Empire Today®

Make sure the salesman shows you only the products on sale. I spent 5 hours picking out products and after all that time, he told me those items weren't on sale. It was a waste of my time. He gave me a $13000 estimate and told me I had to pay upfront. This was a very negative experience overall, and I was disappointed on wasting my time.

This company uses psychologically manipulative, high-pressure sales techniques. Their prices are not even close to competitive and they provide no advantage over any other companies. They advertise about shopping from the convenience of your home but the reason for that is that they pressure you to sign a contract for services while they are there and they will stall when you try to send them on their way. They know that it's hard to say no to people face-to-face and they work it, hard.

Everything was fine during measurement. Rep did try to push their and quot;70% discountedand quot; carpets although it was not what we wanted. Bid was promised the same day but was not sent. Called customer service after a few days. Customer service stated we are not in the system because we canceled the meeting with the rep. We tried to explain we just met with her a few days ago. Did not help. They can only set a new measurement meeting for us. No way. Called the rep. She told us she tried to call us several times after the measurement and left a bunch of voice mails. Because we did not return her calls the same day she concluded we are not interested and reported we canceled our request for quote. There was not a single call or voice mail on our cell phones. Asked her to send the bid. Rep was annoyed that we are asking for a bid if we are not certain we will go with her bid. The bid she sent was by far the most expensive and less detailed bid we got. Still trying to push her recommendation over what we asked for. We declined it. Then we got a scolding mail about how we don't know what we want and not being able to appreciate Empire quality. Save yourself the grief and time and avoid dealing with them.

Worst company EVER!! -Sales rep they sent was so poorly trained and could not answer half our questions. -No such thing as next day service, more like next week service. -Found out months after carpet was installed we could have gotten the same quality floor and carpet for half of what we paid. -Installers that showed up, spoke almost no english and made it very hard to understand what was going on. -Messy installers, especially when using our bathroom. -When installers left, noticed seams in carpet and tacks sticky up that our child could have cut their feet on. We also had carpet that was pulled under an overhang that was visible and the carpet was jagged and looked like someone had torn it. -Took me WEEKs to get action to have them come and redo the work they had done. -Flooring sold to us as product that was and quot;indestructibleand quot;, yet just weeks later huge gash in my flooring from a TOY my kid dropped on it. So ridiculous. -The worst part about Empire is you can never get the same person twice. The company is too big. -Worst customer service in my life and still to this day7 years later, no one has been worse.

I purchased the flooring and warranty. They called after the 1 year mark to see if I was satisfied. I told them that there were places throughout the floor that were peeling up. The two representatives who were sent to look at the floor were speaking in a different language which I thought was rude. I was never told what was wrong with the floor. After speaking with Empire Floors after their visit, I was eventually told that the moisture underneath the deck and under my home was causing the damage so they weren’t able to replace the floor. They never asked to remove the panels to look under my home to see what they were working with. I have other areas that have laminate floor and they look much better than the brand new laminate that was there. I was told that the moisture proof barrier was installed under the floor but it wasn’t the right type. They refuse to fix my floors but they offered to put down a linoleum floor that looks like laminate but I have to pay for the total cost (removal and installation). I wouldn't recommend them to anyone. They don't stand by their warranties nor their deal offers on TV.

Buying it: We called empire today because of the buy 1 room and get 2 free special they advertise. By the time we had them come to the house (which is really convenient) we had already received 2 seperate bids from local carpet places, so we had an idea of the pricing we were looking at. I wasn't there when the sales person came out, but my said it was a little bit of a hassel as she had to negotiate the price down. the inital price they quoted was insanely high...but then they quickly came down to the prices of the other quotes we had (we didn't tell them what those were)...so we thought it was a little odd that they'd start that high and then drop down. At the end of the day my wife picked their top of the line carpet and they ended up giving us a really good price for it...we felt like we had to haggle a lot though...which at the end of the day was worth it since we feel like we got a really good value. Installation: we were able to arrange to have the carpet installed on New year's eve day..which worked really well for our schedule. they were pretty flexible when we set up the appointment. The crew showed up on time and did a good walk through before they got to work. They were able to move all of the heavy furniture and bulky items that i couldn't move myself, and they replaced it all back when they were done. Interms of the installation work, the carpet looks really good...the seems are not noticable and everything looks great. they did a set of stairs and those came out a 100 times better than the previous carpet that was there...might tighter fit.

I am a very satisfied and would recommend Empire Today at the Kent office even to my worst enemy. I was so happy with how my house looked after the guys had gone. My husband did not participate in the process due to unavoidable circumstances, however, Even he agreed that they had done a marvelous job.

Sales person was personable, knowledgable and flexible on time to meet. She offered good suggestions for color, grade and other considerations for us to help level all surfaces. Installers were on time and able to do a weekend install. Quality of work and carpet was excellent.

Overall, our experience with Empire does not leave us feeling satisfied that we dealt with a reputable and trustworthy company based on the sales call and call center interactions. We feel that we were given false information for the purpose of closing the sale. This is in stark contrast to the subcontracted installers who were excellent - punctual, professional, and highly skilled. We scheduled an appointment online. The salesman (Paul Wickswat - see other reviews) was very punctual and knowledgeable about the products. They use high pressure sales tactics to cut a deal on the spot so be prepared to be firm in requesting an estimate only or already know what you're willing to pay for the job. After we were signed up it became apparent that we had not been given the whole story about the process. First, we were told as a selling point that Empire has its own installers working for the company instead of subbing the work out like other chains. Second, we were told that the installation would take 1 full day, which played a major role in when we scheduled the installation appointment as someone needs to be home all day. To make this work it was explained that the work crews would look at the job specs and assign enough people to complete the job. It turns out that ordering different materials (carpet v hardwoods) means that different crews will be dispatched to complete the installations - at different times and possibly different days. It also turns out that the installers are subcontractors. Most importantly, the amount of time the installation will take that is discussed at the time of the sale is only the salesman's best guess/sales tactic. The installation crews aren't given a timeframe or an idea of the size of the job until they pick up the material and show up for the job. On the day of installation we received 2 confirmation calls - different crews were dispatched to install the carpeting and the hardwoods. Both installation crews called ahead with estimates of when they would arrive, were punctual, and very professional. The installers work quality was excellent. Our and quot;one dayand quot; job was actually a 2-3 day job for the installer. Because we were leaving town on the 3rd day the installers stayed on a Friday night until 11:30 pm finishing the job. Overall, I am very pleased with the installation aspect, but not happy with the sales/business aspect.

It took two days the sales lady Karen that came out was and quot;Greatand quot; she went over every details and explained everything step by step to me. I had the best installers 3 brothers from the Ukraine, they were professional arrived on time, cleaned up after each days work, answered all my questions, they did a beautiful job.

It took a little longer than I thought it would, which isn't a problem, though what I was having done made it a bit inconvenient for me. I was having the carpeting removed and replaced from two stairways which meant I was basically stuck on the main floor of my house all day and it was very loud (so I had trouble watching TV or doing other things). They worked from 8:30 or so until about 8pm for two days. By the end of the second day, they were nearly finished, but came back a third evening to finish up. They did a great job and cleaned everything up. I would definitely use them again.

The quality of materials was good, and they are certainly responsive and perform the work quickly. We probably could have obtained better pricing elsewhere, but we needed it done quickly. On the whole, we were satisfied with their work.

I made a special trip to meet them and they did not show up twice. The second time they called at the last minute to cancel but I had already driven to meet them. Would not recommend.

Purchasing from, and dealing with, Empire Today was one of the BEST decisions we ever made. (We had had a previous quote from another carpet store that was over double what we paid.) Arlene Ong brought many carpet samples with her the day after I phoned. She was very professional, friendly, knew exactly what she was doing, and gave us an exact quote of the cost.. She took measurements and answered all of our questions. She was also very patient as it took me some time to decide on which berber carpet color I wanted. She had samples of window treatments with her so it took even more time for me to pick the color/design I wanted. The carpet installers came the next day right on time. Alex and Jose moved the heavy furniture and ripped up the old carpet. The carpet was so badly stained that the subfloor needed a coat of protective paint, which Empire Today doesn't do. No problem for us to do ourselves; it was a minor job, and we rescheduled installation for a day later and, again, Alex and Jose were right on time. They went to work immediately and and installed it perfectly. Afterwards, they moved the furniture back into the room. The window treatment installer, Chris, came that day too to measure for the vertical blinds we chose. He was also very nice and knowledgeable, and the same man who will do the installation tomorrow, August 10th. I would more than highly recommend Empire Today. From the service, to the quality of product, to the installation, to the price, the company and the people we dealt with were wonderful. The convenience of having Arlene come to us was great; it saved us a lot of time going from store to store.

I was in the market for new carpet and hardwood floors for a house I had recently inherited. Joel came out and measured the floors and showed me a few product samples. He sent me an estimate the next day. It was only a total amount for carpet and hardwood including installation, so I wasn't shown how much per square foot I was paying for the flooring nor how much the installation was. I replied asking for this information and Joel said they do not provide estimates that are broken out, that each estimate is done for the complete job only. This seemed like a red flag, so I proceeded to shop around. I heard from the company (someone from a call center I believe) about a week later to see if I was interested in moving forward. I mentioned I was still shopping around and would contact the sales rep with questions. A few days later I saw a commercial for Empire's "whole house" -- buy 2 rooms of flooring get the rest of the house free -- sale. This seemed like a great sale since I was redoing the floors in the whole house. I e-mailed Joel to find out if this sale would lower my flooring quote. I never heard anything back, so after getting estimates from a couple of other sources that were around the same price as Empire, I went with one of the other sources.

7/26/2012: Keith was an extremely nice and professional woman who clearly knew her trade. She called before she arrived, came on time, was polite and patient with our barking dogs and nosy cat. She showed us many flooring options, starting with those on sale and then other options. After we picked a laminate we both liked she measured our rooms. She was pleasant to interact with. Once done measuring she showed us the pricing which was completely out of the ballpark. We shared our concerns and our belief that the average flooring install costs were far lower than the $12.36/sf ($1422 total for one 115/sf room!) Empire was looking for. She wasn't bothered at all by our sticker shock and called her boss who immediately. Her boss knocked the price down to $999 on the rooms or $6000 for the full job (about 500 feet of flooring). This was still far too much as we'd already done some price shipping at Home Depot and research on homewyse.com. There was another call to this manager who offered a cheaper type of flooring for a bit less if we'd agree to a yard sign in the front yard. Our opinion of Keith is high, but the Empire flooring pricing and the used car sales mentality of having a distant boss knock off huge profit margins initially than fight to the bone through a undeserving employee (Keith) wasn't welcome. Over the course of the next several days: Empire flooring went to work attempting lower the price as far as they could and asked to be given a chance to match any other competitors bid. We had a measuring service performed by Home Depot who quoted us a $1583 dollar price to floor both rooms with a fairly similar, but not quite as nice product. To our surprise Empire not only matched but beat the competitors price, sent a management employee (Daniel) to our home on 7/31/2012 and got us the perfect install day. He also found his employee, Keith, had made a measurement error that would have normally cost more, but he and his boss Mr. Hess decided to eat the difference without me having to negotiate for it (thank you!). We also worked out that the existing baseboards could remain and have quarter round installed around. Empire initially seemed very reluctant to do this, but Home Depot had stated no problem during their consultation. Empire called 2 days later to confirm the schedule date, which is appreciated. 8/3/2012: Today 2 gentleman arrived exactly on time and absolutely were amazing at their craft. They were polite, efficient in working together, thoughtful of how they laid out their tools and materials, and confident.. We did a post-walkthrough after the job was done (about 6.5 hours for 2 rooms totaling 300sf) and found only one small error in the calking they did between our baseboard and their quarter round, probably 2 feet of caulking missing. There was no fuss or anger between anyone at anytime. The installers simply did whatever we wished and seemed happy to do so. What I really liked was I didn't have to hear any foul language or arguments between the 2 man crew. What we are left with is a work of art. In Summary: I've read most of the other reviews for empire and the consensus seems to be they start way too high price wise and require negotiation to bring the price down. This was my experience to a and quot;Tand quot;. At the point Empire understood our $1500 was going to land elsewhere they came through like a stallion and I sincerely imagine their installers are likely better than what home depot would have thrown at us. Every Empire employee we spoke to or met was extremely professional and stated talking points rather than get emotionally invested in an argument. We will consider empire for future products. Our sole bit of advise if for them to take a Top to Bottom look of their sales model and explore whether or not it is all that customer friendly up front. The rest of the operation seems finely tuned and well oiled!

Overall the quality of work was good, with one exception. Empire did our whole house in 2 days. The only problem we had was the tile that was put down in front of the fireplace. The person they used to not seem to know what he was doing. When he finished, we had a metal border sticking up a quarter of an inch. He had used the wrong edge piece and had tried to fill it in with mortar. I called the manager and complained. They came out the very next day and Took the new floor out and read it. But unfortunately they used the same person they had before. They have been out twice to fix the problem with the tile. What they need to do is start over and use the proper metal border to begin with and then there won't be a problem. They were out 2 weeks ago to look at the floor tile again, we have not heard back from them, we seemed to have gotten lost in the shuffle.

The people from Empire Today were very fast and efficient. They did a good quality job, there were no issues at all.

Ultimately, best price when quality of carpet was considered. Prompt. Very professional during estimate process, as well as during installation

It was pretty expensive, but I had most of my house done. I would highly recommend them. They were here the next day after I ordered it, and they did a really professional job. I am pretty happy with them. What stood out about them to me was their next day service. The guys were right here the next day, and they did the whole job the next day in a couple of hours, that really stood out to me. They didn't make a big deal out of it, it just happened. Their price was not as cheap as I expected, but then, they did the whole house.

Empire installed our new carpet. there was little problem with a stair and they came back and corrected it tpo perfection!

They were wonderful. They advertise on TV as next day service and they really are here the next day. They removed my furniture quickly. However I knew that if they were not available or couldn't do it the next day they would schedule what's convenient for me. They were very professional and they said they will be here at 8 o'clock in the morning and they were here at 8 o'clock. They helped me to move furniture since I couldn't do it. I've recommended them to friends. I saw their Ad on TV and got online. I filled a form up and they called me within fifteen minutes which I thought was great. Their price was reasonable.

I purchased carpet and had them to install it. I decided to use them because they were having a sale and based on a family recommendation.

Empire Today was great. In the hallway and upstairs landing I had carpet. They removed and placed the laminate flooring down. Removed and replaced baseboard. I had poorly laid tile in entryway and kitchen. They dug it up and removed it, then placed with laminate flooring. They cleaned up everything. Did a great job. They helped me prepare for the job. The guy that came to do the floors was very professional. I could tell he was one of those workers who enjoyed his job. He really pushed to do the job to high standard. Before he left, he even wanted to make sure I was happy with the work.

The installers arrived on time and quickly went to work. The installers were great. It was the materials they were given that I'm upset about. Apparently they were out of the hardwood I had been sold so they put in something of and quot;equaland quot; value. At first the floors looked great. But is wasn't but a few hours I noticed major flaws. This ranged from bad looking planks, cracked or chipped planks, plans with bug damage that had been puttied, and bad transitition strip into the family room. I was very upset with the quality of the wood. I took pictures and documented the things I was upset with. They sent an and quot;inspectorand quot; came out for about 10 mins and left. Later I was told that the installers would be back to fix the items. They came a few days later and fixed some of the major items, but flat out told me that the materials they were given to install were crap. They opened a box and most of the box had major issues. This wasn't the flooring they showed me or sold me. I felt that they pulled the old and quot;bait and switchand quot;. The installer told me I should get a wood color crayon to address all the chips that were still there and would likely happen.