Empire Today
Reviews and Complaints

I will tell you that this is by far the WORST company ever to do business with. I'm going to keep this short and simple. They send out their most friendliest representatives that woo you into thinking that they are giving you the best deal ever on their cheap ### carpet. We thought he was giving us a super deal...called his manager and so on to ask if they could make this one exception to give us their CHEAP ### carpet for the special low price of $750. ###! My husband went on the internet the day after we signed the check over to them thinking we were getting a 60% off deal and found that no one is satisfied with Empire Today so, we cancelled the carpet installation. That oh so friendly representative tells us that he is writing CANCELLED on the check right at the moment we were talking to him. We called the company to cancel the order as well. They said, NO PROBLEM. 2 weeks later to no surprise...they cashed the check ANYWAY. Now my account is negative waiting for their so-called refund check in the mail that will take 10 business days to arrive. DON'T EVER DO BUSINESS WITH EMPIRE TODAY. They will cheat you out of your money. We read the reviews and found that they are absolutely true. If you need carpet installation go straight to Home Depot or Lowes. They have a way better quality selection and their whole house installation is only $199. They don't hassle you...they don't send out LIARS because they have a name to up hold. I have no idea how Empire Today is still in business. PLEASE don't waste your time or your money with those crooks!

Bought high priced carpet, not even four months later our carpet is JUNK! Supposed to warranty it, but two months after my initial call, we still have no new carpet. This is a *** company, managers are a joke, and I was actually told by the manager that I purchased UGLY carpet! Please do not buy their carpet. I've been placed on hold to eventually be hung up on, or have been hung up on while hearing laughter in the background. I just got off of another call from the guy who was supposed to show up tonight, and BIG surprise! NO ONE IS SHOWING UP! We have friends who have spent WAY less from local carpet retailers, and have SUPERIOR carpet compared to Empire's CRAP!

Today was the second time that I had a scheduled appointment with Empire Today AND the second time that I was stood up without so much as a courtesy call. We're building a home so we are in need of flooring for the entire house. This would have been a huge sale for Empire Today. I'm pleased to say that it WILL NOT be a sale for them and that their competitor will reap the benefits of Empire's lack of courtesy and poor, poor customer service.

When I made the appointment I told the agent that this was new construction and therefore my home phone number is not at the location. I gave them two cell-phone numbers to use instead. I also asked that the salesman call us on one of the cell #'s 30 minutes prior to arriving.

I called Empire Today as instructed at the beginning of the two-hour time frame on the day of the appointment to determine when the salesman would arrive. I then drove out to our building site to meet him. Approximately 1/2 way into the appointment time, he called my home (again NOT where we needed him to call) and told my daughter that he was on his way. 45 minutes later he hadn't arrived so I called him on his cell (got the number from my daughter on our home's caller ID). The salesman had the gall to tell me that he needed better directions so he turned around and went home. He then asked when a better time to reschedule would be. Since this was a second chance for this so-called business, I informed him that there wasn't a better time and hung up.

When I called the 800# for Empire Today to tell them what happened. I was told that they would make the report and that we would hear from the sales manager within 3 business days. Yeah, right! NOT! I want nothing to do with a company that stands up their customers without so much as a call.

I beg you not to let them waste your time as they obviously make a habit of wasting peoples time.

I 'm headed to court. After reading all these complaints I found to be true. My alarm wiring was damaged during installation of laminated flooring. It was working before the installation. Empire does not want to pay me $400.00 I spent fixes the repair, if I am wrong to do this, let the judge tell me so.From the beginning I saw the ad(very impressive ad) I called the salesman was nice and oh so good customer service. After the deal I called him to tell him what had happen & along came a devil not interested, I have your sale now. Then I have fought to try to get my money, it will not break me but it is the other people that this may happen to. I am going to stand up for my rights. Oh, I failed to mention one customer service rep. hung up on me. I will never buy anything or tell anyone to buy anything from Empire Today. All I wanted was a new floor and I got a Headache. I am so sorry I purchased from them. Customer Service is not what it use to be.

5 years after they installed a carpet I removed it and found a row of deep gouge marks in the oak floor, obviously from the installation as these were newly finished floors before the carpet installation and the marks are all in a row and from the installation. There is no way I could check this when they installed it as I wasnt here. When I called to complain they said there was nothing they could do about it, now I see why, they are a fraudulent company - do not do business with these scammers.

This was not the first time I purchased carpet for my offiice so I knew exactly what I needed was high wear carpet with a very thin dense padding so the wheels of my equipment could work. The salesman assured me that that would be possible. That was a lie and he knew it. The company only offers one type of padding. After the installation by totally non-English speaking workers, I found they installed a big, fluffy padding. When I called to have the padding switched they said they could if I purchased an entire roll of padding since they do not carry it and pay for a reinstallation. I have also found that their prices are grossly inflated and one would be a fool to not negotiate with them. I think one would be a fool to deal with them at all.

I set up an appointment on-line through their website for an in-home quote. I had the ability to set up the time and day that I wanted them to come out to the house. It stated this is not your appointment time until you have been contacted to confirm. Soon after I received confirmation for the date and time via e-mail. It is like most service companies, a 2-4 hour threshold. I took of work to be home the time that they said they would be there and they never showed up. I never received a phone call or a follow up email as to why they did not show.

Carpet and window treatments are both heavily advertised as NEXT DAY INSTALLATION. After ordering - you quickly find out the next day is for RE-MEASURING (after your salesperson does the initial measurement). After calling the service department - the representative confided that she has NEVER actually seen a next day installation. After waiting a week and never even seeing the measurment person - we cancelled the order.

I called made appointment, upon arrival, selected my choice of carpet, no price woould be given out, nor the pad, and I asked for the sale carpeting and was told only one carpet was on sale. TV was advertising 60% off. No mention of pad...had to pull teeth to get that...Estimate is given and the price is double that of which I had already received from two other competitors. I had the other estimates with me and the salesperson requested them, called into his office...MIRACLE they would meet the price coming down almost $4000. (the salesperson didn't believe me when I showed him my estimates, he was on the phoned without asking if I would change my mind, no I wouldn't) I was furious...first false advertising, that carpet was 60% off, second he would only tell me the price of each carpet when I picked it out and he worked up the measurement. They would meet the price...HOWEVER: who wants to work with a company that doesn't advertise and represent their company correctly, won't talk about padding and then you get a ton of pressure to change your mind when you ask the person to leave. I said No, it doesn't matter if you meet the price or not, how can their possibly be so much as double the price in difference, when the capreting from the competitors was of better quality. I asked him to leave...he was not happy and then waited for me outside---it was a rental and knew I had to leave. I feel this company is a SCAM. Upon leaving, he said the Company will call you to see if you're happy and I said...I'm requersting THEY DO NOT CALL. They did call and told me I'm the first unahppy customer...PLEASE! If you chose to get an estimate from this company BEWARE!

On July 6, 2008, I contracted Empire Today to install a bathtub liner as well as a door in our bathroom. On July 12, 2008, two installers came by at our house to do the work. However, because of the rain, they asked us to push back the installation on the following day. They came back the following morning and after spending almost two hours in the bathroom, one of the installer indicated that the bathtub liner could not fit. He also mentioned that he broke the water pipe so we cannot use it until it is fixed. I checked the bathtub liner and its size was the same as the existing bathtub. I am not a carpenter, installer or whatsoever, but I am surprised it took him a while to figure that the bathtub liner will not fit! Anyways, the damage has been done so I have no choice but to calm down and convince myself that everything will be fine.

We asked them to come back on July 19 to fix the water pipe and then the installation of the bathtub liner. We waited the whole day and nobody showed up! We have cancelled our plans for this appointment and nothing happened!

We called the customer service and we were told that a plumber would come at our house on July 26. Thank God, a plumber appeared our door on that day. He opened the faucet to check the leak and the water started to drip at our ceiling. It damaged the electrical wirings at our dining area. Things are getting worst!

To fix the water pipe, he got rid of a portion of the ceiling to replace the broken pipe. He fixed the water pipe but he broke two things: (1) ceiling and (2) electrical wirings.

We called the customer service to file a complaint about this incident. Per customer service representative, the bathtub liner is out of stock and we need to wait for a couple of days. She cordially offered to schedule an appointment to fix the ceiling but we declined. We want to make sure that they install the bathtub liner first before fixing the ceiling to avoid duplication of this incident.

Days, weeks and then a month have passed but we never heard from Empire Today! This is a nightmare!

On September 3, 2008, we called the customer service to make a follow up. Thank God, the bathtub liner is now available. An appointment was made on September 10, 2008 between 9:00-10:00 am EST. It is now 11 am and I am still waiting for the installer. I took a day off from the office just for this appointment. I hope he will show up anytime soon!

Meet with a salesman to install ceramic tile in all three of our bathrooms. He assured us that the product was immediately available and we could expect installation with in two days. when we called on the expected day of installation we were told that we were not in the system- our appointment with the salesman was confirmed, however. We were also told that their Baltimore office was not responding (it was a Sat.- but we were told they work on Sat.). since we were within our 72 hour cancellation, we canceled. It is very disheartening to listen to all the advertising only to discover that customer service is not what it is says. Now we have to go to Abbey Carpet to see if they can accommodate us.

They promised next day delivery. My wife and I took off from work to get the room ready for new carpet. Moved the furniture, un-hooked the surround sound stereo, got a friend to help move the TV and other heavy furniture ... and waited, and waited, and waited. At 4 PM we called them and were told "How about tomorrow?". When we told them that was not acceptable they told us the carpet was a special order and it would take 2 weeks. We canceled. The price was not really that great ... We shopped around and saved over $200 for the exact same carpet at Home Depot.

We ordered laminate flooring for two apartments. They said they could do the kitchen, bathroom and living room. They said it would be no problem to have the toilets removed and put back in that they did it all the time. The day of the delivery, they called to say they couldn't come. We had already removed furniture. We told them that was unacceptable and they must honor the agreement. They showed up late. No one spoke english and they did a lousy job. They had to be asked multiple times to put the toilets back and did so in minutes. The trim was poorly cut - big gaps and the padding was poorly installed so that some of the floor boards are uneven and you can feel the ridge. Then the real problems started. The bathrooms flooded. I have had multiple conversations with the company. They promised to send someone out yesterday - we had to shut off the water in the building. After several phone calls trying to find out where they were, I was told - sorry - no one is available! I am currently waiting for a plumber and plan to sue. They are the worst company I have ever dealt with. The sales rep is not to be trusted. NEVER USE THIS COMPANY UNLESS YOU HAVE A GOOD LAWYER!

I too was impressed with the advertisements for Empire carpet and flooring. I finally decided to give it a try and called them for the free in home estimate. I have to say that the sales man was prompt and courteous. He did measure all my rooms and spend a good amount of time showing me samples of carpet in his mid range. I personally didn't think the carpet felt all that great compared to the carpet I already have, but he assured me that would be different after it was down with the padding. I liked their financing package and agreed to the sale. I specifically asked him how their prices compared to Home Depot and other companies. He told me that they were the same except that Home depot would charge me to move all my furniture and extras for steps moldings etc...

Well, after reading the reviews online I decided to cancel the order and think things over a bit more. I called Smart Carpet and Flooring for another in home estimate. I spent over 3 hours with the salesmen and in the end I was able to not only save over $1000, but included in that price was my Master bedroom which I had to exclude previously due to cost. I am going to receive a carpet with a longer warranty as well.

I guess the moral is. Do your research, haggle a lot, and speak Spanish. Oh yeah, two days after canceling the job I received a call at 7 am from a Spanish speaking installer telling me he was going to be there in 40 minutes. I told him not to come and that I cancelled. He said ok so I hung up. Then he called again and I told him the same. When I hung up I called cust. service. She told me that my cancellation had not been completed. Then she told me that they would take 800 off the price if I still would consider using them. Too late honey! So that’s the long and the short of it.

I used to work for this company, but i'm tired I don't care any more, like they don't care about us, the general manager, daniel silva, hass been acused of sexual arrestment, corruption, racism against latin people, humiliation against to employes and many many more his partners, mike perry installation manager, and gina lampone office manager, we call (the sub contractors) the main office to let then know the situation here in orlando, we spoke with ally ferreira national installation manager, joe carwrite fraud investigation manager, nate shoe florida manager, but guess what they just make us looks as bad person they told then (they managers in orlando) that we called then to talk about what they where doing in orlando, of course the manager daniel silva said, "i will take care about each of then" and he did. At this time he didn't give any job in tha last two weeks.

So you as a customer better think twice before hire this company, because if they don't about us, and they make money thanks to uor hard job, do you really think they will take care about you after they take your money?

Without going into a long-winded story about Empire Today, I will give the basic rundown. I scheduled a time during the day for a technician to measure windows and give an estimate for plantation shutters. At ten minutes before the end of the 2-hour window appointment time that I was given, I was called to say that the company had to cancel and re-schedule my appointment time.

I told them that if I ran a business that way, I would soon be out of business. Needless to say, I did not reschedule another time, and will go with a different company from which to purchase and install the shutters.

I encourage any reader to consider doing the same, and to beware of Empire Today.

Had a sales man from Empire come to our home to re carpet livingrm, and 2 bed rooms up steps. The instilation guys came out on 7/12/08 neither of whom could speak english. They put down the carpet and ripped upp the old which they threw out on our lawn. When they were finished the got in their truck and left with no notice to my boyfriend that they were done. When he looked he had seen they were gone and look out side and noticed they had left the carpet on the lawn, now we were told by the sales guy that they would be taking all of that with them. so I called the sales guy who then stated to me that for a fee he would have his son come to remove it, I stated to him that he said they would take it of course he denied this, boy did his whole attitude change from the time he was in our home to make the sale. Because this was a Saturday after 5 pm could not reach anyone in management to speak with so on monday I made my call but had a couple of complaints to add to the situation, there were staples all over the living room floor that were stabbing our feet, in a bathroom which they did not do they left a big strip of the tackless which went through my boyfriends foot, they did damage to an amoir from our bedroom and they put our bed back together with only 1 screw in each end, and the carpet on the lawn, so in speaking with management who was telling me they don't remove carpet it is against the law but yet it is listed on their contract, finally states they would have someone out which happened 2 days later. they sent the install guy out again, but lets not forget he doesn't speak english so communicating with him was real hard, he denied the amoir thing and the bed thing, but neither of these items have been out of place since they were put together and delivered 9 yrs ago. so we go no where on that. Now we find that the padding they put down is not even the padding that we were showed during our sales meeting. I have a piece of that padding that the sales guy forgot to take with him and they are dening that it is theirs they say I got it from some where and they are going to do nothing about it. On our statir steps when you go up them you get stuck in the foot with tacks or something, and we are still waiting to see wht they are going to do about this. EMPIRE WILL NEVER GET OUR BUSINESS AGAIN...AND THEY ARE AWARE OF ALL OF THE COMPLAINTS AGAINST THEM BUT SAID THAT DOES NOT MATTER BECAUSE THE AWARDS THEY WIN OUT BEAT THE COMPLAINTS. I WILL OF COURSE BE DISPUTING THIS WITH THE CREDIT CARD COMPANY INWHICH I PAID FOR THE CARPETS TO BE DONE WITH...IF YOU HAVE SIMILAR PROBLEMS FEEL FREE TO EMAIL ME, AND MAYBE WE CAN ALL UNITE TOGETHER AND GO AFTER THEM...EITHER THROUGH THE BETTER BUSINESS OR THROUGH OUR LOCAL NEWS COVERAGE...THIS IS OUTRAGOUES I KNOW WE WORK HARD FOR OUR MONEY, AND TO HAVE SOMEONE OR A COMPANY JUST OUT AND OUT STEAL FROM US IS NOT TO BE STOOD FOR...

My husband and I met with an Empire Today salesman in our home two weeks ago. Tim is who came to our home. I have no other information about him, as apparently the sales representatives do not give out business cards or contact information. By the way, my appointment was rescheduled once due to not having a salesman available in the area, and Tim showed up at our home at almost 10:00 P.M., when we had a 7:00 to 9:00 window appointment. Once he was here, by the way, he took phone call after phone call on not one, but two cell phones. Very professional sales people this company has.

Tim came to our home on a Wednesday to write up a bid for laminate flooring. First of all, he gave a sales speech about what is different about their flooring products that makes them stand out from the rest. He said they own a patent on a tool that allows them to pull out one plank in the middle of the floor for replacement, if need be, rather than having to pull the whole floor up to that spot. Come to find out, that is something that any company can do with or without "a special tool". Tim also told us about the special coating that their flooring is layered with that is only available through them. Come to find out, that coating is standard now among laminate flooring. I could go on and on...

When it came time to talk about pricing, Tim quoted us $12, 000 for 1042 square feet of LAMINATE. Not wood, not gold, but laminate. I had already priced the stuff elsewhere, and had expected about $6, 000 to $7, 000. I asked what the breakdown was for installation vs product, and he said they do not figure things that way, they just bid on the total job.

After I mentioned the figures that I had seen elsewhere, (uh oh, Tim, an educated consumer!), Tim quickly found a way to bring the price down to $9, 500. Tim tried to get us to choose flooring that was on sale at 60% off to get us to the amount we wanted to pay. This flooring that was on sale consisted of an entire three colors, all of which had yellow tones in them. We were not interested in that, so he said he would speak with his manager and see what he could do to get the pricing closer to what we wanted.

We let Tim know that we wanted to make a decision as quickly as possible, as we have a baby on the way and time is of the essence. Tim promised to have final pricing for us by the next day, Thursday. Thursday and Friday passed with no call from Tim. Not having a way to get in touch with him, I called the 800 number and explained my situation. The girl who answered then called Tim and relayed to me that he said his boss had been out of town, that he was now back and had our paperwork, and that he (Tim) would be getting back to us no later than Sunday. Sunday came and went with no call from Empire Today. I called on Tuesday and went through the entire story again with someone on the 800 number. She tried contacting Tim, but he did not answer his phone. She acted like this happens all the time. She gave me the number of the Houston and Dallas district manager.

I left a message on the number I was given for management, and received a call the next morning. I had reached the Dallas manager, but he put me in touch with the Houston manager. I spoke with John, who gave me a song and dance about how busy they have been (blah, blah, blah). He quickly threw out a number $6, 800. I asked how he was able to get from $12, 000 to $6, 800, and he said "because I'm the manager". Okay...

I told John that I was concerned that it had taken me so many phone calls and so much time just to get pricing. Would I run into the same problem if a need for service arose. I don't remember exactly what he said, but I felt like he kind of "blew off" my concern. I have since had a local company come in for an estimate. With better flooring, 12 mm versus Empire's 8 mm, they came in lower than Empire from the get go. Plus, they check out better with the BBB, with no complaints at all in three years.

One of the main reasons I decided to forget about Empire Flooring even after the guy got to the price level I was looking for is that I found this board and saw all of the complaints. I'm so glad that I did my research before making a decision.

Last year (I believe May 2007 to be exact) we decided to purchase new carpet for our entire downstairs area, our stairs leading to the upper level, the living room upstairs, and the upstairs hallway. We decided to give Empire Today a try after seeing all of the commercials. We met with the salesman (who came to our house) one night to discuss the different carpet Empire Today has to offer. We explained our needs as far as foot traffic and desired carpet life. The salesman recommended one of their higher end carpets. It was more than we wanted to spend, but based on the salesman's suggestion, we decided to go with it. We also opted for a higher end pad to help with the carpet life. He assured us that the carpet we were purchasing was a very durable carpet and would continue to look new for quite a few years.

It is now a year later and we have had nothing but issues with the carpet, the installation, the local Empire Today office, and Empire Today customer service. The installers rushed the job and left without making sure everything was correct (they needed to go out and get a beer). There is a seam that goes the length of the upstairs living room and can be seen in any lighting and from any angle. There is a hole in the carpet where it connects to the carpet in my son's room. We can literally pull the carpet up as if it was never tacked down in many places in the house, including the stairs. The carpet is uneven along the walls where they didn't cut it right or didn't tack it down right. They didn't use any border strips when going from one room to another, we actually had to pursuade them to use what few existing strips were already there) The carpet is also discoloring in many places, some places more than others. All this from what was told to us was a higher end carpet that would last and from their "professional" installers. To put the icing on the cake, we have paid in full the price of the carpet. So they have their money and we have a pile of crap.

We called the Empire Today 800 number and they put us in touch with the local office. At the local office we spoke with a Sara. Her contact number is [protected] x4086. They sent out an inspector (paid by them of course) to test our carpet and report back to them the results. During his "testing", he didn't test in the problem areas (and we pointed all of them out), but rather tested in the very few areas where there aren't any issues, mostly where there is no foot traffic or furniture. In addition, he could not perform at least one of his tests due to equipment malfunction. After he performed what tests he could, he left saying that he would send his report to the local office. We don't understand how a report could be filed when he didn't even perform all of the tests! Especially when that report is supposed to detail the findings of the testing which in turn determines what action Empire Today takes. I guess that is what to expect when the company you have an issue with pays for an "inspector" to come out. How in the world can anyone be sure that "inspector" will give a good report? However, he did file the report.

We received a call from the local office saying that they would replace the padding only on the stairs and would perform "power stretching" for the rest of the carpet. According to them, power stretching "should help with the wear and make the carpet stand back up". Also, they claim that it should help with the very visible seam. Of course they are not giving any guarantee that it will stand back up or with the seam, leaving us with the same worn and discolored carpet that we have the issue with. After many calls the local office agreed to replace the carpet on the stairs only, but that the rest of the house would still be power stretched. We continued to ask them why their "higher end" carpet would wear like this. They didn't give us any straight answers.

We decided to contact the 800 number again. I spoke with a customer service manager who then referred me to the "office of the President". I believe she is the President over this market. Who knows, she could be president of sanitation. Her name is Helen Brown and her contact info is [protected] x7782. I explained the situation to her and told her that we were not interested in getting the same carpet from Empire Today since our experience with the carpet was that it didn't last and that it was far from what we would consider "higher end". Plus, it is our understanding that the installers that did such a poor job for us are still employed with the company! So basically we were offered more sub-par carpet to be more than likely installed by the same terrible installers that did such a bad job in the first place. We told her that we wanted nothing less than at least a refund of the installation cost and partial refund of the carpet cost if not a full refund all together considering we purchased carpet based on the salesman's suggestion and we don't feel that the carpet we purchased is as good as the salesman claimed it to be. I mean come on, it's only been a year and the carpet looks this bad, as if it's been here for 5 years! I also told her that I am ready to file a formal complaint with the Better Business Bureau against the local office as well as the Empire Today corporation as a whole. She said she would look into the issue and get back to me the next day. She did contact me the next day, however she only offered the same resolution that the local office did, to replace the carpet and pad on the stairs only and power stretch the rest of the carpet. So that tells me that she didn't listen to a single word I said to her the previous day and just passed on the same pitiful "resolution" that the local office gave to us. She also stated that we needed to have the carpet professionally cleaned at least once a year. So that to me means spending more money to fix their carpet issue. All in all, we feel that Empire Today doesn't care about their customer since they don't want to resolve this to our satisfaction. They want to give us the same poor carpet (on the stairs only) that we are unhappy with and only "try" to "fix" the rest of the carpet.

At this point, we are extremely unhappy and want to warn as many people as possible to NOT do business with Empire Today! I will be filling a compliant with the Better Business Bureau. This isn't the first time we have replaced carpet in our house, but it will be the last time that we do it with carpet and services from Empire Today. With hindsight being 20/20, we should have stuck with the company that we used in the past.