Empire Today®

Received call at 8:40am on day of install to inform me that the carpet we ordered was not in stock and they would not be able to do the install. Received very poor customer service. I had been warned about empire by several other folks, but went with them because the sales person was good. However, as they say 3 strikes and your out. Would stay far far away from empire.

The original salesman was a no-show with two different stories as to why he was, at first, going to be late then why he wouldn't be there at all. The original appointment was for 9:00-11:00 am but I finally talked to the sales manager at 3:15 who arranged for their and quot;bestand quot; salesman to come to my house within 15 minutes but it was an additional 45 minutes. The and quot;bestand quot; salesman was not at all knowledgeable about the products and wasn't offering me much to select from so I had no idea how much the products were. He actually told me that I should NOT be concerned with price when I was looking at carpet and hardwood floors. He also wanted me to sign a credit application that was saying I had read all the information to include the and quot;Credit Card Agreementand quot; which I had NOT seen or been able to read. He was also SEVERELY pushy and aggressive about and quot;having to make the sale that dayand quot; and I would NOT do that. The thing he was trying hardest to sell me on was how great the company was and how great a salesman he was. He failed at both. It was his approach to the sale that made me choose another company.

Two different teams showed up (one for carpet, one for hardwood) on-time, they called prior to arrival to give us an ETA. They were polite, professional, efficient, and moved quickly. They cleaned up after themselves - they left no mess. The end result was gorgeous and I was very pleased with both the products and service.

We contacted Empire today for an estimate on new carpeting in our entire house. An Empire Today salesperson came out with samples of carpet and gave us an estimate of approx. $3000. He assured us that the carpet was good quality, and that there is a 10 year warranty should anything happen to it, such as excessive wear or stains. It also came with a 1 year installation warranty. We decided to purchase. Not even 2 months later, the new carpet looked worse than the 10 year old carpet we had replaced with it. It was worn down to almost nothing and it was falling apart from the seams and from the middle of the floor. We do not by any means abuse our carpet. We never wear shoes in the house, we vacuum at least twice a week, etc. So we called Empire and they told us that they would send an inspector out to look at it. Instead of an inspector, an Empire salesperson came out, but even he told us that there was clearly a problem with the carpet and that he said he would request a full replacement of an upgraded carpet. He took pictures and went on his way. Over 2 weeks later, after not hearing anything from Empire, I called them to check on our claim. The lady on the phone told us that the claim had been denied because, from the pictures, they could not see any defect in the carpet or the installation. When I asked to see a copy of the pictures, I was told that the salesman who took them passed away and they did not have access to his computer. After fighting with them for weeks, and filing a complaint with the BBB, they finally "offered" to replace our carpet with an upgraded carpet, but they called it a "goodwill replacement" and wanted us to sign a release form saying that they are free and clear from any problems we may have from here on out, we are not allowed to publish anything negative about their company, and we are not allowed to take legal action against them. We refused to sign such an "agreement" and decided instead to hire a certified inspector out of our own pockets. (Side note: When we told Empire we would not sign the agreement because needing warranty work should not void a warranty, they tried to further get us to sign it by saying that's not what it actually meant. We had our lawyer read it and he told us Empire was lying, because it clearly states all of the above.) Hiring the certified inspector was the best $200 we spent. He was very precise and ran many tests on the quality of the carpet. It turns out, the carpet was not installed properly to begin with, and on top of that, the tests on the quality came back under federal standards. The quality of the padding did come back within federal standards, but just barely. So all in all, they sell the cheapest stuff they can get and lie by saying its good quality and that there's a good warranty on it. We are now suing Empire for our money back. I have read many reviews where customers are unsatisfied with the quality of the flooring Empire installs and how Empire does not hold true to their "warranties." I urge you to run far and fast from this company. It will save you a lot of money and a lot of headache. And if you already purchased from them and are having trouble with their terrible customer service, please do yourself a favor and get a professional to inspect it for you- not one that Empire or even the carpet manufacturer sends out. You have to hire an independent contractor YOURSELF, or else they will not run all the necessary tests. UPDATE: This issue has been resolved.

The salesman was very nice and professional, had a couple of issues with the call center calling me repeatedly about the appointment, but all in all it went great, fast and it looks great. Plus they have 0% financing for 6-12 months....

The estimator told us we would be able to pull out the subfloor (plywood) and level the closet floor at the same level as the rest of the floor in the room. However, when the installers came, they said we would be unable to level the floor as the lower subfloor was not complete beneath the plywood -- I wasn't given any other options as to how to make the floor level. The installed floor looks great, but there is a 3 inch step up to the closet floor. They did place a horizontal piece to bridge the space between the floor in the room and the floor in the closet

Empire was on time and provided a very professional job. They cleaned up very nicely after completion.

The job went wonderfully. The company is extremely knowledgeable and professional. They have customer care/quality piece down to a science. Empire will call you within 24 hours of contacting them and visiting your home within 24/48 hours of contact. Experience individual comes to your home with samples and is good at providing color recommendations for floor and trim. Appointment is scheduled immediately and they will provide discounts or coupons without you searching for them. Installers show up on time and reviewed samples with you first, making sure it is the flooring you selected and trim. Also going over what you expect before they start the job. Installers are neat, take attention to protecting their surroundings with covers and do a great job of cleaning up as they go. Also work constantly, non-stop through lunch to make sure the job is complete. Installers worked 6 hours straight. Empire has a great understanding of the job and size sending the right number of installers to complete the job within the timeframe they told me the job would take to complete. Once installers are finished they clean the entire area and walk you through what they did and making sure you are happy. They also walk you through a checklist and let you know what to expect next. Making sure to provide telephone numbers to you if any problem arises. You receive a call within 24 hours of completion and I was told another call will come in about 2 weeks to make sure I am happy and no problems were found or occurred. Wow this company can certainly package the customer service and quality it delivers to other companies and sell it! I am extremely happy with the job and product. I also was given a life-time guarantee and care instructions. I love my new floors! I will be using them again. I think the price is a little high, but with the service and quality product I was provided it was certainly worth it. Worth more in cost, knowing the company cares about how they deliver to their customers.

I didn't actually use the company for carpet. My experience was good, good service. Professional.

My experience with them was good. The lady who I set up the contract with was very accomodating. She offered to come out a second time when my husband could be home to explain all the options to him and to go over the contract. They were prompt and were able to finish the installation in one day.

The sales guy was very good. He has been at it eight years. I knew what I was getting --- middle of the road quality, but the price was very good and I have 14 year old twins. Teens are pounding in and out of the house so I saw it as a value purchase. It is not the high end carpet that I installed when they were a little younger and had to tear out because of the wear and tear. So if you need a value buy, I think they are good. The operation is all subcontracted out once you finish with the sales person. The sales guy appeared to give me a very good deal but, but again, I was not making a high end selection. The whole and quot;two free roomand quot; thing only applies to the lowest end carpet --- and not carpet many people would ever want. I spent about 5,500 to carpet the same areas I did for 2000 with Empire. With installers, it is the luck of the draw but we good a great installer team. I fed them and tipped them really well. In a way tyhey got rewarded for the good price. They did turn up a day late and with the wrong carpet. I know. Annoying --- but the installer was so good and professional and diligent that it made up for the hassle.

The pre-estimate appointment and installation went extremely well and I would certainly utilize their services again in the future. I chose Empire because of their 'buy 1 room get two free' advertised deal (not to include installation costs). I did an extreme amount of pricing analysis and while I wouldn't say I got two rooms 'free', I will say the cost was at the lower end of what I was expecting to pay (approx. 10k for 1300sq.ft.). My pre-estimate interviewer was incredible nice. He didn't hassle me and he didn't try to 'sell' me. Our discussion was very much oriented towards what I would like, what is feasible, and what I could consider. For example, I didn't intend on installing hardwood flooring in my large walk-in closets. The interviewer kindly suggested how the flow of the room/flooring may look and he allowed the thought to percolate in my mind while he continued the walk-through, which I appreciated. When I asked when the installation could occur I was a bit taken aback when he said it could be the very next day and would only take a day. That being said, I waited until the end of the week, a Friday. Installation arrived at approximately 10:30am. I felt this was a bit late in the morning and nervous they wouldn't be able to complete such a large area in a day, as it was a variety of rooms. But, the surprise was on me. Admittedly I don't think it would have been completed in one day if they had to leave at 5pm. Right around that time I was asked how late they could stay, as I'm in a condo. When I said 8pm it seemed the installers kicked into high gear and installation and clean up was completed right at that time. All of the installation personnel were extremely professional, kind and took care when dealing with my furnishings and personal items. The only thing I would note for anyone planning on installing hardwood flooring, dust gets everywhere!!! My installers utilized plastic sheeting to cover items and cleaned/swept afterwards, but dust was in locations one wouldn't even expect.

They were quick, professional, and easy to deal with. We've had no problems - the carpet was of good quality.

To be very clear, we utilized Empire due to a short time requirement since the home is going up for sale. I would not normally use an incentive based sales company like this unless there was a reason and in our case there was (time constraints). As such, most of my reservations about Empire come from that fact. If you use Empire, one should be very prepared for some and quot;moving targetsand quot; in terms of final sales prices. I only know what we paid per square foot installed because I did my own calculations while negotiating the project. In the end the price was fair but only because we would not pay some of the suggested pricing early on. It was eerily similar to the old days of new car buying and I'm pretty sure Empire is well aware of what that means in the experience. It even included the sales rep making a call to someone on the phone to see if a model of carpet was available at a a particular price point. Only then, and the fact we needed near-immediate installation, was a final price given. The car buying equivalent is when the sales person calls the sales manager into the deal. For me, it was fairly humorous to watch but any buyer should be very prepared for that strategy. The sales appointment was easy to make. The sales rep arrived one hour later than scheduled but we were called about that ahead of time and agreed to the late arrival. The rep was friendly and responded well to being essentially told by us in the beginning that we were very busy and had no interest in any up selling of product. Basically, and quot;get to the pointand quot;. Some sales reps don't do well when told that but he did fine and quickly narrowed in on our needs. The installation went fine but began about one earlier than noticed (I received two calls about the start time - the last one from corporate telling me they would arrive at 11AM even though the installers were already there and started :-), One aspect of our requirements was not relayed to the installer team (the color of a threshold) and I'm also still cleaning carpet fibers from my driveway. That is minor but something worth noting here. In the end, the carpet is in and it's fairly close to the square foot price we had in mind. Whether one wants to go through such a sales exercice is another matter. For me, I use a car buying service when buying cars just to avoid some of the sales strategy but if you know what you are up against you'll come out okay.

Estimator was on time - however did not listen to my exact needs for the rooms in my house. Only showed me a few samples and then took measurements. Once he said how much it would cost I told him I would think about it. He asked for a deposit and when I said no, he immediately packed up his belongings and left. I would not recommend this company to anybody due to the unprofessionalism.

Sales rep was a little late on window time of 9-11 (arrived at 11:20); however she stated she was coming from Dover, Delaware. (understandable for being late if coming from that distance!) She gave me a good quote and the company was able to delivered on the next day install. Movers were fast and professional. A few mistakes, but nothing to write home about. Had the whole house done, but if I had to buy more carpet, I would come back to them!!!

They did a fantastic job and trimmed everything in hardwood. I can't say enough good things about them. Everything was phenomenal. Marc Rose was the representative and I can't express enough how good it looks.

We had a very mixed experience with Empire. Our initial appointment with a husband and wife team went very well. They showed us many options and I didn't feel like they were pressuring us to make any particular products. They seemed very competent (she has a background in design) and although we felt like we could have gotten a better price elsewhere we were sold on the customer service. Because we were getting most of the flooring in our house redone the installation took place over 2 days. On the first day, they installed the luxury vinyl tile (gorgeous!) and laminate wood flooring. The contractors arrived on time, worked very hard and did a great job. The next day a different group came over to install carpet. Again, on time, pleasant and worked hard. Unfortunately, the quality of the installation was AWFUL. The carpet was not tucked in in the corners, the edges were roughly cut, the seam was obvious, and the carpet was glued to the LVT installed the previous day with obvious residue. It seemed as though they ran out of time and simply gave up. I called to try to resolve the issue and had several subsequent visits to resolve (partially) the issue. The first guy who came out to inspect the concern was very critical of the initial installation crew, took pictures and was able to make small improvements - he said that Empire would call me to have another crew out to fix the issues. That call never came. I called Empire myself after not hearing from them for several days - they were quite confused about the issue and eventually sent out another crew to solve the issue but unfortunately it was the and quot;wrongand quot; team and they could not do anything. They said I would hear from Empire. Again, no call. When I called them, they again did not appear to have the information from their teams to be able to help me. They eventually sent out another crew who was able to make many of the edging look more professional. There are still several areas that do not look to be the quality that I would have expected, but after missing so many days of work due to their lack of communication and the original team's quality of work, I didn't pursue it further. If I'd based my review on my first day of instillation, I would have given a glowing review. Unfortunately working with Empire became quite a hassle and extremely disappointing. Which is quite unfortunate because I was excited to order drapes and outdoor carpet with them in the future. Prior to this experience, I had a positive impression of Empire. They seem to have a real consistency issue and their customer service leaves much to be desired.

I had many issues when I put in my floor with them. I have tried to contact them about it and they said they are too busy. They would make appointments then cancel on me because they were too busy. They were supposed to come June 5th and never showed up. They also did not show up June 12th.

After the rediculous free estimate we decided not to use them. They wanted to charge us triple what we actually paid to get that room carpeted. It was a small, office room. And the carpet was the cheapest neutral color they had. (We're putting our house up for sale). The guy they had come out to our house to give us the estimate reeked of cigarettes and took approximately 12 minutes to give us a basic estimate, and he used his cell phone. He was all over the place. Terrible customer service skills. Once we told him we would not be using their services, he could not get out of the door fast enough.

They did a great job. They were quick and professional. The pricing was fair and I was pleased with the quality of work.

Great job, they left my place spotless!

Setting up the appointment online and getting someone to visit for an estimate was very easy. My wife scheduled the appointment and the estimator showed up two days later within the promised time window without a problem. Our main goal was just to obtain a free estimate for carpet repair work in several of our rooms and choose the best out of three estimates from different providers. Getting multiple estimates is a normal thing to do when you're spending thousands of dollars right? When the estimator arrived I welcomed him in and I told him the work I was thinking about having done. The first red flag appeared when I asked him how long the estimate I would receive is good for. He said and quot;todayand quot; and he said that's why they're called and quot;Empire Todayand quot;. Since I'm well aware of this high-pressure sales tactic I knew the rest of the visit would be downhill, but I went ahead and let him do the measurements he said he needed. I did tell him though I wouldn't make making a decision today as we were getting multiple estimates. When he was done with that I selected the type of carpet and color, as well as padding that I wanted from the samples he had so he could proceed to do the estimate. When he was done with the estimate I asked him for his card and told him we'd be making a decision in a few days to a week he just kind of looked at me, making it an awkward moment. He asked me if I had a problem with the price and I told him it wasn't a matter of price, but that I needed to discuss with my wife and I never, ever make an on-the-spot purchase with something like this. He said I could call and discuss with my wife on the phone and he said the only thing that could be wrong is the price. Knowing these people are trained to respond a certain way to anything the customer says, I told him flat out that and quot;there's no way this is going to happen today, as an informed consumer I never ever make a same-day purchase involving large expenditures.and quot; The estimator then said that he closed two previous deals the same day and showed me the paperwork, and told me someone made a $30K order last week. I told him what other people do is irrelevant and again repeated this will not be happening today. The estimator said he could take $500 off my order and said he could call his sales manager for an additional discount. He proceeded to pull out his phone and I told him not to bother, and told him again for a third time this was not going to happen today. I told him he could leave his card and I would call him back if I chose his company. After a third time being told I wasn't going to sign a contract today he began to get the picture. He said if I called him back he'd have to do the measurements again and it would be an inconvenience to both him and to me the customer. I told him I don't see the logic in that statement because he's already done the measurements and should have them on file with his estimate, and since I was the customer I really didn't care if I inconvenienced him. I asked him and quot;if you want my money, what does it matter if you get it today or three weeks from now?and quot; He then began to say something to the effect of and quot;this is why they ask people if the decision maker is present (a reference to my wife not being at home with me) and if they're ready to make a purchaseand quot; when the estimator comes out. I think this was a weak attempt to make me feel bad for wasting his time because I wouldn't make an on-the-spot decision. I reminded him the only thing I was doing here was getting an estimate. He said if all I wanted was the cost he could have given that to me at the door without coming inside. I actually laughed at this and I didn't say anything because I was just so surprised he would say this. At this point things were pretty much done and he began packing up his stuff. As he got up to leave he asked me for the estimate page back. Even more surprised, I asked why I couldn't keep it he said it was only good for today so there was no point in me keeping it. Overall the estimator was nice and was not rude, which is the only reason I didn't rate him an F, but it was very obvious Empire Today uses the high-pressure sales techniques of getting customers to buy on-the-spot. Since I'm immune to such tacts all I could do was shake my time and regret an hour of my life I'll never get back. A personal note to the CEO of Empire Today (personal opinion) - What's the point in me asking for you to come out to my home to do a free estimate when there really is no option to purchase other than same-day and you won't leave the estimate with me? I took time off work and really should bill you for the lost time but I won't since I did actually ask you to come over. If the estimator who came to my home is the typical result of your sales training program then you're a poor corporate citizen with an unprofessional sales model. If you stand behind the quality of your products and services you don't need to use questionable sales techniques and maybe you would find that you'll get even more customers than you currently have.

Estimator showed up on time. Went through typical sales presentation about the company and how great it is and the large accounts they service. Measured area. Estimator then asked if I knew about the $99 per room special .. I wasn't really aware of it. He informed me that the sale was over but he was going to be a nice guy and offer it too me. We determined that I would get 1 room carpet for $99 and 2 rooms of vinyl for $99 each. He then gave me the estimate for total price. The installation for this was an additional $3800. He then asked for a refundable deposit to hold the price. I did not want to commit to anything even if it was refundable. The estimator became very defensive and argumentative, He questioned my principals and said would I really not commit even for any price. I said I assumed that he gave me his best price already and he told me not to assume. I did not like the attitude I was getting and told him I would not commit. He became very irritated and left. I got a bad feeling and I dont trust salesmen that do not have the confidence to allow the customer time to think about it before making any commitment.

they were prompt, did an excellent job installing and cleaned up their mess when done. We have used them on at least two of our rentals