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I, too, had a man from Empire Carpet come to my home to measure and give me a free estimate for new carpet in my basement/gameroom. After he measured the room, which is nearly 1/2 of my basement, he showed me some samples, sat down and wrote up some figures. He told me I have 115 square yards (which calculates to 1,035 square feet) to cover and the original price was over $5,000, but with the 'discounts' it came down to around $3,500. I was SHOCKED by this price. He asked me what I thought it would cost and I told him 'around $1,000 - $1,500 and told him I wasn't interested, that this was too expensive for me. He then told me he could 'make a phone call' to his boss to see what he could do for me. ( I figured he thought he could get over on me since I'm a single woman) After speaking to the boss, he told me that the shade/style of carpet that I wanted was being discontinued and they 'just happened to have three rolls of it in the warehouse' so they could discount it by taking $800 off the price. I told him I still didn't want it. He told me if I changed my mind and wanted the carpet the next day, I couldn't get it for that price. I said it i was ok, that if I wanted it from them I was sure I could get that 'discounted price'. He left.
I had another carpet company come to measure and give me a price for carpet. This company measured my room at 664 square feet. I asked the man if he measured correctly, and he said he did. Then I called another company to come to measure, just to make sure of the measurement. This third company measured the area to be 670 square feet, which is pretty close to the second measurement.
I phoned Empire and asked to speak to the man who gave me the original estimate. When he got on the phone, I asked him to please clarify the measurement and the estimated price. After a few minutes of fumbling, he said he couldn't locate my paperwork. I asked him to please phone me and let me know what his measurement/estimate was. That was yesterday. I'm still waiting for him to return my call. I think I may email the Attorney General's office to let them know about Empire.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer's satisfaction.
I own a very reputable carpet company in Denver & Parker Colorado. I just interviewed a salesman from Empire Carpets looking for a job. He bragged to me about defrauding the public by selling inferior carpets (P.E.T.)'s on average $ 5.00 to $ 7.00 a yard carpet and selling it for $ 40.00 a yard.
He boasted about selling eighty year old women and praying on the ignorance of his clientel. The company trains their sales force to make their house payment on every sale. The company as a whole makes an average of 500%.
This is a travesty!
Craig Connor
Buy It Direct
My story sounds pretty much like all the rest of you, that I've read about here and elsewhere online.
Thank's to you Craig for posting on www.complaintsboard.com your experience with the lowly snake of a human being a.k.a. an Empire Salesman. Craig, no doubt our slimmy Empire Carpet salesman, Ed Bidwell, made several house payments and car payments off of his haul from us.
Altho, we're not near the age of 80,we've been around long enuf to have known better than to trust, a wart on the backside of America like Ed Bidwell. There were some red flags raised as we talked to the Empire Carpet salesman but any questions or suspicions were readily answered by the sweet weasel words of a well seasoned and rehearsed veteran of thievery, Ed Bidwell,Empire Carpet salesman. We have waited and saved for years (10) to have the whole house done in the best, top-of-the-line flooring and---HOLY SMOKES---Empire Carpet a nationally known,well advertised company is having a 50% off sale (ha) (duh- I didn't think we were THAT dumb) But Impatience,Gulibility,Naivety and yep stupidity, man it's gonna burn you every time and I mean hurt you down to the bone.
Just a couple of weeks ago we let Ed Bidwell and Empire Carpet Co. take us to the cleaners; a house full of their best, top-of-the-line berber and padding,is coming apart from the seams, loose from the walls, large tufts and strands pop up every where,and if you're not careful when you vacuum the strands are sucked up so easily and quickly, then you'll have a bald spot.
ONE WEEK after the inital install, Empire Carpets' immigrant slave labor sub-contractors were back out here, "Inspection Solutions" was out here this week. I looked for our boy-- ### Ed Bidwell's cell # on the carpet contract that he filled out but "oops" he made a mistake he accidently left off one digit of his cell # here it is [protected]__. Well, I'll get it from the laminate floor contract that Ed filled out, yep you guessed it, [protected]__. They teach the art of thievery and deception very well at Empire Carpet, 333 Northwest Avenue, Northlake, Illinois, [protected]. If they were not, rich white men, in a nice brick building,and teaching other ### how to enter peoples homes and steal, Empire Carpet would be called a "gang".
I am probably like alot of you guys out there, I clip coupons, fret if I was to loose 5 bucks somewhere, I read the grocery store ads for the best price on hamburger etc., so you know I've lost sleep and cried till my face is puffy and red and almost as ugly as Ed Bidwell's, about this hugemongus expensive mess, (Craig, your word "TRAVESTY" is more spot on for all of us in this). I have talked on the phone to an attorney...keep a log of dates and times and names of anyone you talk to, keep good notes of what was talked about concerning your problems with Empire, and send letters certified-return reciept for your files, make copies of everything! She says I've got to wait and let Empire Carpet of thieves play their games and let the filthy liars tell me what they will be willing to do. And then...Then
Sweet Daddy and me are going to take out a loan and were going to court against this evil Empire of Carpet thieves!
Shout out a,"HELL YEAH"
AND IN THE MEANTIME...Yesterday a lady called for donations to the special olympics, I told her I couldn't make a donation but I might be able to save her or someone she knows alot of grief and money," Don't ever ever ever buy anything from Empire Carpet." I gave her a few of the facts about our horrible deal, she said thanks, she never would of thought they were crooks. I never thought I'd be glad when telemarketers, wrong numbers, etc. would call but now, now... BABY, I'M GOING TO PREACH IT FROM THE MOUNTAIN TOPS, standing in line at Wal-mart, the bank teller at the drive-up, I hope my little town is going to be well informed on the deceptive, fraudulent practices of Empire Carpet. I'm thinking of looking in the yellow pages and calling all the carpet stores, (that'll take me awhile caus' I've got phone books for 3 counties in Wisconsin and for 2 counties in Ill.) just to let them know if they ever get a customer in the store that is thinking of using or comparing to Empire Carpet of cheaters and thieves, to please have them call me first and hear my story and I'll tell them about all of you online also.
So we all got suckerd-in and swindled from the likes of slimmy ### Ed Bidwell and his gang, it could be worse----we could of been born with sewer running in our veins and ended up a piece of ____ just like Ed Bidwell and all the other cheaters & liars & thieves at Empire. And,now I know why Ed Bidwell wore a ton of cheap cologne, you might of heard this before or something sort of like it, If it looks like apiece of ____, and If it smells like a piece of____, It must be Ed Bidwell or one of the other Empire turds out there. Empire is a home-grown terrorist-like group, they prey upon people of this country and hurt us their own comrads to get what they want no matter what.
Hold your heads up man, stand-up and fight for yourselves, all of us, we're the backbone of America, you and me, the hard working, honest, true-blue, me and you, not the Cancerous class of people that run and hussle for an UN-AMERICAN COMPANY like EMPIRE CARPET! They are ANTI-AMERICAN, they are AGAINST AMERICANS, EMPIRE CARPET. Empire of the Sun, where do you suppose their slimsy, poorly-made, cheaply-made products come from, Empire of the Sun. Are they for or Against-American, how many Americans do they sub-contract out to? Just something to ponder.
I'll post more here and other sites as this drags out and let you know how the fight is going.
Keep the faith, good-luck to you!
Thank you for brining your concerns to the attention of Empire Today. Empire Today is dedicated to providing world-class customer service to every customer. We have been communicating with the customer and have sent an Independent Inspector to her residence. Once we receive the completed report, we will make repairs and adjustments as warranted. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at CustomerSupport@empiretoday.com.
I have to say, to see you all get taken is laughable, you see all the signs, yet they Crush you for every last dollar. hahahah
So give us the update?
When we were ready to move into our new home, we called Empire 2 days before our furniture was due to arrive. We asked about getting carpet put into 3 rooms which were not carpeted. We had a very nice sales lady who showed us samples and measured the rooms. Her pricing came in right at $2600 for the 3 bedrooms and she stated that they could lay the carpet the next day. I had already gotten prices from Lowes and Home Depot and although they would save us hundreds of dollars, we would need to wait a few weeks. The wait was not a problem but we decided to go with Empire and pay more to get it installed before the movers came. She said everything would be ready for the movers to bring our furniture and clothing when they showed up the day after the carpet was done.
When the carpet installation crew showed up, not one of them spoke English, which was a problem since we don't speak anything but English. We had a painter at the house who tried to help but he also was unable to help communicate with the crew. They were supposed to call and let me know when they were coming, which they didn't do - so one of the rooms they were going to carpet had paint which was drying. They came and took 5 hours to install the carpet. When they wanted to ask me a question, the man in charge had to call someone on the phone and explain to them and then give me the phone to talk to them to have it translated, then give the phone back and talk to them. I called my saleslady who wasn't available and I called customer service and complained and was told that he probably did speak english and I just didn't understand him.
I don't feel it is unreasonable when you spend top dollar on carpet to expect to have at least one person on the crew who speaks English in America.
I too was told that the carpet I wanted was not the one on the 60% off sale which ended the next day, I now see that the sale never ends for empire.
I also am curious how a company that works like this and is so poor at customer service can be advertising on TV that they have an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau.
I called many times to complain about this visit. When the crew was ready to leave my home, I went to see the carpet and our closet doors were all sitting in front of the closets. I questioned why? Of course, the crew couldn't explain, so he called someone who then explained that they were not equipped to put them back on the hinges. Apparently the carpet was higher than the original floors and they didn't mention this, not the sales lady, not the crew before doing the job, so they couldn't accommodate the doors and they would need to be shaved down to be rehung.
Our movers came and moved our furniture into the rooms with 2 large closet doors sitting in each room. It was not at all a good experience. I will never use Empire again.
I received a phone call about the experience asking me to rate the experience on a 1-10 scale and after answering the first few questions we got cut off, they've never called back again.
I would not send anyone I know to Empire for anything.
Empire Today is currently researching your concerns. We always want to ensure that you have the best possible experience, and a customer care team member will contact you directly within one business day to work toward a resolution. Thank you for sharing your experience with us.
Sincerely,
Consumer Advocate Team
Empire Today, LLC
Just had carpet installed from Empire and it has been a terrible experience. The first installation crew was less than professional and only one guy spoke broken English. They damaged a heat vent by severely bending it in with their stretcher and then claimed it was like that when they got there. They tried bending it back and anyone knows bent metal cannot be returned to its original smooth finish. It will have to be replaced
The upper hallway was pieced together in three pieces which I was never told would be done. They cut the carpet around the mantel when I specifically asked that it be placed underneath it. There was a gap between the carpet and the mantel. They left a mess in the hallway and never put the furniture back as I was promised. I thought they were taking their tools out to the truck and were coming back in to move the furniture but they just left.
I had a second crew here yesterday to fix the carpet where there was a gap by the mantel. The customer service rep told me they would replace the whole strip since that is where the seam is and they would only need a strip 4' x 20' and it was from the same roll so it would match. When the crew got here they said they couldn't guarantee the color would match and that the seam may not meld well since the carpet had been in place for 3 days. I told him it really hadn't been walked on in that area and he said it didn't matter. I didn't want to take the chance that the color wouldn't match so they stretched the carpet by the mantel to eliminate the gap. The carpet does look better, however the guy took several gouges out of the oak mantel with the tool he used to tuck the carpet edges back under the trim and the mantel. I called customer service and now they need to send someone out to repair the mantel.
The second crew knew nothing about the carpet in the hallway being replaced so after talking with customer service again yesterday I am now waiting today for yet a third crew to arrive and replace the piecemeal job in the hallway. The customer service rep guaranteed that I would be the first appointment of the day and it is 11:00 and they haven't arrived. I called the general customer service number to find out where they are. After being on hold she told me that the driver left his phone at home and she couldn't get in contact with him (how did she know he left his phone at home if he didn’t have a phone to let her know that?). I am tempted if/when they show up to tell them to just go away as I am worried what they might damaged today.
I think it is ridiculous it has taken 3 appointments and things still may not be right. In addition I have to schedule to have a furniture repair company come out to fix the mantel. I would recommend anyone considering new carpet stay away from Empire unless you have a ton of free time to sit around waiting for them to keep coming back, trying to get it right. Needless to say, I will never use Empire again.
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 is the crookedest company in American history. Goto the following website and file a complaint with the FTC. It's not too late. Also, write letters to the editor at your local newspaper and to several consumer magazines such as Consumer Reports on the web. Empire screwed me too. Lets shut these SOB's down!
https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/
My brother is a salesman for empire today and they get paid 4% fixed commission which means that they only make $4 for charging per $100 which empire does to ELIMINATE the "used car sale" like experience.
As far as the overcharge that you're saying they charged you means that you would be paying $5000 on a $1ooo job and, as a owner of a carpeting company you should know, there are laws in place saying they cant charge more than what the market price of a product and they do fire any salesmen who sell any higher than that so a 500% mark up would've closed their doors years ago.
Maybe you should spend more time working on building your company up rather than trying to cut your compitition
I worked for Empire. While the company sucked big time, I do not understand what are you talking about by saying the sales man will pay several car and house payments of your contract. He will get 4 or 5 % commission. Le's say you spent $5000. So, his commission is $200. How many car and house payments will he afford on it? Don't get me wrong, I HATE the company. But why take it out on the sales man. You say, every suspicious he just gently calmed down. WHAT do you expect from a sales man? Come drunk to your house and hit on your wife? Maybe even beat you up if you don't like it? Of course he will be nice and gentle.
Wow, I'm glad I checked out this site BEFORE buying carpet from this company!
I have always thought that when I was going to re-do my floors, I would choose Empire! After all, all those commercials, and sales, etc. Am SOOOOO GLAD, I have read these reviews first! I wii NOT be using this company! BUYERS BEWARE!
Bought and paid for carpet install. Installer came, tore up the carpet, said I needed to Killz the sub-floor. I did that. Said he'd be back. He never came back. I have exposed sub-floors, no carpet installed, and I already paid. I called over a dozen times to get this fixed, with no results. The reason I needed to replace it was because their old carpet frayed at the seams.