Empire Today®

The BBB had very little info on them but did give an A+ rating. They are listed as being in the Chicago area but they do have two phone numbers in Eagan, MN: 651-675-1000 or 651-405-0532. The sales person was very nice and the service was quick – but the carpet and pad selection they offer is limited. Forget nylon – they specialize in polyester carpet and their only nylon samples are of lower quality. They only offer 6 pound padding which is another short coming. Also, the 60% off sale is on select carpet only and not all of the kinds they offer. The price started at $4647 and discounted to $3373. I said I was not thrilled with polyester and 6 pound pad so he dropped the price to $2973. Then I said I had to look at more companies and the price dropped to $2200 if I signed right then. (Remind you of buying something on a Caribbean beach?) I took the deal, but the next day decided to cancel because of the lesser quality pad. Talking to the guy in Chicago, he said they would change me to an 8 pound moisture proof pad at no extra charge and he didn’t understand why the sales team here didn’t know it was available. The installation was done well. Over all, the carpet looks and feels great. I “think” the price was good but Empire Today’s marketing and product selection leaves much to be desired.

Overall, things went very well. The sales rep came exactly when she said she would, had samples to share with us, and was very knowledgable about the products. She did a good job of selling the company, and was able to set up an installation date within a week that worked perfectly for us. I'm not sure we got the best price, but it was pretty competitive and we didn't have to leave home to get this project done.

We checked with a local carpet outfit and the price the local outfit quoted us was very close to the the estimate from Empire's after the 60% discount. Seems like they were marking up the price to give the discount.

I decided to replace the carpet on my basement stairs and in the basement. I got a quote on Thursday and had the installation done on Saturday. Empire was fast, responsive, professional and reasonably priced. I don't think you can beat the speed and the carpet looks great.

The boys showed up the next day with rolls of carpet and turned out they did not have enough to do the job (bad measuring from the estimator I guess). The thing that made me happy was that the sub-contractor hired to do the job was very honest in saying that he did not want to "try" and make it work as I would have seams in many places they he did not want to see them in. He suggested waiting until the next day when they could have the right cut of carpet and he would feel much better about that. While I was a bit upset that the job could not be completed as scheduled (had taken the day off of work to be there) I was impressed with his honesty. This of course reflects poorly on Empire but very highly on the sub contractor. The next day they showed up again. Crew was very friendly and professional. They completed the job by days end and I was happy with the quality of work. Bottom line...if you are in a hurry to get work done....Empire is a good choice. I would use them again but only if I was given the same sub contractor.

The job went very well and they came on time. The people who came to install were quick, prompt and cleaned up well. I would use them again in future.

They said that they could not do it at first and then they said that they would look into it. They did not do anything at all after that. I am not happy with their service. They were not responsive.

We found them to be very manipulative in their sales technique and poor product quality for the cost. The rep showed up on time and gave clear details on their product, but their professionalism was very poor. We will not use this company.

They were quickly able to schedule a date for installation. They could not give me an exact time though, so I took the whole day off. I heard from Mike at about 10:30 wondering if I had heard from them. I told him I had only been told that they would be out that day, but not with a time. Shortly after that call I got a call from Mark and Chris the installers. They said it would probably be 2-3PM before they arrived. They arrived at about 3. The order form they had showed the kitched was 10 x 12 not 12 x 14. The form also neglected to explain the tear up properly. Mark and Chris explained to me this would be a whole day job. They offered to return the folowing day, but I could not get off work. We agreed it was best not to start at all that day. I contacted Mike my sales rep, he was able to get the job rescheduled for the upcoming Saturday. I was pretty upset with the mix-ups, but agreed to proceed, based on Mark and Chris's thorough explanation of the job when they arrived. Mark and Chris arrived Saturday AM, and were able to have the whole job completed by 1. The floor looked great. I was very happy with the installation and all the clean up that they did. A few days later I managed to put a large tear in the flooring moving the refrigerator. I called Empire, they were able to get Mark and Chris back out a couple days later and they repaired the tear. Great service! Unfortunately for me, the initial mess up on the order just turned me off. Having to miss a complete day of work for something that quite easily could have been scheduled much tighter is a problem.

i purchased carpet for a bedroom and a family room. i specified that the carpet in the family room needed to hold up to heavy traffic and was assured that it would. after approximately 3 months it looked like flat felt on the floor. Empire sent a rep and he sent an inspector and he determined that it was a manufacturers defect. they installed another carpet which lasted less time than the first before it looked like a flat piece of felt where it was walked on. another rep came out and saw that it was a mess and offerred to bring more samples. i indicated that I did not believe that they had a product that would hold up to family traffic and that i did not want to go through the trouble of emptying out my furniture a third time just to have to do it again. he then said that he would "see what he could do for me." although i called every 2 weeks, nothing was resolved. i called last week again and was told that "Scott" no longer worked there and that i had "tied their hands" by having another rug installed because they had nothing to look at. I explained that it had been "looked at" twice by Scott and that he failed to follow through and reimburse me in some way. The carpet was EXPENSIVE JUNK. They also accussed me of not returning 7 phone messages! I was having a wedding here and was extremely anxious to resolve the issue...why would I not return phone messages. The best statement they gave me was, "we can't guarantee that any carpet will hold up because everyone's house is different." When I voiced my shock that they are selling carpets and can't guarantee them, they repeated the same sentence. I hope that i can help someone else avoid being ripped off and frustrated and disappointed. Do NOT do business with this company if you intend to walk on your carpets!

They came and it was really a high pressure sales situation. They kept saying that this was the best price and then they would come back with another price that was still lower.

Jerry and his partner (don't remember his name) called and said they would arrive about 9:00 a.m. to install the carpet and they arrived right on time. I must say they walked into a rather disorganized place, but that didn't seem to phase them. They got started and worked quickly though it did take 4 or so hours. Both gentlemen were very professional and very pleasant. A couple of items came up and they showed them to me and explained possible solutions. I would highly recommend the service I received.

Empire gave us an estimate on hardwood floors for our living room. Our salesman Eric was great, he pulled back a corner of the carpet and found what we thought was a plywood subfloor. We picked out a hardwood to closely match the floors in the dining room. However, once our installer was out and pulled up more of the carpet we discovered that portions of hardwood were cut out for vents and would need to be repaired. The original hardwood was also very uneven so we couldn't just lay the new floor on top of that. My credit card had already been charged but our installer explained our options, either canceling the order for a refund or installing carpet. We decided to cancel. He ripped up the remaining carpet and hauled it away for free. Within 10 days they had not only refunded the amount charged to my card but also sent me a check for the price of our deposit.

I contacted Empire via their website to set up a free 'in home estimate'. The estimator arrived on time. At first we thought we wanted to do a laminate in our basement. They had only 8 products to choose from. The one we had them price came out to $9,503. A comparable estimate from Home Depot was $7,300 for a higher quality product. We decided the laminate was too costly. Two weeks later, we contacted the salesperson about doing carpet instead of laminate. She again arrived on time and showed up the samples of carpet available. We had her price out 2 carpet types - one a Stain Master with warranties of 7 yr stain, 10 yr abrasive, 10 yr wear for $5,843, and the second carpet with warranties of 7 yr stain, 7 yr texture for $4,489. Neither of the 2 carpets was exactly what we wanted. We got a price from Home Depot for a StainMaster with warranties of 10 yr stain, 25 yr wear, and 10 yr texture for $3,800. Five days after the estimator was out with the carpet samples she left a voice mail indicating that they had a sales meeting, and could now offer a 15% discount bringing the carpets down to $4,816 and $3,665 respectively. We decided to go with Home Depot. We liked their selection better, and the carpet we ultimately chose was of a higher quality than the best carpet offered by Empire.

Had carpet removed and laid in four rooms. Living room and bedrooms. Quality was very good. No specific time set but was done in a good time. They cleaned everything after they were done. They also vacuumed all the carpets. Had a 60% coupon.

They came on time and they were very prompt. They got it done in a couple of hours. They were very professional. I would recommend them to others and I would use them again.

The representative showed up at the time requested. He asked for an overview of the project and then brought in carpet samples. After measuring the areas, he gave me a quote that was over $3,000. I informed him that I was not paying any more than $1,500. He made phone calls in his car (claiming his cell phone battery was dead and needed to put it on the charger) and miraculously was able to come up with remnants of the carpeting I had picked and the price was down to $1,620. I agreed to that and then nervously waited until the installation day (a few days later to fit my schedule). The installation went fine and the installers were professional and efficient. I love the new carpeting, particularly the carpeting for the den. But I would definitely advise everyone to have a basic idea of how much their project should cost before calling out Empire Today. My only other concern - as with any carpeting - is how well it wear over time.

Dean Baker came promptly after we made our appointment. He was very nice and observant regarding several challenges that we'd have to face; things that a different company did not even mention, like needing to remove our radiator and that our doors would need to be cut down in order to fit after the floors were in. Shane and Ronnie came at our appointment time and were fast and efficient. We had pretty much no problems with them. Would hire these guys again. Price is higher than other companies, but good service is worth the extra amount.

The salesmen was a little pushy, but when I told him what he brought in wasnt what I wanted, he brought in samples more torwards what I wanted. I had to make out three separate checks for down payments, one for carpet, one for the laminate flooring, and one for tile work. The laminate flooring and the tile work were to be done on the same day, but for some reason the tile order was cancelled by Empire Today, and when it was rescheduled I was told that I had to pay the down payment again because they were sending me a refund on my first down payment. I said no because I didnt cancel the order and my check was already cashed by them, I told them that when their refund check came I would write void on it and send it back, but they wouldnt let me do that. They said that they would come by and pick up the endorsed check when I got it and then called me everyday for a week asking me if the check had come and not believing me when I said no.

The salesperson came on Saturday with several samples for me to consider. I bought the carpet that day but asked for a three-week delay on installation. I called and rescheduled the installation for two separate days. The installation crew arrived promptly at 8:30 on the first day and installed the carpet in half an hour. They did an excellent job of cleaning up and taking all the waste with them. They arrived the next day to complete the installation in another room. They helped move the big pieces furniture that I was unable to move by myself. Raymundo and his crew installed the carpet, cleaned up and put the big pieces back before I could ask.

Empire rep arrived at home as scheduled. Sales tactics are EXTREMELY AGGRESSIVE. Once I stated that I wouldnt be making a commitment before he left, he began to complain about the number of miles he had to drive, and that if I called back Id have to deal with his "busy" schedule and the price would be higher.

Workers were on time and were cordial. However ,they left some unfinished areas, so another crew had to correct the problems.

The installation team, Mike, Tracy, Jon and Carl arrived at approximately 10:00 AM on 8/24/06, I thought 10:00 AM was a bit late for a job this size, nevertheless, they went to work removing the old carpet in about two hours. It was immediately evident that this team were precision operators. By 5:00 PM they had laid the new carpet, vacuumed it, removed the old carpet from the site and cleaned up behind themselves. I might add that they were very pleasant to work with. However, I did later find a small flaw in the carpet on the stairs.''The nap was shorter in one spot vs the surrounding area making it look liked a hole in the carpet.'' I called Customer Service on 9/8/06, they were very polite. They set me up with a representative in this area who scheduled a Service person to come out on 9/11/06. Bill, arrived, inspected, replaced with no hassle. They get my vote.

Terrible communication and uninformed Customer Service. The salesman was nice. I will never advise anyone to go with Empire.

The estimator was very professional and just great to work with. They showed up on-time to do the work. However, only ONE person showed up to do the laminate flooring, more is needed for a one day installation. He did as much as he could for about 9 hours. He offered to come back the next day, Saturday, his day off to finish. He was delayed on Saturday, but called to let me know and worked around my schedule. He and another person showed and they worked until 8:00pm Saturday night to finish the floor. It wasn't his fault that the others didn't show up. I was completely impressed with his dedication to finish the job and his customer focus all with a good attitude!!! A little pricier than some others, but very good quality.