Empire Today

I have never been treated with so little respect for my time in my entire life! I had flooring installed in my home October 2015. They said installation would take 2 – 3 days ended up taking 4.5 days. I have had several problems with the flooring and after many phone calls to customer service I finally had an appt. scheduled for install manager to take a look at the problems. First appt scheduled he was unable to make… some stupid excuse! Next appt. scheduled he finally shows up and tells me there is nothing they can do about my issues! Well 3 months later and still have problems so I schedule another appointment for between 1pm and 3pm today! Susan from customer service calls and says he is running late and won’t make it until 5pm… UGH!!! No respect for the fact that people have to work and can’t keep setting time a side for someone who doesn’t show up! I WOULD NEVER RECOMMEND THIS COMPANY TO ANYONE EVER!!! WORST EXPERIENCE WITH ANY COMPANY I HAVE DONE REMODELS WITH AND I HAVE OWNED MY HOUSE FOR 22.5 YEARS WITH MANY UPGRADES DONE!!!

Worst experience ever! Confirmed on 3 different occasions our carpet install would happen today. After being promised a call around 8am to confirm estimated install time and not receiving it, I called at 11am only to be told the installer called in «sick» 15 minutes prior. On what planet do construction workers begin work at 1045am??? After threatening to cancel our purchase, was promised an install time of about 3pm. Got another call at 235pm saying the install would not happen. I get that things happen during construction, but don’t waste my time and promise things that aren’t going to happen. Thanks Empire for wasting my time and giving me the run around.

We just had the most beautiful carpet installed by Empire Today that I just had to share what a wonderful experience it was. The sales person Tara Bruce was so knowledgeable, professional and so patience with our many requests that I can’t wait for Empire to do my next project. And the installers Saul and Erik were so professional and explained the whole process. These guys worked so hard that by the end of the job the place was spotless. Thank you for a Beautiful job.

I had flooring installed and it’s beautiful! I worked with Joy and she was always available and eager to help and make this experience wonderful!!! I’ll definitely use them again in the future.

This company lies to you. If I could give negative stars, I would. Do not believe they do next day installs, they schedule then cancel. They feel this is no problem. I lost a day of work and time showing my house that is on the market due to this company. Also, I have new carpet that was put in a month ago from this company, it has a huge flaw that they are not even willing to address. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY.

7÷27÷2015 update= Our conserns hav been resolved to our satisfaction.
A cautionary note when buying from Empire. I recently made a purchase from Empire that did not go well. During this process we were not able to use our house for 14 days. They originally promised installation would take a total of 2 days. This did not turn out to be the case.
We had to replace a floor in my house because Lumber Liquidators had provided defective and toxic materials. So, this time we decided to go with Natural Oak Harwood. We invited Empire out to provide us a quotation.
The sales person from Empire came out and measured the rooms and provided a quotation. We settled on the Natural Oak. This was called the Hamptons in their sample book. Little did we understand until later this would become a major problem.
On 5÷22÷2015 We signed contract for a total $ 8910.00 and paid deposit $ 1000.00. The project according to their measurements was for a total of 900 sq. ft. of Natural Oak Hardwood with a nail down installation. The installation time was originally quoted as 2 days. We asked about this and then they revised their estimate from 2 days to 2 to 4 days to complete the project. The project start date was schedule for Monday June 1^st, 2015.
On 6÷1÷2015, three workers came to our home. The brought 56 boxes of material. When we looked at the material we had several questions. Among these questions were;
1) The description on the boxes does not appear to match the description of material listed in the contract. The response was that this is the same stuff.
2) How longer does the material need to acclimate? The response was that the material was pre-​acclimated in there warehouse.
3) The boxes do not appear to be factory sealed. Was this used material? The response was that Empire does not take back material and it came from the factory this way.
4) Do you have enough material to complete the job? The response was that they were waiting for 11 more boxes as Empire did not provide them enough material. The balance would be over within 1 day.
During that day they were able to complete only the master bedroom. We noticed an abundance of short pieces of material in the master bedroom. Very few pieces were over 2 feet in length. We also had noticed that the material varied greatly in quality. This lead us to take a close look at the materials that were being used. Boy, did we get a surprise!
Upon closer inspection we discovered that this was used material from a different job site. We had taken several pictures to document this. We then called back to the Empire office and informed them of our findings. The first response was a flat out denial and statement that we do not allow products to be returned or recycle. Of coarse photographs don’t lie and we sent them a few pictures and asked that they come out and take a look for themselves.
Boxes as delivered to jobsite. Note: Opened and some resealed.

Notice the abundance of short pieces. There were very few pieces over 2 feet in length. The funny part about this is that the manufactures instructions clearly state that they recommend racking should be at least 6 inches from the previous seam. With 9″ inch pieces, that is a mathematical impossibility.
Material label not what was listed on the contract. How do we know we received the correct material?
Here are issues in short order:
1.) Empire misrepresented that original material.
a. The material label did not match what was on the contract. It varied from their sample book. I now think this was a bait and switch.
b. The material was not first grade. The material was either used, returned or cherry picked.
2.) When the material was changed, the contract was not revised to reflect change in material.
a. This is not consistent with industry practices and is a clear violation of UCC. This leads me to believe that we over paid for the product.
3.) The contract who performed the install had only been licensed for 3 months.
a. Installation had taken substantially longer than quoted.
b. This is of concern and makes us and makes us wonder if they were qualified?
4.) The new engineering material. No quality assurance documentation was provided to substantiate
In conclusion, with all the problems I had, I could not recommend the using Empire.

AVOID this company at ALL COSTS run for your financial life!

If I ever doubted my 2 stars that I gave Empire, I do now! 3 months later, I am getting collection letter for the $ 500 that I was told to take off the dollar amount owing for the work that I had to have done to CORRECT the crappy install. If I could give this place ZERO stars, I would. Don’t use this company. I have never worked with a company that takes no pride in how they deal with customers. What a disappointment!

After scheduling an appointment and the rep Joy, came into my home, took measurements and assured me she would have samples for me to look at, that was almost three months ago! I called customer service several times and was told that the rep and or sales manager would be in contact, again nothing. Do not use this company

The designer & estimator, Joy, is great to collaborate with. She is a true professional. That can’t be said for the fellows that installed the vinyl plank flooring in my rental. They can’t seem to understand the concept of creating a «random pattern» when installing the planks. They have created areas of planks that are identical side by side each other. Didn’t have any of the coordinating quarter round and transition pieces. Didn’t come with the floor padding. Didn’t leave a minimum of 6″ between adjoining seams. No thresholds. Still waiting for the installers to return to finish the job. They also backed up their work van and broke a large clay pot in my yard. POOR CRAFTSMANSHIP!

The flooring looks fabulous & I love it! This is the 2^nd time I’ve used Empire. HOWEVER, the people that work for Empire are terrible! They have the crappiest customer service! The sales rep that came to my house had no clue what he was talking about & I ended up having to pay more money because of an issue with my subfloor that was overlooked. The hardwood installers showed up on the day they were scheduled & then left, without doing any work. It took me literally all day on & off the phone with Empire to get them to come back the next day & actually do the job they were hired to do. Super unprofessional & didn’t even ask permission before they set up their equipment in my brand new, newly redone, backyard. Put holes in my brand new grass. Left wood chips all over my grass. Left my brand new glass outdoor table on its side. And dented my concrete patio. Are now refusing to fix it because they say the damage was pre-​existing. Did I mention my backyard was just REDONE? There’s no way I would have had a chip in my patio. The pricing was decent, however in the future I will be paying more money to go with a company who will actually value me as a customer & be professionals throughout the whole process. I would NOT recommend Empire Flooring to anybody! They are terrible!!!

This is a follow up review of my previous carpet installation review. Empire Today resolved all my complaints. Sean, the satellite manager, and Tara, the sales manager, have been working together for the last 2 months to help me resolve my complaint and I am very satisffied with the result! The carpet was reinstalled yesterday, it took 12 h to get the job done, and everything looks now great! The team that they sent this time around worked hard and tried to make sure I was happy with the result! Thank you Sean, Tara, and team of installers! Now I can enjoy my family room!

The worst. Sat for two hours in our house in Portland Oregon waiting for the scheduled appointment to get a quote. No one showed up. Tried calling, Reponse was, «sorry, want to reschedule?» Never.

I wish I would have read the reviews on Unilocal before I scheduled a stranger to come in and linger around my home.
We got an estimate–
Said we would have to think about it and talk to our property manager but that wasn’t «straight forward» enough apparently because we had to have «honesty time» to express why we wouldn’t sign a contract.
Well because we have to talk to our property manager and think about it.
«If it’s the price we might be able to lower it»
Way to be honest. Not!
Okay this isn’t going to work
Sales Rep Lingers
Were not interested
Lingers
We have things to do so we would like to end the consultation
Lingers
Ill help you get your samples to the car
Lingers
Please leave our home
Lingers
Please leave our home
Lingers
Lingers
After a long awkward situation the sales rep FINALLY left.
How many times does someone have to say no?
When someone asks you to leave their home you should leave!
If you want to be harassed on end then call empire today
If not then AVOID THIS COMPANY!

Don’t waste your time.
Wish I would have read these reviews before I wasted my time. Called Empire to make an appointment. Transferred to a phone bank in Texas. I made an appointment (which took over 15 minutes) for 9am at a rental property I own. They informed me they have two hour windows but assured me over and over that they would be there at 9am «No problem». I let the rep. know this was imperative as I had another appointment. 9:15 rolls around and I call Empire. 25 minutes later after being put on hold by two different representatives, I was told that they would not be able to make the appointment until 10:30am, which of course was unacceptable. Impersonal, phone bank frustration and canned scripts.
A representative did call me back with a canned speech that offered me $ 50 off if I made another appointment. No thanks. I have no more time to waste. When meeting for an appointment is such a fiasco, I can only imagine what installation is like. Although after reading the other reviews, looks like a dodged a bullet.
Called a LOCAL company who were able to make the appointment on time, were professional and deserve my business in this competitive market.
Don’t waste your time on Empire.

After talking to a sale’s rep at our local mall, my husband made a appointment for a in home estimate. He told the guy at the mall that this is not something we will be doing until later in the year, possibly next. We just wanted to get a idea of how getting new floors works and get a ball park estimate. Which the guy wrote down on the notes when he wrote the appointment slip.
On the day of our appointment Brad showed up within the 2 hour window that was given. He went over his whole speech about Empire, how they started, what they do blah blah blah. He asked about what kind of flooring we were looking into. We explained that we wanted laminate for the living/​dining room and we hadn’t agreed/​decided on if we wanted to do the same for the stairs and upstairs or to do carpet. He the stopped and said that laminate can’t be put on stairs. we decided just to look at the options for carpet for the stairs and upstairs for the time being. He then asked when we were planning on getting it done. When we told him not until the end of the year or next, things quickly changed. He seemed very surprised and continued to say that they can not guarantee their quotes for more than 30 days and their prices fluxuate and could be different when it comes to the time we want to get it done. We told him we understood and just wanted to get a estimate. He said he had to call his manager to see how she wanted him to handle it. What is to handle? All we want is a number, even if its going to change. Once he got off the phone, he told us he would do the measurements and give us a number but that it wouldn’t be guaranteed. Ok, fine we never asked for a guaranteed price. While doing the measurements, he asked my husband how much he thought a job like this would cost. Husband said around $ 3 – 4000.
After he walked around and got all the measurements he sat down and did calculations for a good 10 – 15 minutes before giving us a price. Finally he came up with a almost $ 10,000 quote. Then he showed us that included all these special discounts and coupons and everything else. $ 6000+ for the laminate $ 3600+ for the carpet. Which makes no sense to me. While I know laminate cost more, the area we want it in is probably less than half the sq footage of the area we want carpeted. We thanked him for his time and sent him away.
We will not be going with Empire. The main reason being the price. Even thought I know it include all the materials, moving the the furniture and everything. I dont want or trust strangers to be moving my furnature around, and I doubt they would adjust the price if we told them we didn’t want that part. After looking around at other prices, I have found out that the price they gave us is more than double what we could get elsewhere. Second reason is because they have a very limited selection. We only got 6 samples of the laminate and then 16 the carpet style we were interested in. After walking into home depot and seeing the hundreds, maybe thousands of colors, styles and textures they have, I was amazed that Empire didn’t have more since floors is what they specialize in. Third, he said laminate can NOT be put on stairs. After doing some research, I quickly found out it CAN. I dont know if he was just mis informed or if Empire themselves dont do it. Either way, that completely changes how I want my floors. If they cant do what I want and someone else can, I’m going with someone else. And finally, I was not completely satisfied with how Brad handled things. Once he found out we were not scheduling to have it done now, his tone changed and he was less interested in helping us. That is completely unprofessional.

An Estimator showed up on time, friendly. She only had 3 samples of carpet with her. We called for an estimate only but before we knew it, we could save $ 250 if ONLY we had it installed in 3 days time. Next thing we know, we were signing papers & scheduling an install. We asked for 4 bedrooms to get carpet, the price was just under $ 3,000 (wow!). Empire has so many ads such as «buy 1, get 2 free», that it makes for confusing pricing. After thinking about it all overnight, both my husband & I decided it all went way too fast, so we canceled everything. We will continue to look, but only at places that have an actual store, more samples & give us time to browse.

I scheduled online and Ammon showed up the next day right on time. He was not pushy (I hate pushy) and fixed me right up with 2 rooms of carpet and 3 rooms of tile. The installers, Shawn Rowland and his brother, Rocky were awesome. They did perfect work, showed up when they said they would, cleaned up after themselves, and generally made this painless. My house looks great now, and I never even broke a sweat. I am very happy, and I am impossible to please.

Blech. No thanks, I’ve got a bad taste in my mouth about Empire. Estimator «Michael» in Portland showed up on time and did a very nice job of showing us samples and providing ideas and a verbal estimate. He spent a significant portion of his visit explaining the customer service focus of Empire and how great the warranties were. He assured us that he would have a written estimate emailed to me before the weekend was over. He left providing us no business card or contact information. After a week, I had to follow up and seek out his contact information to inquire as to where the estimate was. I received an apology for failing to get back to us with a written estimate. I was quoted two prices in his email to me… one for the «high end» product and one for the «lower end» product. Nothing on paper. I asked a few more questions in a secondary email. After three days, I had heard nothing again. It seemed to me that communication was not Empire’s strong point. I told them that if I didn’t hear back from them by the end of the business day, we were no longer interested. After 3 days, I did hear from Michael. He assured me that they did want the business but that a threat was not appropriate. He continued to explain why he had done his job well and sort of put me in my place. Remember, I’m the want-​to-​be customer. If I were Michael, I would be doing whatever it took to win my business over. I would NOT be explaining to my potential customer why I was right and he was wrong. So, we chose a different company. A local company with a real live physical store. From the time we walked in the door we were treated beautifully, professionally, and efficiently. Within 7 days, we had an estimate and will have the job completed. For the same price as Empire’s we’re getting a top-​notch, high quality product to be installed by the best of installers. No wondering, no waiting, no questioning.

EMPIRE IS FANTASTIC!
Tara Loveless of Empire Today especially, she really made my mom’s floor install as easy and stress free as it possibly could be. She was quick, very professional and has that personality that feels like you are best friends. I would recommend Tara to anyone I know that is looking to get new floors.
My mom can’t stop talking about her new floors! Thank you so much!