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Empire Carpet - Awful installation service
Complaint
Review by kzwarg on 2012-07-06
Rating: 
DENVER, COLORADO -- We needed to have our entire home re-floored after we flooded in a bad storm. Initially the salesman was nice and informative. He made a quote that was quite high and when we balked, he then "pretended" to call his boss to see what kind of deals he could give us. After ordering a laminate floor and carpets for the bedrooms we got a decent price compared to other company's. They told us they could be in to install within 2-3 days. A week later a carpet team showed up hours late (they called once to say they were behind). One of the installers was ill and went into our family bathroom for 42 minutes and got sick!!! He continued to use the bathroom frequently and it ended up taking he and his partner 6.5 hours to do a bedroom roughly 15X12 feet! I urged him to go home several times and that we could reschedule, but he barely spoke English and refused.
A week later as we already put a deposit on our laminate floor we had a contractor in for other repair. He told us the slab we wanted to put the floor on was badly damaged and would need significant repair before a laminate floor could lay flat and click together. I got a second opinion and they said the same thing. The empires salesman was ignorant and sold me something I could not even use. He had no understanding of the floors structure or make-up and what would be needed for prep-work. Finally, we went for carpet and after paying and expecting the carpet the next morning, we got a call at 7:48 the night before saying we owed $648.00 more dollars. We fired them. The entire team from salesmen, schedulers and installers were idiots. Poor quality and would NEVER recommend them. EVER. And I still do not have my last room of pre-paid carpet in. Three weeks later we are "on the schedule". I made a total mistake with empire!
A week later as we already put a deposit on our laminate floor we had a contractor in for other repair. He told us the slab we wanted to put the floor on was badly damaged and would need significant repair before a laminate floor could lay flat and click together. I got a second opinion and they said the same thing. The empires salesman was ignorant and sold me something I could not even use. He had no understanding of the floors structure or make-up and what would be needed for prep-work. Finally, we went for carpet and after paying and expecting the carpet the next morning, we got a call at 7:48 the night before saying we owed $648.00 more dollars. We fired them. The entire team from salesmen, schedulers and installers were idiots. Poor quality and would NEVER recommend them. EVER. And I still do not have my last room of pre-paid carpet in. Three weeks later we are "on the schedule". I made a total mistake with empire!
Company Response:
Kristin, we regret any inconveniences that occurred during your installation process. The experience that you’ve described is not in line with the world-class service that we expect for our customers. A member of our customer service team will be contacting you soon to discuss your installation experience and work towards a resolution. You can contact us at 888-588-2315 x4195 or email us at customersupport@empiretoday.com if you have any questions. Thank you. Rebekah Clerk, National Customer Service Manager
Comments:
Posted by Bill on 2012-07-06:
Should of read the Empire reviews on this site first.
I would never ever think about using Empire, I would go with a local vendor even if it was more money.
I would never ever think about using Empire, I would go with a local vendor even if it was more money.
Posted by trmn8r on 2012-07-06:
Calling you the night before installation to tell you that you owe money just sounds wrong.
Posted by face it on 2012-07-06:
Thank you for posting this review. I hope that other potential customers read this and the other reviews about Empire before they waste there money!
"The installer barely spoke English" does not surprise me, as Empire pays the lowest labor rates in the industry. Regardless of what they charge up front Empire uses under-skilled labor for there installations. This company is nothing more than a legally protected bunch of crooks. America does not need so called "organizations" like this filling peoples heads with there ridiculous commercials and with there obvious lack of compassion and over all quality.
As an installer looking for work I tried Empire for 3 small jobs, the first one I refused to do because of the laminate material they gave me to install was all warped and out of square, there comment to this was "Tell the customers that is the nature of the product, to have gaps" Knowing better I refused to install it. The other 2 jobs did not go very well either, the sales people have no clue what they are talking about (basically any used car sales man down on his luck can be a sales person for Empire, in my experience the sales staff has no working knowledge of product application and or limitations) . I was asked 3 separate times to tear out asbestos containing material on the same job, endangering myself and the occupants of the home! and after not being fully paid for the previous nightmares I was subject to via Empire at that point I told them to never call me again.
Operations like this have got to stop! The paying customer deserves better than what Empire could ever deliver. There sales Tactics are just south of illegal. They did not just roll out of ditch yesterday either, they know full and well what they are doing and they have taken extreme legal measures to protect there interest = YOU'RE MONEY!!
You're best bet is always to check with local reputable stores. Put it to you this way -If the sales person came in and gave you a price of lets say $10,000 for your project, then did the let me call my boss "bit" and came back with a price of $6,000. What if you agreed to the first price? It happens all the time, and Empire counts on that. You would not receive any better service or quality, you would just be out $4,000 more! and they would be laughing all the way to the bank.(hows that for buy 1 room and get 2 free!!) The overall quality of the materials they use is that of your local discount/close out store.
If you look at this review and then compare the company response to other reviews on this site, as well as other sites, you will see a very common thread. These responses are scripted, they have such a high volume of dissatisfied customers that making a scripted "we are sorry...blah blah blah" becomes a necessity!
Again I would like to say thank you for taking the time to post your experience with Empire, and I am truly sorry that you did not see all the real Empire reviews before you wasted your money there.
"The installer barely spoke English" does not surprise me, as Empire pays the lowest labor rates in the industry. Regardless of what they charge up front Empire uses under-skilled labor for there installations. This company is nothing more than a legally protected bunch of crooks. America does not need so called "organizations" like this filling peoples heads with there ridiculous commercials and with there obvious lack of compassion and over all quality.
As an installer looking for work I tried Empire for 3 small jobs, the first one I refused to do because of the laminate material they gave me to install was all warped and out of square, there comment to this was "Tell the customers that is the nature of the product, to have gaps" Knowing better I refused to install it. The other 2 jobs did not go very well either, the sales people have no clue what they are talking about (basically any used car sales man down on his luck can be a sales person for Empire, in my experience the sales staff has no working knowledge of product application and or limitations) . I was asked 3 separate times to tear out asbestos containing material on the same job, endangering myself and the occupants of the home! and after not being fully paid for the previous nightmares I was subject to via Empire at that point I told them to never call me again.
Operations like this have got to stop! The paying customer deserves better than what Empire could ever deliver. There sales Tactics are just south of illegal. They did not just roll out of ditch yesterday either, they know full and well what they are doing and they have taken extreme legal measures to protect there interest = YOU'RE MONEY!!
You're best bet is always to check with local reputable stores. Put it to you this way -If the sales person came in and gave you a price of lets say $10,000 for your project, then did the let me call my boss "bit" and came back with a price of $6,000. What if you agreed to the first price? It happens all the time, and Empire counts on that. You would not receive any better service or quality, you would just be out $4,000 more! and they would be laughing all the way to the bank.(hows that for buy 1 room and get 2 free!!) The overall quality of the materials they use is that of your local discount/close out store.
If you look at this review and then compare the company response to other reviews on this site, as well as other sites, you will see a very common thread. These responses are scripted, they have such a high volume of dissatisfied customers that making a scripted "we are sorry...blah blah blah" becomes a necessity!
Again I would like to say thank you for taking the time to post your experience with Empire, and I am truly sorry that you did not see all the real Empire reviews before you wasted your money there.
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