TILE & CARPET TOWN/CARPET ONE

Tile and Carpet Town Carpet One located at 3195 Erie Blvd , Syracuse NY, was contracted to install the high end ceramic flooring and walk in shower for my new waterfront home. The project started off horribly right from the start. Their installers came into the home wearing extremely muddy boots and refused to take them off. They literally stood in their own mud while applying the light gray grout, so I have a mix of mud and gray grout. None of the grout in the entire floor system was applied thick enough to fill in between the tiles, and many areas had no grout at all. These issues were brought to the attention of Tile and Carpet Town with an in person meeting and photos. During this meeting the store representatives were shocked at the photos and promised to make it right. They sent the same installer back to correct the floors, and I walked in on him reapplying grout to the floors standing in a mud pile from his boots……again refused to take them off. He only sporadically applied grout to random areas leaving most areas with voids where there was no grout. On top of this he actually applied huge globs of grout in some areas…….as if a two year old did it (please refer to the pics as it is shocking). Grout and mortar was splattered all over the walls and left there to harden, they never attempted to clean it off, these walls were ready for paint (refer to pics). From there they had their young laborer apply waterproofing to the walls of my walk in shower with a roller, the kid was so sloppy that he literally punched holes into my finished shower ceiling with his roller. Once again this was all presented in person to the representatives at Tile and Carpet Town who were again in shock of the pictures presented and assured me this isn’t the quality of work they do, and they will make it right. At this point a reasonable business would decide to send a different installer to make the corrections and finish the job……..not Tile and Carpet Town, they sent the same guys back a third time!! Once again they were there working in muddy boots and refused to take them off even when offered boot coverings. I mentioned the floors with missing grout and globs of grout in other areas, he responded that they fixed them and they were fine, as I was standing there pointing out tiles with no grout applied to them. From there they preceded to finish the walk in shower. All I can say is, it’s the worst work I have ever seen in my life! The installer did not bring the right saw to cut the special order custom porcelain tiles, so when he cut the first one it chipped along the entire cut and snapped off the corner. Instead of stopping he preceded to cut all of the tiles and broke every single one of them………and put them all up this way!! (see pics). Please keep in mind it took two months to get these tiles. The niches he installed to hold the shampoo etc had lips on them so deep that the soap would permanently float in a pond of water! And here comes the best part, we obviously had to demo the shower and start over, when demoing the shower we realized that components of the shower were never screwed on……THEY TAPED THEM ON, then covered it up with grout!! It would have lasted a couple of months at best. At this point I located a reputable contractor to make the repairs and finish the work. Tile and Carpet Town agreed to cover my expenses. When I presented the proposal to them, it got pushed up to management / owners, who refused to cover the proposals expense. It was their opinion that the proposal was too high. I replied that they have one more chance to send one of their own installers, their best one, to fix it, and they responded with a no. So here I am left with no shower, they are refusing to pay the proposal from the installer I had chosen, and they also refused to send their own installer! They began to lie to me stating that they sent someone to review the work, (they never sent anyone throughout the entire projects even after several in person meetings to discuss the disasters), and proceeded to tell me all the floors were fine and they weren’t fixing them, and they would only help with the walk in shower walls as there was no reason to believe that there was anything wrong with the shower floor. HELLO, they taped on parts……….good reason to believe the floor which is the most critical component was probably not installed correctly as well. The manager then continued to placate me by telling me all of these issues: flooring with no grout, flooring with grout and mud mixed in, flooring with one inch thick globs of grout applied above the tile, concrete mortar all over my walls, holes in my ceiling, a shower of broken tiles and taped on components………….were all concerns of an aesthetic nature, and the craftsmanship was open to interpretation. They started the project in April and here it is the middle of June and my project is still held up by them. DO NOT HAVE THEM SET FOOT IN YOUR HOME!!!!!!!!!!

I DO NOT RECOMMEND I will try to make this as quick as possible. Carpet One was an AWFUL business to deal with. When my wife and I first met with the salesman, we expressed concerned that the subfloor needed attention. The salesman stated he would note it. When the gentleman came into the house and surveyed the area for square footage, we mentioned it again. When we went to pick out the flooring and ordered it, we were told again that it would be relayed to the contractors who would be laying the floor. We were told that the contractors would either put leveler down or assess whether 1/2 inch plywood would need to be laid over the area which was roughly 350 square feet. I came home from work on installation day and the flooring was laid. I asked what was done to the subfloor and the contractors said nothing was done, and that they were never told that we wanted the subfloor addressed. This is where the problem begins. The salesman that dealt with our sale, Mike, was out sick for the next 3 days so I dealt with a manager, Bob Shapiro. He told me that it would cost $3,000. I asked what the $3,000 entailed and he said labor to pull the existing vinyl up that they just laid down, laying 1/2 inch plywood over the subfloor, and reapplying the vinyl floor back down. Bob said that was a DISCOUNTED price since we already made a “sizeable” purchase. I explained it was not our fault and that we had notified multiple people. Bob said that was the price and we hung up. I got a call back 20 minutes later from Bob saying that it was on them and they were reducing the cost to $2,000 to take up the vinyl, lay the 1/2 plywood, and the reapplication. He said the take up was on them ($1,000 labor cost). I replied that it’s not a $2,000 job to lay plywood over 350 square feet and that I could get the floor fixed for around $800. He “urged” me to do it if I can find it for that price. Needless to say Mike called me back a few day’s later and left a voicemail apologizing and saying they’d like to fix the subfloor for the $800. At this point I was done working with them and got it done myself for the $800 as well as installed the rest of the vinyl independently without their assistance. It’s frightening how they tried to rake us over the coals for $3,000+ when it was 100% their fault. Watch out for this company because we nearly got completely taken advantage of so THEY wouldn’t have to eat money on their own mistake. They also misquoted our steps. They accounted for 3 instead of 6 and later tried to add that cost in. This is all such an issue because we stressed that we needed to stay within our $10,000 budget. And out of nowhere $3,000 and a misquote on the floor becomes our problem. They did not try to work with us and admit where they were wrong. We were left to fend for ourselves after THEIR MISTAKE. Stay clear of Carpet One.

Everything went very well. On time. Polite, professional. Quick. Clean-up was well done. Our rooms look great!

What a pleasure it was to work with the staff at Tile & Carpet Town Carpet One in Cicero, NY. From the moment we walked into the store and began working with Melynda, we knew we were in good hands. Melynda was willing to take the time to understand our wants and needs as we looked for replacement carpeting in our Bedrooms and Family Room, as well as replacement flooring for our Kitchen. The next step was having Don come out for measurements. He was right on time, and took his time to get it right. He answered all our questions and gave us some clear direction for next steps. Once he finished the measurements, we went back to see Melynda who took a lot of time to go over everything in great detail. By the end of that night, we made our purchase without once feeling any pressure. Next was installation. First Brian came out to install our Kitchen tile. What a hard worker! I’ve yet to find a line in our tiles that isn’t exactly straight!!! Then came the carpets. Tim and Jay were on time, professional, and did outstanding work. We have a seam in our family room berber carpet that we still can’t see no matter how hard we try. All three installers had just the right amount of personality and explained everything they were doing as they went along. Through it all, both Melynda and Dave, in the Cicero Store, have been there to answer every question we’ve thrown at them. We’ve dealt with a lot of retail/service professionals through our lives, but both my wife and I can say that this has been one of the most pleasurable experiences we’ve ever had. Needless to say, we HIGHLY RECOMMEND Tile and Carpet Town Carpet One!!!

This is a continuation of a previous unfavorable review. After legal action, and asking Tile One to come out and survey the damage and do a complete re-do, Tile One said, 1) Our house was wood, and old (built in 1940) so that made this kind of tile work difficult (!), and 2) blamed the contractor for the way the shower header and footer was installed, although this had NEVER EVEN BEEN MENTIONED BEFORE. Bottom line, we asked our contractor to tear out the tile and hire someone else to do a complete make-over. Good thing we did, because, when the tile laid by Tile One last November was taken up, we found MOLD MOLD MOLD, due to inept work the first time around. These guys just don't get it. I would have much more respect for them if they had admitted to messing up the job and had offered a complete re-do. Never happened; integrity seems to be not high on their list of good business practices.

. I did call the manager (Carmen) to express my complaint and he took $750.00 off the price. I think at this point I WAS BEING OVERLY reasonable but they HAD me and I had no other choice. My room had been in complete disarray for a while now. I had a big party coming up and my molding didn't match, my doors were cut off at the bottom, the laminate was going in the WRONG direction and I wanted them OUT! He finished the next day and before leaving I had noted to him that there was one place where the laminate looked particularly close to the beam as compared to the rest and asked if he should cut it a little wider away; as he had said previously to me that there needed to be a gap for expansion and retraction? And it was obvious that in this one spot it was MUCH closer to the beam than in the other parts of the room. He said NO! He left and I noticed immediately after walking around and checking the new floor out that there were two places where the floor bounced up and down as you walked on it. One of the spots being right where I had noted the laminate so close to the beam. I called the manager right away and told him. He said it was normal and probably would go away (I believe his name was Tim). I asked him to NOTE it and he said he would. A week and half later when the same installer came to put in the quarter round, I showed him the two spots that bounced and also pointed out the spot I had showed him before, being cut so close to the wall expecting he would cut it back away BEFORE covering it up with the quarter round. It was apparent this may be the problem. Again he said NO, it was normal. That hardwoods do that as well. We all know that is NOT true about hard woods doing that. I then lost what little confidence I had left in this guy. I called the manager (this time Carmen, the one I had been dealing with previously answered). He told me there were no notes about it on file. Again I explained about the two spots to him and everything that was occurring and he too said "it's normal." So knowing I have a guarantee on these AND that the installer had noted to me earlier that if he had to remove the molding, that he had glued it to the wallpaper walls and it would tear my wall paper off causing further problems, I relied on the manager saying it was NORMAL hoping it would go away. Again I was between a rock and a hard place and I had so little faith in this company at this point. This had turned into a nightmare and I certainly no longer had any confidence in their "BEST" installer. Incidentally, this is now July 3rd when the quarter round is put in and I had long missed having my party as planned. At this point I asked about the status of the two area carpets and the stairway. Remember the two area carpets were NOT on back order and the stairway matching carpet was to be in the end of June or first week of July. To make a long story short the area carpets came in July 12th because I was told "they had to remove the fringe off the edging.? They said it takes awhile to do that and that they were not charging me and incurring a big expense. Again pointing out that they were doing me a BIG favor! I had explained that no one had told me that before and if they had I would have had them leave the fringe on if given the choice. I also pointed out; May 11 to July 11th is two months. It took two months to remove fringe? No answer. When I went in to pick up the area carpets I again mentioned the bouncing floors as I was getting concerned as it was not (and still to this day hasn't) going away. The manager who I originally spoke to had played dumb about it. The sales person (Joe Noterpole who I was meeting for the very first time who replaced my original sales person Joan Barrett-I explain next paragraph) said he did not know anything about the two troubled spots or my calls asking about it. He was never told. Can you believe this??!!! Again, the original manager is there playing dumb about it. I am completely blown away by their complete and total incompetence and lack of customer service. They simply did NOT care. No apologies or anything. Just excuses and taking no responsibility. I needed to affect a way to finish my dealings with these people. The sales person said he would have the company ?expert? on laminate flooring problems call me and come to look at it. He told me it WAS NOT normal. Two managers and the installer tell me previously it's normal, the sales person weeks later hears of it for the FIRST time and tells me he will send the expert to see it. No one else ever mentioned an expert or offered this to me. The expert (Stan Speer) came out THAT same night. He looked at it, saw the bounce and said it was NOT normal-that there is a definite problem but his solution was sending the original installer (he said he's the best we have-uuggghhh) out to fix it. I told him I had NO confidence in that installer. He said I could call back anytime if I changed my mind. Even a year later or more. So I thanked him and he left. How could I in good conscious have this same incompetent (?their best?) guy who installed it back?! I was hoping the bounce would go away as the others indicated it might. I should note that I dealt with and purchased the flooring from a Joan Barrett who told me she would be ?away? and requested that I complete my purchased by May 11th when she would be away. The way she said it led me to believe that she would be on vacation or out having an operation or something because she said I will be ?away? not leaving or retiring or anything. It wasn?t until May 11th when I signed the paperwork and put down my deposit and placed my order, after numerous visits with her and phone calls and me making sure everything would go as planned that I was told by her that it was her LAST DAY and she was retiring and she would have a Joe Noterpole take over. I had a sick feeling and thought OH NO but what could I do? I was now under a deadline of June 25th and I was assured all would be just fine by her. Had I known this originally I NEVER would have dealt with her in case problems arose as they did with no help from anyone. I think this contributed greatly to the timing of everything being off and delayed as the sales person who sold it to me was no longer there and no one cared or were just plain incompetent. I had never met or talked with this Joe and was led to believe he was the manager (I found out later he was not). I fell through the cracks. I would NEVER have purchased from her for this very reason had I known she would ?be away? because of retirement versus vacation. I called the next day and asked again about the stairway carpet coming in as we're over two months out on this now. I wanted this nightmare OVER and Tile & Carpet CARPET ONE out of my life! The manager said it was still not in and when I asked why when I was assured it would be in by now he replied "it's not our fault, we can only rely on what the manufacturer tells us." ?I?m not going to tell you another time because if they?re wrong again you?ll blame me.? WOW, I'm speechless! Then he goes on to say "WE WANT IT TO COME IN TOO, WE WANT TO GET PAID!? I had paid them for EVERYTHING up to this point as completed except the stairway, my rather big special occasion party had to be canceled, we?re two months into this now, our house is still in disarray waiting for the room to be finished all summer so we can put things back where they belong and THE MANAGER IS COMPLAINING TO ME ABOUT WANTING TO BE DONE SO THE COMPANY CAN BE PAID THE BALANCE DUE for that last little part-the stairway-WOW!!! Great customer service! I want to point out that at no time during this whole ordeal had I been rude, nasty or sarcastic as I know that would only make matters worse and them even more uncooperative. The stairway carpet finally came in 2 1/2 months AFTER my order. A very nice man competently installed them on July 24th. I would have thought after ALL the repeated, multiple trouble they would have knocked more off the first work done and GIVEN me the stairway or an overture of some kind. I called the expert (Stan Speer) to come out and see what we could do about the two bouncing spots (that still bounced) and he said he was busy at that time on his way to an appointment and would call me back. Today is August 17th and I have NOT heard back from him. I filled out a company survey that was mailed to me nearly two weeks ago. I put down my concerns and experience more concisely there than here and have not heard a word from them. Tell me Angie et al - would you do business with these people? What recompense would you expect in my situation? This horrible experience is what made me join Angie's list and I waited quite awhile before writing this hoping I would have heard from Carpet & Tile CARPET ONE by now for some sort of resolution.

The designer misquoted the price of my first choice of tile, so I didn't order what I had originally wanted. Then, after taking her advice on another tile, she incorrectly figured out the amount of tile that we had to order for our project. When we complained and asked for a refund of the excess tile, the manager said no. He didn't even bother to call us back after we left several message for him, and wrote him a letter. He just sent us a very condescending "form letter type" correspondence. We will never go back to this store. We have since remodeled our bathrooms and went to a different tile store, where we were much more pleased with their prices, service, and friendliness.

Splendidly! See above. The room looks fabulous! We heartily recommend Tile & Carpet Town/Carpet One and will use them for all our upcoming renovations.