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Empire Carpet Complaint - Lousy Carpet & Installation - Carpet installation
Carpet installation - Complaint
TAMPA, FLORIDA -- In March 2011, we foolishly hired Empire Today to install Laminate and Carpet in our home at a cost of over $11,000. Salesman stated Laminate must be installed before carpet and he schedules it accordingly. Laminate crew arrives and discovers that the do not have all the materials to do all the rooms paid for. Laminate crew chief returns 4 days later, which happened to be same day carpet scheduled for install, and completes Laminate job.
Carpet crew consisting of two men in shorts, flip flops, and undershirts arrive to install carpet in four rooms. They immediately yell at me because Laminate was installed first. I told him that is how salesman stated it MUST be done. They then complained about having to move furniture which they were required to do per our contract, and complained that job was going to take them longer than the 90 minutes they like to spend doing a job. They rolled out our carpet in the middle of the road and proceeded to cut the pieces. I inspected each room upon completion and noticed the carpet was not tacked down in most rooms along the walls and none of the thresholds had been tucked in all four rooms. I complained to the I staplers and the told me it was supposed to look that way and it would probably work itself out over next 6-8 weeks. That has to be the dumbest thing I ever heard.
I called Empire Today in May 2011, to have someone come out and properly install the carpet. Have been getting the run-around for two weeks now. Finally got a day and time for someone to come out to fix, take off early to meet them for the 2:00pm appointment, and they don't show up and don't call. I call them again, get on schedule for next day (June 3) same time, and as of 5:33pm, no show and no call. I complained to corporate office, someone named Helen. She just said she would call me Monday, June 6 to see if they showed up.
We are SO SORRY we chose Empire Today. They advertise buy one room get rest free. It's NOT free. You only get material free, and have to pay out the ear for labor and installation. Carpet is of very poor quality and poorly installed. DO NOT purchase anything from Empire Today. They are a total nightmare and complete rip off.
Carpet crew consisting of two men in shorts, flip flops, and undershirts arrive to install carpet in four rooms. They immediately yell at me because Laminate was installed first. I told him that is how salesman stated it MUST be done. They then complained about having to move furniture which they were required to do per our contract, and complained that job was going to take them longer than the 90 minutes they like to spend doing a job. They rolled out our carpet in the middle of the road and proceeded to cut the pieces. I inspected each room upon completion and noticed the carpet was not tacked down in most rooms along the walls and none of the thresholds had been tucked in all four rooms. I complained to the I staplers and the told me it was supposed to look that way and it would probably work itself out over next 6-8 weeks. That has to be the dumbest thing I ever heard.
I called Empire Today in May 2011, to have someone come out and properly install the carpet. Have been getting the run-around for two weeks now. Finally got a day and time for someone to come out to fix, take off early to meet them for the 2:00pm appointment, and they don't show up and don't call. I call them again, get on schedule for next day (June 3) same time, and as of 5:33pm, no show and no call. I complained to corporate office, someone named Helen. She just said she would call me Monday, June 6 to see if they showed up.
We are SO SORRY we chose Empire Today. They advertise buy one room get rest free. It's NOT free. You only get material free, and have to pay out the ear for labor and installation. Carpet is of very poor quality and poorly installed. DO NOT purchase anything from Empire Today. They are a total nightmare and complete rip off.
Company Response:
Michael, it’s always our goal to make the installation process as convenient as possible for our customers and I’m sorry for the issues you’ve experienced. It’s my understanding after working with our customer service team a few weeks ago, your repair was completed and that you’re satisfied with the results. Please feel free to call me at 888-588-2315 x4195 or email me at customersupoprt@empiretoday.com if you have any further questions or concerns. Rebekah Clerk, National Customer Service Manager
Comments:
Posted by trmn8r on 2011-06-04:
Installing the laminate first should not be an issue for a professional team with the right materials and expertise. All the idiots needed was a threshold and the means to cut it to length.
With a job of that size, 90 minutes is too quick. For a professional install, that is.
With a job of that size, 90 minutes is too quick. For a professional install, that is.
Posted by madconsumer on 2011-06-04:
why are you calling people the 'I..' word?
Posted by DebtorBasher on 2011-06-04:
Good review, sounds like they're not the professionals they claim to be.
Posted by trmn8r on 2011-06-04:
Idiot: "someone who acts in a self-defeating or significantly counterproductive way"
There are other definitions, but this is the one I intended.
There are other definitions, but this is the one I intended.
Posted by Ponie on 2011-06-04:
I've heard both good and bad reviews on Empire. The most outlandish which was closer to home (member of my family) resulted in:
Numerous calls for assistance (pretty much, OK, we'll take care of it); report to BBB (which is quite useless); report to State Attorney General; Small claims court.
The judge apparently had numerous cases against them in that geographical area because he not only awarded a complete re-installation of carpet, he tossed in a couple of thou' to make the claimant happy. The second install took almost twice as long as the first. Maybe because the home owner was on the installers like white on rice the whole time?
Numerous calls for assistance (pretty much, OK, we'll take care of it); report to BBB (which is quite useless); report to State Attorney General; Small claims court.
The judge apparently had numerous cases against them in that geographical area because he not only awarded a complete re-installation of carpet, he tossed in a couple of thou' to make the claimant happy. The second install took almost twice as long as the first. Maybe because the home owner was on the installers like white on rice the whole time?
Posted by Tavonya on 2011-06-24:
Wow, Thanks people!!!Just bought a new home that I need to replace over 4000sq ft of carpet. Was just looking at the commerical for Empire. I went straight review sites BEFORE making the call to Empire. GLAD I DID OMG!!!!! My money and peace of mind is to valuable to be ripped off my Empire!!!
Posted by DebtorBasher on 2011-06-24:
It's always best to research before buying, Tavonya. In cases like this though, I think it all depends on the individual locations. I know someone who used Empire and was very happy with the results, but that's here in Cleveland. It's best to do 'local' searches on companies as well.
Posted by face it on 2012-04-01:
Most people think of Empire as a friendly local store where you can buy materials and installation services. THIS IS NOT TRUE!! the sales staff are sub contractors, the installers are also sub contractors. This means you may get an installer in your home that cares about what they are doing, but chances are you will get a less than skilled installer due to the fact the Empire pays there installers the lowest scale I have ever seen in my 24 years in this industry! They model there business this way for this simple reason. As a sub contractor (either sales or installation) Empire legally has no liability that way. There TV ad's border on illegal in regards to promising one thing and delivering something else. There are thousands of bad experience reviews out there. I can tell you first hand ,as I was a sub contract installer with Empire for a short time, that Empire uses the lowest possible grade of materials and there only interest is in collecting payment. They ask for 100% payment up front before they begin the work! Simply said Empire is not to be trusted! please see a review on this site ( http://www.my3cents.com/showReview.cgi?id=109615 )for an inside view of the inner workings of Empire.
Thank you for making this information available about your experience and I hope that anyone thinking about investing there hard earned money in Empire will see these reviews.
Thank you for making this information available about your experience and I hope that anyone thinking about investing there hard earned money in Empire will see these reviews.
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