Empire Today
Reviews and Complaints

They are a horrible company. We were deceived, lied to and cheated by a crooked salesman, then have since been unable to get ANY satisfaction from three different alleged managers. Thier best offer to make things better, was to come out and undo what they did, and only charge us "at cost" to do it correctly! Please avoid them. Deal with Costco or Lowes, which is where we really wish we would have gone. Now we have a crap floor in our beautiful house - a once in our lifetime opportunity, but thanks to Empire we're screwed. No customer service whatsoever.

In February 2024, I purchased carpeting for my home for a total cost of $6050.;00 providing cash payment in full the day my carpet was installed. This cost also included $550 towards the Empire 5-year Service Plan. Seven months later I noticed the carpet was coming apart at the seam in my hallway. I phoned Empire and filed a claim, on Sept 24th an inspector came to inspect the carpet. Upon entering my home he immediately attacked the fact that I had dogs. I have two small dogs that are fully house trained, (I have a chime on my back door that they ring when they need to go out and potty). He than proceeded to pull up the carpet at the seam and said the carpet was coming apart from the backing which was caused by excessive water on carpet. I informed him I had not put excessive water on my carpet that I just purchased 7 months ago. He than proceeded to tell me he would come back in one week pull up my carpet and if he found stains underneath caused by my dogs I would be responsible for the repair or replacement of carpet. The Inspector never came back the following week, never called or made contact with me. I made contact with Empire once again was told someone would contact me regarding my claim. On October 31, I finally received a call only to be told that I had two options one with a cost to me of $356 the other $800 that they would not honor my service plan because I had applied excessive water to my carpet. I informed her that I had not she than proceeded to blame my dogs for the damage. I told her I would not accept the options given, she informed me there was nothing else they could offer me to repair the carpet. It is now Nov. 19th, my carpet is still not repaired nor is my service plan being honored.

Back in 2020 we reviewed many different flooring companies and made a decision to go with Empire. Due to their ratings of both pricing, installation and quality it seemed to be the best choice. Unfortunately, that was a major mistake on our part.

During the install of the flooring, we had done on our entire downstairs area (included kitchen, dining room & living room) all seemed to go well. Floor installers were professional and seemed to be the right choice when it came to look and quality.

Beginning in January of 2022, there seems to be cracks appearing, shown in attached pictures, which began to show my doubts with the quality of the flooring. Less than two years later, the flooring began to crack, and worse, begun to come up from the floor and separate (pictures attached).

Of course, this occurred after the contract expired which they only provided a one-year warranty with, and we all know not much will occur with flooring issues after only a year.

I am not arguing the contract at all but the actual quality of the flooring. For the flooring to begin having issues with less than two years is quite an eye opener. I have contacted Empire customer service with my concerns, and they tell me that it's my responsibility to fix since the contract was only for one year.

Totally get that but my issue, again, is with the quality of the flooring. If you want a flooring product that only will last roughly less than two years than look to go with Empire. We were in the process of doing our second floor with Empire but after what occurred on our first-floor area, there would be no chance of selecting them. They really need to work on the quality of their product and wanted to share this if anyone is looking for any type of flooring. Be very cautious with selecting Empire for your flooring needs.

Empire today sent yo our hone a trainer not a salesperson. He did bit have authorization to the systems and had to manage our meeting through a store manager. He suggested the wrong product. Contractor told us we needed waterproof. We wanted vinyl and he pushed lament. We had many issues with the order. We started with tine and switched, but was put into lamentable, should have been vinyl. When we asked to have the warranty removed, trainer kept sending us to customer service. He could not do anything in the system so he could not assist us. He told us that he could not do anything with changing the order in the 3 day window to rescind so we could not rescind on Monday when he put us in a we did not want to have. H communicated only text and his hours were not in line with sales-very challenging to work with a trainer not a salesperson. We were not handled appropriately. Empire today should not send out trainers because they do t have a salesperson on staff that day. Very poor business practice. We have been calling for weeks asking for cancelation and our deposit back. Krystle from cancellations agreed that we deserve our deposit back since this was not Rmpire’s practice to send out training ers instead of sales people. She never called me back and I’ve been calling g leaving g messages for her. I will go to BBB if this is not rectified. We want our deposit back and will never work with Empire Today again. Very unprofessional!

We had vinyl flooring installed in our living room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom and halls. It is cracked, splitting lifting up and rolling. It looks like they did not level the floor when it was installed. When I called them about it they sent an estimate to fix it. it was 1050.00 for five boxes of flooring. See attached estimate. We already paid alot of money to have it installed and now because they hire incompetent workers to do the work they want to charge us to redo all the areas that are ruined. What’s to say that it won’t happen again after we pay the money to get it redone. Needless to say we are not very happy with them and will let everyone else we talk to know what poor work they did.

Empire Today is one of the worst companies I’ve ever dealt with. They installed vinyl floors in my house in Oct 2023 and did a horrible job. Not only horrible but border line illegal since they did not follow proper codes and safety policies. They have been doing everything to stall and delay rectifying the issue. The vinyl panels are uneven, not sealed and moister from beneath seeps through because they never properly sealed them. They had the nerve to say it’s my fault and my problem!

Bought carpet and flooring from Empire five years ago and have been massively disappointed in the product and the installation. I realize this complaint is late, but after my medical appt yesterday, it is clear to me that I have been suffering intense respiratory issues since the carpet was installed, and now must immediately pull up the carpet. The flooring was installed so badly I continue since the day it was installed have a big gap in the floor underneath the vynyl layer on top and the vynl has ripped in two places.
Also, the baseboards never matched up with the old baseboards and left a gap of white between where the paint had been. The baseboard practically disintegrated in my hand when I tried without success to replace them myself with new baseboards.
also, the carpet quickly failed to stay attached to the floor near the sliding glass door.

In February of 2024 we had a sales representative come out to give us an estimate for flooring install in our home. At this time we were unsure how many rooms we would be doing. After the consultation we came to an agreement to do the majority of the first floor of our home. The sales rep convinced us to go with a waterproof laminate flooring. We signed a contract that day. At this time we were unaware empire today would be contracting out the work. About a week after signing the contract, work began by another licensed contractor. This contractor did not prep the floor properly thus causing us many issues after installation including gaps, tenting and bouncing of the floors installed. Once issues began arising we had a technician come out to assess the issues. The contractor hired by Empire Today stated it was due to us moping our waterproof flooring. The contractors began working on the fixing of the floor and commented on the spacing being too tight causing the issues. We also recorded the contractor stating that double padding the floor would be the same effect as leveling. Upon not being satisfied with the fix we had an outside party do an official inspection of the flooring where he found the floors were not properly prepped causing many issues. He stated in order to get a proper installation the floor would need to be removed and sub floor prepped properly. After filing a BBB complaint we finally got one of our rooms fixed where upon pulling up the flooring it was discovered proper moisture guard was not put in place, going against code. The company has refused to fix the other rooms and Frank Hernandez the general manager will not return calls or messages even once being notified it was not installed to code

I purchased their LVP flooring back in 2021 and had issues with it having dips and scratches from the 1st day it was installed. I called and got brushed off as if I didn’t have a warranty until they finally listened in 2023 and I got that portion resolved. During that time part of the new flooring was scratched by accident and was still under warranty when I called in March of this year to get it fixed. I was told it was approved under my extended warranty that I had paid for and they would be out to install. The worked Adrianna Arce who put in the request said she was told to put in for individual planks to be replaced like you do with hard wood floors. Which is not how you replace LVP. So the Empire installer arrived with 5 boxes to do my entire kitchen and part of the living room and immediately said he didn’t have enough materials to do the job. He needs enough planks to remove from one wall all the way to the scratched area because once you unlink the boards you can’t just put them back together. That would be cutting corners, unprofessional and would leave the customer with a chance that the flooring could shift, not stay put and start to separate over the years. This is all from the installers mouth. So he says he will not start on the job because he doesn’t even have enough materials for even half of the kitchen. He said he would tell them what’s going on and that they need more and would get me rescheduled for them to come back out.

It is now 4 months later, I have been calling Adrianna Arce, calling her boss Denee Davenport, the customer service line and emailing. 4 months and I was getting the run around where at first they would say that Darryl the installation manager was supposed to be giving me a call. Still no calls, no emails, nothing. I went through the corporate line which at least their office answers the phone and they got someone in the Phoenix location on the line. She was rude and pushed me off the line saying that no one was available to help me and they would have to call me back tomorrow. But I have not been getting calls back even when high escalation tickets were put in by the corporate side. I am informed that Frank Hernandez is the GM at the Phoenix location and that I need to try to reach him but from the way the office is being run I dont anticipate much help.

How do you approve work to be done, send your installer out without enough materials to do the job, then make the customer jump through a million hoops asking for pictures over and over, and the customer does EVERYTHING you asked for and then you just ghost them, stop replying and don’t honor the warranty the customer paid extra for when signing up, which keep in mind the warranty company had already approved that fixing the scratched flooring was covered under warranty, which is why the installer came out in the first place! Your employee putting it in as if individual planks could be pulled up and a new one laid down is a training issue on your end, not a issue for the customer who has a warranty and should have had the work done!

How a company can just completely ignore customer calls and emails and not honor a paid for contract/warranty, is disgraceful. I have been patient and kind throughout all of this but 4 months after it was supposed to be installed and just getting completely ignored is bad business and I would NEVER treat paying customers like this. I thought when the employees were fired there and there was turnover that things were going to be run better, but this is in No Way how you treat people!

4 years ago I had Empire put premeum laminate flooring in the living room, Dining Room . The workers ran out of time and did not put the baseboards back in. I was sick at the time. When I felt better I called customer service and told them. They said I ran out of time to complain. Since then, last year I had flooring put in bathrooms, kitchen, hall ways and carpet in 3 of the 4 bedrooms. There was a problem with the master bath which was taken care of and with the boards at the doorways. they have been since done. I talked to Frank Hernandez, G.M. Phoenix about the baseboards. I told him I would supply the baseboards but I would like him to have someone install them for me. This was early January. He refered this to a women assistant. In January I had 2 surgeries, I was laid up for 5 weeks. When I tried to find the number for his associate I could not find it. For the last 2 to 3 weeks I have been calling Frank Hernandez, leaving messages on his voicemail. He has never returned any of my calls. Nor has that women. I would like someone to call me and take care of this matter. Really do not want Frank Hernandez to help because I do not feel he follows through and does not care for his customers or future customers.

Thank you

Beverly Martin

4932 W Olney Ave

Laveen, Az 85339

[protected]

We have been calling empire from the day it was done. (found it 10 mins after they left) they sit our clean air machine in front so we did not see. Have called so many times, give us a reference # and told someone will call within 24 hours. Never happen. We have been trying to get this taken care of for 10 weeks now. When we did get to talk to a real person they told us they would replace the door. Never happen. Really sad that a company like empire would string a customer along this long. Ten weeks is a long time. Would I recommend empire? I don't think so. Would you?

We are writing to bring your attention that we are not satisfied with having (6) floor transition pieces in our home. (4) doorways 3 bedrooms and (1) bathroom is in a small hall across from each other. (2) doorway master bedroom and master bathroom.

Tripping hazard and hard to get the wheelchair through the doors. Still under warranty.

Whole home with Laminate SO02137955 Eastwood - Fawn Chestnut.

March 22, 2023, Contract Number: 015TACY767 total $25,685.00

February 2, 2024, Contract Number: 015TADE007 Total $1,800.00

We are requesting that the 6 floor transition pieces be removed immediate.

Looking forward to your reply within a short time.

We had a contract to install carpet set for today. It was about 10 and I had not received a phone call so responded to a text from Empire. About thirty minutes later I received a call. Their contractors license was not renewed and they just found out. Therefore it would be another four days before someone could come out and install the carpet. In the meantime, day before, we were informed to take apart any beds and remove drawer contents. So for the next four days or so we are sleeping on couches or mattresses in the living room floor. Almost the entire upstairs has been moved downstairs for installation so we are cramped. Basically six people will be living downstairs - a one bedroom downstairs - for four days! Wish we had gone elsewhere for carpet. Told the rep we should get a discount as this was unacceptable and no reply. He said he would call back with further info - left us up in the àir - installation could be later today or Saturday. Two hours later no return call. I had to call them to verify what the install date was and was told It was Saturday. Empire, this is not the way to do business!

On 12/11/2023 we had kitchen carpet installed by Empire Today. (order #PRJ002446947/SO02078709) Within a few weeks, we saw a tear in the fiber of the carpet and several areas where the carpet was fraying. We called Anthony Pacelli [protected] X3839) the general manager about the issue. He asked us to send pictures, which we did. After that Anthony did not return any of my follow up calls or emails. I had to therefore call Lou the Install mgr. After finally get a return call, Empire Today blamed the defective carpet on our Hoover vacuum cleaner and would not resolve the issue by repairing or replacing the carpet, They would not even come to the house to LOOK at the problem. They only would make their decision based on the photos I sent & not actually seeing the carpet in person. That would cost us $125 for a visit. Anthony told me that I should have gotten my vacuum cleaner manual out and read it. So now we are left with defective carpet and Empire Today refusing a reasonable resolution. I must say BUYER BEWARE. Empire Today is NOT the company it once was. We have used them in the past and did not have issues like this.

We would like this resolved by having this carpet replaced with one that is NOT defective or going to fall apart when it's vacuumed. I will not stop until this problem is reasonably resolved. The carpet is less than 2 month old.

I have had vinyl flooring put in my kitchen, back in 2019. It is white and looks like marble. Was told it was stain resistant, but it does stain. Ans not covered under their warranty. So I lived with it.

But more recently, I have two tiles that were coming off on the corners, and eventually cracked.

I called Empire, twice, finally someone came out to inspect and blamed it on moisture.

Now these 2 tiles are nowhere near any pipes, sink, window, or water of any kind.

They also said the whole floor would have to be replaced since they are all connected.

This was shoddy installation in the first place and something needs to be done at their cost. This is not my fault.

I wish I never used this company.

This company has caused substantial damage to my home. They recently replaced the flooring throughout my house. The workers removed and reinstalled a toilet bowl and replaced it with a wax ring that was too small. Over the course of many months, toilet water slowly built up between the floor and the garage ceiling — this created damage, which they are refusing to repair. I have photo proof of the damages. My plumber has identified all of the blame is from Empire since the wax ring was too small, and each flush would slowly leak and accumulate below. The new wax ring my plumber installed fixed this issue immediately. In addition, all of the trim they installed is starting to peel, and a small area of the floor has already cracked and was replaced in less than a year. This leads me to believe their product won't last very long. I would not trust working with Empire in any capacity.

On 7/16/22 we paid $10,000 to Empire Today to have Vinyl Plank floors installed in all rooms of our home with the exception of two bedrooms to be done later. The salesman that came out to our home and sold us the floors

told us this type of flooring will not buckle,warp,scratch, or dent and was water-proof so we took his word for it. And apparently that was not true because a year later all of the flooring is buckling up and coming up every where and when you walk on it nothing but popping and cracking noises. So at the end of October 2023 I reached out to Empire Today customer service and it has been a living hell trying to get my floors fixed with these incompotent people. Have made several calls to customer service because no one at their so called coroprate office in Houston, Tx. knows how to answer phone calls at all. Customer Service finally got two people to come out to inspect the floors and they could not even speak English, they did nothing but take about two to three pictures of the flooring that was coming up never heard nothing back so called customet service again they sent Javier out to inspect floors again and charged us $150.00 for the inspection on 11/7/23. He said will turn in to coroporate office and someone will let me know.So on 11/9/23 a person by the name of George called me and said they got inspection back and it looked like moisture was the problem and that was why the floors where coming up, and I told him I didn't want the same flooring put back in and he said he would have to sent a sales rep with floor samples. AS OF TODAY 11/17/23 nothing has been done about my floors I am done dealing with these people I want my money back! I am not the only one with a complaint on the same floors. Moisture? and want me to pay them $661 for a moisture barrier I think they are running out of stories to tell their customers, My husband and I or not happy at all with this company we just want our money back period. We don't recommend them to anyone.

We bought a Vynal floor from Empire at the end of 2022, and after about 9 or 10 months, the whole floor started buckling all over. We called Empire, and they said they would send someone out. Well, they sent 3 different people at 3 different times, and they all said the floor was bad, your customer service rep was trying to make all kinds of excuses as to why it was buckling, and then after a month of phone calls, she said that if we paid to have plywood put down then Empire would put a new floor down so we had to pay Empire $ 900.00 before they would replace it with another new floor, I still can't figure out why now that we need to put plywood down, you think the installers or even the salesman would of mentioned that we needed plywood which nobody did. Well, they put the new floor in, and everything looked great until now. Now, this new one they put in is also buckling. It's less than a year as is, just as bad as the new one before they put in this one. Well, here we go again, your customer service Rep sends someone out, and he goes back saying it was the chairs causing the problem. I proved it wasn't well. Now they figure the Vynal is bad, and their solution is that we need to pick out a different type of floor and that we have to pay the difference of what material we pick against the price of the Vynal. Which I don't agree with. This has to be resolved as I can't spend any more money on a bad Floor that Empire put in. I already spent $ 10.000 on this floor, which I believe was way too much, and they want me to spend more to fix their problem. I am 80 years old, disabled, and a Veteran. I am way too old to have to put up with all this nonsense. ' It's Empire's fault, and they must handle this problem. order # for first floor PRJOO1971766P106\S002033354. E-Mail [protected]@gmail.com

Thank You

Timothy Tutt

Had a carpet and laminate install 08/19/23. Several things incomplete. Bullnose to garage (now complete 8 weeks later) baseboards in three carpeted rooms (still not complete). Top layer of laminate lifting in the kitchen area and the upstairs hallway. Not the board but the laminate attached to the board. We had the company come back to access and they blamed it on my dog. Really? I found this out after the rude customer service rep called to check on the quality of service. The initial job overall is nice, but these things are a headache and to get them back out to take care of is awful. I purchased a warranty and just want my flooring that i paid for to be right. My dog did nothing in the kitchen or hallway to lift the flooring. It seems like maybe a bad box of laminate got laid. The rep gave us no time to talk she was just rude. I want resolve immediately.

Sales representative told me the total price would be $7550, and asked me to sign a contract for over $9700, but not to worry because it would "take a few hours" for the updated discount price to be reflected. I emailed him the following day to ask about when the updated contract would arrive, and I got an email bounce back saying the mail couldn't be delivered. Very shady. Also, the contract says you can send them cancellation via email, but doesn't provide any information on where to send the email or how to confirm that the cancellation was accepted.

Sales Representative: Scott Claflin

Activity: 1-[protected]

Project: PRJ001937874

Installation Date:1/11/2022

Sales amount: $12,892.52

Product: Vallette (Precursor to Bradstreet/Hickory Oak Anise)

I began noticing that the flooring was not lying flat and was chipping on the corner edges of many planks, and as you walked around the floors make

cracking and popping sounds. This product does not have a rubberized backing, it was installed with value step underlayment. It was discontinued and Bradstreet replaced this product in early 2022.

Initially, we contacted S. Tucker in Customer Services on 1/09/2023 and after she accused us of using too much water to mop our floors, she requested photos, which we emailed her.

On 1/16/2023 Alex Barcelos, Installation Manager came and inspected the floors. He implied we might leak into our foundation because the water content in the foundation in the center of our living room was .08 which is too high. He measured other parts of the flooring and most areas were .01-.03, he told us they would replace 10 boxes of our product.

On 02/10/2023 the installation crew came and replaced 4 boxes of flooring.

Let’s start the day the salesmen came out on aug 28 gives us the sales pitch of how superior their products are and if we don’t sign today we can’t get the special price so the pressure starts.he gets samples but only a few (apparently only the cheapest was shown) i mention I not seeing anything I really like but he never bothered to show any other samples I know you have more then what he showed now but at the time I did not.he was not helpful in that area at all just measured and wanted us to sign right now and give him money he quoted us over 10,000 for these floors did not realize I was getting the cheapest poor quality I wanted something very durable and long lasting high quality and for that price I should of got but didn’t.So we scheduled service for Aug 31. The day comes for installation and they showed up and completed in two days wasn’t all that impressed with how things were put back together lots of gouges but we just let that go and grumbled about it amongst Ourselves. I started noticing all the seams are smudge and scuffed looking and othered are weirdly shiny and some are lifted and most of the planks are identical next to each other nothing like a nice floor should look I have sinking in areas one of which is cracked plank and this floor is less then2 months old and looks bad. I called and filed a complaint on oct19 and someone got back to me the next day which was great! Had me send in photos and then said she would get back to me the following week to discuss matters and she did called me I believe it was oct 23 or 24 so really fast and we set up a time for the contracted to come fix the problems for that Friday the contractor came and told me how basically this floor is so cheap and by doing anything will cause further damage and he glued my entire floating floor together when installing it is this even something that should be done it’s floating floor? he said he glued it because it’s such a low quality floor that the planks pop up all the time and is he gets lots of complaints on this product. So I now learn the floor I got was cheap quality because of everything he was telling me. He also mentioned he glued it all down which is the reason for the all the seams to be so awful looking. And of possibly ruining floors in other ways as well as the warranty? .so he wasn’t going to fix anything for me except one plank that had a lump underneath it. I was afraid to go further and just wanted him to leave so I could cry over all this. I immediately emailed the person I was talking to so I’m hoping for some help. I’m really praying for a redo of this whole situation so I can have beautiful long lasting floors like a paid for.

I have been a long time customer of Empire. If you keep records on service I am sure you can pull mine up and see all the flooring I have done with your company. I am very unhappy with the response I have received with the last two appts. I have scheduled. I had an appt. scheduled Oct. 11th, 9-11:00. I was at home all morning and no one showed or called. I finally got a call at 3:00 to say there was an emergency and would I like to reschedule. I did reschedule and understood something bad must have happened to affect my appt. Another appt. was made for Oct. 19, 9-11:00. Again I was home, made no other commitments and did not involve myself in any major house projects so I could be present for appt. Again, NO SHOW, NO CALL. Same thing happened and I received a call later that day to say there had been an emergency and did I want to reschedule. I was very upset and frustrated and ask for an exact time, not a window as my time was more valuable than to go through that again. I also ask Empire to show me something that would regain my trust in the company. I was offered nothing and was told by Krystle Munoz, who I had been working with on this problem. Her response was "I am sorry, but I can not quarantee an exact time of arrival and understand you no longer have confidence in our company. Then she took it on her own to schedule me another 9-11:00 appt. which did not suit my schedule and I cancelled. This is such poor customer relations and shows no value to my commitment to Empire. My time wasted was showed no value as I would show to your employees. I am thoroughly upset and disappointed in the response I received and my dedication to your company. I would very much like a response and show that I am a valued customer.

Andrea Garrison

[protected]@bellsouth.net