Empire Today

I am SO sorry that I didn’t read the reviews before calling this ‘so-​called’ professional flooring company. First and foremost their TV ads are misleading. A classic bait and switch technique. You will be choosing an inferior, very limited selection of carpet if you want to get in on the ad special. Otherwise, you will pay way more than you need to and get nothing more for it. I was told by the lovely and courteous sales lady that the benefit of using Empire is that they take on full responsibility for their product from purchase down to installation and after, if necessary. So, in my mind the extra expense would have been worth it. (I had a lesser quote by far from Lowes). Thankfully, Empire screwed up enough before I actually had them in my home to get started on the job. I cancelled the whole thing today. After speaking to the illiterate Rex Johnson, regional manager in Austin this morning about being lied to regarding the time and scheduling of our job and then listening to his condescension, I knew without reservation that I did not want to spend ANY of my cash on Empire. I cancelled everything right then with him on the phone.
Look, I’m not going to waste my time or your’s by explaining the series of issues that led me to cancel this job. You can read the previous reviews and get the gist of it yourself. All the stories are similar which speaks volumes. They are a horrible company and if you buy from them, you get what you deserve. I’m going with the less expensive quote and getting a higher quality product at Lowes.

DO NOT GET THEM TO INSTAL FLOORING!!! I’m in the process of having my floors done with laminate. They were supposed to start on Monday and I was told it should be a day and maybe a little more if they have to come back to finish up. I have less than 500 square feet to do. It is now Thursday and they still aren’t done.
So Monday they show up and neither of the 2 guys speak English (well one can slightly communicate) They were supposed to be there around 830 and they show up at 1015 and then have lunch. There was no call saying we will be at your house between this time and that time as was stated by the paperwork. Also I have painted baseboards that I was going to have to match and ordered primed quarter round so I could paint them but they show up with painted (and not painted the color of my base boards). After they ate they got some work done and had to level the floors in the living room so they left and said we will be back tomorrow. I said wait there are two other rooms you can work on??? They left as per their bosses instructions. I then called empire and told them what happened so they sent the guys back out but apparently they weren’t in a hurry as it was 2.5 hours later before they came back. At the end of the day they had gotten very little done and my daughters had to sleep on couches as their rooms were not even close to finished (barely started). When they left the guy said that they would finish in about 5 hours tomorrow. Tomorrow came and I took more time off of work and they came and got almost all of it done before they ran out of material. They then said they have to order more material and it would be Thursday. I was even told by one of the customer service reps that they would be back Thursday at 830 am. Thursday (today) rolls around and by 1100 they still hadn’t shown up and I had not gotten any calls that there was a hold up. I finally texted the lady from empire and she said the material would not be in until Friday but she would make sure they are there and get our project completed. So far 2 of the 3 rooms are complete. This is 4 days into what was supposed to be a 1 – 2 day project and they still aren’t done WITH LESS THAN 500 SQUARE FEET!
I can say that we had Scott as a sales guy and when he left the process had been smooth thus far. Once the installation began is when it went down hill. I am in the service business and understand it’s not always a smooth path to success but communication of any sort would have gone a long way. In the service world you don’t promise what you can’t deliver and that is exactly what they did. This is the first time I have ever written a review of any sort as I have never seen something so bad. I just wish I had read some of the other reviews first. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH EMPIRE IN AUSTIN TX!

I believe I am owed a refund for the inconvenience of staying in a hotel 2 nights with 2 small children. As well as the fact the job was not complete on the ²³⁄₂₄ as my contract read. I am happy with the finished product however the process was so horrible I would not recommend this company to anyone. Hopefully they seek out reviews first as I did not.

oh my… where to begin… let’s just say in a nut shell… Hardwood floor crew FANTASTIC… product pretty good… salesman, «Scott» is also good… BUT, the project manager and ALL the rest of the communication at office level HORRIBLE. We were presented by the salesman Scott some options of carpet and hardwood to replace some areas of our home. OF COURSE, we choose the one that is NOT on sale (ha ha) but anyway we are somewhat pleased with the quote and schedule it for that Thursday. We prep ALL areas so our house is in total disarray, but fine knowing it will be done in one day and both crews are coming and product will be in. So we get an email on Wednesday saying that both crews are coming and we will get a call Thursday morning (keep in mind we BOTH too THursday off work to get this done). My hubby gets a call from Billy and he says that ONLY the hardwood is coming that day… my hubby asks about the carpet and Billy says «oh no, we can’t do that on the same day as hardwood crew, they would be in each other’s way!» But we share with him that the areas are in completely different parts of the home and will no way even see each other! He said he would call us back but never did. My hubby finally called him again later in the day and told us «carpet=not happening». So… we had to take another day off of work just to sit at our home and never get a call on Friday that our carpet was on it’s way. We had to end up calling customer service (corporate) around noon time and THEY were the ones to call the installer and then told us that they would be at our house at 1pm. HOW MESSED UP IS THIS!!! Our hardwood was installed but then the team shared with us that there was BARELY enough to finish the project so we have NO EXTRA wood for any replacement area or not even enough to take in to match things, etc! Customer Service SAID they would credit us $ 200 for our inconvenience but now that has been OVER a week and we still have no credit (ACH) to our card! LIARS!
SO… to sum it all up… STAY AWAY FROM EMPIRE!!! Sales guy = OK, Hardwood floor team with Raul = GREAT, Carpet guys = so-​so, but the Corporate/​Austin office = NO WAY IN HELL ARE WE EVER DOING BUSINESS WITH THEM AGAIN!!!

WHAT A SCAM!!!
I had an appointment on 12-​27-​2014 11 – 1 time frame. The sales lady calls me at 11 and states she is running a couple of hours behind but will be there at 1pm. I wait until 1:30pm and call to see what the problem is and she states that she is still at another appointment. She then tells me she will be there by 2:30pm. At 3pm I call again and she states she is on the way. First let me say I have spent my entire day waiting on a sales person who does not have the courtesy of calling to let me know that I will have to wait the entire day on her.
She arrives and I show her the area which is 469sq ft. and tell her I would like to have a quote on the 99 $ per room special. She then divides the room into two rooms instead of one and gives me a quote of 6000.00 for the job. I let her know that I have shopped around and the laminate flooring she is showing me is 8 mm and I am very much aware that I can personally purchase 12 mm for less but that isn’t even the issue because hey what about 99 $ a room. She then say yes it will be 99 $ for «both» rooms as well as 759.00 for the flooring, 900.00 for the padding underneath and the rest is in labor. So let me get this right I say, you will charge me for 29 boxes of flooring, padding, an additional 99 $ per room and the rest labor? No, she states just for the flooring, pad, and labor. So I ask well where does the 99 $ advertised price come in and she states «oh yes we will charge you for that too». I explain to her that my calculations would be 99 $ for the «room», pad and that would leave 5000.00 in labor to do a room. She tells me yes because they will have to move your furniture and repair your floors. My home is brand new, we just don’t want the carpet so there is no damage to the floors in the first place. She tells me «all concrete floors have holes that must be repaired prior to installation. So I tell her that I would like a breakdown of the cost of the floor, pad and labor and all she can tell me is that she has no idea how much the labor will be. I ask «where do you get your price then»? She states «from this sheet». OK I ask then how much is the labor on the sheet? She again states «the total price is 6000.00 for the work».
Needless to say I ended the consultation with the complete knowledge now that not only is this a SCAM, there is no 99 $ per room it seems these «sales» people are trained to say what they need to say as long as they completely hide the truth.
Empire Today has no 99 $ per room sale that we were able to get because they charge 99 per room, the cost of the flooring, the outrageous priced padding, and the labor is ridiculous. I called customer service to make a complaint, the customer manager was «at lunch» and would call back immediately to solve this problem… guess what … no call back. This leads me to believe they know exactly what happened, just as they have time and time again, so no call back needed. I am even going to file a complaint with the BBB on this one.

Awful. I had an appointment with them today, lets just say EVERYTHING about them is awful. Go somewhere else (I have indeed found a few good ones which if you ping me, I can share). Better service and pricing.

The worst experience of my life:
Salesman was 1 hour late to the appointment
Salesman asked me all sorts of personal questions about my personal life as if they were trying to get an idea of how much I made for a living
Cost of carpet was ridiculously expensive
Salesman used high pressure tactics
Really knew nothing about the quality of the product they were selling
Ended throwing them out of my house.
Stay away, do not use this company, had a bad vibe the entire time the salesman was in my home!!!

We needed new carpet and made an apt to have Empire come to our home. Despite receiving a confirmation email, we were stood up and wasted 2 hrs waiting for the salesman. I contacted the customer service rep listed in the email and haven’t heard back, and the salesman never contacted us either. Don’t waste your time with this company or it’s poor customer service.

Looking to have carpet put in our den where our toddler plays and called Empire to come out and give us a quote. I asked them to bring their best carpet samples. A guy shows up, George maybe, and shows me 4 different types of carpet. They are only slightly different and none of them are very impressive. I choose the highest quality carpet and padding they have and ask for a quote. Mind you this is a small den of about 350 sq. ft. George quotes me a price of $ 2500.
I told George when he walked in that I was not going to buy carpet today and that he was here to give me a quote as I planned on making appts. with at least 2 other companies to find the best price and product.
$ 2500 wasn’t crazy, but I wasn’t crazy about the carpet. So I’m now trying to exit this meeting as I’m done here. George isn’t. He starts with the high pressure tactics and is hoping to close the deal. I get it. He calls his boss and says this or that to him and that if I sign up today he’ll reduce the price to $ 1900. Again, I say I’m not closing today. He says if I give him $ 50 he’ll hold that price for me. Again, I say I’m not closing today, but if his price is the lowest for the best quality carpet then I’ll call him.
Reluctantly he leaves.
The next day Home Depot comes out to do their measurement. I select one of their nicest carpet, one with designs, etc. and the total is $ 1179 for the same damn job. I have to wait a couple of weeks for the install, but I’m not in a hurry.
1 star for being way more expensive and having very little selection. Also for pulling the stupid sales trick of quoting you too high then calling the «boss», putting him on speaker phone and trying to make you sign a contract that day for something that is still too expensive.
Shop around and don’t be afraid to say NO!

Agreed! Same experience as others; waste of time!

One of those if I could give negative stars I would.
We were selling a home and I wanted quotes for carpet and flooring.
I have had flooring put in in three other homes so I am familiar.
I just thought since they were new to Austin that I would check them out because they advertise such great deals and quick service.
I was asked on the phone when making the appointment would all the persons in charge of making the decision whether or not to purchase the flooring would be present at the appointment and I said yes, because I was that person.
When the salesman Michael showed up he immediately had an attitude because I wanted a quote for carpet and flooring so that I could decide which to do based on difference in price. Even more ridiculous was that he was obviously very angry my husband wasn’t there. Before he would do anything he asked me if «I wanted the flooring was I prepared to purchase today.» I said yes if I like the product and the price. He said «Really, you could just write me a check for $ 5000 today without talking to your husband about it.» in the rudest, most condescending manner. I said yes, because I could, but I wanted nothing to do with him or the company by then because he was so unprofessional. It was clear this guy didn’t want to «waste» his time. I showed him the door and they lost a customer or sale rather. Since that is all they seem to care about.
I should have looked at the reviews in other cities.
Check out Dallas. Same complaints.
Horrible salespeople, high pressure sales, etc.

Bad. Bad. Bad.
The salesman came to my house and brought a ton of samples — just like they tell you they will on TV. What they don’t tell you on TV, is that the salesman knows nothing about the products he is attempting to sell. Really. He. Knows. Nothing.
I asked, what I thought, would be pretty basic questions:
1. Can you tell me what kind of warranty this flooring has?
2. How does each type of flooring perform when exposed to water?
3. What material is this flooring made of?
4. Where is this flooring manufactured?
5. Do you have any product data… at all?
The salesman’s answer to each of these questions was «I don’t know, but we can install next day!»
Install next day?
Question #6: Wouldn’t the flooring need to acclimate in my house for awhile before installation like every other flooring company does?
Nope! (Empire is magic, apparently.)
When I pressed the salesman for information about the products he was attempting to sell to me, he actually got hostile. In fact, it made me nervous to have him in my home and I asked him to leave. He left — scratching my table with his sample board as he stormed out. With the sale blown, any sense of professionalism was forgotten.
The worst part is, he wouldn’t even take the creepy Empire guy bobblehead doll he had handed to me on arrival.
I bolted the lock behind Mr. Salesman and Mr. Bobblehead went in the garbage.

Horrible experience.
We called them to come out for an estimate for flooring we needed in our business space. They came out the next day as promised. Good so far.
We place an order and are promised a gazillion discounts for next day installation (which was by NO means next day, or well priced… read on please).
Two days after I confirmed with our salesman we get a call that he can’t do next day for what we ordered. Mind you, this is over a $ 6,000 order and we had already given a deposit.
Fast forward a month, many calls, loss of business income, and great frustration. We get our order completed… and it wasn’t even what we first wanted. Sigh.
Even the regional manager who called to «make right» the situation was a flake. He tried to offer us a special incentive for the trouble, and then WITHDREW his offer (that we did NOT even ask for in the first place).
Even the subcontractors that do the installation made mention of my case not being the first, or even worst, they had seen. That alone speaks volumes.
Needless to say… please learn from our mistake, save yourself the trouble and go with a more reputable company.

We met with an associate from Empire last night to talk about getting new carpet and tile in our home. John was there early, spent the entire evening with us, and was extremely patient and informative. They offer high quality products and an amazing price. The no interest for 12 months financing makes things much less stressful when considering a large flooring purchase. My husband and I feel very confident that we made the right choice, and our new floors will be installed this Saturday!