Empire reviews and complaints

Jeff Eckstein was the Empire representative that came to the home that we are in the processing of buying. He came in introduced himself and we introduced all that was there. He said that we was going to get the samples from the car and would be back. Excited to start the process of picking out new flooring we waited for Jeff to come back in. He came in with 4 carpet samples and 2 hard wood books. Not knowing I looked at my husband as to that is it, but didn’t say anything to Jeff. He then proceeded to throw the samples of carpet one by one on the floor and said “This is good, this is better, this is even better and this is the best”. I started to laugh because it was funny to me that a sales person would introduce carpet in that manner. Then he opened the books of hardwood and set them behind the carpet samples that he threw on the floor.
Jeff then asked what rooms were being done; we explained that we were going to be doing the living room and hall as one color, each of the bed rooms and the kitchen and bathrooms. He then said that he was going to take measurements of the house. We thought that once he completed that he would then sit and explain the difference in the carpet and the hardwood to us. Once he completed the measurements he asked which carpet we liked, I liked the two middle carpet samples due to the information that I read on the back of the samples. He never asked about the hardwood, he then said “I am going to use your counter for a desk and work up prices for both for you”. I was stunned that he didn’t want to explain anything to us. Once he finished he gave us the price and I asked well we would like to the living room and hall with the butterscotch oak hardwood. He said “which one is that”, my husband took him into the other room and showed him the one that we wanted and then he started to refigure the price for the hardwood. Once he told me the price and then said and oh the carpet would be less and then figure the price for that.
My Mother was asking him questions and he rudely answered them with out looking at her as if she were crazy. With my Mother working in the carpet business a couple of years ago she had questions to who would come out if there were to be a problem with the carpet. She also asked about the warranty of the carpet since she didn’t read the back of the sample. He said it’s on the back and flip the sample up and then proceeded to read the information on the back of the sample. He never once looked at her while answering the questions that she was asking.
We then picked out the colors which all the samples that he brought in were shades of brown or very dark blue and red. With the house that we are purchasing the rooms are not that big and therefore we don’t want to get dark colors to make the rooms look smaller. I asked if there were any other colors and he said no that is the only colors it came in. He then said that he was going to get us 6-7/16 padding and when asked about other padding he said that is the only one they have. So not knowing any better we didn’t question the padding or the color shades. I picked the colors from the sample not truly happy with the selections that I had to choose from but what choice did I have.
Jeff then wrote up the orders for the carpet and said that they would be out tomorrow and install the carpet. I explained again that we were in the process of buying the home and we would be going to settlement on December 15, 2010 and would like them to come out the 16th if not sooner to install. He then told us that he would need $100 deposit to lock in the price of the carpet. I said something about the buy one get two free and he said the carpet is on sale. After he wrote all the orders he started going over the pre-installation check list with us. When he said that they would tear up the old carpet and remove all the old carpet we told him that we needed to have a solution put on the floor prior to installation as there was stuff on the carpet that soaked through to the boards and we wanted to treat the floor prior. He then said well we don’t do that you will have to do that yourself. We told him that was fine that we would tear the carpet up and fix the flooring but would they be able to get rid of the old carpet. He stated that they would do that.
When Jeff got to the part about the seams he said that due to the size of the room that we would have seams showing that they would not be able to get the seams out. My Mother made the comment that a good installer you wouldn’t be able to see the seams, Jeff said that they are the best and there would be seams showing. At that point he started to mention that he has been doing this type of work since 1966 and there are going to be seams. He mention to us at least 4 times that he had been doing this since 1966 and that he started because he needed to make more money to get married to his first wife.
Once we went over the rest of the contract we signed and he asked what my Husband’s favorite football team was, he said well he didn’t really have one but he liked the Redskins and the Ravens. Jeff then asked which he would prefer to watch and Kelly said the Redskins so he proceeded to tell him about that the raffle and Kelly filled out the sheet that was given to him. My husband helped him out with the sample’s that he brought in and that is when he noticed that he had a trunk full of samples and Jeff made the comment that he brought the whole show room with him. Once I was told about that I started to question why did he only bring in 4 when there were several others we could have looked at.
Then realized that we never got picked anything for the other rooms as they were not getting carpet or hardwood put in them. The next day I called the 800 number and ask questions about when they came out what would happen; how many samples would they bring, would the person explain the different options, and so on. Realized that we didn’t get anything that we should have gotten and found out that there are 5 different types of padding that you carry not only one. I was very upset and called to make a formal complaint.
The lady that answered the phone was very helpful I explained what happened and what I received. She apologized and told me that she would call the local office and tells the sales manager who would be calling me back in 1 to 3 business days. She also gave me the reference number of 1-[protected] to refer to if I needed to call back. I also explained that I felt that I would like someone else to come to the house to redo the carpet as I didn’t feel that we were given the proper information or choices that we should have. I also wanted to see the different padding options and the buy one get two free choices that we would have. She set us up with another appointment with another person for that Thursday. She told me that I would still be receiving a call from the sales manager to discuss the actions above. I told her that would be great.
That Thursday we had Michael Szelistarsk come to the house and he was completely the opposite of what we had prior. He went over all the samples that he had from the carpet to the hardwood and on. He explained the difference of the hardwood and the difference of the carpet. He brought in all the samples which were about 20-25 with colors and so on. I laughed because we didn’t see the burber carpet and didn’t even see some of the other options. We asked that he include the kitchen as we asked the prior person and they didn’t include that.
Michael took measurements after showing us the samples for us to look over and research. Once finished he return to ask us if we had any questions and what we were looking at. We explained that we would like the hardwood in the living room and Kitchen with carpet in the rest of the rooms. We also explained that Jeff quoted us a price of $6000 just for the living room to do the hardwood and Michael said that he would try to do better then that. After figure up the price it told us it would be $11, 000 for the 2 rooms of hardwood and the 3 bedrooms with carpet. We said we can’t do that, he then called his supervisor, after discussions on the phone came to a price of $5605.00. My husband and I looked at each other with amazement considering the following: we were getting hardwood in the two largest rooms of the house and then carpet in 3 bedrooms. When Jeff was there we were going to be paying $5100 for carpet in just the living room and the bedrooms. We couldn’t believe that for $500 more we were getting an extra room fixed and we were going to be getting hardwood. Not to mention that the price Jeff gave us for just the hardwood in the living room was quoted at $6000 which was more then we were now paying for the entire house to have the floor replaced.
We were even more upset at the fact that Jeff was charging us so much more then what we should have been paying. I would have never used or called Empire back had I not met Michael and would have never recommended them to friends or family. With this experience I would just tell them that they should call just make sure that you don’t get Jeff. I feel that he was trying to rip us off and was not giving us a quality service. I would now recommend but make sure they don’t get Jeff to their home and question the price and if there is anything that they can do to make it less.
With all that is said my over all experience was great, everyone with the exception of Jeff was great. Everyone was very helpful and considerate. I would if needed use Empire again to get my flooring. Granted we have not had the carpet/hardwood install as of today but the service that we received this far would make me want to call again. Noted that the sales manager has not contacted me as of today, which has been 4 business days but overall happy with the company experience. A very bad situation was made very well with the great sales/service that Empire has. Thank you for your time in reading this letter. I wanted to give the experience I had since it could have turned out very different then it did.

My husband and I have several store account, example, Sams Club, Empire Rugs, Rooms to Go. Seems all are controlled by GE Money Bank.
Because we lost our jobs some accounts went behind, still making payments every month but being harassed for back amount. Calls restricted numbers starting early in morning until late evenings.
Made aagreement for one account Empire for Customer Assistance Program paid $98.00 up front and need to pay $45.00 for 9 months call a hardship program. Well today on this account got 3 phones calls, they are calling for back amount. I told them I have this agreement they told me the account could be written off. I then lost it and told them if they wanted to cancel the agreement and write it off be my guest, at our age over 60 and 70 at this point it didn't matter. They said OH, No, NO...
I called them and said to take out any phone numbers they have for us and communicate via email. I told them I was posting the harassment on the internet and if I received any more phone calls I will be calling the Florida Trade Commission. Got the Managers name and phone. Anyone else having this problem.

We had Empire out. As the sales rep knocked every company out their on the market, which was a RED FLAG to use right away. He measured our living room, hallway and bedroom. My husband right off thought there was no way it was that many Square Feet for those rooms. He re measured when the rep left after presurring us to purchase. My husband came up with over a 100 sq feet difference. We then had Home Depot out, who also came up with over 100 sq feet less. The rep would also not give us the cost per sq feet easy, it was just no it is X price.

Then he proceeded to tell us the laminate flooring they sell you can leave water on it for days and nothing will happen. He said their was a leak in the roog and their was standing water all weekend on the laminate floor and it was good as new. As we went to many many florring stores telling this story -everyone said no one can have that claim on laminate flooring. So I will not use them nor would I recommend them.