Empire Today
Reviews and Complaints

Empire Today installed carpet and some Luxury Vinyl Planks in two room that cost more than 5k to install. Empire Today installed the wrong product on May 9th, and wanted me to provide proof. I provide them with my contract stating I wanted " American Hickory Syrah", I also provide them with a picture of the box the installers left from the extra Luxury Vinyl Planks. The box they left behind was labeled" America Walnut Syrah". The day of the installation I walk in my home, and stated something is off about the floors. (Knowing I match the samples colors with my window blinds with the Salesman Chad) Well Walnut is lighter than Hickory and that's what made me review my contract and the extra box left behind. The customer service rep at 1866.588.2305 x4829, first name Norma stated to me I was correct and Empire was willing to come out and completely reinstall my floors with the correct colors, or I could get a 50% discount for the entire installation. I advise Norma I will give her a call back, because the floors did not match my blinds in the windows. I contacted the Saleperson Chad, to verify if what I order and what was supplied to me was different he agreed it was two different colors and that Walnut is lighter than Hickory. I called Norma and email her back on May 25th, she stated she would email me the details of our conversation regarding me wanting to do a 50% discount and will request from Upper Management that I receive the discount. She had to have their approval because it was over her authority amount. On June 1st I follow up and left a voicemail for Norma, she returned my call on June 2nd and stated Upper management stated that Hickory and Walnut are the same colors and they will not refund me anything because they didn't make a mistake. I totally disagree with the statement and Norma stated "She was told to send me a sample of the product, so I can compare the colors. Saturday, , June 3rd a guy came to my house with samples, the sample boards did not have anything stating Walnut. I've attached my contract, the extra product left by installers, and the sample board which didn't support the floors they actually installed, it didn't even support the American Hickory Syrah. You can Google Walnut and Hickory and clearly see they are not the same. Its obvious either Norma don't want to address my issue or Upper management don't want to admit the installer made a mistake. I did not get what I paid for, my home is not in the fashion that I desired, and I don't know if I under paid or overpaid for the product that was installed.

I ordered new flooring April 21st, 2017. Install for floor was set for March 15th with carpet March 17th. Flooring was entire living room, kitchen, hall and two entry ways with high volume carpet for stairs. They sent one person to do the flooring and after 5 days from morning till dark, is still not completed. Carpet was done on a rush job and is so bad supervisor was out on March 22nd and said carpet will need full tear out and replacement. Flooring in kitchen will have to be half torn out and replaced because of lump where the kitchen meets the hall. This was all fixable but the problem is that it is now June 1, 2017 and nothing has been completed or fixed. We have tried to be patient but the floor is a disaster and no one is calling us or making any attempts to complete/fix the work. I DO NOT recommend this company to anyone ever!

Empire installed wood floors in my family room and the service was so great, I decided to have laminate flooring in my kitchen, bathroom, pantry, foyer and laundry room. The flooring is not durable and has streaks throughout the laminate. The installers told me that once I cleaned the floor following installation, the streaks would disappear. They did not and the floor is scratched in places. I have called on numerous occasions to have a manager speak with me without success. Customer service keeps taking my information stating Lisa Johnson from my local office will call me. It's frustrating after spending thousands of dollars with a company who swears on excellent customer service, but after taking my money, refuse to even speak with me about my issue. An "installer/Inspector" came out and took one picture and sent it in and told me that someone would call me in 2-3 business days...it's been almost 3 weeks. I guess I have to spend more money on an attorney, involve the local media and report Empire to the BBB in order to get a response. Unfortunately for them, they will never get my business again.

So if I could give zero stars to this horrific company I would. It all started on Tuesday May 2nd with out consultation. We were very specific that if they could not install on either Thursday or Friday of this week we could not use their company. As our movers were delivering our furniture on Saturday May 6th. Mind you we were only wanting to carpet one bedroom. Not a huge job, shouldn't take very long. Well the consultation guy was extremely pushy and even though he said they were booked Thursday and Friday as I tried to get him to leave our house he schedule me for Monday without my permission. Why even bother, who does that? If someone has a specific time frame you don't do that. So I ended up calling customer service to see if either a Thursday or Friday installation opened up or to cancel if not. The woman I spoke to told me Friday was available. So she sent a note out to the installers to change my installation date to Friday and told me to call back in two hours to confirm the changes. Two hours later I call back and the customer service agent sees the note but now sees Friday is full. So I tell him that I want to cancel because we were very specific it had to be done by Friday night at the latest and now we need to find another company. He speaks to a manager and gets us squeezed in on Friday since the first woman left it in the notes Friday was available and since our job wouldn't be long. I also called and confirmed on Thursday that yes they did switch it installation to Friday we got the confirmation email all is well and good. Friday May 5th comes, it is 3:30pm and we have spoke to customer service multiple times to get an estimated time of arrival. Finally the installer calls us back and says he won't make it today. So we say either you come today or don't bother. This was our original stipulation and now stressing us all out. He says okay okay I'll make it today don't worry I'll call back at 4pm with my eta. 4pm comes and goes we have now called customer service a few more times. The installer calls us back again and says he won't make it he is too far away. Really? He says he can come install at 7am. Not ideal but not we have already been pulled around and can't get anyone else to do it that quickly. So we say okay then you have to actually be here at 7am. Since movers are at 3:30pm on Saturday. We call customer service to escalate this issue that they never showed. We do find out (and customer service in Texas will tell you straight up) the orlando market doesn't answer their phones, their voicemail is always full and they never call back. Lovely. 7am comes and goes, we call multiple times. 8:30am installers show up, they have the correct color carpet, that's a start, wrong padding, no materials to carpet over tile. Installer states they didn't read our order form. Umm, isn't that your job. Do you just guess what people ordered? They were going to switch us to cheap padding that wasn't even meant for tile. Are you kidding me? So he says they will have to go back and pick up the right materials and it will be a few hours. Now I'm just pissed, this is a joke right? Oh, and they leave the carpet and the wrong padding at my house. Again, I am flabbergasted, this is not how you do business. Hours go by, I think by this point customer service has spoken to us at least 20 times. Finally, they get ahold of Bill the Orlando Market manager and he calls me back. I tell him what's going on. No installation Friday, wrong materials Saturday, oh and there is carpet and padding sitting at my house and the installers had actually just informed us they were cancelling our installation and we had to reschedule. He claims to have no idea about this cancellation, nor any idea the materials are at our property. He says he will get ahold of them and call me back. Hour goes by and he finally calls me back. He guarantees me they will be their to install between 3:30pm and 4:30pm. Not ideal but we can hold of the movers doing the bedroom furniture until they are done. 4pm comes and goes and I call his direct extension, no answer, I leave a message. Never got a return call. Installers never showed up. We call customer service and tell them. I mean this is a joke right, they left all the carpet, and the wrong padding in the bedroom. Am I in another universe. I don't think I'm the crazy one here and this is literally nuts. We tell customer service if the installers don't come tonight and pick up this carpet it's going on the street. And this is Orlando I'm sure someone will pick it up during the night. Well midnight comes and goes, we throw everything on the curb and go to bed. It is now almost 7:30am, they never even bothered to call us. Carpet is gone. No contact from anyone. Usually I would assume businesses actually want business. Guess Empire today does not. What a joke. What's sad is had they been honest with us at the beginning we could have gotten another company to install our carpet. Thy ruined my entire move into my new house. I don't want to have carpet installed now that our really heavy furniture is in. They wasted days of time and energy I will never get back and they never even did the job they promised so they can't even compensate me for it. What a despicable company. What a joke. Customer service in Texas seems like they try but I told multiple people if they can't control the Orlando Market then either shut it down or fire everyone and start over. It's not that hard. I guess I'm stuck with cold tile floor in my bedroom now. Thanks for ruining everything.

I had wood floors installed in my home by Empire today on 4/7/17. A couple weeks later my wood floor buckled & bubbled. I contacted Empire and they sent the contractors back out to inspect the floor. The moisture reading in the area of the bubbling was measuring at 78% they claimed that when they did it before it was 4.5. I was told by Empire to have a plumber to come out to checks for leaks. The plumber came out and did not find any leaks but advised to have the heating and air to come out. I had the heating and air come out he also did not find any issues. Empire is now stating they do not repair for moisture and to repair it I would have to pay an additional $1295.95. I will be taking Empire today to small claims court to repair my floor. I don't believe the installers measured the floor in the area where its now buckling. Empire stated I initialed the moisture reading "I should have checked to make sure it was done correctly". I asked how was i suppose to know it wasn't done correctly.

From april 24-april 26th, empire floor contractors arrived at my home to install lvp floors. this is referencing activity #: 1-[protected], contract #: 037faar282. the issues are: (1) empire floor contractors removed the bottom guides from the pantry door in the living room area to install the new lvp floors and after finishing the job they just installed the doors without re-installing the bottom guides and now the pantry doors are scratching the newly installed floors.in addition, the installers did not mention this issue, it was discovered after they left by home owner. I expect empire floor to replace/re purchase the bottom pantry guides/properly re-install and repair any damages to the newly installed floors (2) the second issue is the floor installers yanked the wires from my security system and did not say anything about it. this was discovered on 5/1/2017 after I had allied home security rep help resolve why my security system was not starting up properly after the floor installers left. everything was working fine prior to floor installers. to repair the damaged wires, I had to pay $35.00 to allied security which I expect empire floor to reimburse me. the empire sales rep name is joseph white (rep# 6q4) and the installing manager name is turk (no last name provided). I have reached out to both resources on thursday (4/27/2017) whereas turk text me via phone and stated he would get back to me the following day (4/28/2017). I have not heard anything back. again, I reached out on monday (5/1/201) and sent joe white a text desperately asking for help and I received a text stating he was out of town and he sent my text with details (showing the issue) to his boss, the install boss and etc. as of today, I have still received no response back and received no help to resolve this issue which is very frustrating and humiliating. I then contacted the 1.800.588.2300 number and filed a verbal complaint regarding the lack of follow up to help resolve the issue/damages caused by empire floor installers. I am requesting immediate help as a result of empire floor causing damages to my home. by the way, at any time anyone at empire today floors will like to speak to my security company (allied home security rep), he stated he is more than willing to share his findings and provide copies of the charges I had to pay.

We bought and paid for new carpet in our dining room which was installed with no problem HOWEVER... A runner was also ordered and pd for. We were told that the runner would have to be bound all the way around and would take approx 10 days to get done. At that point, the runner would be delivered. To date after much spinning, excuses and what appears to be outright lies from the sales rep as well as management, the runner was to be delivered today 4/12/17 and it never happened. I thought this company was much better than this and I have decided that in spite of the fact that we have 2 more big rooms to carpet, Empire will NOT be given a chance for that business.

My $98, 000 frustration
Previous installer 7101

My name is Ramon and my company began installing for Empire Today Memphis almost 3 years ago. For the first 2 years it was a GREAT PLACE to subcontract so I decided to dedicate two of my crews to their office. My problems didn't start until the new office manager Steve Coudriet started. At first he seemed like a great fit and fun person to work with. I mean we would joke sometimes and yet still get things done. Now my problem didn't start until about a year ago when Steve Coudriet pulled me in his office and asked me for a favour because he was getting overwhelmed with jobs. He asked me to allow an installer he knew to work under my installer number for a month until the installer get enough money to get his insurance together. I immediately said no and I didn't feel comfortable doing that since I didn't know this person nor did I know his skill set and I take pride in my work. Steve said he knew the guy from I think Baltimore (a place I never been) and also another manager in the Nevada market Venus knew him and spoke very highly of him. He begged me to do this for him and if I could just help him get out of this hole he'd be cool. He then told me that if I did this for him I “will not be held responsible for anything this guy did if he messed up a job” and the guy would give me 10% of his check just for using my number. So with that being said I gave in and told him Rockny can keep the 10% so he can hurry up and get his paper work together and I would need a w-9 so I can 1099 him at the end of the year. Steve agreed to take care of that since he knew the guy. So the installer moved to Memphis and started installing. Then Steve Coudriet and the install manager Scott Dabbs pull me in the office again and asked me to do it again because the marketing advertisements where doing so well he was getting over loaded and was having to turn down work. So Scott and Steve found some other installers to work under my number and they would be responsible for these guys until they get their paperwork together. So the crazy thing is these guys come in the door taking out big jobs and It was cool at first because they told me these jobs would help them get their paperwork together faster. Now after a few months these guys wasn't trying to get their stuff together and I asked Steve and Scott to talk with them because this is not our agreement. They completely ignored me and kept sending these guys out under my number and then started giving my guys 3 boxes of lvt or small tile jobs which was not cool but we also install for some of the other retailer and GCs in the mid-south so I wasn't complaining. My problems started when Scott and
Steve asked me to go and fix one of the wood jobs those guys did and upon arriving at the job it was clear that this guy didn't know what the hell he was doing and the job really messed up. I fix the job anyhow and told Steve and Scott that their guy was leaving people on the jobsites that didn't know what they were doing and messing up floors. Then came complaints for from all the other installers and just like the previous one most were installed completely wrong. There were four installers under my number that were getting call backs on. The installer Jimmy and Charmane did know how to do basic installs but their problem seemed to be no good help and Steve and Scott was giving them jobs that were too big and pilling jobs on top of jobs all the while my crew is given the smallest job they have. These guys started messing up so bad that I would be doing 3-4 complaint a week for them and wasn't even getting paid to do it. So after months of begging them to stop using these guys Scott was terminated because it was found out that he was taking kick backs from those installer in exchange for those big jobs they were being given. And after a few more weeks Steve was forced to terminate Rockny because he was messing up waaay to bad but he kept working the other guys. So after another month or so he finally let the other guys go also. Now this is where things kinda went bad. Steve pulled me in his office again and told me he talked to the “corporate office” and they would not allow him to be responsible for the work theses installers did and I might be backcharged. I asked him to let me talk with them because this was out of my control and also not what he agreed. He told me his boss was always busy and wouldn't even give me his number or name. Steve then told me he would atleast make sure I don't get back charged for the materials need to make repairs. He lied again and I was backcharged $15, 934 and was still being backcharged and doing repairs until January. So here I am being forced to repair jobs that I could have done at first and most of them were and still are messed up because he wouldn't replace none them completely. Also one of them had already been paid and it wasn't even completed and it was installed 100% wrong but I did the best I could to make the homeowner somewhat happy. Now this whole time I'm fixing Steve and Scotts mess ups because according to Steve Corporate is holding me responsible for his bad choice which didn't make any sense. So after a few months of doing these repairs I start to feel the sting of the labor I was paying out of my company reserves for the labor for the repairs to the tune of $17, 000 dollars because it took over a week on some of these complaints. I talked with Steve and told him how this ways hurting my company. He told me he was going on vacation and the he had a national meeting coming up and he'd see what he can do when he gets back. So upon getting back a few week later and asked him what he come up with. STEVE COUDRIET then looked me right in my face and told me he “had know ####ing idea what I was talking about and I should've been taking 10% out of those guys check” and he knew nothing about any w-9 forms (which he agreed to get for me since they knew these guys) I felt so betrayed and stuck because I gave some much to Empire Today and him to help him out. Steve then started talking bad about my crew and their workmanship and calling them “lazy, stupid, nogood, d grade installers, etc. No that is where I drew the line because he has already hurt me and now he was started on my guys. When that very week we replaced 800 sqft of lvp demo and install for another guy he hired and fired and we did this in three days and the homeowner was extremely happy. So this brings us to the last installer meeting we had. One of my guys questioned Steve about all these repairs we're being forced to do when he know it wasn't our mess up. Steve got a little agitated so I then tried to take up for install and Steve gets mad at me! After all I've done for him! He then goes in his office and invites me in to “talk” about it. I refused at first but he cursed at me and he and I had a heated exchange. He then calms down so it can appear im the aggressor ( yea he played me like a fiddle) and I was terminated. So here I am with taxes owed on money was payed out to guys I never knew and I was terminated unfairly. I gave my best to Empire today Memphis but in the end I got screwed by the ones I tried to help. And I was one of the few installers that never bad mouthed empire or took a job away from them. I gave my loyalty and they played me. I have cancelled checks and check stubs just incase they say I'm lying. Also at that last meeting there was a “installation quality manager” present and I believe she was trying to get to the bottom of things a maybe help me in some way, but the corporate office had taken Steve Coudriet side completely without even trying to here from me. Sad. Feel free to contact me.

Last Wednesday, we waited for the installers who arrived during the two hour window. Hooray. However, upon their arrival, they told us we needed a plumber to disconnect the refrigerator and we needed quarter board for the molding once the flooing was nstalled. The sales rep never told us that so we cancelled the installation.

We rescheduled for today. We received a call at 730 informing us they would be here by 930. I finally called them to find out the installers truck broke down and no one ever thought to call us. I am fuming.

I am waiting for the manager to call me back. Two days I have wasted on this. I used Empire in another state and they were excellent. Not here.

We purchased this carpet in November 2014. After it was installed we were having problems with pieces of the carpet coming up every time we vacuumed. We were told by Empire this was normal. It continued to come up plus the matting on the carpet or down and they sent a representative out and said that it was fine. Since we were not satisfied with that explanation they sent a third party to investigate the carpet and it came back that the carpet was faulty. They replaced it with the same carpet in March Of 2016. Well it is a year later and after vacuuming twice a week we are still getting a lot of the carpet up it is matted down and they are only two adults that live in this house and we don't wear our shoes on it. It is our determination that empire sold us lousy carpet at the cost of $3800 cannot tell you how disgusted we are don't know if there's anything you will be doing about it. I would like to think that someone would come out, remove it and replace it with a real piece of carpet has it certainly was not inexpensive for the poor excuse for carpet that was installed. We have been married for 56 years and have purchased a lot of carpet and we have never seen such poor quality and all those years. Sincerely, Bonnie Evans Home phone: [protected]. email: [protected]@yahoo.com. Address: 109 Wofford Rd., Taylors, SC 29687. I will look for word to receiving a response by any of the above forms of communication.

On 3/8/2017, we ordered carpet to be installed in our home that was for sale. We selected the color Flaxseed. An email to confirm the installation scheduled for 3/13/2017, was received and responded to. On Monday morning Empire was contacted at approximately 10:30, and we were informed the installation was cancelled due the color selected was out of stock. We had a contract on that house contingent upon new carpet being installed by Wednesday, 3/15. We had to settle on another color that was in stock to meet the deadline. The potential buyers cancelled the contract because the color we were forced to accept was too dark. This i unacceptable, and has cost us the sale of our home. We should have been told that Empire did not have enough of the color selected before the date of installation. We explained the time line etc. to the Empire sales rep Jason Light. I emailed him on Monday, with no response.

I put in a detailed complaint about our flooring experience. I wanted to include pictures of everthing. I have uploaded photos of the floors so that people will think twice about empire flooring and make sure they don't listen to those sales people. They are out to make a buck and they don't care how many lies they have to tell to make it. Our sales person was an 18 year old guy named william. I don't have his last name or his business card. The items in these photos have been lying around our house for a month. Those long boxes, we pulled them outside because we kept tripping over them and got tired of almost falling, so we pulled them out onto the patio. The flooring spaces are where our doors use to be, but they are now laying against the wall at the back of the hallway. This pictures are as of today 3/6/2017.

I will never do business with them again. My building management requires a certificate of insurance at least one week before installation. It is now over a month & i'm still waiting. I've had to change my install date two times and it looks like i'll be going for a third! The first coi they sent was too late and they left information from a previous job on it which my bldg. Mgmt would not accept. I had to call them back to revise the document. I finally receive it & guess what? It's merely a request for a coi which bldg. Mgmt would not accept. I called customer service again, spoke to someone & asked for the only individual that seems to actually want to help me, to call me back. Well, that was yesterday - i'm still waiting. I think it's time to contact the better business bureau. I've had it! I've been more than patient. Something that should've taken 5 mins has resulted in over 20 phone calls & I still do not have the coi! Don't ever use this company!

Had "luxury vinyl" installed. We were guaranteed it would not have air pockets... Not only are there noisy air pockets everywhere, the trim/transitions are a different color and don't match. We were told nothing could be done till the weekend passes because of the holiday, all managers were gone. The installation crew was friendly but left a huge mess! They told us to supply cleaner if we wanted the floors mopped after they installed. We had to mop ourselves! Dust is everywhere in the entire house. I am not kidding you. I called their 24 hour service line three times during installation and they had to tell the installation crew we paid to have the floor leveled so that there wouldn't be any noise. The crew said the office didn't give them enough materials to level so they had to go back and get more at 5:45pm. They came back and laid more fill but it stilll wasn't level. They told us it would be okay... And then come back the next day, to complete the installation. They were rushing the next day because it was new year's eve and their significant others were calling for them to hurry up and come home. While they replaced the furniture, they only swept the floors, leaving dust everywhere. All of of furniture and paintings, tvs, counters, everything - was covered in dust. I had to fight with them to caulk the floor boards as they said that was not part of the contract! I have a service order in and have requested a manager come see. I'll update this if they come through but right now, they failed to meet all the promises the salesman gave us. Needless to say we would never recommend this company at this point.

I called empire to get an estimate for hardwood flooring. The sales guy that was assigned to us was awful. He was more concerned with the other work we have being completed in our home. Which I believe he increased the price of the estimate. I do not believe he gave me an honest estimate. After he left I had additional questions so I reached out to him, but didn't receive a phone call back until two days later. I had two other contractors come out to give us an estimate and they told me a different story about how the floors would be installed. I was told by empire that they could install hardwood flooring over ceramic tile, but was told by luna and lowe's that you can not install hardwood over a ceramic floor. When I spoke with the sales guy that came out from empire to voice my concerns the became very defensive by saying luna did not know what they were talking about and even mentioned that empire purchased luna for several millions of dollars. I told him that I was not concerned with that, but I was concerned how the install would be handled. I also told him that I had called empire back and spoke with a customer service rep who also said that, that didn't sound right. The sales guy then said to me "those people make $10.00 dollars an hour they do not know what they are talking about" I was so outdone by this comment from him. He was so rude! I called empire back to speak with a manager, but they were as you can guess to busy. So I have scheduled another appointment to have another sales rep. Come out and hopefully, I will get someone professional and knowledgeable because I actually like the flooring they provide. It's really sad when people are spending this amount of money they can't get a pleasant, professional sales rep.

Very upset with Empire Today. I contacted ET for in home estimate to replacement my carpet, last minutes they contacted me to cancelled the appt due to no salesmen in the area, re-scheduled the following week. Finally the salesmen came and signed the contract and scheduled the following week for installation. The installer came but can't do the job due to not enough carpet. Rescheduled, the 2nd installer came, can't do the job again due to the ET did not give him enough labor to do the job, refused to do the job and walked away. Rescheduled 3rd time, no show, no call. Finally I escalate to the "managers", promised no more issues. Rescheduled 4th time, but schedule us at 4 to 6pm, the guys show up at 7pm.

I ordered carpet on 9/8 but changed my before the install on 9/10/16. I cancelled the install, emailed them regarding the cancellation as I had to do by 9/11 and also sent the legal team a letter which they received by 9/13/16 which they needed by 9/14/16. In said contract they would return my money in 7-10 days not business days but days. It is now 9/30/16 and I have not received my money back in my account. I called today and spoke Desiree and she stated there was no request in to refund me my money. I'm sorry but we are dealing with a legal and binding contract and Empire Today is not holding up their end of the contract. What are the consequences to Empire Today for not holding up their end of the contract? I was told it will take 7-10 days again for a refund after they call me in 24 business hours. Are you kidding me. I will never do business with you again.

We recently had floor damage due to hurricane Hermine. After going through our options we decided to give E.T. a chance to replaced the damaged floor. Because of work / travel schedules there is a limited window to get the quotes / work done, so we scheduled an appointment for 6-8PM on Friday night. Received the automated emails and automated phone call confirming the appointment. Friday evening, no calls, no emails and no show. Called customer service at the end of the window (8PM), they attempted to reach the sales person but did not get an answer. She offered to reschedule, but also noted that he might be running late and maybe I should give him a little more time. At that point I was told there were appointment times available on Saturday. So we waited one more hour, again no contact from _anyone_ at E.T.. Called customer service again, this rep simply said we would need to reschedule, but now there were no openings over the weekend. I stated that was unacceptable and she hung up on me. Guess we won't be doing business with E.T.