Empire Today

Salesman was prompt, knowledgeable and courteous. Chad Billings sized up the house and suggested a targetted selection. A decision was made about 6 pm Wednesday and the crew was on time the next day at 7 am. Crew of six went directly to work moving furniture, removing old flooring and preparation for hardwood. Crew worked under direction of an obvious expert named Edgar. Edgar was the key to an unbelievable experience. Although suffering a family loss during the week; Edgar persevered and delivered. The entire crew was courteous and respectful. They shared their KFC lunch with me one day. I got them some beverages for after work each day. They pulled up both bathroom camodes and properly reinstalled them with new wax rings. Each challenge was immediately met with a obviously well known solution. I was kept informed of progress and options. I am frankly so surprised at the way this went; it now seems to be a good dream since impossible in the real world. The floors look great. The crew spent all potential slack time on hands and knees polishing the floor to sheen. Again, unbelievable. Floors are off my list. Salesman appointment to full satisfaction in 48 hours.

**Update** I just want to add that I was never contacted as the member states to resolve this issue. At this point I would still use them again but would be more diligent to not let them leave without additional inspection. I cleaned the stains and have since trimmed all the carpet fibers I found. I also have moved since the installation so this is no longer an issue.

I am so sorry I cant remember our salesman's name but he was NO pressure. I actually called him months ago. He cameout- I wasnt able to ourchase- called him back recently and was able to go forward. NEVER a bit of pressure - then the installation team that came out- lead by Juan- was AMAZING. Literally we chose our laminate from sales, paid and the NEXT NIGHT our house was a laminate house- no dust, no mess- nothing to put back but a few knick knacks. AMAZING. Had I only known it would be so easy I would have done it a LONG time ago!

I was not at all impressed with how the Empire make the price estimates. They DO NOT MAKE A BREAKDOWN of the estimate (labor, material, price per s/f etc) and only rush to make a whole amount out of nothing. For just 550 sq foot of floor area with laminate they charged me a whooping $5000. Before coming to that magical price they showed that they are coming down from $24000 (thinking we are fools) . They will really try to fool the customer with the numbers and make you feel that it is a big bargain. Beware!!!. I have repeated asked the agent who came to make an estimate to make a breakdown but he did not want to do that as he could not come to $5000 in any way. I wanted to get it done the next day so I went ahead with them ( other companies wanted over 1 week of waiting). But it came at a price. Another thing is they DO NOT HAVE A SELECTION OF THE HARD WOOD OR LAMINATE TYPES TO SELECT FROM. I was shown only 2 types on laminate, 4 types of hard wood. They have NO SHOW ROOM TO VISIT and select.Therefore you end up settling for what they have. They boast about the reputation. But actual PRICING IS NOT UP TO THE REPUTATION. They charged FAR MORE THAN IT SHOULD BE.Therefore I WILL NEVER call them for any other future business for my home. ( I have to make the upstairs too). After making a complain, I got only $250 refund.I have to admit that the INSTALLATION WAS VERY FAST AND PERFECT. That was the only thing I am happy about. But for the sky high price they charged that was the only consolation I have. My advise : Be careful when comes to the pricing. Always ask for a breakdown, price of the hardwood or laminate per sqft, ask for more designs. ( all these I asked but the person was reluctant to do so).

I filled out the estimate request form online and an 'Empire Today' rep showed up the very next day. The sales rep was very friendly. She brought many samples and laid them all out for my wife and I to look at. There was something about her sales pitch that I thought was a little strange though. She told me that the empire today installers could install the very next day and didnt need to acclimate in my home first. She said that if other manufacturers say their product needs to acclimate then it is inferior. I find this hard to believe because I have been looking at flooring for quite some time now and all the manufacturers of flooring from solid hardwoods to laminate say their product needs to acclimate. The company seems to have mostly laminate products that in my opinion were not the impressive, and looked fake compared to to higher quality brands you can find at retail stores such as Lowes. The sales rep did show us some engineered samples but she only had 3 choices. She did not show us any solid hardwood samples. We asked for a quote on the engineered wood and was quoted over $10000. Ultimately we did not go with this company mainly because of the price. Empire today quoted us over $10,000 for engineered wood and we were able to get a high quality solid hard wood installed by another company for slightly less.

We had a great experience the whole way through. No pressure, no tactics; just a nice person (Don) who came to our house and patiently waited for us to look at, stand on, and take all over the house, the samples he brought over. When the first estimate came in, he realized it was LOT of money (and gt; $12k), so he immediately called his office to ask for a multi-product discount. He easily got one and that dropped the price by $7k. The floor we were looking at was a very expensive wood floor. We didn't ultimately get the wood floor but we did get the carpet we looked at. The price of the carpet was actually more than I expected and when I called to cancel the installation (due to lack of $$), I was greeted with an offer that lowered the price another $800 off the carpet only. Again, there was no pressure AT ALL; the person I was talking to (Chris) simply informed me that due to other cancellations in our area and an overstock of the particular carpet we wanted, an additional discount could be applied. He gave me no deadline; he simply updated our order in the system and told us that if we wished to go forward, I could call the customer service number and anyone could take care of us. GREAT GREAT GREAT!!! The only thing I would've changed is the first impression of the installers. I assume Empire uses independent crews to install the carpet because our installers showed up in a personal truck that was kind of beat up. Neither installer was wearing a uniform or ID. I'm probably being picky but I expected just a little more. The installers were, however, friendly, professional and excellent. They installed the carpet without any issues and it looks great! THANKS EMPIRE!!!

Extreme high-pressure sales tactics. Not to mention extreme flattery. They insisted that we remove all furniture from the rooms. (Every other time I've had carpet installed, the installers moved whatever needed to be moved - not me.) I had to buy the installers lunch in order to get them to install the rooms in the order I wanted them. (I wanted the front bedroom done first so I could get the furniture back in that room because it was preventing me moving about the house.) They promised a $100 gift certificate to my son for referring me to them. He never got it. The installers ripped a handbag that was hanging on a hook in my closet. (I also had to remove half my clothing from the closet - everything that was below 4 feet off the ground.) Getting them to pay for the handbag was horrific. They wouldn't even talk to me until I put a video up on YouTube. To make a long story short - after waiting on the check for four weeks and not receiving it, I called and they said they would reissue the check. Three days later a check arrives. I assume it's the replacement. But it isn't, it's the original check. I find this out after I've taken it to the bank, deposited it, and then get hit with a fee because they've stopped payment on it. It only got worse from there. When I called customer service, a "manager" informed me that they were a large national company and that they had policies and procedures in place, that I probably couldn't understand. The implication that I'm either stupid, ignorant, and/or unimportant never goes down well with me. I won't use them again, and I'd advise anyone considering them to look elsewhere.

WOW...If you thought high pressured used car salesman were bad then STAY AWAY from Empire... Empire makes a used car salesman look good! I called to set-up an in-home consultation but they would only do it if ALL decision makers were in the home at the time, which I found very odd...but then you find out why. The sales guy showed up, measured the rooms, then sat down and set out 4 to 6 samples to look at... when asked how much per square foot a certain sample was, he wouldn't give a price. He would only say "well this is a Ford, this is a Cadillac, this is a Lexis" etc. When asked to see more samples, he said Empire sells by warehouse volume...and this is what is in the warehouse now and on sale. When asked for a quote for the "Cadillac" version done in all 3 rooms he wouldn't give a price unless I signed something stating that I was willing to buy carpet right there and then...totally cancelable...but still had to sign an agreement of some type. I said I wouldn't sign anything...Then came the "pity me" sales approach... " I don't want to go back to my manager without something, can you just put down a small deposit, sign on for carpet...but of course it's cancelable and you would get a refund of your money in about 10 days"... It was the most pathetic sales pitch I've ever heard. When I said "no" and said that this whole experience was a huge waste of time, he then said; "well Empire isn't like all those "feel good" carpet stores that pamper you with samples and suggestions, Empire is about good carpet, right now, at a great price". Well all I can say is; "Sorry, but I'll take the "feel good" approach and shop elsewhere! In my opnion, this is a joke of a carpet company!

Empire Today came to our home for carpeting and tile services. They installed new carpeting in our master bedroom and tile in our laundry room. At the time they came we had a tornado the day prior. They bent over backwards to help accommodate us and help move furniture we were to have moved. We did not have power so they helped us with a generator.

We had a really good experience. The sales person who came to our house was friendly and knew a lot about flooring. He patiently helped us match our existing carpet, and priced out several different options for us. The installation went smoothly. The crew was in and out in about 45 minutes, and we are very happy with the quality of the work.

They were awful, I wouldn't recommend them to anybody. They still owe us money. I keep calling them, it's been two months and they still haven't got my refund. Everything about them bad. The guy that came to give us our estimate was okay, he was on time, but everything after that was bad. I thought we would get good service, but it didn't go good at all.

This was a very large job. Installation crew arrived apprx 10:30am. We had packed up all our belongings and the boxes were in the garage. Empire moved our furniture out into the backyard in 105degree heat. At approx 8:30pm they completed the job. We showed them that the door going out of the kitchen to the backyard patio didn't open much due to the new floor. (They had floated all the floors that had the laminate). They left, leaving behind a big dusty mess on everything. I contacted the local Empire Today office to tell them about the door and also the edges of the new carpet looked shabby. An appointment was setup for an inspector to come back and look at the above issues. The inspector came on September 8th. He agreed that an installation crew needed to come back to correct the door not opening and also tucking in the carpet where needed. Two installers came on September 15th. One man cut the shaggy edges of the carpet and vacuumed it up. The other told me that I'd need to have tile installed in front of the door so that it would open. Before they left my home, I was on the phone with Empire Today Customer Service explaining how unhappy I was with these two guys. Another appointment was scheduled for September 24th. Two supervisors and an installation crew came in the morning. The carpet was tucked in properly and the laminate flooring that was in front of the back door was pulled up and they had to cut off the concrete float that the first crew had put on the floor. After this was done, the flooring was placed back down and the door was able to be opened. Again, this left a dusty mess. I am very unhappy with the original installation crew and felt them to be substandard. I spent alot of money for this flooring and feel that all of the flooring should have been done correctly the first time. Also, I will say that when you purchase from this company, they put the carpet and installation together for pricing and you will not know what the cost of the installation or flooring is separately. When I asked about this, I was told that they price it together. I've never heard of this. I learned a hard lesson....shop around. I feel that I overpaid for the flooring and the installation experience was a nightmare. I have since found some other carpet that looks shabby around the edges but don't know that I'll deal with them coming back to do it correctly as they've been in my home way too many times already.

BUYER BEWARE. I felt the salesman pressured use into making a decision. I also didn't like the way he ignored me and talked to my husband. So if anyone gets Don Swain as your salesman, get your boxing gloves out or ask for someone else.

Mike Baker was our sales rep- he was a very nice man and took his time explaining the different quality. We were able to get the carpet installed the next day and even got a discount for it. The installers did a wonderful job and moved the furniture out of the way to do the job and put it all back when they were done. I was very impressed with the installation and the quality of the carpet.

Their prices were higher than we wanted to pay and they seemed to have the attitude that they were the best and nobody else was as good. We had a local company come out after them and decided to go with them. They didn't follow up their quote so I'm not sure if that was a good or bad thing. I probably will not ask for another quote from them.

They were very, very polite and very nice. They just didn't have the best price and deal. They were just not willing to move a big grand piano that we had; so that's really why they didn't get it. They had a sales representative come out to the house and show us the carpet samples. He talked about the carpet and answered all of our questions. He then measured the room and gave us a written quote.

My experience with them was good. I felt like I got a reasonable price. They were willing to negotiate with me. Then I had to have them come back for some small detail and I had no problems getting them to come back to repair that small detail. They were dependable and reliable. They started the job when they said they would and it was finished before they said it would be. It was a two-day job. They probably did 1200 square feet. The ceramic tile work was great too. They moved all my furniture and appliances. Then they did put it all back as well. I think it was like $8600 for the ceramic tile work and the hardwood. Most other places wanted to charge extra to move the furniture and everything, but these people included that. I could have gotten it for cheaper, but I wanted to go with a more established company.

The technical work was done well - the floors were done properly, so that's the most important thing. However, I can tell you that the experience itself was difficult, partially because I didn't understand the process (it was my first time doing something like this) and partially because the crew that conducted the work was somewhat careless in how they handled the installation and the rearranging of my personal things during the installation. Also, the crew far exceeded the estimate of time (it took 5 days instead of 2). I felt very exposed during this time, but I'm sure that's typical of this size project. Not everyone in my house identified themselves - there are crew members that appeared and disappeared from my house - I had no idea who some of these people were -- it felt a bit invasive. Overall, the floors look great, but it's taken a long time to clean up and repair things and I wouldn't use this company again.

It went very smoothly and was a very professional job. The guys were very friendly and wanted to make sure the job was done correctly. They really did an excellent job. They even came back later and replaced a piece of carpet that another contractor dropped glue on. Very pleased with this company.

They are not good. The positive part was the flooring looks fine; the tile, carpet and hardwood all looks good, no mistakes or anything. They didn’t treat my things carefully and broke several things. They did something to my washing machine and it doesn’t work anymore and I am having someone come tomorrow to look at it. They messed up my house. I wouldn’t say not to use them because they did do a good job, but you need to be careful and prepared.

They are on TV all the time about carpets and flooring. They have a salesman that comes out to your house before the deal is closed. He has a package where he goes over things like the quality of their ceramic tiles, it is made specifically for them, you can’t get the same tiles from anyone and it is very high quality. It is actually the lowest quality of ceramic tile, but they sell as though it is the best quality. I would not use them again and I would not recommend anyone else to use them either.

The rep told me the difficulties of installing hardwood flooring in my sunken living room even though it would have meant more money for her. I appreciated her honesty. She did not follow up like she said to make sure all was well after installation but it didn't matter as I was very pleased with the crew. They were efficient and did not harm any walls or baseboards which had recently been painted. They came on time and vacuumed up all the residue from the new and old carpets. They are more expensive but you pay for the convenience of them coming to your house to look at samples.

The work was done very well. They were courteous and prompt. They brought a pretty large crew out on the first day to finish work by the deadline. So I was very impressed by that.

Great service. They came to me with samples. They are more expensive than Home Depot but service was better. They accidentally cut my alarm lines but are paying me back for the costs. Would definitely use them again.

received a price quote from a very pleasant young man. We HAD NO PROBLEMS WITH the sales person. But Empire used a bate and switch on thier carpet price. They had a 60% off on carpet sale and even their sale price was higher then 3 other bids. YES it was the same kind of carpet--weight--fabric and kind of carpet and pad. No we did not use Empire and would not recommend them. Bill Horrigan