On 7/25/06 my fiance and myself met with a salesman named Mike Siebert from Empire Today LLC in our apartment in Downtown Chicago for the purpose of replacing out carpeting in our main living room and kitchen areas with hardwood floors. On 7/19/06 I had seen an advertisement on Tv for Empire Today and they advertising a sale so I called their customer service line and the representative said they were running a 50% off special and that I could schedule an appointment for 7/24/06 and that the salesperson would give me 50% off their products.
On 7/24/06 no one showed up for the scheduled appointment and I called the company because I had taken the day off and they rescheduled for 7/25/06. On 7/25/06 the salesman (Siebert) came to our apartment and was quite friendly. He showed us about 5 hardwood samples and I believe 6-8 laminate samples. Due to the fact that our home was light colored we wanted darker wood. He said that he had no dark wood to offer at all and that we should consider laminate because it was also a significantly less expensive choice.
They offered a color called Brazilian Cherry laminate which we liked and Mike began measuring the space we wanted to be installed and I asked him how much square footage it was and he said 535 square feet. He then gave us the offer of 7264.00 for installation and product based on what he then said was the 50% deal that they were running and also on the 535 square feet. He said that laminate was the better choice becuae it was a lot cheaper and it was more durable. He then said they could install tomorrow that it would only take 1 day total to install. So I said ok and we signed up for the Empire Today crdit Program and scheduled our install for the next day. Th next day the installer came and told me it would take two days to complete.
During the install I asked one of the installers what is the difference between laminate and hardwood becuase they look so much alike and he said that many people go with laminate because and I QUOTE HIM "instead of paying 6000 to 7000.00 thousand for hardwood people like to pay alot less for laminate. WELL THIS IS WHAT MADE ME START INVESTIGATING becuase we had paid 7264 for laminate and the installer said that this would be the price of hard wood. So I started calling around and getting prices and other quotes and I found out that we had been lied to and we actually completely overpaid for a lesser product that should have been about half of what we paid for it. On 8/1/06 I called their customer service line to put in a complaint about the price and the fact that the installers did not finish my cornerrounds on the floor. The rep said someone would call me.
The next day on 8/2/06 Martin Bishan (not sure about spelling of last name) called me and left me a message saying he was the sales manager from Empire today and the he managed Mike Seibert. From there he insisted that the product we got was worth 5.75 for the laminate (the brand of which he said was American Dream) 4.00 per sq foot for install and 2.11 for the underlay. I asked him if that includes what they advertising at 50% off and he said yes so I shockingly asked him "so you are saying that my laminate floor - not even hard wood - is worth 10,000 dollars." He said yes. Now I knew that I was being taken advantage of. I know people that put bamboo wood and real brazilian cherry in for less money than what we were paying for this plastic flooring. He continued to lie to me and argue over the price. Then he said he will see what he can do for us and promised to call back "first thing the next morning"
That evening we had a pretty bad strom in Chicago and the rain seeped on to our floors in through our concrete walls for the first time in the two years we had lived in our apartment. I called our building maintanence in they said that the people that installed our floor had drilled into out wall and opened a hole on the floor. When I had not heard from him by noon I called the representative and placed another complaint and she called the manager Martin and left him a voice mail to call me back and she also took another complaint about the hole in my wall from the installers. Martin called me back about 3 pm on 8/3.
He said that he will give up 1000 less than what we paid I said are you kidding i would pay that for real wood, but you are lying to me about the 50 off price and if I calculate the numbers he gave me I should have paid 2.87 ser square foot for the lalinate that is 5.75 (the number he told me the laminate cost and 4.00 per square foot for install (no discount for labor) and 1.05 for the inlay (2.11 with 50% off) that would make our floors worth 4,242.00 and to be completely frank that is on the high end of the people that I later brought in to tell what my laminate was worth after I thought we were swindled. Martin could say nothing I regards to this. Empire Today LLC has literally swindled us an they have lied to us and on top of everything our floors are laminate and we paid hardwood prices for laminate flooring.
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