Complaint Rating:

This complaint is about a $50 service charge that Empire Today has attempted to collect from me for warranty work. While their customer service department has attempted to help and agrees that the charge was levied in error, the accounting department continues to ignore their communications, does not communicate with me, and has sent my balance to a collection agency. Empire alleges that when I called them to schedule warranty work (there is no dispute that the mini-blinds were still under warranty), they informed me that there would be a $50 service charge. I disagree. Furthermore, when the serviceman came to my home and repaired the blinds, he signed a "Certificate of Completion" that said I owed, $0.00. Lastly, I had warranty work done on the blinds a few months earlier, and the charge then was also $0.00.

I have now filed an official complaint with the New York State Consumer Protection board.

I had read of complaints about Empire, but did business with them anyway, because I was homebound for many months with sick infant twins, one on oxygen 24x7, and I needed a window covering for their room. I could not get out of the house to shop, nor could I install a product myself. In hindsight, I should have called some other shop-at-home, install-it-for-you company.