Empire Today®

I met with a salesman named Wayne D. I had a previous bid from Costco for a very specific Shaw carpet with an exceptional warranty. Wayne quoted me over $8000.00. When I showed him my bid he was able to come down to $20.00 under and assured me that the carpet and padding were exactly the same - made by Shaw and held the same warranty. He also told me that they could put in a finish strip on my hardwood flooring where we had taken out a wall (not done). I received the contract in the mail and noticed that the carpet was manufactured by another company (not Shaw). I called Wayne and he advised me that Shaw had "17 subsidiaries" and this was one of them. I told him the color looked off but he assured me that was because the sample had been in his car for over 4 years. The carpet was installed and was of horrible quality. I called the manufacturer and was advised that they were in no way associated with Shaw and that the warranty was limited. The carpet was installed so poorly that the pattern did not match up at the seams. One of the installers left for 2 hours during installation and the remaining installer spoke very little english. Empire was very unhelpful and I have since had the carpet removed. I will be having the Shaw carpet installed on January 6th. I would recommend NEVER EVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE using or trusting Empire Today.

The person who came in was very nice and I appreciated that she was very helpful in some questions. However, when they sent people over to do the work, they were nice enough. I don't know where they got them or how trained they were. They did okay with installing the carpet in most of the rooms. However on the stairs, I thought they did a pretty sloppy job. It's kind of puckered in places. On the corner of the stairs, it looks like a piece was just kind of patched in or stapled in. You can see places where they stapled the carpet down and it looks stapled. I have a heavy padding, so when they stapled, it punches into that and you can kind of where the staples press down into the stairs. I don't know if I would really use them again, because I don't know that the quality of the carpet that I got was very good. I like the carpeting. I just have concerns about it lasting. It may be okay, I don't know. I'll just have to wait and see. So would I use them again? I don't think I would, because of the quality of how they did the stairs. Also, they were here until probably 7:30 at night and everybody was super tired. They were supposed to go to another place before they came here and the other people weren't ready, so they ended up coming here. But by the time they get here, it's probably like 10:30. They didn't do like the pantry. We had carpeting in there. And when people have carpeted for me before, they do all the closets and stuff like that. But they didn't do the pantry or the entryway closet. I would have asked them to do it, however, it was so late, I was just so tired, I was just ready for them to just go. So I didn't even bother asking them to do that, although they may have done it. They were very nice and very polite. On most of the carpeting, I'd rate them an eight, but on the stairs, I'd rate them a three.

The service was great. They completed the work in one day. They were fast. They knew what they were doing. The workers were pleasant. They were very prompt.

The lady who came out and quoted everything and setup financing was wonderful. The installers, not so much. They seemed to know what they were doing, but the main installer had several "friends" that didn't speak English and were not highly trained do some of the work which resulted in several disasters. First they broke some tile in my bathrooms when they were removing some existing tile I wanted removed, they apologized, but didn't fix it. Still broken to this day. The floor is not very well installed. It moves an awful lot and you can hear the boards scraping around. I can live with that, but I told them over and over that I didn't want the sub floor to squeak and I bought additional supplies to use to make sure it didn't squeak, but the mintue I left on an errand, they didn't take care of the subfloor and now I have an AWFUL squeak that they are telling me that they are happy to fix for 450.00. There are also a lot of "tool marks" through out the floors where, they accidentally did damage to the floor. They showed me one piece of wood that looked awful and I said, don't use that one... and of course they did. Right in a very open spot, where everyone can see it. I was promised the floors would be done in two days... of course it took more than 5 days to do. They also ruined the carpet coming into my downstairs where I had the hardwood installed. The whole reason I used them was their financing, but if I had to do it over again, I wouldn't.

The representative was prompt, and polite. They do a good job showing up quickly, and might be a good option if you need the work done fast, have already shopped around a lot, are well aware of the square footage you will need, have a firm grap of comparable prices, and are good at doing a quality comparison. Just be prepared. Their reps are independent contractors that approach this like a used car salesman. They won't share the square footage, won't tell you much that would let you compare quality, have limited samples, and only quote a price and quot;for the whole job,and quot; with a signature on the spot. They have plenty of information, because they take all the measurements and know their product, they just type it into an iPad and claim there is nothing to print out or show you. In the process they will start out at a quote that is at least double what their bottom line is. I am happy to pay a fair price, but I don't like feeling like I am being gamed, and don't like the and quot;hide the ball,and quot; sign now approach. It was only when I did my research afterward that I found out that many others had a similar experience. That made me too concerned to continue, at which point I cancelled. To their credit, they were easy to deal with in cancelling.

Hired empire for luxury vinyl tile and carpeting downstairs at our house. We had the work completed last week and my house looks new again! We couldn't be happier. They used great brand names. The brands we chose were not on the sale but what we got was exceptional quality so the extra expense was well worth it. Their installers were very nice and thorough and took time to answer any questions we had as well as were very responsive to us if we wanted to make sure things were done a certain way. Our salesman Wayne took his time with us and also was available to us by phone during instillation to help us with questions as well. Between our purchase and installation date we saw some negative reviews which made us anxious but after they completed the work we would recommend to anyone.

The job was done quickly and thoroughly. I love my new carpet and would recommend Empire Today to anyone I know

In the end, I took the specs for the materials we selected and went to other vendors to compare. Apples to apples, Empire was nearly 50% MORE than their competitors with the same products, NOT 50% less as indicated by their sale. With two other vendors, when we chose better quality carpet and luxury vinyl tile over the laminate plank that Empire was showing us, we were still more than 40% less than Empire's and quot;saleand quot; price including tax and install. ($4500 all-in vs. $8500 with Empire This is after we haggled with the Empire estimator for every possible discount (multiple product, weekday install, etc.) All this says to me is that you should be very very skeptical of Empire's pricing. Had I signed on the dotted line then and there, I would also be subject to whatever install team they sent out where with other vendors, I was working directly with the person who would be installing it. These vendors knew far more about the intricacies of the install and knew what to look for with my particular floor to recommend the best possible product to fit our needs and produce a successful install. Reply to Empire's response: The pricing I found was all-inclusive as well. All-in pricing for install, material, moving furniture, removing and replacing baseboard trim, tax....everything that your rep included in their pricing to me. Your price for that was $7500. The other vendor's price was $4500 for THE SAME PRODUCTS and the SAME SERVICES. There was no difference whatsoever. I'm not interested in discussing any further.

Estimator was prompt. When my wife told him what we wanted and what our budget was, he told her that that wasn't possible and that we would need to spend somewhere around $2500-3000. She had him go-ahead and provide the estimate. When he finished measuring, he went to his vehicle and put the estimate together. He presented it to my wife, while I was on speaker on her phone. The estimate was for almost $3900. I told him that this wasn't going to work as I could get the same carpet installed by Home Depot for about $2500 to which he replied something on the order of 'Then why did you call us and not them?' I asked him to leave as this was a one-time offer and I was not going to negotiate for carpet. After I left the phone conversation, he went outside, presumably to leave. To my wife's surprise, he returned to the house, telling her that he had made a call and got the total price reduced to $2500. Why wasn't that price offered the first time? After a moment of thought, we agreed to the price but mostly because we didn't want to contact another company for an estimate, etc. On the morning of the install, my wife waited to hear from someone as to when they needed her at the house. When the time had expired, she called them, only to be told that they would need to call her back, which they did. The installers arrived when on time and the actual installation went well.

They say they will resolve complaints but don't... They say they install quality product - but switch to a less quality product... Make sure - if your getting a wood floor - they put the thickness in writing! Make sure - you inspect what they are bringing over to install - it might be switched! Never think they are going to resolve an issue - they never do and they have your money!

I got them through an ad on TV. They were pretty straightforward. There was no hidden cost. The installation was done in the time that they said it would be done and they did a good job. The guys, who came in, where professional, clean and very conscientious.

The salesman was on time but worked very slow to measure and go over his sales pitch. They showed up 2 days later to install carpet and we were informed that they only had one of the two colors we had selected in stock so we would have to wait 2 weeks for the other half of the house. They compensated us for this by carpeting our office space for free. We did have a problem with the carpet that was installed downstairs, it seemed to be falling apart after 8 months. Empire sent inspectors out and determined that it was a manufacturer defect and just installed new carpet for us yesterday. Impressed with their customer service!

The original, contractor-grade carpet in my house was in bad shape, so contacted Empire about recarpeting the entire house - about 2,000 square feet, including 4 bedrooms, stairs, closets, family room, living room, dining room. Also wanted new tile flooring in two bathrooms (master and guest). Need them to remove and dispose of all original flooring, and also handle moving and restoring all the furniture and household goods (including closets). Joe Harvey did my estimate, and he brought several sample board and advised me on various options. I was a bit disappointed that there wasn't more selection (compared to, say, Home Depot or Lowes), so I refused to sign a contract on first visit and did some followup research on the options and pricing. Joe was flexible and good to work with, and made a couple visits to my house and let me change my order before installation. The price seemed high, so we negotiated and he came down a bit; still not sure I got the best possible price, but comparing what Home Depot and a couple other businesses would cost for the same work, it's definitely in line. After doing research on flooring options, I was happy with the SmartStrand carpet they offered and pleased I could get Spillguard moisture covers on the pads (I have cats). For the bathrooms, Joe suggested Armstrong LVT (luxury vinyl tile) instead of ceramic, which I hadn't considered, and after checking it out, I agreed. A year later, I'm happy with my choices. The carpet looks great, is soft and feels good underfoot, and nicely resistant to stains (again, cats) - way better than the original carpeting. The LVT tile looks snazzy, and doesn't get cold or crack like ceramic would. I had to schedule the carpet and LVT installations separately, and reschedule them a couple times based on other remodeling being done. Empire worked with me without a problem. Carpeting: They quoted the carpeting as a 2-day job, due to its size, but the crew did it in one day, and they were done by 4 pm! They were totally professional, the foreman was personable and spoke good English, the crew took good care of my belongings (with the exception of one minor breakage on a chair), and they did a great job of laying the carpet (found no issues afterward). The foreman said they were the top crew for the big jobs, and I can see why. LVT flooring: This was the final piece, and the only problematic part of the job. The installer was surly and seemed a bit peeved at the work. First off, he discovered that the estimate didn't include laying a plywood base in the master bath, which previously had carpeting. He didn't have those supplies with him, and it would require extra time and expense, plus change the height of the floor, affecting the baseboards. I called Empire, and they agreed to absorb the cost since the estimator should have included it. Once the installer returned with the additional supplies, he got to work. It was a long day, and he didn't finish till 9 pm, but the result was nice, and he replaced and recaulked the baseboards (altho his caulking job was a bit messy). He also had to remove and reseat the toilets, and I was surprised he didn't put in new wax seals, as you're supposed to do, but it hasn't been an issue since. Overall, my experience was good, considering the size and complexity of the job, and I'm satisfied. After reading some of the other reviews, I'm really relieved.

This was a estimate to carpet my bedroom, which I felt was way out of line the carpet selection was not good quality. Also sales rep shouldn't start out telling you he works for jack in the box because he doesn't make enough with empire.

This was a high pressure sales pitch with uncertain product. If you have to have new carpet installed the next day and you don't care the cost or the quality this company would be great. I will not do business with them.

I can't believe I didn't read the reviews before I signed up for an estimate online, I definitely would have looked elsewhere. To be fair let's start with the positives... 1. Setting an appointment online was convenient and easy. 2. The estimator, Mike Brame arrived just after 5pm for a 5-7pm window time. That's all I've got... Now onto the fun part... Mike arrived and called from the street to let me know he had arrived, I met him at the door with my dog Buddy. Buddy had no adverse reaction to him, no warning to me of any sort. ( I will have to speak with him regarding that ) Mike followed me upstairs to the spare room and immediately asked and quot;What are you looking to spend?and quot; He had no samples with him, had not yet measured, he was already acting as if I was wasting his time. I told him that I had received a ballpark quote from another company of around $600.00 + Tax. Mike said and quot;I may as well leave, how's your credit?and quot; I said I would be paying upfront and did not want a payment plan. At this time Mike went to his SUV to grab the samples and his briefcase... why not bring it in the first time? My email clearly stated I was looking for Vinyl Laminate. Mike measured the room and gave me a quote for $1550, for one 10X12 square room! I was informed that there is a minimum charge of $750.00 for any project. I asked if he could measure the hall and the master for a bid and got the response and quot;You expect me to be here all night?and quot; mind you it had been about 15 minutes since he initially arrived. He kept telling my dog and quot;you're mom is making me workand quot; , and quot;how do you put up with her?and quot;... SERIOUSLY??? I told him since the $750 is mandatory I may as well see how much for the entire thing to avoid another minimum charge in the future. Once everything was measured he provided me with the bid of $3850.00 + Tax. Actually that was a positive because originally to get out of measuring it he told me it would be around 5K, he also constantly questioned my ability to pay for it, nice right? I asked if he had a brochure or if the warranty and spec info on the product was on the website. and quot;Do you have a phone?, take a pictureand quot;... Yeah... really... he had me take a picture of the back of his sample as my and quot;Warranty Informationand quot;. I know at this point you are thinking it can't get any better, am I right??? Well it does, he won't give me a written bid!!!! Mike kept pressuring to go ahead with the job, how can I go ahead with nothing? I asked him to write the amount on his card so I wouldn't forget, he said no! That I would turn around and give it to his competition and it would cause a bidding war like the one he was currently in with another customer! How can you sign nothing? I am still baffled, isn't that the point of getting an estimate??? To compare with other companies on price and quality??? I was informed that the price would be good until October 27th, but I need to make a decision quickly because he won't have any openings at that time. Openings for what? A proper proposal??? I told him I still wanted to paint and might not have it installed next week, he said I could go ahead with it and delay the install. I asked if I could put it off for a month so I could make sure I could cover the finances. Mike's quick response was that he shouldn't have to wait on me, it's not fair to him and it's not his fault I need to wait. I called his direct line that evening and asked what the square footage was just so I could get something out of our little evening together (20 minutes max) and was informed that he doesn't give out that info, I told him without that info I would not be proceeding. Not that I planned to at this point anyways... It was like pulling teeth to get anything out of him and he was rude and condescending the entire appointment. I would suggest not wasting your time and going somewhere else. PS... Empire, please do not waste your time copy and pasting your BS apology and excuse below my message. I do not believe it and at this point I am pretty positive you don't either.

They came to our house with samples. They have a good selection of different patterns, textures and colors to choose from. We've used them once before and their estimates have usually been $600 lower than other companies. They did a good job installing the carpet. They were flexible working with us. They were more than willing to come out and remove the carpet one day and allow us to put the sealer on and come back another day.

The old English phrase and quot;a leopard cannot change it's spotsand quot; is one that comes to mind...We weren't too trusting of Empire - the flooring people because a few years ago, they tried to get us to commit to carpeting our 4 bedroom house for $18,000.00 a few years ago!; however, we decided to give them a try to see if they changed... This time, we wanted to tile the bathroom and laundry room, wood laminate the downstairs family room and hallway, and maybe carpet the two bedrooms - the price seemed fair and the offer to laminate the 3 stairs downstairs at no extra charge was the clincher...so we signed the papers to have it done... Clue One: As we debated to carpet the bedrooms - we decided to go with the wood laminate, called our representative and he quoted a price of $1700.00! - a bit steep for two 10' x 12' rooms don't you think? So we decided to price match.. Clue Two: When the gentleman came over to install wood laminate, he stated that you can't put this on stairs cause it's too slippery?? (What does that say for the whole downstairs then...) So we ripped out the carpet for nothing! Clue Three: I got the price match from Lumber Liquidators for $826.96 (material and installation) called up our rep again to let him know and he says he can't match it?? What about the television and radio ads talking about price matching, to which he replied - I'll come down to $1500.00 but no more!? Clue Four: (my favorite) Then our rep states - you quote 7mm wood laminate, an inferior product, while the laminate we install in 10mm, a higher quality of wood laminate...I have a couple of empty boxes of the Empire wood laminate here and it is 7mm - so my question now is: Did Empire install an inferior 7mm wood laminate on our floor or is it suppose to be 10mm that their representative stated in his email? - Nothing further from our rep!! Clue Five: I started talking to customer service but they needed a copy of the price match paperwork - and when she went to our rep and his manager, they seem to have lost the paperwork so they want me to have Lumber Liquidators come out for another measurement! Clue Six: In the mean time as they drag their feet and talk to us every other day, I decided to ask Empire customer service the same question: Did Empire install an inferior 7mm wood laminate on our floor or is it suppose to be 10mm that their representative stated in his email? - Nothing further over the past week! Shame on you Empire! You continue to dupe people out of their hard earned money, charging extraordinary prices, claiming that you match prices of your competitors when you clearly don't, and probably don't install the correct item that people purchase! At least it seems that way based on my comments above...If there is anything we did learn from this process, it was: that the old English phrase and quot;a leopard cannot change it's spotsand quot; is true... ***Update*** I got a call from a man in Seattle who left a message on cell and home phone...I called back 1/2 hour later and stated I was available any time and date - then explained all of the above - and that was two weeks ago and they never called back!!!! Don't believe these canned responses - they don't care about correcting a situation - they've got there money already!

Sales rep came out to measure and provide an estimate. He was on time and the communication with sales center etc. was good but appearance and professionalism was poor. He fumbled his way into the house dropping tools while trying to do the measurement. After the measurement we talked about carpet and trying to match the color that was there which they did have the color but not the quality we were looking for. While pricing things out for the room he showed me the actual cost, $2600, to do the room but said their cost would be around $1600. I told him that was about $600 more than his competitor. He told me that Empire was trying to buy their way into the Renton market and he had to call his sales office to see if they could match our other offer (not professional in my opinion). After the call they could beat the competitor by $511. I told him that we needed to get one more bid and then make a decision. He asked what our price range was and I told him what we thought was reasonable and he looked at me a laughed saying this was a nice house and we wanted nice carpet (again not very professional). I will give them that they were the lowest price of the three bids we received but the lack of professionalism and the fact that they started so high and and quot;discountedand quot; the price down to where the competition was really didn't sit well with me. This was explained to the follow up call by the sales center.

We used Empire today because: 1. They could get carpet in and installed in 2 days and we were in a rush, and 2. because they matched another quote. The carpet is decent, but I will not be using Empire Today ever again for 2 reasons- 1. the install was disappointing- the edges are horrible, there's definitely several locations where they left clumps under the carpet so there's huge bumps, and overall it just does not look or feel professionally done. 2. After we had it installed, Empire Today literally HARASSED us for feedback- both my husband and myself were getting 1-3 calls/day from Empire asking us to review their service- no matter how many times we reviewed them, no matter how many times we told them we'd already reviewed them and to please stop calling, they would not stop calling! This literally went on for nearly two months! It was horribly annoying and this alone would make me NEVER use Empire again!

and Paul Vicksburg came to our house, He was just a little early but he called to ask if it was OK to come early . He Was very easy going and went over many kinds of flooring and prices with us. I did paid more then I had budget for, but We but got very good value. We sit a early AM install time and the installers arrived at 8:00 and went right to work. 4 hrs later all was done and everything clean and put back. They did a great job. Note half way thu the job, company called to make sure all was going well. Nice company to do business with and will be having them do the rest of my house.

When the salesman showed up (late) he proceeded to drop two carpet samples on the floor and said those were the advertised special, and were garbage...but let me show you something better. I made the mistake of letting him continue. They employ old school used car sales tactics...and quot;let me call my manager and see what we can do..and quot; I ended up going with Flynn's Carpet Cents in Lynnwood. They were excellent. Empire left a bad taste.

I was dissapointed that I could not get the price they were advertising.

The representative showed up before me and was courteous. I had the entire kitchen down to the subfloor and discussed with him my thoughts. I wanted to get rid of the baseboard heater and thought porcelain tile was the best choice for flooring. He though it was a good idea to go with one contractor. I would recommend Empire on their professionalism alone.

Salesman, Shane was very friendly, but gave me a ridiculously high estimate. I told him how far out of wack it was and he said he would and quot;call his managerand quot; to see what he could do. All of a sudden he dropped the price by a third. The installers were excellent,but the experience with the estimate made me wonder how many customers who did not have other bids they took advantage of. If you know what carpeting SHOULD cost and hold them to that price, they will do a fine job, but the sales process is shady.