Empire Today
Reviews and Complaints

Completely dissatisfied! Paid too much compared to competitor pricing. The sales rep- guaranteed that this was the best price. What a lie! I over paided by at least $3, 000! Then they won't match OR take care of you in anyway. They wouldn't give me a detailed bill with included the individual breakdown of laminate per square foot, sub-floor, labor, etc... All they could provide was a package price! Corporate office pretty much said that there is nothing they can do! Now I am going through my credit card to get a resolution! Don't use them! Complete rip-off! I would have been happy to meet somewhere in the middle, but that option was never even given.

Salesman came to our home. Sold the product to us. When they came to install it was not as promised. When we questioned it they said the salesman was an independent contractor and it was not their problem he has misrepresented the carpet. They left with our old carpet torn out and tack strips on the floor. We had to hire another company at a must higher price and wait for carpet to come in. Filed a complaint with the better business bureau but nothing was done. We did discover that they advertise locally but are not even a based in Kansas City.

Empire Today claims they have low factory prices, they are among the highest prices! Their Cherry laminate flooring looks incredibly cheap. My vacuum's wheels scratch the floor, a cup fell out of the dishwasher and it chipped, and now is has started to warp.

Their customer service clown admitted that their prices are high because they have next day service and move furniture. We had them come a week later and all they had to do was roll the refrigerator out, yet they still charged us for the services.

We were going to have them do our upstairs carpet, for $4, 470, we cancelled after we saw the shoddy floor material and their lame installation, and had Home Depot do it for $1, 800.

I have posted complaints on their EmpireBlog and all that shows up are 'Empire is great' raves, for some reason my blogs don't show up. They don't answer my requests as to why.

They (Empire) targets the elderly... sent a slick salesman/thug out to see my 85 yr. old mother, started installation the same day, didn't install what she ordered, charged twice as much as verbal estimate, carpeted over heat ducts and around heavy furniture. When busted they adjusted the price by 50% but within a few months began another (futile) collection attempt. They should have their mothers treated the same way, see how THEY like it.

I had Empire Carpet come to my house and the slick salesman told me I needed 200+square yards and he then quoted me a price of 10, 000 dollars.

The same Shaw carpet cost me 3, 800 at Home Depot for 160 square yards. My savings are paying for my daughter's first year of college.

Empire advertised 50% off, the salesman didn't even bring that carpet in the house because of the poor quality. He then told me that another company would charge me 13, 500 for the carpet and proceeded to tell me how he would save me 3, 500 dollars.

Approx 1 yr ago, I bought carpet for my living room, dining room, and hallway from Empire. The salesman was ok, but not very experienced. What they advertised as 50% off was terrible. I opted for a much higher grade carpet, and a color that would not show wear and tear. When the carpeting arrived it was not the color I had chosen, however the name of the carpet I had chosen was attached to the roll of carpet. I thought that perhaps when it was completely installed it would resemble my original choice. It was certainly not even close to what I had chosen. I called the company numerous times, they stalled and stalled. I finally just learned to live with the carpet that I did not order. I was surprised when I read all of the complaints about Empire. I thought I was alone in this ordeal.

5 blinds were installed in kitchen for $1000+. We expected competent installation, but it was even close.Valances were installed w/ a haphazard combination of screws & Velcro squares.Screws are not strong enough to hold blinds. Squares of Velcro to hold up heavy pieces of wood?Carpentry work on installations are substandard.Days after the install, a valance crashed down.Shoddy installation resulted in a dangerous situation, we have a small child.The 2nd time installer came to fix a missing valance, it got worse.The 1st time I pulled the string the blind crashed down and cut and injured my right arm.I'm 5 mos.pregnant & this injury is dangerous to my health.I'm still in pain.I called you immediately to report situation.Operator said a special dept would call.I didn't get phone call from a "specialist, " instead I got call from the SAME installer.I never want him back in my home!

This gloried middle man company just inflates the price to create it's own profit under the guise of quality, convenience and speed. Buyer beware! This is the most expensive services you can get. I fell for the advertising and had them come out to a house I was remodeling. I should have known right away that someone is paying for all that advertising. I got a bid to install laminate flooring for a 500 sq. ft area. The bid was $18, 000. That's right $$$18, 000 but with the 50% off it was the bargain price of $$$$9, 000. Now you have understand that I had already done all the prep work and the house was empty.

I was baffled at the price being quoted and of course asked for a breakdown but as others have found out they don't do that. If they did it would become apparently clear that they are making exorbitant profits. There is no transparency here they have to hide their costs otherwise none would buy from them unless they have money to burn. I laughed at the sales person and sent her packing. I decided to do the floor myself and bought a laminate on sale at the box store for 500.00 bucks. I installed it slowly and carefully over the next 5 days; not a difficult job. So 9, 000.00 minus 500.00 equals 8, 500.00. I figure that I paid myself $1, 700.00 for 8 hours work each day. The most I have ever made in a day. Now I realize that there flooring is probably more expensive then the flooring I got but I figure I could have but the most expensive floor out there and still come out way ahead. That was 4 years ago and the floor still looks great.

My concern is for the little old lady or those not savvy or cautious who fall for a firm handshake and all the hype; 50% off, next day installation, and no payments for a year. Please get 3 bids at least, deal with local hometown businesses or make it an adventure and do it yourself and keep your hard earned money.

This business is an unequivocal rip-off and they prey on your trust and your ignorance. It's no deal. Good luck to all of you out there.

I worked for Empire Today for several years. In the last couple years it has been hard to get paid for the jobs you sell.

When a sales person comes out to your home, they are given a price range that they are allowed to charge. The sales person may be able to charge $24-$50 a yard. If you get a salesperson that can really sell you may pay more than 2x more then the people next door. Now the salespeople have to sell area rugs. It they don't sell a certain amount a week they are not given work the following week. The salesperson is taught how to charge for the area rug and make the customer think they are getting it for free. You can get the same area rug at Lams plus for a lot less.

When they do their 50% sale it is only on 2 carpets; the cheapest carpet. They pay only about $4 a yard so when they have the sale you are only saving $2 a yard. For example you might pay $26 a yard vs. $24 a yard. The sales person is only allow charging you $24-$50 a yard. There is really no sale.

The reason why Empire always miss their appointments is that they only give appointments to the salespeople that are selling over 50%. So a salesperson may have my 6-8 appointments a day where they can not get to everyone and another salesperson is sitting at home with nothing to do. One of the general managers said at a sales meeting he would rather us miss the appointment (he used the word "burn) then give it to someone who is not selling at 50%. That is why they miss several appointments.

When a salesperson finally leave Empire makes up every excuse not to pay them. I had some sales that they gave to someone else. Salespeople have left the company being owe $1000-$5000 and they never pay them. They can't file a small claims because they don't register in the state and small claims will not let you file a case that is out of state unless it is an auto accident or tenant/landlord problem. You can't go to the labour board because you are an independent contractor. Since the sales people are i.c. Empire does not have to pay unemployment taxes or benefits. If salespeople are fired they can to collect unemployment. If Empire goes through 1000 sales people a year (which is a very low count) and don't pay $2000 to each of them they are saving $2, 000, 000 a year.

Please don't do business with them.

Hire anybody else but Empire Carpet! The Empire Carpet rep pulled a no-show one Saturday. I'd blocked out the three-hour window, and called 20 minutes after the window closed. The customer service person placed me on hold for five minutes, then I was disconnected. I called back. This time the customer service person placed a call to both the sales rep and his manager. Neither picked up. After making an appointment with a competitor, I called back Empire to officially complain about that sales rep, and asked to speak to the manager. The manager would not get on the phone. Luckily the customer service operator was able to take the complaint and also told me that I'd get a $50 credit towards purchase. We rescheduled an appointment for the estimate. Guess what? Another no-show.

I bought a house and wanted to do a lot of fixing up before I moved in. I only had one month to fix my house up before I had to be out of my apartment. Carpet was going to be the last stage of the process of fixing up my house. I waited until a week before I needed the carpet installed to go shopping for it. After visiting the big home improvement stores and a few local flooring businesses I realized I waited too late to shop for carpet. No one could install the carpet by the time I needed it. With this problem at hand I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to move all of my stuff in with this nasty carpet in my house. Then, I remembered the famous jingle '[protected], empireeee... TODAY!'

I gave Empire a call and they sent a sales representative out to my house the next day. She came with lots of samples and was also packing a serious attitude until she realized me and my husband were serious about purchasing carpet.

She first measured how many square feet we were going to have carpeted. She wouldn't tell us how many SF it was because she wasn't 'in liberty to do so.' After we picked out the carpet we wanted, she gave us a price of $6800.00 when we could've gotten the same quality carpet at a local home improvement store for $2500.00. We opted for a lower quality at $3800.00, and since our house was empty at the time we got $200.00 off since they wouldn't have to move furniture. She also gave us a 'special discount' which brought our total to $3200.00.

The installers came the next day. On Empire's TV commercial you see happy smiling Americans installing the carpet and they show up in a nice clean Empire Today van. Well, when the installers showed up, it was nothing like I expected. There were a van full of immigrants that looked like they had just sneaked in over the border. Only one of them spoke English.

They were in the driveway walking around smoking cigarettes and on their nextel's. The only guy that spoke English asked if the carpet was the right color, and then he got in the van and left. All that was there now were the ones whom didn't speak any English. Since our house was empty we left them there to install the carpet and returned a few hours later to a party at our house. They had brought in their own stereo blasting Mexican music and dancing to it.

When they left at first glance we were happy with our carpet. At a closer glance over time we noticed many many flaws in the installation. The carpet shed so bad it clogged up and broke my vacuum. I had to buy another one, expensive one that could handle all of the shedding. They came out to fix the flaws in the installation with no problem. However, by this time we were so unhappy with the quality of the carpet and the price we paid. It had only been a couple of months and the carpet was matted down in high traffic areas.

After several complaints to the 800 number they said they were going to send a manager to our house to look at our problem. I took off of work that day to meet up with this person. When they finally got there 1 hour after their 4 hour window period I found out he was just another sales rep. that couldn't help me.

Again, another complaint later they sent an installation manager to my house. He told me the carpet was in good condition and that I need to vacuum in the opposite direction and the carpet will look the way I want it to. (hmmm... never thought of that!)

After a years worth of complaints I finally got in touch with someone that could help me. He told me he would give me $1000.00 off of the price of my carpet, which would bring the total to $2200.00. I said 'No, that's ridiculous, I could've had this same quality carpet installed from a local home improvement store for about $1500.00 or less.' Then he said 'Fine $1500.00, but we won't take off anymore.' I was happy, I guess. Although I paid 1500.00 for a carpet I really don't want in my house.

So my $3800.00 carpet wound up costing me $1500.00 after a years worth of stress. Empire knows they're a rip-off or they wouldn't have given me that much off of my balance. DO NOT SHOP EMPIRE TODAY, I DON'T CARE HOW MUCH OF A HURRY YOU'RE IN TO HAVE IT INSTALLED, YOU'LL BE HAPPIER WAITING ANOTHER WEEK OR TWO TO HAVE IT INSTALLED BY SOMEONE ELSE.

MY wife and I recently decided to purchase flooring. The salesman David Miller arrived at our house and was friendly and spent two hours providing us with information about the company and how the product was scratch proof and the best on the market. The saleman also guaranteed that the installation would take one day 6 hours to complete starting at 8am on Tuesday. On Tuesday around 1230 the installer finally arrive and tell me the job will take 2 day to install. After a brief call to the local office the manager Araceli Martinez reduced my price by 750 dollars. I also called David and told him he lied and he sad well if that what theysaid then I guess it is goint o take two days, but I did not lie! After day two I was told that It will take three days to complete becuase there was only two men and the local office kept on sending them to do repairs prior to arriving at our house each day. Once again I called Araceli the manager and she started to get upset becuase I was questioning why they installers were tasked to complete another repair. Finally when I arrived home on day three the installer told me that they were going to need a fourth day and did not have all the supplies. Once again I called to complain and was given the general manager Rick Boysen who was not willing to listen to my complaint about the lies on the time to complete the installation and the product. Rick was very rude and told me that the prroduct does scratch and that I would have to put up with the number of days becuase that I what the contract states. On the contract the start date and end date are written by the salesman David. Becuase of all the chaos I had to change my plans and put my family up in a hotel becuase the floor was torn up and was a risk for the kids. Overall I have not heard from anyone at the local or coporate office. Please take my advice to not conduct buiness with Empire Today.

We need new flooring, so my wife got me to contact Empire Today after seeing one of their advertisements on TV. We set up the appointment online and the sales rep came by in a very timely fashion. Pretty cool, I thought... set up an appointment on the web and presto, the sales rep is there on time the next day. I figured we were going to be in for a hard sell since the web site wanted us to ensure that all decision makers would be present, but figured I could handle it since I am a professional salesperson myself. Ted, the sales guy, shows up and agrees to take his shoes off (my wife is from an Asian where culturally it is taboo to keep your shoes on in the house). Very nice, I thought. Some people don’t like to take their shoes off.

Upon entering, Ted immediately says he can have the flooring installed on Monday despite not even having shown us a sample yet. He then starts speaking pidgin English to my wife (who has a Masters degree and, although accented, speaks English very well). Ted proceeds to lay down a sample board (not bothering to explain anything about the quality or style... simply, here are three colors – choose one) and starts writing up a quote. I ask him about other styles and he stops, looks at me, and asks “look, am I making a sale here today or not?” I responded that we are in the process of looking and getting quotes (he wanted to charge us $9, 000), so probably not, but given the state of our floor we will likely be buying in the near future. He proceeds to stand up and tell me that he’s got to go to the car to get other samples, but he’s not coming back in and certainly won’t take his shoes off again if we’re not buying today. He then puts his shoes on, walks all over the living room floor to get something he forgot, and leaves.

Are you kidding me? The guy wants to make an $9, 000 sale just by showing up? The sad thing is, if he had simply gone through a professional sales process there is a high likelihood we would have bought something. As I said, we are buying (all you need to do is look at our floor and you’ll know what I mean). I sell for a living and while what I sell typically requires us to be more strategic with clients, we still do need to roll up our sleeves and get transactional at times. That said, I was stunned, truly stunned, when he refused to provide basic sales services when he learned he wasn’t making the sale today.

Beware when engaging this company... your experience may differ, but this is not a quality company and you would be better served buying from a local dealer or one of the big chains.

We had Empire Today install carpeting and tile in our living room and dining room in January 2008. The estimating and installation processes went well, so we decided to have them come back to do our three bedrooms. We called and were given an appointment for between 5 and 7 PM that same evening. At about 6:30 PM we received a call saying our saleman was running late and would be there in 15 to 20 minutes. By 7:30 he had still not arrived, and we had not received any further calls. We called to cancel the estimate and were put through to the salesman who said he was just fininshing with his last appointment. Based on where he said he was and knowing what traffic is like in our area we knew it would have probably taken him another hour to get to our house. We told him we would reschedule, but we will now have someone else do the job. Between getting the house ready and waiting for the saleman to show up we wasted an entire afternoon and evening. As potential repeat customers we had expected better service. Empire Today needs to be more realistic in scheduling its sales appointments.

I scheduled an in home estimate with Empire Carpets. They were supposed to arrive between 7-9pm. At about 8:15pm I decided to call them to see if they knew when they would arrive. They told me that my ticket was never picked up and no one was coming. I asked how this could happen and she said it happens and asked if I would like to reschedule. I said NO! These are not the kind of professionals I want installing my flooring.

Empire today installation 9/21/06 diane graham home elgin, illinois

Agreement was signed by salesman jake ryan and diane graham on 9/20/06 for a hardwood floor to be installed at 1029 polly ct. Elgin, illinois on 9/20/06.
The family room, hallway and master bedroom was to have carpet removed and hardwood installed for the total charge of $6656.00. Jake ryan also gave an estimate of
$2300.00 for the living room and dining room floors to be done at a later date. The special financing was no interest no payments until 1/01/08. Diane graham advised salesman
Jake ryan that there may be tile and carpet under the existing carpet to be removed. He explained that after determination by the installers, there may be an extra charge for underlayment.

On 9/21/06 the installers arrived late and with the wrong trim and no underlayment. Upon further inspection during the removal of the old carpet, it was determined
That underlayment was needed. Denise dering, diane graham's partner was on site for the installation and was constantly on the phone with both jake ryan and also
Tom joy, the installation manager, at installer bob's request. It was determined that we would be charged extra for the underlayment, which we agreed to. Not only
Did we agree to the extra charge, but we had to drive to home depot with the installers following us so they could get the underlayment and the right trim, which was
Brought to the home.

On the first day of installation, most of the morning and afternoon hours were spent with installer bob on the phone with tom joy to determine how to proceed without proper
Underlayment and wrong trim. The workers that accompanied bob were removing old carpet and tile while bob was on the phone. Floor underlayment was started on 9/21/06
And wood floor inspection found that the wood flooring delivered to the home was wrong. Bob was again on the phone with tom joy until the installers left for the day. We were promised
The floor would be installed in one to two more days.

The second day, 9/22/08, the installers started on floor installation after a delay having a different floor delivered to the home. The installers proceeded to install the floor on the
Second day and asked to come back a third day to finish some minor details. After having finished up the third day and moving furniture back in place, we were to call if there
Were any problems with the floor.

Upon inspection of the floor while down on hands and knees cleaning the floor, we noticed several areas where there were large gaps between boards and also some boards were scratched
And chipped. We called empire about these areas and the same installers came out with saws and flooring and removed the areas and replaced them at several intervals in that first year. Installers never tried to fix the gaps in the floor, stating that was the best they could do. Every time we called empire about a problem with the floor, we documented the calls and the results. Dee brown in customer service was most helpful.

Upon further inspection after several attempts to rectify the problems with the floor, tom joy, the installation manager, visited the home in june of 2007. He told us that an inspector from
Shaw flooring would be out to look at the floor to determine if the floor had quality control issues or the fault was with the installers. That day in june 2007 tom joy reassured us that he would be
The last person we had to talk to about this matter.

Tom joy was in contact with us about having a representative from shaw floors come out, but that never happened. Tom was frustrated as were we. After several calls to customer service and
Tom joy, we finally had an inspector come out in the fall of 2007, but he was an independent inspector, not from shaw. He took several photos with a magnifying glass, took samples of the floor
That were left behind by the installers, and said we would be contacted by empire about the determination. After several attempts to call empire: dee brown in customer service and tom joy, we
Were told that the inspector's report determined that we were to get a replacement floor due to both the installation and the product. This, after several months of calls to empire was determined at the end of 2007. Almost one year to the dateof the original floor installation.

At that point, we were called by someone from empire asking how we liked our new floor. Of course, we had no new floor. The communication throughout all of this has been so horribly poor between
Customer service, the installers, the sales department, tom joy and his management who never returned our calls that we are so disappointed about what could have been a great experience.

After it was determined that we were to get a new floor, tom joy said we were to get a call from his manager. He said they would replace the floor and we could re-start the financing without any problem.
We never heard from his manager, nor did we get any information about when we were to get out floor replaced. After exhausting several more months of no action by empire's part, we were
Also questioning the financing and asking for a deduction. After all, we had intended to get the living room and dining room done at a later date. With all of these problems caused by empire we
Were having serious doubts about the integrity of the company.

In the months that followed the promise from tom joy that he would be the last person we would have to talk to about this matter became a joke. He asked us to call his manager, we got no return calls from him.
We were then contacted by another gentleman from empire, who forwarded us to troy pringle. Mr. Pringle has taken our calls and called us back on a few occasions, but mostly we are playing phone tag,
Leaving messages. He has told us that we will have a new floor installed and was to make sure that would happen last fall of 2007 after originally being contacted by tom joy. Mr. Pringle also stated the floor would be discounted and the financing restarted along with an inspector on site during the floor replacement. This conversation took place in the first week of december 2007 and still nothing has been done. Delays in this matter have been further problematic by the fact that we now are being charged interest on the floor and this is ruining our credit. We were promised this matter would be rectified by the end of 2007 because the 0% financing was to end on 01/01/08 ansd we would have the new floor installed and also the financing re-started by then. None of what we were promised has happened.

We are so disappointed by the outcome in this matter and have tried to be patient and understanding about empire's role in getting this matter resolved. Not oly has our patience run out in getting this matter
Resolved, but now the credit we have worked so hard to keep in good standing is now in jepardy because we had trusted empire to take care of this matter as we were promised. Ge card services has called
On the phone with threatening messages and we have exhausted all avenues to reslolve this matter with empire. Promises were not kept, floors were not replaced, and we are now in a battle not only with
Empire but with ge card services. All we wanted was a new floor. We have had new windows replaced in the time since the floors were replaced and have paid in full due to the satisfaction of the product and
Of the professional installers and customer service. We were willing to be patient and reasonable, but after 18 months of this problem not being resolved, enough is enough.

We have been in contact with the better business bureau, our legal representative, empire and ge card services and want this matter resolved without any further time or effort on our part. 18 months since the
Floor was ordered, we still have no resolution. We have been patient and understanding and tried to resolve this matter. We feel empire must rectify this situation as soon as possible. Promises by empire in the past
18 months have not been fullfilled and we feel that we have every right to be very disappointed with the lack of integrity shown by empire. We must hear from empire as soon as possible to rectify this situation.
We have been advised by our legal representative to try to resolve this matter without a lawsuit. At this time we are running out of patience and time