Empire Carpet Consumer Reviews - Page 5

AURORA, COLORADO -- I purchased a carpet (love the color) along with Pet Pad (expensive). I have pets and in case they had accidents I was worry free. Rented place to a young couple who's dog was learning to potty train. I rented a carpet cleaner from local store and smell of pet urine was awful. I thought it was the store's steam cleaner itself.

I hired 2 companies who claimed to be able to remove pet odors. I purchased a heavy duty steam cleaner with no success. I'm sold my townhome, returned the other day to finish the final closing requests and my townhome smells so bad of pet odors. I am not only embarrassed I am selling my home this way but, I am very angry and disappointed in the Pet Pad or carpet that is supposed to decrease or eliminate odors. I will never use Empire Carpet again.

CHESTERFIELD, MICHIGAN -- Salesperson came to our home to discuss and get an estimate to replace the existing flooring in our kitchen, dining and laundry room. The installers put a seam between the kitchen and dining room when these rooms all flow together with no door! We told the installers this was not acceptable. They said it is Empire's policy to put a seam every 10 ft which isn't true because our kitchen is over 20 ft and only 1 seam. We made a very bad mistake by letting them finish the job thinking Empire would correct the problem because when we called and told Empire they said they would contact management and get back to us.

That didn't happen and when we finally got through they said that is the policy. When asked why not another seam then? They asked for a picture. We sent a before and after to show our old laminate had no seam. Their next response was that the flooring we chose required that seam. Again only 1 seam. Now we have to purchase more flooring, rip out their install and do it ourself. We will do that after we contact them on some defective boards. Don't use Empire for flooring.

SANFORD, NORTH CAROLINA -- I received a "quote" from Empire Flooring to replace all floors... Upfront warning: you have three days to cancel your order which involves mailing a form to their legal department. That time frame is too short for regular mail so your only option is to pay for priority or overnight delivery. If you miss this, the contract states a min. 15% fee.

My quote for engineered wood and carpet (during the 50/50/50 sale) was $16K... that was nearly $9/sq. ft. The representative told me he needed to put an install date and needed my e-signatures for the quote. Engineered wood throughout most and carpet in two bedrooms, stairs, and bonus room. Approx. 1900 sq. ft. with a quote of more than $16K... that's more than $8/sq ft.

I called and emailed my sales representative and got nothing back except to say he missed my call... No reply to my email re: the cancellation policy and whether it applied to my quote. I didn't risk it and overnighted the form requiring a delivery signature. Despite this, installers showed up at my door on the date he plugged in "just for quote purposes." I would have been on the hook for a lot of $$ and bet this is how Empire makes most of their $$... Through shady sales tactics and reliance on consumer faith they're working with a trustworthy company. It's a marketing ploy to make money off restock fees/consumer penalties.

SPARTANBURG, SOUTH CAROLINA -- We purchase carpet and had an appointment for installation on 2-27-2017. They called and rescheduled for 2-28-2017. We advised them when we made our purchase we needed installed before 3-1-2017 because we had appointment to show our residence on 3-01. They came out on 02-28-2017 and stated they did not have material for install. Rescheduled for 03-01-2017. Nobody showed nor called. We contacted them to be told we were confirmed for 03-02-2017. We will see but, I am not confident anyone will show. If you are thinking about using them to purchase and install carpet, I have one word for you. DON'T!!!

BRYANTOWN, MARYLAND -- BUYER BEWARE!!! On the day of the installation the installers showed up on time. They were very professional. However, they showed up with not enough carpet for the job and the wrong padding. This was not the installers' fault, the salesman did not order enough carpet or the right padding. Also, the installer advised me that I have to pay the full amount before he can even start work. What kind of a reputable company wants the full payment before they can begin and knows they will not finish that day because they do not have all of the material?

Also they could not guarantee me they would return the next day to finish job. The installers did good work however. My opinion, you can find a better carpet company in Maryland. It is a shame that management is ruining this company.

EL PASO, OREGON -- I cannot speak to how good a service this company provides but I can tell you management is crooked. Their scam is not a common one.

I subcontracted as an electrician at their El Paso, Texas facility. They were pleased with the work I did and although they held onto their payment for a while they did eventually pay me the $40000 owed.

I contracted for more work and sank quite a bit of money into the job. The economy had just tanked and my business was extremely slow. As a result of poor cash flow I ran out of money and informed them I need some payment on my outstanding invoices in order to finish the work. I was nearly done. Suddenly they wouldn't respond to my phone calls or faxes. This went on for weeks. I was desperate.

Realizing I was never going to be paid I returned for the materials I had left at the job site and the manager wouldn't return several hundred dollars in materials saying he had already paid for them. I couldn't get past the front desk so I finally gave up.

When I was first hired I was told a strange story about the previous electrician. They had pulled all the wire out of the conduit and abandoned the job. We were hired to finish the job. This was strange behavior that made no sense to me. Now I understand the same thing happened to them and they removed the wire in order to recover some of their outlay.

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE -- Excellent all the way through. Salesman showed up on time, very professional and extremely knowledgeable of the product. Gave us many option on style and color. Installers were a little late due to finishing up a job from day before, but made sure to contact me and inform me so I was not just waiting. But arrived ready to work. The team was very professional. Moved all the furniture and put it back when done. I was able to watch the whole process, they never minded me asking questions. Explained the whole process. Can't wait to have the new vinyl flooring installed next.

CALIFORNIA -- They say that the lack of a physical location allows them to pass the cost savings on to you. Not true. The real reason is that they want to corner you in a spot that you can't leave and rely on your relaxed condition to get your money. Do you really want a pushy commissioned salesman in your home? I can't begin to tell you the things that went wrong because this salesman wanted to make his Mercedes payment. I will regret letting these people in my house for the rest of my life.

The installers will NOT help you move furniture despite what the salesman will tell you. You may be without a house for 10 days like I was. The salesman even tried to sell me financial consulting services which was his "side" business. The floors we got scratch easy. I can still picture my dog getting out while I was trying to move things back in from the garage. He was hit by a truck and died in my arms. There should be a special place in Hell for companies like this.

MORAINE, OHIO -- As a flooring contractor during the economic recession, when work was hard to find, I signed up as an installer for Empire Today (Carpet workshop LLC) At the date of hire I was asked to sign multiple forms repeatedly and was never given explanation as to what they relate too. Only after quitting and posting a complaint on My3cents did I receive a "packet" in the mail outlining policies set forth by Empire Today/Carpet Workshop LLC.

As a sub contractor you are asked to pay into what is called a retainer, 10% of your gross check to cover supposed replacement liabilities. A legitimate company keeps records of who did what and those records are cross referenced in the event there is ever an issue, as well as a disclosure law that states the original contractor has 30 days to return to the project sight to correct any issues. I moved since I worked for Empire and they refuse to take calls from me to inform them of my new address to send 1099 tax info as well as where to send retainer monies. No information regarding any issues was ever disclosed to me, and seeing as I got hung up on twice when calling to inform them of my address change, I can only guess there was never any intention to return my money to me. Not only was signing up with Empire the worst business decision I had ever made, being sent to peoples homes with the lowest quality material I had ever seen in my 24 + years in the flooring industry and being told to tell paying customers "that is just the nature of the product" I was also dispatched to a job that had serious asbestos issues and I was told to remove the asbestos (which I refused to do) because as a sub contractor the liability falls directly on me, not Empire. And I would have put the homeowners as well as my self in a dangerous health risk and could have faced huge fines and penalties. Had I been an hourly employee that would have put liability on Empire, and they know these things. They have been corrupting the market place for years and they know how to get around accepting any liabilities.

Any one considering to work for, or hire, Empire Today should think twice. If you take pride in your work and wish to do the best job possible Empire is not the place to be. As a customer you may not know that you are allowing the lowest pay scale installers in your home (usually non English speaking) which as a direct result, you the customer, wind up with poor quality materials as well as the possibility of very poor installation.

Hiring a lawyer to collect the retainer is cost prohibitive, and Empire knows this. The forms you must sign simply state the conditions regarding Empire's receiving your money as a retainer, and make no mention of any sort of legal premise in regards to returning said monies to the contractor. In other words they protect themselves but do not provide any sort of legitimate recourse for the contractor to regain monies that rightfully are owed.

If someone is desperate enough to work for such a place (as I was at one point in time) then every cent counts, BEWARE of Empire Today as their organization is set up to take advantage of everyone they do business with, either customer or contractor.

MORAINE, OHIO -- I answered an add on Craigslist almost 2 years ago. I get a call from Empire somewhere around Mid June of 2011. I meet with the "manager" to discuss the possibility of working for them as a sub contractor. I was asked to sign countless pages of a so called "agreement", never once being shown what I was signing. I had to fill out their ridiculous forms no less than 3 separate times. Each time I would ask "What is this for"? I was told some sort of different excuse each time.

The first job I was to do for Empire, the temporary installation manager comes out to the warehouse with a blank paper with nothing more than a line for a signature. He said to me "Here you need to sign this before you start to do any work". Again I asked why, he explained it was just a technicality and that this form appears to have been lost and they need another copy of it. I loaded material to go to first job, Laminate flooring, and arriving at the job I noticed several details the sales person overlooked.

After starting to lay out the material I realized the laminate was defective. The planks/panels where not milled properly, they wear out of square and when you put the planks together it would leave uneven gaps between the planks. I called to explain this to Empire. They wanted me to continue installing the product telling me "this is typical of this product, it's fine". I refused to continue and returned to the shop to show Empire first hand how bad the material was.

There is day 1 where I invested time and was paid nothing for my time and expenses. A couple of days after that I was told they sent another crew out with the same material and they installed it, telling me that next time I have that situation to tell the customer "that is the nature of this product". Second job, I arrive at the customers house immediately seeing that the salesperson failed to accurately evaluate the scope of work. After about 2 hours of calling back and forth to Empire, they finally contacted the customer and worked out a deal for additional money to correct the salesperson's improper evaluation.

This is job #2 that nothing additional was paid to me for the extra time spent correcting their mistakes. The third job I was dispatched to, we arrive to find 3/4" hardwood glued to concrete. Which the homeowner was to have torn out himself. The customer informed us that he worked on tearing out the floor for 3 days and finally gave up. Once again I spend hours calling back and forth to Empire to try to correct this issue. Which did not only refer to the fact the floor was not taken up, but the salesperson wrote on the work order that "glue may need to be scraped up in some areas". Again another over site by the salesperson.

The installation manager tells me "do what you need to do and we will pay you very well for the extra time" and also promised me that I would be paid the following Friday as I had to spend money out of my own pocket to buy the proper leveling compound to be able to properly install their new floor. That Friday came, and no check. I was told their "policy" does not allow for a contractor to be paid outside of their "scheduled pay period" This is job #3 involving a lot of extra time, and even money out of my own pocket that I was never reimbursed for. And what little I was paid was not paid to me on time as promised.

Then the next job I was sent to I was told "We got you a real good job to help me make up for the money lost on the last few." I look at the stack of material and it is 3/4" solid Brazilian Cherry, and several buckets of glue. I informed them that "you DO NOT GLUE DOWN 3/4" SOLID WOOD!" (common knowledge/industry standard) The installation manager's response, after I asked for an in writing guarantee that I would not be charged for this job after it fails, "it is in your contract, Empire will replace it at no cost to you".

Arriving at the job site we notice that there is asbestos tile threw out the entire house. This is a type 1 asbestos that is only considered harmful if it is broken/cracked visibly degraded. In this situation the asbestos was in very poor condition and a danger to anyone in the home. I was first told "come back to the shop and get a leveling compound/patch to cover all the asbestos tile (which is acceptable if the asbestos containing material is in good shape.) Only after they realized that I was sent to the job with the incorrect flooring material (the 3/4" wood I pointed out from the very beginning) was I told to leave the job site.

The next day about noon I was called by Empire demanding that I go back out to the job site and remove the carpet so I could save the job for Empire and they would not lose this customer. I again explained the condition of the asbestos and I went on to explain that if I removed the carpet it would disturb the degraded asbestos underneath of it putting myself and the occupants of the home in real danger and the response I got was "you will only crack the tile a little bit here and there when you pull the tack strip up." I said "no I am not comfortable doing that."

Not 15 minutes later the same guy from Empire calls me again. "We really need you to go out and save this job for us, we really got egg on our faces over this one." I again said no, to which he told me "come on and do this for us and you can put a feather in your cap and if you don't do it you will be blacklisted." To which I responded "if that's how you need it to be, fine!" and hung up. This is job #4 that I was never paid anything for the time invested (about 4 hours) loading material in and out of the customer's house and countless phone calls back and forth to Empire while stuck at the job site.

To any customer thinking about having Empire out to your home, I hope this gives you a small look behind the scenes and what goes on there. I am not looking to get millions of dollars from them, I simply want what is rightfully owed to me. They have been reported to OSHA, The Federal Trade Commission, The Bureau of Workmans Comp, The Attorney General of Ohio, and to all of the local news "trouble shooters". I will not rest until Empire is forced to close there doors!

I was never shown a "price list" their pay scale was never disclosed to me. I was asked to sign countless papers with no explanation of what they wear or why I needed to sign them. I was given an excuse for everything, lied to countless times, and not paid for my time and efforts. I was told by the general manager of this Empire location that "there are costs to doing business" and I was told every excuse as to why they could not pay me.

The office staff at this location is without a doubt the most unorganized mislead group of individuals I have ever had the misfortune of meeting. One person will tell you one thing, then the next person tell you something completely different. I urge all potential customers and/or contractors thinking of getting involved with Empire to take a good long look at not only this review but the countless others out there. They advertise in such a way as to make people believe they are saving money by using Empire, when in reality they are spending more!

Places like Empire are driving skilled trades people to work for minimum wage and introducing less skilled people into the trade due to their ridiculously low pay scales.