Empire Today
Reviews and Complaints

Wanted to share my experience with Empire Carpet in Colorado
with any other consumers who are thinking about using them for your carpet
purchase/installation. DO NOT USE THIS
COMPANY! This was the worst experience
ever – it made buying a new car seem like a dream!

First off, I cancelled my appointment, but the salesman
still showed up. Since he was there, I
let him come in and show me what Empire had to offer. We had already had two other bids, and were
pretty set that we were going with another company. After talking to him, looking at the samples
and having him measure my home, his price $1, 100 higher than the other company
we were going to use. He told me that he
would match that price, that the price included furniture moving, AND he could
get me started that Friday/Saturday. I
asked for his price in writing (which was $5, 199), and received it in writing
the next day. I felt it was a pretty food
deal, so decided to go with Empire.

He came over the next night (Thursday) and I signed the
paperwork. He then told me that Friday
would no longer work for installation. I
said then I would have to wait for a few weeks then due to our schedules. He said they would do it Saturday/Sunday
instead. I said that was fine.

Saturday morning at 8:00am the phone rings. It was Empire calling to let me know that the
carpet I chose was not in stock. Strike 1. I told them that I was going
to go ahead and exercise my right to cancel the contract (I had 3 buisiness
days) – she told me they would give me a different carpet (the next level
upgrade and a moisture barrier pad). I
said fine. Chose a carpet and they
arrived about 10:00am that morning to install.
(We had already cleared one room of furniture ourselves to help the
installers and to try to move things on a bit quicker)

When the installers arrived, they called the office to
process our payment – the office tried 3 times but could not get the payment
processed off our debit card. I then
gave them a check from the same account and it went through fine… to me, this
was Strike 2. The installers told us that our home was
going to be a 2-day job, and that they did not work Sundays and that they would
have to finish on Monday. Strike 3. I immediately called the installation center
and told them what I was told – and that my salesperson had told me originally
Fri/Sat and then changed in to Sat/Sun.
I told them they needed to figure it out or we would be sending these
guys away (even though furniture was already moved). I told them it was not acceptable to have the
job finished on Monday – and if they had to do that – that Empire would
compensate us for having to miss a day of work. After and hour and a half –
they assured me that someone would be out Sunday morning to finish the
job. While on the phone with customer
service, I asked the price of the carpet that we were changed to – and the
sales rep told me that it would cost $4989 for that carpet in my home – which was LESS than what I was paying. I asked for the cost of the original carpet I
ordered and it was $5300 – which was $1, 200 less than the original price he quoted me BEFORE he matched my other offer – so….
He quoted me more than it would have even cost if I went with his original
offer! AND…. The upgraded padding I was told I would get – DID NOT GET (Strike 4)!
The installers also told us that they were told this was an empty house
and that there was no furniture to be moved, and they didn’t have enough
workers to help move. Therefore, NO ONE
helped with the furniture moving – we did it all ourselves – when I told
customer service this, they said they would compensate us $125 for moving the
furniture (2 days and 6 rooms worth of furniture – because the Sunday
installers did not help either!)

When Sunday morning rolled around – no one had called or
shown up – so I called the installation manager to find out when someone could
be expected. She called back and said
the original guys she had told top come out were not answering – so she had to
call another crew. By noon – they finally
got there.

They finished at 5:00pm – then my husband and I were left
to move all the furniture back.

This was the most horrific experience ever! To be WAY over charged ($1200), to not have
the carpet in stock that we ordered and find out the day of installation, to
have them not know how to process a payment, to have the installers show up (to
what they were told was an empty house) not expecting to move furniture, and
telling us that they would not be back until Monday, to not getting the “upgraded
pad”, the Sunday installers not showing up until noon, to having to move
everything ourselves – Please re-think your options! Everything they promise is not what you are
going to get – you will eventually get nice carpet – but not without hassle and
many headaches!

I just had new carpets installed. About a week after installation my son scratched his leg open when he was playing outside of his room on the floor. As I went to investigate, I too stepped on something the stabbed me in the foot. I realized it was the tack strips coming the rug. I did some research and found that A. Tack strips should not be placed in doorways and B. That the carpet was either very thin or not padded correctly. After having issues with empire today before with the original installation I decided to call them and have them come take the rugs out. However, instead of being understanding they instead sent out ONE rather old gentleman to hammer down all the tack strips. I can still feel them and I am considering filing a personal injury lawsuit. I have tried finding a corporate office phone number but have been unsuccessful. They never even called back to see if the problem had been fixed. I just want the carpets gone at this point. I'm not willing to risk my children's safety on poor quality and poorly installed carpet. I paid in full and I assumed that I would be happy with the product. Boy was I wrong... Be aware and be careful! Legal action seems to be my only option at this point. Which I really hate to have to go through.

Empire sales rep “Tim” met my wife at our house on Wednesday, April 30th. After giving Tim an $800 deposit for our two rooms plus a hallway of carpeting Tim gave my wife his cell phone number to call if there were any issues. According to Tim, he was good at promptly calling back if there were issues. Being I have a relatively small house I sat on my porch as the installers arrived and began the carpet install on Saturday, May 3rd. (I first verified the two colors of the carpet as my wife told me I’d be asked to.) After completing one room this is when the problems began. (Note our issues are not with the installers. Both installers were polite and appeared to be knowledgeable and qualified.) The wrong colors were ordered for the wrong rooms. The bedroom and hallway color that was incorrectly ordered was installed in the living room but fortunately the living room color that was incorrectly ordered was not enough to cover the hallway and the bedroom. At this point the decision was made for the installers to return on Thursday the 8th to install thebedroom and hallway color that they would correctly order. Whenever my wife arrived home after work on the 3rd and the installers had left she immediately called Tim to complain about the order mixup. As of Monday night the 5th we’ve received no return call from Tim but the installers did call to verify that they would return on Thursday the 8th. My wife then called the Empire 800 number on Sunday evening. Marie the operator offered no apology but said that someone would call her. Again as of Monday night the 5th we’ve received no phone call. Due to the incorrect carpet orders we have carpet tack strips between two rooms and our bathroom that we had to lay towels over. Again though I feel that fault does not lay with the installers I foolishly paid them the remaining amount of the balance due. I do feel some measure of relief that they at least had the courtesy to call to confirm their return date.This will be our first and last business with Empire Carpeting. I’ll also be spreading our horrible Empire Carpet experience on Facebook, word of mouth, or whatever medium it takes to prevent any friends (or even enemies) from the total aggravation we’ve dealt with

After remodeling our old farm house, I got a quote from Home Depot for carpet in two bedrooms. I called Empire for a quote and was so surprised to get an extremely high quote for a cheaper carpet. When I showed the salesman my carpet sample from Home Depot and their quote, he went back to his car and showed me a better quality carpet sample and said he would lower the price to match Home Depot.with his "family discount". I asked where were the 2 free rooms they advertised and got stupid answers like-We do better work, and we can come tomorrow and you have to wait 3-4 weeks for Home Depot. When I told him I wanted to think about it and let him know later, he continued to pressure me to pay a deposit. I asked if I could cancel and he said yes, and it was in writing.
So I paid him a deposit of $50 to get rid of him. When he left I immediately called the number to cancel and complained about his sales tactics and the high price. The next day a representative called to offer a better price. I had already called Home Depot and they had the carpet in 5 days and came the following day to install. BEWARE, they are scammers and the salesman only has his commission in mind when giving a quote!

Empire today salesman came to house measured rooms 2 bedrooms and my great room showed me carpet samples and then quoted a amazing price for installation complete with furniture moving and hauling away the old. I signed the contract with them and set an installation date only to have the salesman call me the following week claiming he had not included one of the rooms and the price would increase by approx. 350.00 more than quoted and signed for . Was I agreeable to the increase. Now by law I could have insisted they sell at the price quoted but what would I get? How would it be installed?nothing but a bait and switch scam! Offer to good to be true obviously!

Hired Empire Carpet to do 2 bedrooms with closets, a bathroom, and stairway. They wanted to be paid fully before any work was done.. I refused. They set carpet out in the street and unrolled it so they could cut it. A car drove right over it. I don't blame the driver because he had no other place to go. After the carpet was partially installed, I criticized the workmanship.. The carpet was cut short in places and the metal molding strip at the top of the stairs was dented and bent up at the ends. One seam looked terrible. The installer had a fit and started swearing at me, He called me a "F" ing A hole. I refused to pay until the boss showed up. I showed him the terrible installation and the closet where they only did 3/4 of the area. He came back the next day and did the work himself. I suspect the quality of the carpet installed was not the same as I picked out.
I would tell anyone to not even consider this company.

We bought our home in 12/12 could only afford hard wood floors for approx.1/2 of the house on a 12 month 0% intrerest balance due loan through Wells Fargo. This October they were advertizing thier normal bait and hook sale so we got caught. We wanted to finnish the rooms that we did not feel comftorerable to do money wize. The financing was a must. we still owed approx. $1, 600.00 due 12/23/2013 from the original $5, 800.00 so we wanted to buy the new flooring for $3, 600.00 and refinace the $1, 600.00 for their standered 12 month 0% Starting the first payment in November. The salesmouse called his boss for comformation, He Said No Problem. Until we got the bill Wells Fargo wants the $1, 600.00 by 12/23/2013 and 27.99% if paid 1 day late that is $447.84 intrest = $2, 047.84 The irony of it all is we bank with Wells Fargo and when we talked to our branch manager she made some phone calls and said all they had to do was re-code their input info.She said there was nothing she could do fo us as WF costumers and Empire Today will not speak with us.

Had an estimate for about 517 sq ft of flooring - first price came out to almost 10, 000 dollars, final price was lowered down to around 7, 000 - basically anywhere between 13 and 20 dollars a sq ft. Was just going to lay it directly over existing tile - no rip out what so ever. Only about 6 flavors to choose from - there are allot better materials and more available out on the market - please do your home work before working with these folks.

I made an appointment for an in-home estimate with Empire Carpet. At first the salesman seemed nice and professional. He measured our basement for carpet installation, I chose a carpet and he gave me an estimate. The estimate was almost twice the price of two previous estimates that we received from competitors. I explained to the salesman that my husband and I could not afford to pay that much. He asked me to call my husband at work so that he could speak with him. I informed this man that my husband would agree with me and that we were just not willing to pay that much. He became extremely frustrated stating that he usually does not leave a home until a contract is signed. I reminded him that I called his company for an estimate only. He then asked me in front of my children "Are you afraid that your husband will come home from work and smack you around if you sign the contract?!". At that point, I asked him to leave my home. Later in the evening I received two phone messages from the same salesman stating that he was going to come back to my home to discuss the estimate further and get the contract signed. I did not return his phone call and he did not end up back at my home. I ended up going with Molyneaux Carpet who were professional and had enough product in stock that we were able to find what we love for a great price.

I had the option to use another company for the same price and I am beating myself up every day for deciding to go with Empire!
I was promised compete satisfaction when ordering my hardwood floors. I complained from day 1 of installation, and one month later the issue is still unresolved. Apparently my sub floors are not level, but the installer did not mention this or do anything to correct them. Instead the threw the floors down and left. The supervisor did not even stay once he dropped off the supplies. I have had 3 people come to look at the issue and am told the floors need to come up and be leveled and that I WILL NEED TO PAY THE FEE. Now had this been addressed during the installation, I would have understood the additional cost. But one month later, I am still living with poor quality floors and a mess of a house (knowing the floors might be taken up again) and I am expected to pay full cost.
I also was never shown a sample of the quarter round molding - which I hate! I am told Empire does not offer anything else, so take it or leave it. Anyone can notice that it does not match the rest of the molding in my house. Someone should have brought this up during installation.
To top it off, the actual installer called me yesterday. In very broken English he told me the floors should have been leveled and glued down (not floating), but that the "company" doesn't allow them to do that. Apparently Empire cares more about money than quality. Horrible quality, horrible service, and satisfaction is clearly not guaranteed.
My only suggestion would be for Empire to step up and correct the issue by leveling the sub floor and gluing down the boards at no cost. The estimate I received the company I should have gone with included this. Why, oh why didn't I go with them?

We have a written agreement dated 9/11/13 with company sales manager Ross Troquato who came after the appointment was fixed by the company. He signed a written agreement, took $587 from us and agreed in writing for a NET 30 day account for the company for $1175. On Thu afternoon he called say that company would not give 30 day account and wanted us to pay cash. we have made numerous attempts to confirm in writing their renigging their written undertaking. We have made numerous calls but cant get anywhere. Saturday 14 Sept is the installation date as we have a massive radio campaign starting on 9/16, Major newspaper ad from 9/17 and ribbon cutting ceremony by fremont chamber of commerce on 9/18. We have been made to suffer damages and loss of face. There is no sign of refund at this stage and no communication from the company inspite of numerous calls. Our email is [protected]@gmail.com.

I had carpet installed a year ago. While they were here, they put my furniture out on the patio. I was upstairs and noticed it was raining. I had to tell them and they quickly brought the furniture in. That's not my major complaint, just an aside regarding the lack of care they take with your furniture. I had an almost new bed that was soundless. Not only did they not put it back together correctly which I had to repair that same night, but it now squeaks and squeaks a lot. When I looked to see what the problem was, I found that instead of unscrewing the screws that held the slats in place, they yanked them out, stripping the holes in the wooden frame. I've tried tightening, using larger screws, even toothpicks, but had guests, who commented about my "squeaky bed" ... Really, when they hire these Mexicans, or whomever, they are (only one of the crew speaks English), don't they instruct them on anything except getting the carpet installed as quickly as possible? I'm frustrated and angry and will never use them again.

Do not purchase from empire!
I told contractor the day he installed carpet that I could feel something sharp in numerous areas. He pounded it with a mallet a few times, but that did not fix the issue. I thought that maybe with time, it would be ok. Empire pursued us for more sales and we told them we wouldn't use them. The carpet looks cheap and feels cheap. We supposedly got top of line carpet and padding. 2 days in a row they were supposed to come fix all the sharp tack strips and both days they were 35-40 min late. The first day the contractor argued w me. So I told him to leave. The second day they showed up during our dinner which was 40 min after sched 2-5 timeframe. I hate empire. What a rip off.

We bought carpeting from Empire, two times we had to get them to come out and replace the poor quality carpeting they installed even though we paid for the "best" carpets they sold...well not! The carpeting us stretching and looks terrible. So I called customer service and made a complaint. I was told that I had to pay $80 for someone to come out and inspect...what a scam. They install inferior product and they want me to pay to verify that! Stay far away from Empire!

Promised Tile installation 8-5, no show.. Promised installation 8-6, no show, called Pam the manager, promised installation, 8-7, no show. After each promised, I called the next day when no one showed and was told by customer service I was not on the schedule. sitting here 8-8, another promised day, no one here. I ripped out my kitchen, pushed back, at least 3 days now, the reinstall of the kitchen, painting and plumbing and have been living in one room full of furniture waiting for the floors to be completed. Customer service, installation manager and company manager clearly are not communicationg.

I called Empire Carpets to schedule an appointment for someone to come measure my basement apartment for carpeting in 2 rooms and linoleum to be laid down in kitchen on 7-22-13. I selected the time frame of 6:00pm to 8:00pm being I work. Empire had a representative call my home, that Monday, that they were unable to make the schedule appointment. The representative stated that if I was willing to reschedule, Empire would knock $50.00 off the price of the carpet. I agreed to rescheduling and set the date for Wednesday, July 24th, 2013 between the hours of 6-8pm with the understanding that I needed the carpeting laid down BY the following weekend being I had tenants moving in the following Monday 7-29-13. The representative reassured me that there wouldn't be a problem with that accomodation and apologized for the inconvenience. 7-24-13 I rushed home early from my job to make it home in time for the carpet measurer who was supposed to arrive that evening between 6-8pm. Noone showed up to my home AGAIN! I telephoned Empire to see what was going on and if the man was possibly delayed. At 8:15 pm that evening I telephoned Empire and the representative went into their computer system and said that I was in the system for 6-8 pm that evening but Empire never assigned anyone to come out to the home! They again offered an additional $50.00 off my order. I was enraged and on a time limit, I told them that this was poor business and that I had no time frame left to go with anyone else! The following day, Empire called my home on 7-25-13 and I spoke with Manager, Anthony Baque. Manager was outraged and said that this situation NEVER has happened before and he did NOT blame me for being upset. He then offered me his "manager discount" and personally GUARANTEED that if I was willing to wait until Monday 7-29-13 he would PERSONALLY make sure that someone was here to measure. I explained to him that the tenants were moving in on Monday and Anthony reassured me that they would move all furniture when laying carpet down at no charge in good faith. So, I agreed, assuming that a manager was involved so whatever the mix up was, it would be handled from this point on. So, Manager gave me his email, sent me an email confirmation, which I have taken the liberty of printing out for the Better business bureau, and ANOTHER appointment was scheduled for 7-29-13 between 6-8 pm. After speaking with the manager, getting his reassurance and e-mail, Empire was a NO SHOW on 7-29-13, ONCE AGAIN! I phoned Empire carpets AGAIN, the representative tried contacting the manager in charge and left a voicemail and never received a phone call back! The person responsible for the measuring tried calling my cell phone leaving a voicemail asking me to call him back. I tried to call him back and his cell went immediately to voicemail. He was probably trying to cancel AGAIN! Since the final chance I gave Empire to make good on this situation (7-29-13), I have not heard from Empire Carpets AT ALL, no follow up call from Manager OR the person scheduled to come out to my home and measure. POOR, POOR, POOR business and DISGUSTING managerial skills! Whatever you do, think twice before calling Empire Carpets! I wouldn't want anyone else to experience the same situation! I am now left with tenants in the aprtment with concrete floors due to no carpeting or linoleum, thanks to this wonderful and accomodating company! Ive called other places and theres a 7-10 day wait! THANK YOU EMPIRE! FOR ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! I am taking this matter further to the better business bureau and reporting you! I can assure you, you have not heard the last from me!

I had Empire, Home Depot, and Lowes give me estimates on a 4 room carpet installation. Empire had the special of pay for 1 room and get the rest free. Well, even though they were giving me 3 rooms of carpet free(just the carpet) it was still $400 higher than the other 2. Home Depot and Lowes were even selling me better grade carpet too. After the Empire salseman gave me the price and I showed him the other 2 bids he called his boss and they dropped the price to match Home Depot's bid. I then explained to him how I don't trust him or his company. Home Depot was the best deal so I went with them. My only complaint with them was that they sent 2 Mexicans who barley spoke english (they had US work permits), but we have thousands of US Citizens who are carpet layers and out of work!

Living room carpet that was installed inMay 2012 has since developed a large
amount of pulls in it. I have been playing phone tag trying to arrange for someone to
come to house to look at it. This has been going on for many weeks. I am not happy
at all with the customer service of this company

Have done business w / empire before, but mid march 2013. Had a salesman come over to give us quotes. Guy didn't look very professional at all, almost didn't let him in. Came in and started measuring carpet, then we sat down. Hit is mega highball, about $5, 000 for carpet in 3 rooms and discounted it right off the bat about 40%. Still way too high (This is what they always do, it's business). Salesman became agitated when we wouldn;t take his inflated quote, said he'd make a call see what he could do (Again, another tactic they use). Came back with about another 40% off, still way too high, not even close to what we had last time. When we told him the prices we got last time he flat out said "no, you didn;t" and stopped just short of calling us liars. Then said "i'll bet you $1000 bucks you didn;t get that deal" (I should have taken his bet because we have the paperwork). Became very disrespectful to the point when I wrapped it up, said no, and sent him packing. We called empire and complained about the crappy service, they said someone would get back to us in couple of days. Still no word! They seem to hire freelance salesman to sell their products, which concerns me as to the kind of people they are sending to peoples houses. How much of a background check or investigation does empire do into it's salesman, maybe I should do more next time. This guy had his own business card that was "his name, llc". Apparently he doesn't even work for empire, he's an independent contractor, and apparently that's how empire does it. After this spooky experience I will never do business with empire again. I'd highly recommend getting quotes from better-known businesses before considering empire. They may be cheap, but sometimes you get what you pay for. Or don't pay for.