So... Today... I had the ever so pleasant visit from Empire Carpet. I need two bedrooms and stairs carpeted, approx 300 sq ft... There is no existing carpet and no furniture to be moved.
The man comes to my door with three slabs of carpet. He comes in and I tell him I have two dogs and a baby on the way so I will need something durable; but I am not interested in indoor/outdoor carpet. This leaves me with two slabs of carpet styles to choose from with no pricing located on the slabs? Or texture information. I have read alot about carpet and have learned that I should choose a Nylon style carpet, especially with the dogs. But, the only samples the man has brought with him are polyester. Without making any suggestions or discussing carpet quality or texture with me... He begins to measure the rooms. My husband and I decide on a color range, and the man takes the slab we were looking at and begins recording the info. I guess he believed this is the carpet we've decided on? Then, upon noticing my cat, says do you have any dogs... WHAT?!?! I have two... I said in amazement... Clearly he had not cared about anything I had said upon his arrival about having TWO dogs and a baby on the way. At this point, I realized I was being completely ignored. This man was clearly here to sell me whatever carpet he decided without ensuring I ended up with the product I needed.
He continues to "write up" his estimate; and pulls out a sheet that mentions the pricing package including: removal of old carpet/padding - THERE IS NONE TO BE REMOVED! Removal of bad carpet strips&THERE ARE NONE TO BE REMOVED!!! Rolling and cutting of old carpet/padding — OKAY, THERE IS STILL NO EXISTING CARPET?!?!?! And... To top it off... He is going to include the metal strips that would seperate the kitchen flooring from the Living room for free... WHO IS CARPETING THE LIVING ROOM??? He didn't even measure the living room??? Oh... He says... And continues to write a price of $2913 dollars...
3000 dollars for two bedrooms and a set of stairs??? The carpet HE had chosen for us wasn't even very nice... And that is an overstatement. Then he says if I have it installed the next day he'll knock of twenty percent. Which I immediately calculate to be approx 2300... Still an insane price for 300 square feet of CRAPPY carpet. Then he brings up financing... When he arrived I informed him that we'd be paying cash. He blows me off to continue with the financing policy... And I said... But we are paying cash... Oh... Since you are paying cash. I can give you a price of 2000 flat. What?!?! Why wasn't that calculated in the price from the beginning... So... I say that price is still a little high. WHY! He says... in an obviously irritated tone. My husband says because you were here two years ago and gave us a price of 1200 dollars with an extra room! And our neighbor had you install the same exact rooms last year for 1100 dollars! So you wanna pay a thousand he stammers. I said, yes... We intend to spend approx. A thousand. I mention that my brother in law just had an entire house carpeted for 1400 from Home Depot. Well... He says... They have no warranty program (BS)... And they charge to measure... (I think their $35 dollar fee is reasonable considering YOU GET TO CHOOSE YOUR OWN CARPET!!!) At this point, he writes in extreme anger... CUSTOMER EXPECTS TO PAY 1000 for CARPET! On the estimate... My husband pretty much said we were done here and booted him out of our house.
FIRST WARNING: Do not be a single female alone with one of their sales reps...
SECOND: Pay the $35 dollar fee to home depot, pick your own carpet. They come out and measure, give you and estimate, then you can go to the store and go through all of their different carpet styles until you get the price you are looking for. My brother in law just had their carpet installed and he loves the work they did, the quality and the price! I have them coming to measure tomorrow.
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