Usacomplaints.com » Construction & Repair » Complaint / Review: Empire Today - Used deceptive photo and sample laminate to close sale. #466106

Complaint / Review
Empire Today
Used deceptive photo and sample laminate to close sale

Recently purchased a home that needed some upgrading and decided on some laminate flooring in the foyer, breakfast room and kitchen before we moved in. Saw an Empire commercial on TV and called for an estimate.

Salesman came to my home and showed my wife and I some samples of laminate flooring material. We chose from his samples and he went on to show us a photo of what the flooring would look like when it was installed in our house. Based on this photo we agreed to buy the laminate flooring.

Installers came next day to install the flooring and made it very clear they were not employed by Empire, they were sub-contractors. This is where they trick you. These installers were very friendly, courteous and all around nice guys and did a nice job on the installation.

Since we hadn't moved into the home we were not there when the installation was done. The installers called us when they were finished and we came out to take a look at our new floor. When we looked at the floor it had ridges at the seams, and had dips and waves throughout the surface of the floor. It looked nothing like the photo we were shown by the salesman. We lodged a complaint with the installers and were again reminded they were not employees of Empire, and we would have to file a complaint with customer service.in the meanwhile they asked us to sign off on the installation so they could get paid from empire. I resisted but finally gave in and signed off on the install and gave them a good reference, after all they only install and I was only signing off to say they did a good job. At least that's what I thought.

When I complained to customer service that we did not like the appearance of the floor I was told an inspector would be sent out to look at it.inspector came next day and said "floor looks like it has ridges at the seams and is wavy all over". Took some photos and told me he would file a report and customer service would call me. He also told me he was not an employee of Empire, he was a sub-contractor. Sound familiar?

Customer service called the next day and told me there was nothing wrong with my floor and there was nothing Empire was willing to do to correct the way it looked. I told customer service I wanted the flooring removed from my home and was told a flat no. The customer service manager told me and I quote "you bought it, it's installed and it's yours."

To make a long story short I had the flooring removed by a professional flooring company and replaced with tile. The laminate flooring material is stacked in my garage and Emprire has refused to take it back. Since I paid for it with my American Express Card I filed a dispute with AX and have been told that I must pay for this flooring there's nothing they can do for me since I signed off on the installation. It seems that since I signed off on the install and gave the installers a good reference we were satisfied with the entire job.
Empire Today uses very deceptive business practices and the sales people will lie to the customer in order to make a sale.

I have filed a formal complaint with the State Attorney General's office and it has been referred to the Fraud Division for investigation. My next step is to contact the local Orlando TV stations. Anyone reading this report please feel free to contact me if you have had a similar experience with this company. Maybe a class action would be the way to stop this from happening to others who think they are dealing with a reputable business and wind up being cheated.


Offender: Empire Today

Country: USA   State: Florida   City: Orlando
Address: 9401 Southridge Pk Ct Suite 600
Phone: 8005882300

Category: Construction & Repair

0 comments

Information
Only registered users can leave comments.
Please Register on our website, it will take a few seconds.




Quick Registration via social networks:
Login with FacebookLogin with Google