Empire Today
Reviews and Complaints

Had new flooring put in three rooms and now buckling. Now they want to charge me to resolve it. They said my one year warranty is up. I'v had nothing but problems with them. Some of my quarter round is coming apart ant the corners. Please stay away from them. They took over six grand and now they don't stand behind their work. A manager was to call back but still haven't heard anything. This company is nothing but trouble. Stay away from them.

We had a salesman come to our house in March we fell in love with 2 flooring for our kitchen and bathroom. It had to be waterproof and I love the ideal of lifetime warranty. We were notified we had a slight uneven floor in the kitchen and that we may have to go with vinyl floor instead of planks, we are ok with this.  Of course I wanted to get other estimate before we decide, due to the fact the salesman  told us they would match it. Well Lowes has the only same style but not color we like but a better price. It took about a week to get this quote I tried to call our salesman 4 times with no return call, also try the Empire number spoke with operator and they sent a message to the office, yet again no return call. I finally called like we wanted another quote in order to speak to someone anyone. We got set up for the same salesman to come for our contract. We did receive a credit card credit for the down payment. When the installer arrived we had already move everything out of our kitchen except stove and refrigerator for them to work and the sink out of bathroom. They looked in the kitchen tore the kitchen floor we had down to look how uneven it was, they would not lay down the planks because of the unevenness, which we understood might happen so the kitchen was not done and they did not bring the supplies for the bathroom area. We thought they would come back on Saturday.. NO they did not. We had called the salesman and to our surprise he answer his phone and order the vinyl. The installer told the warehouse manager that we are going to fix the floor in the kitchen and come back in May 15 we did not say that. So with many calls we not return calls I place an comment on their website about what happen. I even requested calls from a manager to call us even someone from corporate  office NO Call.  When we finally got the flooring no care instruction left and the salesman charge our credit card without even asking and that was not how we are going to pay, I love the floors but not the customer service, no return call no follow up nothing  DO NOT GET FLOOR FROM EMPIRE TODAY. 

Never Again! Empire is completely inept and unable to coordinate the transfer of a single roll of carpet from Dallas to Houston. The response I keep getting is 'the system is down', so I mentioned using pen, paper and the telephone to coordinate the delivery. That seemed like a completely new concept to the incapable local coordinator and after promising to call me back in an hour with details, I never heard back. Two promised installation dates missed and 5 phone calls later - still no carpet. My advice is to AVOID EMPIRE.

I am trying to get resolution for a planned carpet installation job I scheduled with Empire Today last year. The contractor who showed up did not have enough carpet to complete the job as spelled out in our contract. I was told someone will be in touch. I refused to pay for the services that are still uncompleted. So without an actual rescheduling to complete the job, I start to get collection notices and threats. I called and got to a seemingly helpful person that said she will have someone reach out to me in Oct. Now it is March - still getting letters for collection, now from an agency on a job that was not completed.

Tenant moved out after being there for ten years. Based on conditions, we decided to replace flooring throughout the house - bedrooms new carpet and 2 living areas and dining room would have vinyl floors. Each of these rooms have their own entrance into the kitchen. The crew laid the vinyl floors and did a really good job. The next day or so, we noticed at each entrance, there are long cuts in the kitchen linoleum that was not there before - if so, we would have replaced kitchen flooring as well. We called Empire, and was told the crew is not supposed to do any cutting inside the home, and of course the crew denied it. Someone came to the house took pictures and said they would get back to us - to date, have not heard from Empire on how to settle this. The next day, a crew showed up to install the carpet for the bedrooms and we sent them on their way. We just paid them close to $4, 000, they slice up our floors and we're not being compensated in any way. Now, we have to replace the kitchen floor, which was not in our plans. Very disappointed with Empire and their lack of customer service!

We had carpet installed on 12/24/19. There were so many disappointments with Empire Today. We never received a call as to when someone would be arriving. They showed up at my door a little after 8:00am. The installer comes in and ask me which rooms needed carpet? If he was the installer he should have known that information. He looks at the rooms and says " we might have to take the doors and put them back after we complete the carpet". They begin to do the work then when they are finished, my husband questioned them about the doors. He says " I forgot the tool at home in order to put your doors back up". In every room all the doors are off and are on the floor in two bedrooms and inside the closet on the others. They also went into my personal dressers and put the things from the top of the dresser into my draws. We had personal things and they should have asked us where did want them. The furniture was not put back and we had to fix the rooms back last night. We have spoken to customer service at least five times yesterday. They assured us someone who call back yesterday. We never heard from anyone. This is totally unacceptable and We are extremely surprised by the reputation you carry to have installers that don't live up too it. We would like to hear from a supervisor or they will leave us no other choice but to take this higher. I can be reached at [protected] Mr. Williams or Ms. Williams My email is [protected]@gmail.com.

Thanks
Mr. K Williams

In October, 2018, I purchased and had installed what I thought was waterproof laminate flooring which was sold to me by Empire Today (Flooring). The salesman told me it was waterproof flooring plus the high dollar amount that I contracted for was consistent with the cost for waterproof flooring, not regular laminate flooring. It was nearly $5000 for 3 bedrooms. Very shortly after the flooring was installed, like within a few days, I noticed the flooring was beginning to curl up at the edges and the ends where the pieces had been butted together. I immediately contacted Empire and advised them of this. At that time I thought perhaps I was being too picky and maybe I was panicking over little or nothing. None the less, I began placing pieces of blue painters tape over the places on the floor where I perceived the flooring to be curling up.

Shortly after that, perhaps one or two months, I realized that I was right in the first place about the flooring that I was told was waterproof. It was warping and curling up and looking really bad. Again I contacted Empire through their Online Chat system. Their online chat system consists of operators that know nothing about the flooring at all. I attempted to ask them questions about the flooring and they told me that all they did was take messages online and pass them on to Empire and therefore they could not answer any of my questions.

An Empire employee called me and set up an appointment to come and look at my flooring. It was during this time I decided to withhold any further payments to Empire/Synchrony Bank for the flooring because I felt like I had been "conned" by the salesperson as they flooring did not appear to be waterproof as it was warping. I suspended all further payments at that time until the matter could be rectified.

The beginning of February, 2019, a Empire employee/flooring inspector by the name of "Steve" (916) 216-7527, came out to my home and inspected the flooring. Steve told me the flooring installed in my house was not waterproof as I was told by the salesman. He also looked through the paperwork for my purchase and installation and advised me that the required "moisture test" on the concrete slab of my home had not been done by the installers and that a moisture test with a concrete subfloor was the most important thing to consider. He said if the moisture reading for concrete subfloors was too high it could cause the flooring to warp. He also said it looked as if, maybe the installers may have butted the ends of the planks together too hard in some places.

After he left, I got online and began looking up the manufacturers requirements for laminate flooring installation over concrete subfloor. Mohawk is the manufacture for the flooring I purchased. Mohawk required the flooring planks to be pre-delivered to the customers home at least 14 days in advance so that it has plenty of time to acclimate to the environment in which it is going to be installed. The flooring I purchased was delivered the same day it was installed. No pre-delivery of the product took place. The manufacturers requirements and recommendations were violated and disregarded entirely. When I asked the salesman about this he told me not to worry about it because all the flooring was stored in a climate controlled storage facility. But the climate controlled storage facility does not duplicate the environment of my home in any manner.

The finance company and the flooring company are tied together as partners I found out when I received my first billing statement. It came as Synchrony/Empire. When I complained to Synchrony about the flooring, they told me they were going to conduct an investigation into the matter and they would let me know the outcome. In other words, they would make the decision as to if I would have to pay for ruined flooring that was mis-represented by the Empire salesperson and was improperly installed and that improper handling and installation voided the manufacturers warranty. Well, no surprise that they came back to me with their decision that they were siding with the Empire. When I questioned their "investigation", because I was never consulted during their investigation, and what it consisted of, they sent me a piece of paper they received from Empire saying that their inspection revealed that the problems with the flooring were not as a result of a manufacture defect. No kidding! They were as a result of the salesperson lying to me in order to make the sale and improper installation, and no moisture test on the concrete subfloor.

Synchrony Bank stands by their decision and completely failed to address any of the obvious issues that caused the flooring failure. Because it is in their best interest to side with Empire. Empire is their business partner, after all.

So where does that leave me? Basically, Synchrony Bank and Empire Today are extorting the money for the flooring from me by holding my credit rating hostage. Synchrony Bank is reporting negatively against my credit to all agencies which is causing me to not be able to refinance my home which I very badly need to do at the present time. It's blackmail! The only solution Empire offered me was for me to pay them more money to fix the flooring. I would not allow Empire to fix anything in my house. They lied to me and the salesman knows it. As far as the concrete moisture testing, consult any website pertaining to installation of laminate flooring over concrete subfloor and they will tell you how vital it is to conduct this test. Plus they voided the manufactures warranty by skipping this step. Why should I be left holding the bag and having them extort money from me in order to save my credit rating?
https://www.fcica.com
Epic Fail: The Problem of Moisture and Flooring
The most common and recurring issue leading to flooring failures is expensive to fix—but there are ways to help prevent it.
https://www.interiorsandsources.com/article-details/articleid/21041/title/epic-fail-the-problem-of-moisture-and-flooring/viewall/true

I filed complaints with the BBB and the Federal Trade Commission but basically, they just take the information and no real action occurs.

Empire admin. finally contacted me this week - 12/15/19 and told me that they pulled my paperwork and found that YES, I was suppose to have waterproof flooring. She quickly went on to say that I needed to schedule an appointment for "Re-Select" to choose my new waterproof flooring and that it would be installed at no charge...Hold on a minute...Wait...So now, over one year later and only after receiving a complaint through the BBB they want to come out to my home and have me re-select a waterproof product and allow them to come into my home, remove and replace the flooring? What if I never want to do business with this company again because of the fraud, lies, manipulation, complete lack of regard for me the whole time. Why in the world would I ever even consider doing business with this despicable company again? I WOULDN'T. Then when I tell her that I am not interested in doing a re-select or any other form of business with them, the lady on the phone, Angelica Snell, tells me that a refund is not an option. Really? So she is going to tell me a refund is not an option after everything they have put me through?

This is incredible. The last thing I want to do is allow these people back into my home. I am not sure what the legalities are on this YET, but for someone who has basically committed fraud with malice against me, it seems wrong that they should be able to tell me what my options are. I have a recorded voice message from them admitting that the flooring was supposed to be waterproof. They admitted they were wrong and told me my paperwork proved it. Wow, I have been telling them that for a year now and the only reason they are even admitting it is because I filed a BBB complaint against them and they had to finally actually pull my paperwork.

I (over)paid them $4555 for approx. 700 sf of cheap, crappy, flimsy, ugly, warped laminate flooring. Actually I financed it through Synchrony Bank. They really took advantage. I do not want anything from this company. In fact they can come take out the flooring they put in and I never want to hear from them again. And she has the gall to tell me there are no other options...

I purchased a brand new rug about a month ago. It started unraveling around the fireplace hearth. Since the hearth needed to be rebuilt I called the company, and put the repair on hold. Once it was repaired I called them to come in and fix the carpet. They had already done an inspection. They came Friday for yet another inspection because the paperwork was wrong. Now I'm being told they will call me. There is no one in installation, and no one answering in customer service today. What sort of place is this? When I call in, the operators on the other end tell me they can't reach customer service either. Seriously!? Time maybe to dispute this with my credit card. This is ridiculous!

Empire installed what was supposed to be waterproof laminate flooring in my home in October of 2018. Very shortly after installation I noticed edges raising and where the ends of the planks were butted together, raising and warping. I notified Empire immediately. Initially I thought perhaps I was over-reacting, and so I withdrew my complaint temporarily. Shortly thereafter, I realized I was correct in that the flooring was warping and raising. They sent a person out to inspect my floor and he agreed that the floor was warping and raising. He confirmed that no moisture test was ever conducted prior to installation as the paperwork had not been completed by the installation team. Additionally, while I was doing research about the matter, I found out that the laminate flooring should have been pre-delivered to my home at least 2 weeks prior to installation so that it could acclimate to the temperature and humidity conditions in my home. That did not happen. I had asked about it when I made the deal and signed the paperwork with the salesperson, but he brushed me off, telling me the product was stored in a temperature controlled environment. This does not satisfy the manufacturers requirements for installation of the product and therefore, Empire violated the warranty for the product themselves, yet they have me stuck paying for the ruined flooring. The flooring is little more than a year old and it is absolutely ruined. It is horrible and an eyesore. I hate it. They refuse to accept responsibility for their actions or inactions. They also charged me premium price for a very cheap product that was not even what I was told it was. It is not waterproof at all. In fact, when anything at all is spilled on it, even if you wipe it up immediately, it warps and turns up on the edges. It is the cheapest, worst looking and reacting flooring I have ever seen. Three bedrooms cost me about $5000. Ridiculous. I thought I was purchasing a premium waterproof laminate flooring. That's what the salesperson told me. DON'T USE EMPIRE FOR ANYTHING!

I had carpet and laminate installed in my home September 2017. When speaking with the salesman I made it clear my concerns with carpet buckling or looking matted, as I've seen this problem in many homes. He assured me I was getting the highest quality carpet and it had a 30 year guarantee. Well this summer, I began to see the carpet buckling and getting matted down. It looks like I've had this carpet for 15 years and it was only a year and a half old. We are very particular in my home and there is not a lot of foot traffic. I am utterly disappointed. I've had conversations back and forth since September and no one will resolve this issue! In the meantime I was sent a bill for an inspection in which two men came into my home, kicked the carpet and shrugged their shoulders and left. Now they want to put me into collections for this "inspection" fee! Horrible company! Now I need to buy new carpet after only 2 years! I will be reporting to BBB, consumer affairs for consumer fraud since the product was misrepresented and all social media outlets. I will also make sure all of my patients and colleagues know to stay far away from this company!

I had purchased new flooring on 12-30-16 and it was installed in January of 2017 everything looked good except for some gaps between the boards in the kitchen and hall way and the quarter round that was installed around all the walls. We made a complaint call and had the install team back in and was told by the field manager that there were many customers that had complained about their installs that week that this team and they had to dismiss one or two of the crew. They came in and corrected the issues we had at the time but it took two trips as the work was not complete, some of the issues were hiding behind furniture that went unnoticed till it was moved a few months later. Then we noticed bumps in the floor in a few random spots. We call the warranty phone number again but was told that 1 year has passed and they could no longer warranty the install work. I since then had Empire come out on 8-10-19 to quote installing the second floor with same LVP click then had the estimate look at the first install and my nail / screw pop issues and asked him if he could quote labor to have these fixed. He gave me a quote for the other floor but said he could not quote repair work and would have someone call me. That someone never called and after a week I canceled my new install. Today 11-3-19 I found 2 more new nail / screw pops that are coming thru the laminated vinyl plank which should be warranted not to break. I am disappointed with my Empire install and the companies stance on what they can do to make things right. They knew there was an issue with the install team and I think after the floor settled is now shows more of how unprofessional their installers were. They were hired to remove the old flooring and prepare it for the new floor according to manufactures specifications. I have proof they did not do this and thus the warranty on the flooring its self in void. Which means Empire scammed me and most likely the other homes that were done that week in the Louisville area. Activity Id 1-[protected] Empire / Residential / Louisville

On 10/21/19, sales rep Fareena understood at signing that a major factor in our decision was installation timing. We had hoped for next day, but agreed to 10/24. Fareena said the install date would be officially the 30th, but that we would both sign a one page addendum called a "Change off order form" which would move our actual install to the 24th. We did both sign that legal contract change. I called on that morning to confirm install and began the multi-tiered, many transfers, lots of hold music process that mostly presented that they had no record of the change and do it won't be changed. I kept saying that a contract is a contract, regardless of your data entry of the form. They were dismissive and condescending, repeating over and over that it wasn't my install date. Through the whole chain there was never anyone who tried to put out the fire, only more people saying the same thing, but more staccato and slowed down like I wasn't understanding.
This is classic bait and switch. The salesperson promises what they won't deliver, just to leave your house with the deal.
To the customer service (so far, a misnomer for that department) rep, this is every day, phone call after phone call. Someone has compromised their character so that they can churn at this scale and binding arbitration as a worse case is just cost of doing business.
There was a time when you could put your version of Nathan Thurm on the line to deny, deny, deny and win the game, but that was when our only recourse was, oh, letters to the editor or BBB files. We live in a Yelp world, and I am going to Yelp the heck out of this. I may take Rosetta Stone just to further Yelp en Español.
I'm glad that Lynn Hauldren won't be around to see this, because the cartoon version of him is a liar.

The attached docs have been redacted, braiding using the word redacted makes me appear more irate and potentially bothersome.

I had an Empire sales rep come to my house for an installation job and was told 17 Oct the installation would be done. Empire Field workers came out on 17 Oct at 5:30 pm and took up the floor, then told me concrete was wet and takes 4 days to dry (when I was informed today that it on takes 1 business day) then they charged me and collected over $600 worth of payment for a very small bathroom floor, when I was promised that the payment would not be processed but it has been processed. I had an appointment for 21 Oct at which I was notified after I called to inquire about the timeline that I don't have an appointment after waiting all morning and now taking off work for 2 days. I was told that field workers will be back out to my home on 24 Oct and at this point I'm not sure if Empire company is being honest. I have never been treated like this as a customer. I wasn't even offered any compensation, no ownership has been taken on Empires part. I was told that wires got crossed. Can anyone help?

This company is an absolute joke! We had them start an install October 2018, it took the guy three days to complete roughly 680sq/ft. Once he was finished we noticed immediately, within a week, that the flooring was starting to lift in several places and many of the cuts were way too short where they should've been covered by baseboards. As well as the stair nose edge that was originally done in the wrong color.
We called numerous times until finally we got a supervisor to come out and take a look. She agreed that the job was terribly done and promised she would send him out to fix the problem areas. The installer came out, only fixed a few places of lifted flooring, didn't fix the pieces that were cut too short and brought out the wrong stair-nose color again.
Once again we talked to the supervisor and she said they would send someone out. That day came and went without so much as a phone call to inform us on why they didn't show. We call back to let them know and only then do they inform us that the piece was on back order but they would come out as soon as possible. About 2 months later we called to see when someone was going to come out and scheduled a day/time. Again, that day came and went with NO CALL/NO SHOW! We sent a text to the supervisor and she said they would get us on the schedule AGAIN... You guessed it ONCE AGAIN no one showed up for the scheduled day or time and no one called or returned our calls!
We sent yet another text message to the supervisor and now she's telling us, "oh well, I don't know if what we have is going to work for your floor." Um... how do you not know?! YOU came out and looked at it yourself and put us on the schedule 3-4 different times, knowing the situation, telling us it was on back order and you finally got the right one, knowing we've been stood up numerous times, but now all the sudden you don't know if what you ordered is going to work... makes absolutely NO sense to us whatsoever. You can't speak to anyone who knows how to do their job or take care of business, but you can sure get them to call you a million times to see if you're ready to install MORE flooring! Nope, not a chance. I'm so disgusted by this company and they way they operate. I regret choosing Empire 100%! I honestly wish that this junk would be taken out and you cancel and refund because it's such a joke! It's unfortunate because we wanted them to do the remaining 1800sq/ft but after this disaster I wouldn't dare. I guess we should've read the reviews on Empire before choosing to go with them but we didn't and now we are stuck with shoddy work from an unreliable company that doesn't stand behind their product at all! They can sure push their sales on you but once they have you on the hook- the care stops there! I would hands down, never recommend this company and we WILL be filing a complaint with BBB and leaving reviews that reflect the treatment and work (or lack thereof) that we've received.
We given more opportunities than not, to have the situation resolved but it's apparent making they have no desire to do so.

I have called company 8 times and spoke with customer service and floor managers and each one tells me someone will call me the next day. I yet to speak to someone regarding this matter! We were going to have more rooms done in our home and after this experience you can forget it! If I don't get a response from this email I am getting a hold of BBB and I may call kurtis from Channel 13! This is absolutely ridiculous. I keep getting told you are at a high priority . There isn't any priority as far as I'm concerned that you treat customers like this! You had no problem taking my money though!

Have been trying for the past 7 weeks to get an issue resolved with my laminate flooring. It has lifted in our hallway, called 3 times before anyone answered back. Was told an adjuster/appraiser would could out to look they send installers instead. Head installer looked problem and stated it was there fault. Left without doing anything except telling us that it would have to be replaced from lifted area down the rest of the hallway to correct problem. It has since been 2 weeks no adjuster has contacted us and they now want to charge us for repair. NO ONE returns calls. We have been dealing with Empire since 1996 but no more. Want floor fixed and we are done!

I had a home estimate scheduled all week for 8 rooms of flooring to be replaced in my home. I even called to confirm the appointment which was scheduled for today between 3 and 5. When 5:15 rolled around, I decided to start a live chat online because nobody had called me, so I thought maybe they were running late. Crystal informed me that due to "scheduling issues" (which is still odd to me considering I had JUST called to confirm the appointment only 6 hours earlier) that nobody would be coming to my house at all today. Crystal said she could promise me $50 off my order. That is a JOKE considering if you people would have showed up to my house today I very likely would have easily spent $10, 000 on new flooring and you're telling me I get $50 off?! I am so disappointed and will remember this circumstance when it comes to friend and family future interest in flooring or windows. I absolutely will be taking my money somewhere else and you might want to think about calling people to let them know that nobody will be showing up in the future because you genuinely just lost a chunk of money.

2 years ago we had our ceramic floors installed, no complaints there. On the 3rd and final day of install the installers rushed to grout and get out of there as it was 7pm and they dont want to come again the next day. Within months I noticed holes in grout, obviously from air bubbles because it wasnt properly squished in. Well they got worse and more holes popped up even in corners that are not walked on. Big holes in my foyer which everyone sees and I tell them it's Empires work. Finally angry enough to call. Its $100 just to get someone to come look at it and I'd have to pay labor for the patches. They will sell me the grout mix for $25 for a huge bag and I have to pick it up. Honestly, if they just gave me a bag free I'd take care of it myself. IVE NEVER SEEN HOLES ALL OVER EVEN A 10 YEAR OLD FLOOR! Oh and I was assured sealer is already mixed in grout, but it stains and absorbs so easily and its sandy. My mother just had hers done by a local place(told her notntobuse empire) and her grout is and looks way nicer.

Was told I had 3 days to cancel but no where on the form is an email to submit the cancellation. I currently on hold with them waiting for the email address, been on for an hour. I will be disputing my current charge on my card and turning away anyone who show up at my door. My sales person left me a card and as I am writing this, still on hold with empire, I called him and he does not even have the email for me to cancel. He said he was going to text someone and "see" what he can do. We shall see...I can't believe I fell for this.