Empire Today Reviews

The installation was crazy. The first set of guys that came out to do the entire house flooring, not the kitchen, did an awesome job. They were quick and efficient. They took care of everything. They ended up moving the big, heavy stuff. But with the other guys that came out to do the kitchen, I ended up having to call the company back because they put the flooring down but I didn't have matching molding.

I had a dark brown color on the floor. The kitchen had all these dark grays and yellows on it with no grout. My cabinets are a dark oak so I matched the floor with that, but none of the molding and corners that they did under the cabinet were available close to that color. They didn't have enough to finish the job, so they mixed it with white, gray, and brown on my countertop. I have a big island in the center of the kitchen. That had some brown and gray, and the cabinet under the sink had white, gray and brown on them. It was a mix-match hodgepodge. It was not very conducive or pretty. I had it put in the last week in December. Even today if we walk on it without me sweeping it for a couple of days and mopping it, I still have residue of the sticky stuff that they used seeping out on the edges that I have to go through and elbow it out so it comes out.

One of the guys called and said, “I've got you on my list. I gotta close out this ticket.” I told him I'd send him the pictures which I did. He said, "I can't believe we did that. How can I fix this?” I said, “I'd like to have something that matches or have it stained." He said, “I'll have somebody come out and bring you some cornering so that you can at least practice on it.” That never happened. I ended up staining the ones along the kitchen cabinet myself.

When they were taking my tile out, they pulled the oven out my stove from the wall and disconnected the gas line. When everything was ready to be put back, they told me, “We can't connect your gas line. It has to be a licensed plumber to connect it because it's gas.” Now I have to wait and take out the money to have somebody come and put the gas line back on so I can cook.

I had to find a contractor to fix the subfloor, level everything out. When looking for a subcontractor in a very crunch time, they probably charge a bit more than what they have to. They knew I was in a pinch so they might have taken slight advantage. It was more cost out of my pocket than what we expected because we had to fix that.

When they came the second time, it was a different team and they were very professional. They had the vision of what we wanted to accomplish, and were able to present us with those options and complete the job the way we wanted to from the get-go. So, we were very pleased with the second team. The second team seemed very knowledgeable. We were very impressed and thankful we got that second team.

The installation took two weeks from the day one we met. The representative came on a Thursday, and we had an appointment for that Monday. We thought, "Okay, everything should go smooth, should be good to go." But we had the hiccup and I couldn't find contractors. They said, "I don't have the time" or "I don't have any openings till next month." Some gave me a month later date. But we couldn't wait a whole month because we were in the process of moving to the new home. I was frustrated with that delay because I had to spend more money and thought the installers had a better idea of different options to level that. I wish they were able to do more for us and not delay the whole installation.

When the flooring was installed, the first team told me, "It should take us a couple of days." The second team took almost three and a half days, but they did it to what the standard should be. We had to wait for the seal, and they had to come in and put the floor. They had to be very fine with the cutting to match the other floor that was already there. They took their time and were very detailed. That's why we were very pleased with them.

My daughter and I had taken the closet doors down so they would be out of their way and when they were done, they asked if we wanted them to put them back up. And we said we could do it. When we put them up, we found out that the installers hadn't taken the carpet or padding out underneath the strip, so none of my closets would open or shut because it was too tight. We adjusted them all the way out, up at the top and at the bottom, and there was just no way. So, I ended up having to complain a little bit. If they would have installed them differently, they would be okay. They were trying to tell me how you need to trim the door. But this type of door is made out of metal. They had to come back and I suggested they cut the carpet just underneath the strip so the strip sets down farther, which was what they did. And it worked. They completed it and they all worked perfectly after they left the second time.

The customer service set up the appointments and did the kind of things you'd expect them to do. A couple of installers brought someone who didn’t speak or understand English. It was no big deal. It’s just that it was uncomfortable because I had to keep asking the other guy all the questions. But that's the way the world is now, so I didn’t take it too seriously. They were very professional and accommodating. When the guy came back the second time, there was a little bit of an argument between him and me. He said there was nothing they could do to fix the closet doors and that it was not part of what they do. I said I just paid $6,000 and I'd hoped he would do it. So, we started troubleshooting.

My daughter came up because she lives next door and she had to get the doors off. Because the guy was so short, he was having a hard time lifting it enough to pop it off so he could work on it. But once we got those off, everything was good. He even told me that he'd been doing it for 30 years and that he was thankful because now he knew something that he didn't know before. They had never cut that strip out. I got the idea from seeing somebody do it and I knew what it was. The customer service rep told me that, if necessary, they would give me the bottom strip that it guides in. I asked if the guy was gonna have them so that if something happens, he's got them with him. And the rep said the guy carries them on the truck.

The installers weren't planning on putting new strips on, only redoing mine. Mine were screwed down and he removed all the screws and nailed them down. I asked him why he would do that and he said it's because the screw head sticks up too much. It's been in there all these years and we're unable to adjust them ourselves because they're nails. He totally worked to please me. But there was a little bit of back and forth. I didn't appreciate him changing it over to nails because the reason you have screws is so you can adjust them up or down.

I started out saying the service was great and I made it sound bad but it wasn't. But there were challenges that I had. I had to pay extra but there were five items that we left in the house because they had a way of being able to move it around. And you pay extra to have the installers move anything that's too heavy for me to take out. So, that was helpful. I had three beds, one in each bedroom that they moved out of the way until they did the room and then moved it back in. The guy was very nice to save my room for last.

We got no notice other than when they called and said, "We'll be at your home in 15 minutes." They woke me up out of sleep which is fine. I understand they start early in the morning but they could have called the night before and say, "We're coming in tomorrow." I asked specifically, "Are we the first stop, the last stop? Can you ballpark me a time?" They could not give me any answer. So, I accepted that and moved on. At 7 o'clock in the morning, when I got a call saying, "We're 15 minutes out" and they were not supposed to start until 8:00 AM, and it's 7 o'clock in the morning, I can't move that fast even if I wanted to.

When I spoke to Empire, they explained, "Well, we're very sorry. We didn't mean for that to happen. That happened because we do hire third-party contractors this, that and the other." I said, “Well, that's all fine and dandy, but you need to figure out a way to work that communication out.” My daughter is now in the town home by herself, and she was really hoping for our guidance. We were flying down the road trying to get there. We just told our daughter, "Don't let them start until we get there." We didn't know what else to do.

Then the problem got even worse because the installer showed up. He spoke very little English. He walked in the house with my daughter and said, "Oh, by the way, I brought my wife." It was weird and fine because his wife ended up being "his helper". But when you watch videos and you receive commercial reviews and other reviews for Empire, that's not the image that is portrayed to you when somebody shows up with their wife and says, "I'm here to install your carpet." It was just a little bit weird. It's acceptable if this particular installer's wife was his helper. Instead of saying, "I brought my wife," he should have said, "My helper and I are ready to get started." We moved past that.

All this took place while we were on the phone on our way to our daughter's town home. Our daughter called back and said they said they don't take apart furniture. That was when I really got angry because we had the discussion with the sales rep, and we specifically said there's no furniture in the home as you can see. It was literally the day after settlement. There was no furniture in the home. We asked the sales rep, "Is it okay if we put my daughter's bed up, just the bed so that she has a place to sleep for the next morning?" We explained the bed to him, and he said, they can move furniture. We watched the preparation video that Empire sent us, which clearly spelled out that they will move pieces of furniture. They explained how they do it.

The installer got upstairs with his wife and took a look at the bed and said, "Well, we don't take apart furniture." So now my daughter was standing there going very confused because she was there when the sales rep said it. It was written on the paperwork and in the contract that they do do it. Then the process was then delayed because now my husband and I were rushing to get there so that my husband can run up the stairs and take a bed apart. So, the installation went poorly because of that.

The carpet was installed beautifully. He did a nice job. His helper wife cleaned up everything. There was a couple little spots on the stairs where we asked him to make some changes to how the carpet was installed. But other than that, the installation in and of itself was done fine. The carpet is beautiful. There were no issues with that. The problem is with Empire hiring third-party representatives that come in and install. Empire has to work harder to get a communication system in place so that more feedback is given to the customer as to what to expect and when to expect it. Even the sales rep called me back after the install and said, “That should never have happened because your contract says they will do that.” That was very disappointing. They owned up to it though.

I had two different spaces done and for safety reasons, I stuck with replacing the carpet on the stairway itself and for the master bedroom and the upstairs hallway, they pulled the carpet and had the engineered hardwood flooring installed. I had two different crews -- one was the wood crew and one was the carpet crew. The installation had to be scheduled on different days and I was trying to get the bedroom taken care of before I went out of the country. The wood was done before the staircase carpet and the only issue was that at the very top where the carpet installer did the transition, he felt he could have done that better if the staircase was done first. The wood guys didn't wanna leave their job not finished so they put a little cap over and the carpet guy had to work around the cap instead of going under it. It looks great but from his point of view, he would have liked to have done the carpet first.

They were very professional and did a good job. The only thing I wasn't anticipating was that my dogs would have to be crated the entire time. When they were working upstairs, I figured I could just secure and keep them downstairs but they needed to be able to go in and out of the house and saw outside instead of in my room. It totally made sense. I just wasn't mentally prepared for that. One of the dogs is my seizure alert service dog and having to crate him could have been problematic but I just stayed in the room where he was. It was fine. I understand why they needed to do that. Also, when they had their lunch break, they took lunch outside so that I could let the dogs out and told me to let them know when I'm ready. They were really accommodating with that.

I'm liking the flooring a lot. The carpet is much nicer than the carpet that I had before. It was a different texture so that the dogs weren't trying to paw at it like they were with the last one. And I love the engineered hardwood floor. I was concerned at first because the boards are thicker. There was a thinner option but the consultant said that this exact same floor and a wider board was on sale. It was a difference of close to $3,000. He said he felt that this would be a good option for me and he was right. I am happy with it. I've got three other bedrooms and I'm gonna have them put the same engineered hardwood in those because I was very happy with them.