Completely disgusted with Empire Today. We had Empire Today install carpeting in a condo that was a rental property. The carpet we replaced was quite old and had some severe staining so we thought it would be a good investment to do the $3K upgrade. The sales person sold us on the carpet because of the 'unmatched' warranty it offered. We were told it should not wear more than 10% in 10 years and if we had an issue, just call customer service and they would take care of any and all issues. This carpeting was installed in September and the following day new tenants moved in. The tenants moved out in May (9 months later) and the carpet looked horrendous. The tenants we had were boarderline OCD when it came to cleaning so I know that the unit was very well maintained. The carpeting on the first floor had what appeared to be frayed ends of carpet sticking up ALL over. The carpeting on the stairs is so matted that the 15 year old carpet that we took out actually looked better. When the unit went back on the market in May, I actually had feedback from realtors saying that the unit needed new carpeting. ARE YOU KIDDING? It's only 9 months old! We immediately called Empire to report our issues. Unlike what we were told by our sales person, Empire's customer service is as terrible as the product they installed. We have been bounced to about 5 different people within the company, each more rude than the last. We actually had someone call us and tell us to 'get our story straight and stop making up stories.' He advised us that the reason for his call was to set our expectations... Basically letting us know up front that Empire won't do ANYTHING for us. Speaking with different reps at Empire resulted in multiple 'reasons' for them denying our claim including 'we don't cover rental properties' to 'we don't cover stairs' to 'the carpet has not been professionally cleaned.' We immediately had the carpet professionally cleaned, which did not help any of the matting and made the fraying worse on the first floor. When we asked for a letter in writing to specify whey they were denying our claim, all of a sudden they were willing to have an independent inspection done. The man came out and spent over an hour testing, pulling, taking pictures, etc and advised us he would send his report to Empire. We then got a call from Empire saying there were no manufacturer defects with the carpet. Case Closed.
I am disgusted with this response. Just because there is no 'defect' in the carpet does not say anything about the quality of the carpet. We purchased a product with the expectation that it would last at least 10 years without looking more than 10% worn. Well after 9 months we are already beyond 10% worn in our eyes. I can only imagine what it will look like in another 9 years. I hope Empire is ready for round 2,3, 4,5 or whatever it takes because we have 9 more years left on our 'warranty' and we don't plan on giving up even it means filing a new case everye 6 months.
Silly me for thinking Empire Today would stand behind what they sell.
I have told just about everyone I have known NEVER to use Empire.
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