Empire Today review: fraudulent quote! 134

I was also looking to replace carpet to sell a house.
Would not quote anything on the phone - red flag
Prices quoted once I met with them, "retail" $40-70 a yd?!
Oh, but then we discount that! cheapest, nearly $30 a yard.

Long story short, got my carpet at Lowes, $11 a yard + $200 whole house removal of old carpet and installed new. Less than 1/2 of Empire's best deal.

I interrupted the high pressure sales guy by stating, unless you can be competetive and can do this for $15 a yard installed or less, thanks but no thanks. He made no attempt to sell me once he heard that, he packed up and left within 2 minutes.

These guys sell to the elderly for the most part, people out of touch with the real values.

What a horor! Called for sales rep on 7/12/08. Came promptly. Installation scheduled for AM 7/14. Showed up at 2:40PM. Had old carpeting & pad ripped out. Installer asks for balance due. I said my contract says COD, carpet, padding and INSTALLATION. Spent one half hour on phone with numerous people, telling me that I had to pay up front. I said contract says COD not CIA and that was it. Finally Credit Manager comes on phone and says "for you, I will make a concession". HA!

Installers began, 2nd run of carpet was one yard short, installer explained how he would seam either in front of the bar, or at the base of the stairs, my choice. No way. Installers called in the complaint, picked up the carpeting and left. Said that I would be contacted by someone, sometime the next day.

I immediately called for my Sales Rep, who, after two hours got back to me. Apologized, said he would look into it and make an adjustment for all of the harassment and inconvenience. The installers showed up early on the 15th and did a reasonable installation. I paid the balance of the original price.

Have called my rep 12 times since then, to no avail. The two times I spoke with him, he gave me a number of excuses and passed the blame for nonsatisfaction of adjustment on other departments. Now he does not respond to any of my voice mails. I want to pursue this further, but am having trouble getting the name of the proper person. I hesitate to just make a call and ask for the Manager, for I know I will be directed to a number of insignificant people who will just give me a bunch of excuses and delay tactics.

Will not use Empire again.

I am glad I saw this story about the dishonest salesman. I am getting ready to buy carpet for a 6, 000 sq feet house and had looked on the internet for quality carpet. One webside said Empire was the best.
I will stay clear of anything that has their name on it. Thanks for letting us all know what kind of people they really are.

Thank you so much for the information. I was going to call Empire for a quote and now I WON"T, and I will definately pass on this info to all my friends and co-workers

I was told of an apt. to come measure my cellar for caepet. I took the day off due to company coming from out of town and needing the space for sleeping arrangments. I was called the night before but no one ever showed up. I then wrote to the company online and had someone call to apoligize and reschedule. Someone did show up and caropet was installed. I had a dehumidifier downstairs that over flowed and went on the carpet(just water) it had a big stain that 3 shampoos did not get it clean. I have been calling numerous people at customer service and no one ever gets back to me. I finally called a person named Scott and he finally set an apt to look at it 2 weeks later with 4 phone calls . I was told someone would be coming tonight at 5pm. Again no phone call or show. Carpet is not of quality and the customer service is the worst ever...WARNING DO NOT GO WITH EMPIRE TODAY

I unfortunately bought carpet from this place. The carpet was supposedly the superior stain resistant carpet that was supposedly warranteed for 15 years. From start to finish, my experience with Empire was a learning experience. Five years later, I am still learning as I am taking out the old carpet and putting in the replacement floors in, I have learned that they did in fact charge me for more significantly more square footage than exists. In addition "next daydelivery" was actually about 3 weeks later. They said they would give me a $250 credit for the inconvenience and never did. The carpet looked terrible within a year and no stain remover would work. When I called to address the warranty, I was given the run around and ultimately realized that they would replace peices of carpets. Since I could point out the seams that were there from the initial installation, I didn't want my living room to look like a puzzle board. Not one call was answered with any kind of courtesy. The representatives were rude at every turn. Please don't order from this company and make the same mistake I did.

I scheduled an appointment with Empire to come out for an estimate for my parents home. I wanted to redo flooring in their home whilst they were away as a surprise. The agent did not show up during the scheduled time. I contacted the man office to cancel the appointment as I did not want him to come and ruin their surprise. They put me on hold to contact him directly. The rep told me he was five minutes away from ending a previous appointment and he could be at my home in a half of an hour. I said it was too late at this point and I would need to reschedule explaining my plans for my parents. The rep put me on hold again then came back saying she spoke to agent and he would wait to be rescheduled. My parents returned home and not five minutes after a car pulls into their driveway. It was the Empire salesman; I had to rush outside and tell him to go away as I did not want my parents to know my intentions. He left but I get a phone call from him immediately after asking when he can reschedule. I can understand if he did not get my message and showed up on time for his appointment but he knew my situation and did not call me once prior to his arrival. Did he think that by showing up he would secure a sale because he knew it was a present? Awful! It made me think twice about the ethics of this company. I am lucky this happened to me because I won't have to go through the hardships about which I have been reading regarding Empire.

we got lucky, i suppose. salesman came out and i told him point blank that if he wanted paid up front that we couldn't do business. he said "of course, only scammers want paid up front". installers came out 4 days later instead of next day and the first thing they said was i had to pay first to get the carpet installed. i sent them on their way, they called their boss, they brought the phone to me, as if their boss was going to convince me to pay first. i sent them packing again. my view is that they are liars and scammers.

Actually, I found a place for laminate floor for 99 CENT SQ F! The warranty is for 50 years!

That is amazing, imagine all I can save. They installed it, they saud the installation is going to be around 500 bucks for 300 sg of my kitchen. Well, the store installed it in 10 days, it cost me 99 cents plus tax, but the installers charged me around 900 buck, the store said they dont have nothing to do whith installations prices, so I just paid it. The installation was fine, but, this store made me signed the 50 years warranty, and for my surprise, they said that once the floor is installed, the warranty is VOID! what in earht is that! A few months later, the laminate started to bend upwards, I called the store and I was told someone will be going to my hose in the next week. They indeed came the next, next, next week (three weeks later) and said that the laminate I purchased is very low quality and if I want it to last longer I should purchase new flooring! That is outrageous! Next thing is that they will charge me 500 bucks to fix just a few laminates that are bending!

I had an estimate for empire today, but i learned from this blog that empire is a ripoff and that is not woth it, so I went to another store suggested in this blog, then all started to go wrong...

I learned my lesson, I should bought it from empire today in the first place, since they offered me an extraordinary flooring with written warranty and one year installation warranty. That is peace of mind. Next time, I will not be cheap as some people in this blog, shame for me, shame for you...

I had them come to my house too. After I didn't show delight in the first price they offered, the price soon was cut in half. They were still expensive but, they did promise next day service. As I was signing the contract they had me sign off on several, several waivers. Waivers such as damage to my house that could occur. Another that bothered me was, they were not responsible for seams and could not assure me that I would not see the seams. I'm a contractor and have had many places carpeted along with my own homes etc. I have never ever heard of any proffesional carpet company ask you the customer to sign a waiver." It is just not done and let me tell you all this, it is possible to have carpet put down and not see the seams. When you see the seam it usually means, the carpet layer is not a very good one or, the carpet company does not give you the correct amount of carpet. They will only send the square footage needed and then turn the pattern of the carpet any which way to cover the floor. The carpet pattern must run one direction to not have seams.

They also do not take personal checks. They do take certified checks or cash. This is very tacky to not take a customers check. I will not go with a company that will not take your check or have you sign a waiver to their lack of quality of work and materials. You will not have a leg to stand on and you will give up all your rights if you are unhappy with their work.

I decided not to go with them and picked a proffesional company.

Hello everyone, here is our experience with empire. My wife called for a "free" estimate. The salesman was aggressive and told me that no one would be able to install the carpet before christmas. In fact, he told me that home depot is referring their customers to empire! I listened to his horrible presentation, he didnt focus on the carpet at all, all he wanted was the sale. He finally gave me a price of 2, 875, then said he would knock it down to 2, 600 ( living room, steps and hall) because he likes us so much. I noticed that the salesman could not look me in the eye either the whole time. He then said that I had to sign the agreement to lock in the price. The agreement was about 6 pages long. I told him this is worse than buying a house and that I was not signing anything. He said that he is doing me a favor and if he has to come back that it will be 800 bucks more. ( what about their 60% off commercial?). I read the agreement and told him I am not signing anything but this guy would not leave. I could not believe what was going on in my own home. I was going to throw him out of the house but my wife and kids were there. Stupid me signed the agreement ( just to get him to leave ) and figured I would cancel later. After 1.5 hours he finally left. About an hour later we called empire and told them we wanted to cancel. My wife read IN SMALL PRINT that if we do not send in the cancellation form by the end of the 3rd day that we would be responsible for 15% of the price ( 2, 600 ) bucks . I specifially asked the salesman about their cancellation policy and he did not mention this. Empire told us not to worry about that and gave us a confirmation number. One week later empire called and left a message to call them to confirm our delivery on Monday. I called them back and told the girl that we already cancelled and she put us on hold and said not to worry about it and that they already sent out 25 dollar deposit back to us. Great! This morning ( monday ) empire called again and said they would be here today. We told the girl that we already cancelled numerous times. I am waiting for them to show up at my door. I would strongly recommend NOT doing business with empire. They are very unprofessional and if you want new carpet and want to save money, go to your local carpet place. I went to Carpet Fair in springfied pa and they were great. no pressure at all. They CAN install anytime before christmas and their price is 1, 500 bucks for the same quality carpet! Bottom line, Empire is horrible!

My husband and I finally decided to buy new carpet and had Empire come out for a free estimate. We were pulled in by their TV ads. The young lady who came to our home was very nice but seemed in quite a hurry to go to another appointment. She convinced me to go ahead and write up the order, which she did. She then said "I hope you don't change your mind because I don't want to drive all the way back here". After doing some research and seeing these blogs we shopped around and found out that the carpet they were charging us $8, 000. for was the cheapest stuff and the pads? Thin and crappy. How do I know this? They just showed up to my house with the carpet even though we cancelled. They were nice enough but if we hadn't of cancelled we would have ended up with cheap crappy carpet and pad. I went to Home Depot and got educated. Empires commercial are good but I never heard a word about their supposedly 60% off sale.

Empire for lowest prices ? I dont think so ...
I myself Saved over $5000.00 by having Home Depot come and install. I got an estimate from Empire, and then had a few other Companies come out for estimates. All three of the other Companies came out a few grand minimum lower than Empire. They couldnt install next day like Empire, but maybe thats because they were busier? Hmmmmm ... Empire is a rip off. Not to mention not very many options to choose from, and this guy kept finding other things that I would need to add to the bill. It feels good to go from a $9700.00 estimate to $3500.00 for my whole house and they still installed in just a few hours. Not to mention stories with the same results from friends.

Hello! I too am annoyed! They cancelled my appointment twice! I am so happy about putting this post on facebook, now everyone knows NOT TO USE EMPIRE--

NOT TODAY!

We had Empire install carpet one year ago. After a week we had to have them come back because every seam was showing. We ordered high traffic carpet and a brand name. I am almost positive we did not get what we paid for. The carpet has just stopped shedding and when I mean shedding like it was snowing in the house. One year later all the seams are like speed bumps. They show up on installation day and make you give them a certified check before they even will start the install. Also when they took the old carpet up they did not remove the old staples. We had a thick padding installed and you can feel the staples under the carpet when walking barefoot. My advice is to stay away from this company. Oh by the way the first quote we got was $4200.00. We ended up getting the carpet installed for $2850.00.

Thanks, I just read this and figured these guys would be the typical rip off artists. now who is recommended for carpet? Cuz' I need some. Glad I won't be calling Empire though. saw the commercial too... ha, they don't realize how ripping off the customer in the age of the internet works, do they?

Empire Home Improvements (Empire) was contracted to install vinyl siding at our home in Massachusetts. Empire guarantees "Installation in 2 weeks or less". It took 4.5 weeks and a second crew to unstall and replace what the first crew messed up. My husband took 3 days off of work, and I had to take a half day off to meet with the supervisor. The first crew stopped showing up and left their truck in front of our house for 1.5 weeks. Empire eventually towed their truck from our property. We had 4 meetings with the supervisor to resolve on-going problems with the quality of work and performance. Our first complaint occurred less than 48 hours after work began on our house. Because of the delays of completion, we had to cancel other contractors we had scheduled to perform other exterior work on our property. We've had to reschedule the contractors and will pay more money since they are trying to "fit us in." Since March 24th, we have been in negotiations with the New England Regional Manager who said that "he'd do what ever it takes to make things right and that he couldn't believe how poorly things were handled." It is now April 17th, over three weeks later, and now the New England Regional Manager has stopped returning our calls and we cannot sell our house until this loan is resolved. We are pursuing legal representation in order to close the loan. I've never come across a company that makes every effort to not return phone calls and close a contract worth thousands of dollars. I guess that they don't need the money that badly.

Empire should be investigated by the state government. 3 years ago, my elderly mother with my sisters help decided to replace the carpet in her home. My mother is unable to walk and moves around her home in an electric mobility chair. During their discussion with the sales representative, my sister stated they needed a carpet that would withstand the contstant use of my mothers electric wheelchair. The representative stated that the carpet they chose would "be fine" and had a "lifetime" guarantee. The representative then measured the room to be carpeted and scheduled the installation the next day, which was Saturday. My sister stayed all day at my mothers home waiting for the installation crew, but they did not show up. She called Empire to see what was the matter and the CSR stated that they did not have them scheduled for installation today, claiming that the sales rep had never scheduled it. After much wasted time trying to resolve the situation with her, my sister called the sales representative. He made a call and told my sister that the office had failed to add the installation ticket to crews schedule and at this point the best he could do was to install the carpet on Monday. My sister expressed her concerns about them showing up as she would have to take a day off from work. The Sales Rep assured her they would be there. On Monday, my sister arrived at our mothers home at 8:30 am, by 11 am when the crews had not arrived yet my sister called the Sales Rep again and asked him if Empire was going to pay for her lost time from work. The Empire crew showed up a short time later.
Upon the crews arrival one of the crew members began measuring the room again and told my sister that this carpet would not fit. That the Sales Rep had measured the room incorrectly. They told my sister that they would have to reorder the carpet and install another day. My sister at this point was quite angry and insisted they go back to the warehouse, get the correct size carpet and install this carpet today. The crew member then told my sister, that he thought they could piece it and get it to fit. At this point my sister was so upset, and needed to get this carpet installed that day, she was pressured into accepting. (My mother has had several carpets installed over the years and has never seen it pieced together in that manner).
My mothers living room has a large opening to the kitchen, and always needs a metal threshold piece added to finish the end of the carpet, as well as several thresholds at the door openings down the hallway. The crewman told my sister that they do not install them, that they do not even carry them on the truck. My sister asked him to return the old ones and finish the carpet correctly. After much disscussion they finally did, however the padding underneath was not installed correctly and did not come all the way to the end of the threshold. My sister complained and she was told it was too late to correct it. The crew left.
My sister called Empire to have it corrected but Empire never sent anyone. My mother decided to live with it.
Over the last three years this carpet has shed so much of its fibers that we have had to replace my mothers vaccumn twice and have the current vaccumn repaired several times. We have taken bags full of the carpet fibers that have clogged it out as recent as last week.
Now this story gets ever more infuriating.
The metal threshold which was never installed correctly in the first place has slowly pulled away from the edge of the carpet. Finally causing my mother to cut her foot on it the other day. As a diabetic any cuts in the skin can cause serious health problems.
My mother called Empire to get it fixed and to again have the padding added to repair the threshold correctly as by now it is quite noticable and it is causing a safety issue at this point. Empire told my mother that the "Warranty" had run out" but that they would send an "inspector" to inspect the problem to see what could be or what needed to be done. My mother made the appointment for the inspector to arrive at noon time the next day, as my sister would have to be there and would have to use her lunch hour to do so.
At 7:15 am 3 crew members arrived at my mothers home. As no one was awake yet, they began to call. My niece who is staying with my mother answered the phone and asked the caller several times who was calling. All they would say was that they were outside and needed to get in. Only after she told them she would hang up, did they finally say they were from Empire. My mother was awoken from her sleep and these 3 crewman, appearing to be of Mexican decent, and who clearly did not speak very good english, went over to the area in question and began to repair the threshold by nailing it down. They did not add any additional padding. Upon completion they approached my mother and told her that they needed $50 dollars for the repair. (It takes 3 people to nail down a metal threshold approx. 4 feet long down and that costs $50 ?)My mother explained that she was not aware that they were to repair the area today, that she was expecting an inspector to look at the area to determine what would need tobe done. That she had not agreed to any payment. At this point they are becoming insistant that she make payment and that they needed the payment to be in cash. She explained she did not have cash, only a check. She reluctantly handed them the check as by this point she was quite scared. Two women alone with strange men in her home.
I feel that what has taken place to date is definately a sceme. And I believe they are all in on it. But what these people did to my 77 year old wheelchair bound mother makes me sick. Who owns this business? What is his name? and what does he have to say about this? I intend to find out. Something needs to be done. I intend to contact the Better Business Bureau, channel 8 news, Atty General Richard Bluementhal, and the INS. Seems to me someone needs to take a look at the HR documentation on these 3 crewmen. If they even exist.

My elderly mother who is 86 yrs. old that lives out of state from me, called Empire Today to have them put down laminate floor. She had trouble walking with her walker on the carpet. Anyway, several days after she had it installed, my son, who lives not too far from her went to visit and looked at the bill, and they had way over estimated the yardage.

We understand you have to order some extra footage when ordering carpet, but they listed the actual footage PLUS an additional 1/2 the total (50% extra). In other words they ordered 1- 1/2 amount. WAY more than the usual 15% - 20% extra. They ripped her off...and they didn't leave her all the extra that she had paid for, they took all the extra with them...talk about a total rip off. Especially of an elderly woman.

I had planned on calling them to come out to do carpet in my house, until they did my mother that way and I read all the complaints on them. I'll be contacting someone else.

I had the worst experience with Empire!. They came a day late while all of our furniture was put outside, They put the floor in and the next day I saw a couple of scratches on the floor so I called Empire to come out and fix it. they said they would call me back and never did! I called for weeks and left countless messages and finally when they did call back I was very frustrated and they hung up on me! I filed a dispute with my credit card company and won, thank God. But now my floor is buckling up in front of a doorway. Now we have noone to call to fis this problem. this floating fake wood floor that they claim is supposed to stand up to anything is a piece of crap. I would rather have paid for a floor that to get it free and have it like this! Empire sucks so bad.

u pay for what u get

zBought from Empire last year and set up an appointment for this week for more carpet and to look at their laminate flooring samples. Very happy with my carpet.Price was comperable to other carpet I have bought and there is no waiting! The installation crew was very nice and efficient with the only drawback being that only one spoke English. When I had a question they couldn't answer...I called the number the crew gave me and a supervisor came out and answered all my questions. This isn't unlike the Homedepot team from three years ago or the local bussiness where the man came with his 14yo nephew to install on a school day. I will use Empire again.

I had a similar experience the sales guy came to my home and my husband was not there he gave me a price of $5000 for 1041 sq ft which was 4 bedrooms and a living room. I called my husband and he said no that was too high. The sales rep asked what I was expecting to pay and immediately dropped the price by $1000! I told him I felt duped and he said "Well I don't want to sell carpet to you if you feel like I am cheating you" but then he cont to pressure me! I had another person come and measure and he added on another whole bedroom in his measurements... way over! I will never use empire and I hope others don't either. BTW when they say on the commercial 60% off on carpet they only mean one style of cheap carpet that is marked up so high when it is 60% marked off it is actually a normal price for that carpet.

I used to sell for Empire and I can attest that the sales team is instructed on all the ways to force the customer to buy right then. There is actually no sale price, as they say in the commercials, for there is no normal price. The salesman makes it up on the spot, based on what he thinks he can get away with. The higher the sale price, the higher the sales commission. It's as simple as that.

I HONESTLY BELIEVE THE REXBO GUY. THESE SALES REP R A TOTAL MESS AND THEY R OUT 2 RIP U OFF. THIS IS THE HIGHEST CARPET IVE EVER SEEN IN LIFE. IF U R RUNNING A 60% OFF AT WHAT POINT DOES THIS 2, 500 QUOTEGO DOWN R U TELLING ME THAT THE ORIGINAL PRICE 4 THAT CARPET WAS ACTUALLY THAT EXPENSIVE. THE REPS R NASTY DISRESPECTFUL AND IGNORANT 2 THE FACT. I HAD A REP TELL ME HE WISH HE HADNT DROVE ALL THE WAY 2 MY HOUSE IF HE KNEW I WASNT GOING 2 BUY THE CARPET. ANYONE WHO BUYS THIS EXSPENSIVE CARPET IS CRAZY... I WILL B REPORTING HIS COMPANY BECAUSE THEY R LIARS AND A BIG RIPOFF. THEY R IN SUCH A HURRY WHEN THEY DO COME SO HURRY ON...

They are a BIG SCAM...Rep came to my home...talk badly about Home Depot...could not give me a price...was going to check the carpet I was interested in and was to call the next day I called and he acted like he had no idea of what carpet I was interested in I HAD THE FRIGGIN SAMPLE SLATE from Home Depot and I showed it to him on the interest...PS..its 4 days still no call ...Also I asked about the 60% off...he (rep) told me its really not 60% its 20% off carpet 20% off matting 20% off removal...can you believe they do not include removal...What a joke!

FORGET EMPIRE!

I had carpet installed in July 2009. I called three companies to my home to estimate the cost of complete install (carpet, pad, tack strip). Empire was the last company to give me an estimate. The room to install was 183 sq. ft. I received prices of $350 and $420, Empire quoted me $1, 243.00. I was shocked! I explained to the sales lady that they were way too high, and thanked her for coming out. She seemed confused, she asked "is that more than you were planning on spending today?" I showed her the two other bids, she said that she had to call her office to authorize a price match. She called her office in front of us, she told them what she was up against, they told her to tell us we weren't comparing apples to apples and the other bids must be for inferior carpet. I explained that we were looking at the exact same carpet with the other companies, they told us that those other companies had a reputation of "bait and switch" and we would not be happy with our carpet.
I went with S&H Distributing in Dallas, TX. They not only honored their price quote, they came out same day and installed the carpet. It looks great. Instead of charging me extra, the actually gave me a discount for installing same day. I payed total including taxes $313.85 for same day service! If you are in Dallas call S&H.

I had new carpet installed through empire an I was initially pleased. It is now a month later and the carpet is falling apart. When I contacted the customer service center they were very rude. They tried to blame holes in my carpet on my cats. When I informed them that my cats have lived with me for five years and they never disrupted or old carpet. I am still dealing with the situation and I will never use empire today again. I urge anyone thinking of using empire to look else where even if you have to spend extra money.

Thank you for bringing your carpet experience to our attention. We apologize for any inconvenience, and our team would like to work with you to explore a resolution. Please contact us at webcustomerservice@empiretoday.com so that we may be able to assist. You can also visit our online customer center at http://www.empiretoday.com/Customer-Service.

Sincerely,
Consumer Advocate Team
Empire Today, LLC

Empire rep came to my house. He did the measurements and gave me a price. I asked him about the buy one room get 2 rooms for free special they had going. He seemed upset and then gave me the discounted price. I set up an installation date and they came (two hours late!). When the installers saw the room, they told me that they didn't have enough carpet to cover the rooms entirely unless they installed it with seems. The installer then pulled me to the side and offered to do the job himself on the side for a cheaper price. When I told him no, he called his office and they told me that they couldn't do the job without seems. When I told them I didn't want the job done, they told me ok, we can do it without the seems but I have to wait two days so they could get the right size carpet. When I told them I didn't want the job done by them anymore, the rep just hung up on me. This company is rude, unprofessional and overpriced! Anybody thinking of getting carpet, go to your local carpet installer. They will take better care of you. EMPIRE CARPET SUCKS!

I had empire out to measure a rental home. They were running a special by 1 room get 2 free. I figured with that and the 12 months same as cash it had to be a good deal. WRONG! They quoted me $2700 for the special and $1700 without the special. He gave me the same line as others "how much would you be willing top pay? I told him $700. He said there is no way he could do it for that price but he may be able to get his boss to come down to $1500 but it would be a now or never scenario". I called a local independent carpet installer who gave me a quote of $900, and it is better quality carpet.

This is the worst place ever. They had sale reps to come out and they lied. The sales rep was J.R. Bourough. he didnt tell us that what we wanted was not in the sale. they have harrasssed us sience we canceled this. PLEASE WHO EVER WANTS TO GO THROUGH EMPIRE SAY NO THEY TRY TO MAKE MORE THAN IT COST. WE R GETTING IT UNDER HALF OF WHAT ITS GTTING DONE FOR. WE CAN DO OUR OTHER 2 ROOMS AND STILL HAVE MONEY LEFT. STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY THEY ARE AWFUL THEY MEAURED AND THE MEASURMENT WAS ALL OFF SO THEY CHARGE FOR MORE THAN U GET.DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY WE ARE TURNING IT OVER TO THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU OF NC. THE SALES MAN WAS FROM MAIDEN.

I obtained a quote from Empire. The verbal price that quoted was very high. However, the sales rep wrote a lower more reasonable price on the contract. I agreed to pay the price as written on the contract. The Empire main office decided that this price was not correct and charged my credit card for the verbal amount quoted by sales rep. I disputed this charge as it was not in the amount of the credit slip that I signed (the contract and credit slip that I signed both have the lower price on it). Now, they are threatening me and accusing me of fraud. They state I am obligated to pay the higher price and that I should have known it was an error.

I Just had the Empire "salesman" at my house for an "estimate". Finally, he showed up to my 3rd scheduled appointment. After reading these comments, I was extremely leery. But what happened was rather sad & comical.
I was pricing laminate wood for a big room, 700 sqft. And without even measuring he quoted me betw. $7.50 & $11 per square foot. Thats $7, ooo for laminate which is supposed to be inexpensive, including labor, delivery, installation. WOW! I laughed at him and said goodbye. What a waste of my time waiting for him! There certainly must be reliable companies out there, Empire is NOT one of them.

Appreciate all the feedback. I am shopping for carpet/flooring for one room. When I called the local EMPIRE store I told them the room was 18ft by 21ft (I can measure things all by myself and dont want a bunch of pushy sales people in my home!) and could they just give me a ball park quote for their cheapest carpet. They said $1700 ! For ONE room? FOR CHEAP carpet!?!?! Are you KIDDING ME?, and the man sounded like a used car salesman, loud and bouisterous (and RUDE) and rather poo pooing me for wanting the cheapet carpet. After reading all this, plus my own little phone exp. I WILL NOT be using them and WILL be searching for an independant flooring contractor.

They are a HUGE RIPOFF. My house is 40 x 20 = 800 square feet. My basement therefore cannot be any larger than that. That includes a bathroom, laundry room and boiler room that was not being carpeted. They insisted that they were carpeting 1000 square feet and 200 square feet of waste for a total cost of 1200 square feet of carpet. My wife signed the deal with them with the a

I'm so glad I found this and many other sites complaining about Empire. My mom and I have an appointment scheduled for tomorrow, I AM CANCELING IMMEDIATELY!

Many people make buying decisions in many ways. If you are looking for a deal, you'll find free or cheap installation at Home Depot or Lowes. Want a big discount? Try Empire Today, they'll charge so much that they can offer to sell you one room and get two free. Whatever you're looking for, the large national companies have mastered the art of selling to you. If what you want is the real price, go to a reputable authorized dealer, not the installer, select a carpet and have three stores quote the identical floor, pad and other requirements such as tear up and furniture moving. Unfortunately, the large chains like Home Depot, Lowes and Empire all purchase carpet from the same mills as your local flooring stores but the big guys change the names and have their products privately labeled to hide their excess markups, making it very difficult to assure you're looking at the same carpet.
Again, find a carpet or flooring product that you can get two other quotes from, use the store not the installer.
Note: Warranties are from the manufacturer to the store, not to you. The store in turn provides the warranty to the person they sold it to, you Or your installer/contractor. If you buy from an installer/contractor who buys wholesale, you're probably paying too much an d you're warranty is from the contractor/installer to you and not from the authorized store or the manufacturer. Special note: Contractors insurance does not cover the product they provide, if the contractor/installer damages the carpet installing it, their insurance company does not cover the carpet. Protect yourself, buy from a reputable store that includes installation, they have business insurance, not just contractor insurance and make sure you pay the store for the installation otherwise you will be working with the installer /contractor directly.

Empire is still up to their old tricks. For my house, their measurements were very exaggerated as was their price. Their sales technique was the same for me too = 'sign right now and save'. But the final price after the savings was still 3x as much as Lowe's and Home Depot and Empire's product was inferior. SCAMMERS!

The company installed the gates, besides the minor issues like pitted paint and dents, the Gap between the two panels are way too big to lock securely and looked funny.

I called the Owner Dave, and he claims it is my wall not straight, (yeah right, bring your level here and drop your eye balls, there's no way for a wall not leveled to cause the gap only in the middle part not on the top and bottm side), even though the wall is not leveled, it is not my problem and you should notice that before you make the gate.

I told him my bottom line is at least to make door able to closed with knob and make deadbolt more secure (the current knob cannot even hold the gate and the deadbolt's shaft only 1/3 in the lock. the Dave guy told me to goto homedepot buy a lock with longer shaft myself and replace it my self.

it is very ### service, how you gonna even trust them for their claimed one year warranty (they do not come back for next day)