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Empire Today Complaint - NEVER use Empire Today for Carpet, Laminate, Hardwood Flooring - Carpet and Vinyl Floor Installation
Carpet and Vinyl Floor Installation - Complaint
I contracted with Empire Carpet to install carpeting in 4 rooms and a vinyl floor in my kitchen during their "Buy 2 Rooms and Get the rest for free" sale. That was my biggest mistake ever.
I met with the salesman that reviewed my home on a Saturday morning. He was nice. That's the best thing I can say about him (more on him later). I purchased 5 total rooms of flooring that was to be installed the following Tuesday (all carpet) and Friday (vinyl kitchen floor).
Only one person that showed up on the carpeting team spoke English...not good. He promised me when he arrived he would do a professional job in all of the rooms. That pleased me. About 4 hours later, he told me he only had enough carpeting to put in 3 of the 4 bedrooms and that he would have to come out again to finish the job. I told him to either credit me BACK the money I paid that Tuesday morning or bring another role of carpeting to finish the job today. HE SAID HE COULDN'T DO EITHER!!! I quickly got on the phone to my salesman who could make absolutely no decision whatsoever when I explained the situation to him. All my salesman could do is apologize.
Finally, after a couple hours on the phone with the Empire "team"...they agreed to take off $750 my Tuesday bill. I was happy with that at the time (but wait! There will be more on this!) Since I agreed to have the vinyl floor put in on Friday, I stated I wanted the carpeting team there at the exact same time as the vinyl floor people to minimize the time I would be out of work...
The vinyl team showed up Friday morning and finished early Friday afternoon. The carpeting team arrived at 2:00pm Friday afternoon as the vinyl team was leaving. I placed numerous calls to the Empire team...nobody cared. Nobody agreed to do anything. I was out of work another entire day.
The vinyl looks nice in my kitchen...however, I have a sliding door to a bathroom off of my kitchen, and they put a threshold in that blocks the sliding door from opening. I had to schedule a time for the Empire Team to come and fix my sliding door problem.
Also, when they were installing the carpeting in one of the bedrooms, they broke a wood threshold between the carpeting and the hallway. This took 3 (yes, THREE) visits from the Empire team to fix. All of this time I had to miss work.
The lying Empire Today team NEVER gave me a credit for my $750...they only told me they did. Empire Today's management team did not care. They just stated "your work is done, and you've paid your money".
I will never use Empire Today team again. What a worthless outfit. If you enjoy headaches, missing work, getting lied to, and listen to the English speaking Empire employees complain about the company they work for, then by all means...please use Empire Today. Everybody else should stay far, far away.
I met with the salesman that reviewed my home on a Saturday morning. He was nice. That's the best thing I can say about him (more on him later). I purchased 5 total rooms of flooring that was to be installed the following Tuesday (all carpet) and Friday (vinyl kitchen floor).
Only one person that showed up on the carpeting team spoke English...not good. He promised me when he arrived he would do a professional job in all of the rooms. That pleased me. About 4 hours later, he told me he only had enough carpeting to put in 3 of the 4 bedrooms and that he would have to come out again to finish the job. I told him to either credit me BACK the money I paid that Tuesday morning or bring another role of carpeting to finish the job today. HE SAID HE COULDN'T DO EITHER!!! I quickly got on the phone to my salesman who could make absolutely no decision whatsoever when I explained the situation to him. All my salesman could do is apologize.
Finally, after a couple hours on the phone with the Empire "team"...they agreed to take off $750 my Tuesday bill. I was happy with that at the time (but wait! There will be more on this!) Since I agreed to have the vinyl floor put in on Friday, I stated I wanted the carpeting team there at the exact same time as the vinyl floor people to minimize the time I would be out of work...
The vinyl team showed up Friday morning and finished early Friday afternoon. The carpeting team arrived at 2:00pm Friday afternoon as the vinyl team was leaving. I placed numerous calls to the Empire team...nobody cared. Nobody agreed to do anything. I was out of work another entire day.
The vinyl looks nice in my kitchen...however, I have a sliding door to a bathroom off of my kitchen, and they put a threshold in that blocks the sliding door from opening. I had to schedule a time for the Empire Team to come and fix my sliding door problem.
Also, when they were installing the carpeting in one of the bedrooms, they broke a wood threshold between the carpeting and the hallway. This took 3 (yes, THREE) visits from the Empire team to fix. All of this time I had to miss work.
The lying Empire Today team NEVER gave me a credit for my $750...they only told me they did. Empire Today's management team did not care. They just stated "your work is done, and you've paid your money".
I will never use Empire Today team again. What a worthless outfit. If you enjoy headaches, missing work, getting lied to, and listen to the English speaking Empire employees complain about the company they work for, then by all means...please use Empire Today. Everybody else should stay far, far away.
Company Response:
Kevin, we’re sorry for the inconveniences you were caused before and after your product’s installation. It’s my understanding you’ve spoken with a member of our Customer Service Team yesterday and that we were able to verify that your credit was processed approximately two weeks ago. It’s my understanding that you’re satisfied at this time, but if there’s anything else we can do for you, please let me know. You can email me at customersupport@empiretoday.com or contact me via phone at 888-588-2315 x 4195. Rebekah Clerk, National Customer Service
Comments:
Posted by dan gordon on 2011-03-22:
you obviously didn't read any reviews before signing your contract. Thats unfortuante. You probably overpaid by several $1000 dollars. Its not unusual to have two different set of installers as its different work. Your salesman can't do much as they aren't employees of Empire today.
Posted by Ytropious on 2011-03-22:
True, the salesmen just sells you the carpet, they don't do a whole lot after that. I'm sorry OP, but I think you were being a little little little bit hard with them. You were upset he only had 3 of 4 rooms of carpet. Their trucks can only hold so much carpet. If he had installs before you, he probably doesn't have time to head all the way back to base and restock. I don't know why you find this unacceptable. Also you demanded that the vinyl installers were there the same time as the carpet people. It's hard enough installing one room, but I bet had that gone as planned for you they would have been walking all over each other and it would have been frustrating for everyone. Appointments are hardly an exact science. They don't know exactly how much time it's going to take for a job until they get to it.
Posted by ok4now on 2011-03-22:
You now have the dubious distinction of being ripped off by one of the two major home improvement contractors. The other one is Window Wizzards. Don't even get me started with these people. There are numerous negative reviews on this site about Empire. They advertise heavily and dupe unsuspecting customers in. I have never read one favorable review about these toads. Actually you came out better than most people. They did show up as promised and attempted to complete the job. As Ytropious correctly pointed out the trucks can only carry so much. Also to get a quality job done you don't want the carpet installers & the vinyl floor installers at your home both at the same time. What's the rush? Hopefully you put this on your C.C. so you can dispute the $750.00 charge. This is a hard lesson learned. Do Not do business with these people ever again.
Posted by face it on 2012-01-19:
Here we go again! I made a mistake signing up to install products for Empire Today. Regardless of what they charge the customer, the installers wages are reduced to minimum wage pay. Companies like this are ruining the market for contractors as well as customers. The Empire shop I did work out of is absolutely the most unorganized outfit I have ever seen. One person tells you one thing, they next tells you something completely different. If I hired a contractor to come into my home I would want to know they had all there credentials (insurance,etc.) but what most people do not realize is that in a situation like Empire The contractor wages are cut to below minimum wage although Empire's typical charges are as high if not higher than most others in this market.
Several times I was put in a bad position because the sales person failed to properly evaluate a job site. Meaning cost to me for labor time,gas,materials,etc. That Empire refuses to reimburse us for. Stating there "policy" does not allow us to be paid for situations where the sales person failed to do a competent job and evaluate the scope of work properly.So basically they have a bunch of "non English speaking" labor, or they have less than professional installers willing to work for pennies! People BEWARE! avoid companies like this! Empire Today, Lumber Liquidators,etc. There position in the market place is solely to make a profit. There is no allowance for the personal service you can only get by hiring a private contractor.
A person could potentially go to work for Empire and spend out more in labor and gas than they would ever make in return for there time.And from the customer side of view? The sales person is the first contact they have with a company like this. And the sales person can and will make promises to sale a job, making it sound as if nothing is impossible. Then when the unskilled labor crew arrives at your home with the wrong material, not enough of it, or some other condition resulting in an unsatisfied customer. So the argument could be that if you hired a private contractor would that solve this issue? It would if you hired the right contractor! And there allot of us out there they strive to do the best job possible, and there are allot out there who do not. For people to put faith in a organization like Empire is exactly what they hope for. When the truth be known if the customer could see all that goes on behind the scenes they would NEVER want to deal with a place like EMPIRE!!
Several times I was put in a bad position because the sales person failed to properly evaluate a job site. Meaning cost to me for labor time,gas,materials,etc. That Empire refuses to reimburse us for. Stating there "policy" does not allow us to be paid for situations where the sales person failed to do a competent job and evaluate the scope of work properly.So basically they have a bunch of "non English speaking" labor, or they have less than professional installers willing to work for pennies! People BEWARE! avoid companies like this! Empire Today, Lumber Liquidators,etc. There position in the market place is solely to make a profit. There is no allowance for the personal service you can only get by hiring a private contractor.
A person could potentially go to work for Empire and spend out more in labor and gas than they would ever make in return for there time.And from the customer side of view? The sales person is the first contact they have with a company like this. And the sales person can and will make promises to sale a job, making it sound as if nothing is impossible. Then when the unskilled labor crew arrives at your home with the wrong material, not enough of it, or some other condition resulting in an unsatisfied customer. So the argument could be that if you hired a private contractor would that solve this issue? It would if you hired the right contractor! And there allot of us out there they strive to do the best job possible, and there are allot out there who do not. For people to put faith in a organization like Empire is exactly what they hope for. When the truth be known if the customer could see all that goes on behind the scenes they would NEVER want to deal with a place like EMPIRE!!
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