installation but the supervisor claimed he could not even reprimand him unless I filed a police report. The ring he stole was all of $13 (again, very odd, considering there were more expensive jewelry items there), so I really didn't want to go through the hassle. However, I did call the toll-free number to cancel installation of the carpet. The people I spoke with were much more helpful and understanding than the local folks. The first woman sympathized, claimed she had never heard of something like this happening, was going to file a report, and that a "high-level" supervisor would call me back within the hour (which never happened). Then she transferred me to someone else to cancel the carpet installation. That woman, also very nice, offered a discount off the price if I would keep the appointment. I told her no thanks, as I would not feel comfortable using them without a police officer watching their every move. After dropping the price a couple of times, I still declined. She said she understood, told me that she was very sorry, and that if I ever changed my mind to call. I won't. While their prices are low, it's not worth the stress and aggravation. I had trouble sleeping for a few days, as I was concerned that he had cased the area and was going to come back with a buddy to actually steal something of value, as there were some boxed items for my bathroom (cabinets, toilets, etc.) that he couldn't take by himself. I wonder if they perform background checks on these guys or if they just pick them up off the street. Regardless, I will now have to look for another company to install carpet. It will probably cost more, but the peace of mind will be worth it. I have never had this happen to me before, and have had many people come in to work on my house. If you are planning to use Empire, I would seriously think about it, and definitely lock all your valuables (and non valuables, as I never thought of underwear as being so fascinating - what a pervert!) and maybe hire a security guard for the day.