Empire Today
Reviews and Complaints

Watch out for swapping face weights! I went to Home Depot, found a Mohawk carpet sample I liked and received a price quote of 1250 installed but did not want to wait the 2-3 weeks for installation. - Called Empire, a salesman came out and showed me a carpet sample much like that of Home Depots. He quoted 1450 (with their 60% off sale) and I told him if he could get me somewhere near 1250, it'd be a deal. He made some phone calls, which I know is b/s, and said 1250 is a deal. The carpeting I had choosen was really heavy and thick. My late father owned a flooring company for years so I'm familiar with quality and face weights. I'd probably say it was a 75 or so. You could leave an imprint with your finger tips. Installers showed up today - 4 weeks later cause I couldn't take off work for the appointment... Carpet was almost a shag! I immediately called Empire who sent the sales rep. He pulled out the sample and said "Look the same to me?" I asked the installer what he thought and he even said "nah, it's a different carpet, not as thick." He then offered me 200 off to which I declined and asked to cancel the order. Order is canceled, and though I have a room without flooring for probably another few weeks, I am happy... I asked the installer if this happens often, and he said "people always say it feels different." My guess is probably because people don't understand face weights or aren't familiar with carpeting... Familiarize yourselves! Empire will screw you!

Had carpet in less than a year and it was buckling in all rooms. Called in to have them re-stretch, now less than 1.5 years since the restretch it is bucking again and they will not stand behind the warranty.

I'll start by saying that even though I read all the reviews, I just had a morbid sense of humor and wanted to see first hand just how sketchy Empire was.

I filled out the online in-home estimate request and then noticed somewhere that it stated if you weren't spending at least $750.00 that they would not come out so I emailed a cancellation request (only needed 20 sq.

yards of carpet). Not only did they send me the cancellation confirmation, but right behind it, they rescheduled my appointment again. When I called, I had to jump through hoops to actually speak to a human being, explained my situation, and the woman stated that no job was too small and that they would be here today, Monday, January 31.

My sales guy called and was super nice, he was close to my home so he was coming an hour early if that was ok. Sure, no problem. Now I have already spoken with Lowes, Home Depot and Molyneaux over the weekend and each provided a rough quote of around $540.00 - $560.00. So I figured hey, Empire says they save you money, why not let them come in for an estimate.

Well, my salesman arrived happy as a child on Christmas morning. I quickly escorted him to the small bedroom and hallway that I wanted to have carpeted and explained what I have explained above. Suddenly, this kind old man became so enraged that he literally turned 4 shades of red and began shaking. He told me that unlike these stores, he only installs quality product. I told him that I was looking at Stainmaster carpet with upgraded pad and I thought that was quality. He then threw his metal briefcase on the floor and fumbled his phone out of his pocket to call "his boss" and told me that I had to tell them I canceled my appointment. When he put me on the phone, I told them that no, I didn't cancel, I was told that 20 sq yards of carpet would be no less than $900.00 and that I was going with another quote, he ripped the phone away from me, hung it up, called me an a$$hole and dropped his phone.

On my way out from shopping at BJ's Wholesale I stopped at a booth advertising free estimates on carpet and hardwood flooring. Told them I wanted a quote only and they said okay. Yesterday a guy came over and I told him right off the bat that I was not making a commitment. He showed me 3 different carpet samples - high, medium and low priced and quality. They were PET Polyester and told me it was better than Nylon carpet. He started out at $10K for a 3 level townhouse and then when I budged he said "Did you get any coupons from BJ's?" I said Yes and he knocked it down more. Then he asked "Can you have it installed on a Tues Wed or Thurs?" I said Yes and down some more. Then he said "Let me call my manager" - came back and said the colors I wanted were in overstock so he could knock it down more. Final price - $3500 for the whole house. I felt pressured to take this deal and signed the paperwork. When he left I went online and saw that Polyester carpet was CRAP and read the complaints about Empire's work. Two hours later I cancelled my purchase. I felt like I was hardballed into making a commitment IMMEDIATELY and not having a chance to compare prices or to compare carpet from other places. Will never deal with Empire again or have any other type of salesperson come to my house. From now on, I will go to businesses and take control over what I want and what I'm willing to pay. Be careful consumers - don't do what I did.

We purchased carpet for our family room from Empire. Within 3 months, the carpet started to wear under the moving part of the sofa. Their product is a rip off as it's low grade crap. They're overpriced and wouldn't do anything to repair the carpet. We will never buy Empire carpet again.

The salesaman lied and the company backed him up. I ordered window treatments from a Hunter-Douglas book. I got window treatments from an unkown vender.. The window treatments I got were not of the quality of the Hunter -Douglas product and did not have the Hunter Douglas name on it.. In fact they were a
cheap copy. When I called the company they backed up the salesman lies by stating that I had not ordered a Hunter-Douglas product and quoting from code numbers the salesman had put on the contract... I know what I ordered.. It was from a Hunter -Douglas book of window treatments... The salesman lied and the company lied...

I called empire to have a rep come to the home for a free quote for carpeting for 3 rooms. They scheduled a rep to come out the same day. When she arrived at our home, she was in plain clothes which was fine but she had no identification or badge stating that she was with empire. I found this odd but again, really not an issue. She went on about empire how they have been in business for x amount of years, they have an a+ rating with the bbb and how "their installers" are back ground checked to the age of "16", they have to purchase a $1500 piece of equipment in order to "work for empire", etc... This lead us to believe that the installers were actually employees of empire. After the initial shock of the quote for 3 somewhat small rooms, my husband questioned the price. She asked him in somewhat of a rude manner "well how much did you think it was going to be"? Needless to say, you could cut the air with a knife. My husband gave her a # which was approximately $700 less than her quote. She hesitated and told him that she would call a "manager" to see if they would approve that amount but she was doubtful. Low and behold the "manager" approved the "adjusted price". Her attitude was still of disbelief almost making us feel like we were cheap by saying "we like to help out people". What the hell kind of comment is that? We are helping her out by giving her the sale! We scheduled the install for 2 days out. I received a call from the "installers" at approximately 7:45 am telling me that they would be there at 8:30 am. They knocked on our door at 8:10 am. When I opened the door I was expecting to see men in uniforms "like the commercial advertises" and like a business with an "a+ bbb rating" should be dressed in a professional manner, but instead there were 2 men standing at my door in "street clothes" and again with no type of indentification badge representing empire. I looked outside and the van they pulled up in was a cheesy old white chevy from the 80's and again to my surprise "no logo identifying them as employees of empire"! I was taken back a bit. They came in to our home and looked around and then 1 of the guys asked to use our bathroom. Really? Well maybe if they would have arrived at 8:30 am when they said they would be there he would have had time to "take care of his business"! Not even 10 minutes later, his partner asked if he could use the bathroom! At this point I was getting aggrivated. When they were done taking care of "their business", they finally got around to moving our furniture out to our back yard and garage. I was told by the sales rep that they would ask me to look at the carpet to verify that it was correct. I had to ask to look at it as it was not ever brought up by them. It was correct. I had left the credit card on our counter and after having to move my car for them, I came back into our home to find him on his cell phone with our card in hand giving the # to who was hopefully an "empire employee". He wrote down an authorization # and took a hard copy of the card. They started the work and completed within 5 hours. The only real positive thing I have to say is that they worked the entire time they were there. I guess my biggest beef with this company is that they are over priced but are willing to "call a manager" to negotiate that price, they do not represent empire in a professional manner and most importantly they contract the labor from different companies so they are not "empire employees" and who knows what type of people were in our home the other day?

In the beginning of November, I don’t exactly remember the date; I had an estimate done on carpet and tile and made a deposit of $200.00. However, I thought the estimate was too high, so I called customer service to voice my concern. During that conversation I found that there was a special promotion. I responded to the customer service representative the sales representative did not share that information with me. I expressed to the customer service rep, that the sales person who came out to my house did not offer me any details on a promotion. As a matter of fact, he simply said to me just tell me what you want, even though I inquired about the prices. The customer service rep apologized for the misinterpretation and assured me that a manager would give me a call back. Conversely, the same sale rep who came out to my house called me back with the same spill. At this point, I had become a bit frustrated. I relayed to the sales rep I wanted to speak with a manager. Sometime thereafter, the manager did give me a call back. Unfortunately, I was not available due to my work schedule. Moving on, I returned the manger's call at least twice that I know of. By the time the manger returned my call several different arrangements had been made that I was not aware of. To say the least, it has been a whirlwind of an experience. After dealing with several different reps general managers and presidents, I was finally able to talk with the general manager and I felt he really did not want to work with me. One of the first things he said to me was, “You cancelled your order.” My reply was, “I did not.” He continues your check was returned to you on November 30th, to me this response was rude. As of today's date, I still have not received the returned check. Also, I asked about the current promotion and he replied that offered would not apply to my order. His attitude was very condescending, it was like pulling teeth, and he wanted me to just cancel the order. He asks, “What would make you happy?” I replied. He stated that would not happen and offered $400.00 off. Hence, I did not feel like he did this in good faith he was forced to make the offer, moreover, I felt that I should have qualified for the current promotion which was 60% off. To make a long story short, I choose Empire for two reasons, good recommendations and convenience. As you can see it has been anything but convenient, although, I must say, your customer service reps have been absolutely a pleasure. Please contact me at your earliest convenience, my work cell number is [protected].

Thanks in advance for your prompt attention to this matter.

V. Foreman

I have scheduled appointments with Empire Carpets that are then canceled on the day of, the excuse being that there is no representative in the area.
"Why make the appointment in the first place?" I asked them?
"Because we never know whether there will be reps in the area until the morning of the appointment."
"Meantime I have taken half a day off work. Is this really how you do business?"
"I'm sorry, but there are no reps in the area, we will have to reschedule."

And so on with the broken record technique. No attempt was made to send a representative and they defended their lack of integrity like it was perfectly normal business practice.

I don't know how a business that doesn't honor its appointments or respect its customers is able to still be in business. It is disgusting behavior.

If anyone can shed light on this matter I would be immensely grateful.

I received an estimate for carpet installation on 10/25/10. This was our first estimate. The sales person Carl was very pushy and told us we needed to give an answer at that time. If we declined the offer, we would not be able to place the order at a later time. We decided to place the order knowing we could cancel it within 3 days and that if we didn't cancel the order our check would be cashed on 10/29. After further research we found much lower prices on higher quality carpet, therefore, we canceled the order within 24 hours - the next day 10/26/10. I spoke to Celeste who processed the request and advised me that my check would not be cashed. She stated it would be mailed back to me within 5-7 days with a copy of the canceltion. So I come to find out that on 11/1/10, 6 days after the cancelation that my check was cashed. Due to this my account was overdrawn & overdraft fees were accrued. I called Empire and was told that is the standard practice. They cash my check and mail me a refund check within 20 days - even though I had canceled within 24 hours & my check had not been cashed at the time of cancelation. I explained that I was not told this. I even called back Celeste who reaffirmed what she originally told me about my check being mailed back to me and not being cashed. When I explained to her it was cashed, she advised me that "Oh yeah sometimes that happens when the Sales Rep doesn't pull the check in time and then we just mail you a refund check". I explained that she did not tell me that & if she had I would of stopped payment or ensured there was sufficient money in the account. So apparently I now need to wait 15 days for a refund check to be mailed to me. Even though my contract states "if you cancel...any payments...will be returned within 10 days following receipt by the Seller of your cancelation notice. "I spoke to numerous people at Empire Today and was told the Celeste was incorrect in providing me this information and that Empire is not responsible for their advisor's error. I even called my sales representative who told me to call him with any problems. He explained he couldn't help me because I canceled the order. There has been alot of people dropping the ball & still no resolution. The lastest I heard is that we don't have a department to issue a refund for the fees accrued. Worse customer service ever! I will never do business with this company and will be advising my family & friends of the same.

Their advertisements on TV keep stating buy one room get two free of either carpeting or flooring or mix and match. She came very late chose laminate floor measured two rooms and two hallways Approx. sq. ft. in largest room 210. Quote was $6, 080.00 for this room no free rooms here.

Empire today, misleading price, rude salesman and a binding arbitration clause

Summary: recommendation is to buy elsewhere

Empire direct salesman visited and was on several occasions rude, making jokes at my expense. Contrary to my better judgement, my wife liked the carpet, so we agreed price and I left my wife to take care of paperwork.

Upon reviewing the contract that evening, there was an unexpected $200 dollar difference in price agreed, furthermore buried in the terms and conditions a "binding arbitration" clause.

Out of principle, I cancelled the order next day and prior to writing my experience of empire on this site, I gave their vp an opportunity to remedy the situation by removing the binding arbitration clause and honoring the original agree price.

After speaking with a different local sales representative, I was expecting to hear back but never received a call back despite leaving messages. It took another email to a sales director to get a reply.

What does this mean? In the event of a dispute your only option is binding arbitration with empire today. Please "google" the term on wiki - binding arbitration was intended for internal commerce not to restrict consumer options in the event of a dispute.

The lack of response from the local office is indicative of what you can expect dealing with empire. Head office has higher expectations which are simply not met by the atlanta local office.

I consider myself to have had a lucky escape, clearly if the company was confident in its products, it would have no problem removing the binding arbitration clause.

I would like to start by saying empire does not hire installers or give the jobs based on preformance. The installers that they send out to your houses have horrible customer ratings. If your related to the district manager or you do favors or give things to the coordinator, you are given the best jobs. Even if your customer rating is horrible, and your job skills are very lacking. They are sending "professionals" out to work on your homes that have a success rate of under 50%. They do not care about you, they care about sending someone out to collect their money, and they will send the worst installers out to screw up your flooring. Once they have your money its not their problem. So much for the contracts they give all installers saying they dont give jobs based on who your related to, and they dont put up with bribes. The guys that work their butts off and who take pride in a high customer rating go weeks without work.

Empire, if you took pride in making your customers happy like you claim to, you would be on top of this crap. Instead, your own district manager sits back and lets his own family take advantage of your customers. Not to mention the coordinator that gives ### installers jobs to benifit herself. Way to go empire, way to take full advantage of all the hard working people that just want a great job done for the money the give you.

I called Empire for a quote in late mid 2006. A sales rep came and knocked over my plant and was not very pleasant. I made no commitment and that was the end of that. At the end of 2006 my carpet was really coming apart so I called again. They sent another rep. He seemed very nice - measured told me I had too much stuff to do in one day - I already knew that. I asked the installation be in the morning - he said he would note that. I called him 2 days prior and he told me not to get my panties in a ruffle. Day 1 of installation - it is almost noon and no sight of anyone. Finally the installer calls and said he would be here in 45 minutes. 3 young guys come and I told them of my request and they said they have no note of that. The 3 installers worked hard and they were fine. Nervously, one of them informs me they don't have enough to finish my hall that day. In other words, Mr. Sales Rep measured incorrectly. The installer said to call customer service and see if they could give me some compensation for the inconvenience. I did. The answer was I needed to speak to the Project Manager and they would pass on the message. I called back 3 days later and got the run around. I got the run around so badly, after calling everyday for over a week, I asked for the phone number of the president of the company. The customer service rep put me on hold and returned to ask if I wanted to speak to her supervisor. My reply was only if she was going to give the phone number. I found out Project Manager was the Sales Rep who screwed up. He never called. I finally did get $200 compensation. The installers was fine for the most part. The lead one left the other two one day which is fine but the other two did not speak English very well which made communication a bit difficut.

Ok, so I called Empire Carpet to get quote for carpet installed in my new house (which I haven't moved into yet). The dirt bag on the phone wanted my wife and kids to wait in the house for up to 3 hours for his salesman to get there and refused to do a courtesy call when he was on the way. Well, its Texas and 105 degree temperature is no place for kids. I told the call center rep that if they couldn't just call a little in advance (my wife was 5 minutes away) that I wasn't going to make her wait in the heat and we would just use a different company that was willing to make more accommodating arrangements. The rep said "ok" and hung up the phone on me.

The day of the (canceled) appointment rolls around and 3 hours late calls the estimator wanting to come by and take measurements. What the heck? So we met him at the property and let him do his thing.

His name was Adrian Gackle [protected]

First, off he was very polite and respectful. It was hot in the house since the utilities had not been turned on yet and he opened all of my windows to let the breeze in.

After taking all the measurements Adrian went on for twenty minutes telling us how great Empire Carpet is, how many awards they had won, how great their service was and how they will fix any problems we ever have with our carpet... no questions asked. It was very drop-line, almost like a skit rehearsed to perfection. Gave me that used car salesman vibe.

We selected a few colors and then came the pricing. Keep this in mind before I give you the figures. I have already contacted Home Depot and Lowes and received quotes from both for around $2, 000 to do the whole house. The first three prices he gave me were the retail prices for the carpet. The three we selected came out as followed; $10, 430.15, $10, 474.25 (Option 2) & $12, 265.56 for (Option 3). Then he goes on to say that Empire is running this HUGE promotional sale where you pay full price for the carpet installed in the two largest rooms in your house and the rest are free... you only pay for labor on the rest. So he flips out his calculator and pretends to crunch numbers for a few minutes. He then gives us the "TODAY ONLY" discount price of $7, 699.25, $7114.25, & $10, 099.40. I clearly had a shocked and surprised look on my face. When I started to question the price he quickly stopped me and said that he thinks he can get me an even better "BULK" price for the carpet because I needed so much of it. So, he whips out his cell phone to call his supervisor to try and "negotiate" a better bulk price for me. Somehow almost immediately, he had someone on the phone "negotiating". It really sounded like he was talking to himself... but, if he was talking to a "supervisor" it was clearly playing the bad cop good cop role of con sales. He sheepishly smiled and said, "wow that's a great deal" he then turned to me and gave me $6544.15, $6297.49, & $8789.99. WOW! I thought... GREAT DEAL!?!? not. I obviously grew more irritated. All the while he is trying to force me to sign a contract with him...especially to keep the prices... I had to sign immediately. Since when would anyone in their right mind sign a contract to by material from someone? These people are really stupid! So, then the guy says if I pay cash for it I would get yet another discount. Again this ### whips out his cell phone and calls "the powers that be"... yet again the person on the other end of the line answered within seconds. And again Adrian Gackle seemed to be talking to himself again. This time when he hangs up he comes at me with these prices $5225.85, $5556.60 & $7478.26. He tells me again that the only way I will get these prices is to sign a contract that day.

I again mentioned that I wasn't going to sign anything that day and that I would take a few days to thing about it and weigh my options. He told me that Home Depot and Lowe's sold poorly manufactured carpet... that their installers were not professional installers and that I would never get good service from them. He kept explaining the negatives about his competitors all the while boasting about his companies service and warranties.

I am not a fool and it irritated me that Empire would come into my home and treat me like so. I wonder how many poor ignorant saps, old people, and women fall for this stuff... sorry, CRAP!

DO NOT CALL EMPIRE! I will be contacting Home Depot, Lowe's, and all the other companies scathed by Empire's sales defamation. Angie's list, BBB, American Business Awards etc will also be contacted.

MESSAGE TO EMPIRE CUSTOMER SERVICE: It's obviously not an isolated incident since everyone has the same issues.. it's clearly what you train your associates. Anyway, I see that you like to issue a standard rebuttal to everyone on this site asking them to call your customer service... that you care for our concerns and you would like to resolve it with us. But, I don't want to talk to you... and there is nothing you can say or do to change my opinion that your a bunch of thieves. I hope Home Depot or one of the others your salesman constantly bad mouthed will sue your a$!%^7!

They installed hardwood flooring and did not put any waterproofing down as requested now my floor ruined. When I call them to complain they were very quick to say they will fix it but it will cost me an additional $1200 after I paid over $4000 to install the hardwood in my lounge. I will never use them again to do any work for me I am also telling everyone how bad they are and not to use then no matter how cheap they quote as their workman ship and service is bad. Look at photos to see how bad this look.

I bought 7000.00 worth of lament flooring back in April of this year. On June 25th we noticed some of the boards (about 7 or so) were bulging. I tried working with Empire today’s customer service dept. and all I get is a sorry we can’t help you. Here is what happen.
I called the customers service dept. they took my claim and forwarded it to the installers . Empire today sent the installers to check out the complaint. The following day I received a call from the area manager Mr. Neal Wilson, who said that if I were to pay 150.00, he would send the installers out to repair the damage, I agreed and on July 14th, they arrived.

The workers started out marking the boards that needed replacing but after about a half hour, they noticed that there was some dampness on the the quit step pad. They continues pulling boards, what started out as a simple 1 hour job turn into a 4 hour job which left me with no flooring, They pulled out every board in my den, half of the boards in my hallway, and half of the boards in the kitchen.

I called Mr. Wilson and told him what had happened and he in turn put me in touch with Mr. Sherwin the regional manager. He told me, that since I was home and did not tell the workers to stop, they assume it was ok to continue to rip up boards. The fact is that at no time did they (the contractor nor the empire today representative) tell me that they would not be replacing the boards that they were ripping up.

All I am asking of empire today is to replace the product that they destroyed, after all I did pay for it in good faith and if water damage was their concern, they could have stopped and told me that they would not be replacing the product, I would certainly have told them to stop. Today I have not heard a word from empiretoday, i've since replace the flooring using another company.

Empire Today is a total rip off and has slimy business practices! They basically sell you flooring at the highest price they can squeeze out of you. One of the first things the sales associate asked was how much I was willing to spend on flooring. I slipped and mentioned I received the $8, 000 first time home buyer's tax credit. Guess how much our total estimate came out to for laminate and carpet in the whole house? $8, 000! What a coincidence! Originally she said $12, 000, but then added on all those "special" little discounts she wasn't allowed to give us. She also called her "boss" to authorize another discount (fakest phone call ever). We were never told the cost per square foot or anything like that, it was whatever they thought we were willing to pay. The sales associate appeared sincere, but underneath was just sneaky and sleezy. This was the first place I received an estimate and I had no idea how much flooring costs. So like an idiot, I was talked into purchasing, thinking this was a normal price (other places later quoted me at about $4, 000 less). I came to my senses later that night and called the sales associate the following day to cancel my order. She said she hadn't even submitted the paperwork yet, since it was on a Sunday. The next day someone from their office calls to ask about my cancellation. Suddenly the floor we wanted was overstocked, and they offered me an "absurd discount." I said no and confirmed my cancellation for a 2nd time. The following day I also mailed my notice of cancellation along with a letter explaining my cancellation. A week goes by and somebody else calls to confirm my order set for installation in a few days! I was furious! Three times I canceled and three times I said I wanted my down payment back, and yet they were planning on still sending out the installers! They tried to bribe me again with another discount. Also, I thought the sales associate hadn't even submitted the paperwork when I told her I wanted to cancel. I sure hope I get my $500 down payment back this time, or they're going to court. I don't understand how they get an A+ on Better Business Bureau when all I've seen is negative complaints. I think it may be because their installers and sales associates are contracted, so any complaints with them goes to the contractors and not Empire Today.

I am disabled, and could not go carpet shopping so I called Empire Today. When they came to my home I was shown several types of carpet and vinyl floor samples. I told the salesman that I did not want carpet that would show footprints or vacuum cleaner lines. When I picked a color and type of carpet the salesman said it would not show footprints or vacuum cleaner lines.
Then I picked out a vinyl floor color and asked the salesman if it would show alot of dirt. When I bought this house it had very dark flooring in the kitchen, which I didn't like, and showed everything. Once again the salesman told me it would not.
When they came to install the carpet and vinyl flooring (I was told it would be a one day install) they immediately told me that they would not have the time to lay the flooring. The salesman had neglected to look at the cabinets over the refigerator, as if he did, he would have advised me that I had to have them trimmed before the vinyl could be laid or the refigerator would not fit.
The carpet was installed, and it was very late when they left. Everything I pointed out to the installers to be careful with (an electrical outlet) was ignored and they did some damage to my house when they put the furniture back. There were scratches on the walls and dirt everywhere from moving furniture. I also had two doorstops, which magically disappeared when the carpet was laid. The following day I noticed that every footstep could be seen and was very unhappy.
When they came back to lay the vinyl flooring, one of the installers used a broom that was in the garbage and my sponge mop to clean off my driveway so they could lay out the vinyl, ruining the mop and spreading bristles from the bad broom all over the place, which they did not clean up. After the installation of the flooring, they did not turn on the gas to the clothes dryer or turn and turned off the water supply to the clothes washer. In addition they put a kink in the metal tubing that goes from the back of the dryer down into the floor, so when I used it, all the lint and dust flew all around the dryer. Every appliance they touched had black hand prints from their dirty hands.
When I complained to the company, they sent people on three different occasions to look at the problem, but only one person could authorize repairing. The sales manager called me to inquire about the carpet problem, but never called me back.
I immediately called my credit card company to dispute the payment on the carpet.
I do not know at this writing how this will resolve, but I would not refer anyone to this company.
The salesmen will tell you anything you want to hear, and then they rush you for an immediate install. I was offered $100 to have the installation before the end of the month, to make the sales numbers at the end of the month look better.
What kind of company is this?

I am reiterating many of the prior complaints, but I wanted to share my experience. I had a representative from Empire Carpet in Minnesota come to my home, as we needed new carpeting in our living room, family room, hall and steps. First, the quality of the materials were questionable and when I asked if there were any other samples that were nicer, I was told that they could show me more samples, but the ones he was showing me were the only ones that could be installed the next day. I told him I did not need next day installation and he actually said, "I thought that was the only reason I was here." At this point, we started to become very skeptical, so we just decided to chose a sample to get a quote, primarily to be friendly and then get him out of our home.

At this point, we were quoted $2800 for everything, including disposing of the old material and moving two large pieces of furniture. I asked three separate times how much carpet I needed and I was told they would not provide that information. After telling him I would not purchase from him unless I knew how much material I was purchasing, he finally told me the quote was based on 99 yards of carpet. After some additional discussions, the price was dropped to $2450 ( after a call to his supervisor at 8:00pm!).

Subsequent to dealing with Empire, we worked with a reputable retailer who sold us a better quality carpet than Empire showed us, with all the same extras such as disposal of old material, stairs and minor furniture moving for $2137. Also, I only needed to pay for 88 2/3 yards of carpet.

DON'T GET RIPPED OFF BY THESE PEOPLE. Empire is where used car salesmen go to die!