Empire Carpet (Empire Today LLC) Empire Carpet Lies! Cheats, Ripoff! Over priced and give you the runaround! STOUGHTON Massachusetts

my brother Ted works for the stoughton empire and I work with him sometimes and empire has many unlicensed,uninsured people working for them.
some installers have been caught stealing from customers and empire often doesn't have the correct carpet or pad so they switch the goods to a lesser quality and never tell the customer.
empire is a scam.

This is in response to the above comment from "No Need to Know" , in regards to her comment about Empire only refunding her for part of the overage.

First , I just want to say that I am not employed by Empire in any way , but I have been working in the Carpet and Flooring industry for many years.

The reason I am commenting on your post is because many customers don't really understand overage's when it comes to flooring , carpet in particular. If they did understand it , then they would realize that overage is not as big a deal as most make it out to be.

First , there is a cardinal rule in any type of construction or home remodeling of any type , and that rule is "Having too much is always better than not having enough" .

When dealing with carpet in particular , overage is ALWAYS a good thing , as long as the overage isn't substantial. Imagine this - You hire a company to come in and replace a carpet - they measure your room , order the carpet , and when it arrives , it's an inch shorter than it should be because the manufacturer cut it short. That one inch difference makes that piece of carpet useless. Its can't be installed properly , and the installer has a VERY slim chance of being able to return it to the manufacturer. That means the isntaller paid for it and now he's stuck with it. He just lost a LOT of money due to an error that was out of his control. So , the installer is always going to add at LEAST 10% to the amount of carpet needed so he can make sure things like this don't happen.

Second - Just because your order arrived with some overage , it doesn't always mean that you paid for that overage. In many cases , you ONLY paid for the amount needed to fill your room , NOT for the overage. This is also something that is caused by the mill ( manufacturer ). Here's how that works. Imagine again , you are having carpet done and the amount of carpet you need is 75 yards. The installer orders 75 yards from the mill , but when the carpet is delivered , it is 100 yards. That gives you 25 yards of overage. Contrary to what you may think , you paid absolutely NOTHING for that additional 25 yards , and niether did the installer. What happened was , when the installer ordered the carpet from the mill , the mill had 100 yd roll of the carpet you need in the warehouse. If the mill cut off the extra 25 yards , they would be stuck with it. Such a small amount of yardage would more than likely sit in the warehouse for quite a long time. If this happens over and over again , the warehouse can get cluttered with a bunch of small rolls of carpet that the mill can't sell. So , when a order comes in for 75 yards , and the mill has a roll with 100 yards on it , they simply ship out the 100 yard roll and write off the extra 25 yards as a loss. That loss will give them a tax break when it comes to tax time. This is a very common prectice with all the carpet mills out there.

Have you ever seen those carpet stores that advertise a warehouse full of remnant carpets for sale? 90% of the remnants come from that "throwing away the extra" practice that the mills do. They can sell those remnants for only a few dollars a yard becuase the mill never charged the buyer for that extra amount in the first place.

Aagin , the above practice i explained above is VERY common , and explains where most of the overage on carpet jobs come from.

If that all doesn't help you , there is always a very easy way to find out if you have paid for a bunch of extra carpet that wasn't used. All you have to do is double-check the installers work , and its very easy to do.
All you have to do is compare the sizes of all the rooms being carpeted with the amount of yardage you ordered. If the square footage of these room adds up to 650 square feet , and the amount of carpet you ordered is 75 square yards , then you have not paid for anything more than you needed. 650 sf equals approx 72 sy ( again , remember - paying for a few yards of overage is good , not bad ).

So , if the carpet arrives and there's 100 yards on the roll , yet your purchase order says 75 yards and you know that 75 yards is what you need for your rooms , then the fact that you recieved 100 yards isn't your problem. You only paid for 75 sy , not 100. The xtra 25 yards is the installers problem , not yours.
Now , if you come up with a square footage of 500 for your rooms and the order says 75 yards , than you know you have a problem. Even with an acceptable 10% overage , 500 sf of carpet should only be around 60sy.

Most people know how to calculate square footage for a room ( L x W ). To convert that square footage to square yardage , simply divide the square footage by 9. That will give you the square yards needed.

Now , I'm not sure if that covers anything in regards to your specific problem with Empire and the overage , but hopefully that helped you understand how overage works. In my experience , people who don't understand how overage works think that they have been ripped off when they see this big roll left over after thier carpet is installed , and in many cases , they have not been ripped off at all. But when the installer tries to explain this to them , the customer is skeptical because they think the installer is just feeding them a line of crap .

Again , as I said , I am not affiliated with Empire Today in any way . I just figured that if someone in a neutral position explained overage to you , then maybe it would save you some time and aggravation. Your case may not be one of the ones I explained above , or maybe it is - I don't know. But either way , I hope it helped.

I also had a HORRIBLE experience with them two years ago. They refund only part of the overage and I called it quits because they were sucking away my life. I couldn't believe how much time I wasted trying to get them to do the right thing. They are set up to scam people and have an army of "customer service" reps in place to ensure they are no longer bothered with you after they receive your money.

Please everyone, do yourselves a favor and don't do business with these people.

I'm actually having Empire install carpet in my house tomorrow. The sales rep that came to our house was very nice and offered us next day delivery but we chose to wait because we had some painting to do and wanted to wait to get that done before we put new carpet in. We had the guy come out about a month before we were ready to get the carpet because most places take at least 3 weeks to get it done if not longer.

When we first bought our house, we had Loew's do the carpet in our living room and hallway. They did an ok job but the whole process was such a hassle. So far with Empire it's been easy. We're putting carpet in our basement so the sales rep brought only the carpet samples that we would be able to use and also had some reccomendations. Surprisingly he reccomended the less expensive carpet because we have cats and their claws could get caught on the high pile kind.

Anyway, their price was actually a little bit less then Lowe's for a bigger area. While the rep was there we had him look at a bedroom that we want to recarpet. He gave us a price that was about $150 less then Lowe's and he even suggested waiting until the other carpet was installed because they give you coupons to use for your next purchase which would save us an additional $100.

So far I am very happy with Empire.

Hello, (Sorry this is so-ooo long!)

I do not want to invalidate the original poster's complaint, because if Empire Today did not live up to their promises, then they should be exposed for that. However, I want to submit information about 2 positive experiences that I had with Empire in Massachusetts.

The first time that I used Empire was December 2004. That job involved carpeting. I was extremely wary, because I had heard both good and bad things about the company. But, I was very pleased with the quality of the carpet and the installer's work. I feel that the price was average...I may have done better elsewhere, but at least I didn't have to hassle with waiting months like I have at Lowe's before.

The second time that I used Empire Today was a few days ago when I had laminate flooring installed in my bedroom. I called Empire on a Monday, the salesperson came out on Tuesday, and I could have had the floor installed on Wednesday, but I chose Thursday instead.

The saleswoman was very professional and knew her product well. The first price quoted was too high, but I was able to negotiate a lower, fairer price. She even patiently waited while I searched for online pricing of similar floors, before I eventually committed to the contract. According to Bob Vila, what I paid was on the high, average side, but I was impressed with the quality of their product and went for it.

Two installers (father and son) arrived Thursday afternoon. They worked non-stop until 8 PM and did a great job. They cleaned up when they were finished and even declined our offer to let them dispose of the waste with our trash. I would recommend that you request "Sam" and his son if you have installation of flooring in Eastern Massachusetts.

I was pinching myself to make sure that I wasn't dreaming when I had 2 successful experiences (I can be a bit of a perfectionist at times.) However, when this job was completed, and they had left, I almost had a heart attack, because I believed that they had installed the wrong floor!

When the installer gave me instructions on the care of the floor, he warned me to never put water on it, but rather to use a special cleaner that I could buy at Home Depot. He said that you spray it on and then wipe off. This was in contrast to what the Saleswoman had told us about water not penetrating this floor, so I assumed the installer had made a mistake. He left me with the packaging and care instructions from the floor, so I waited until after he left to read it. He was correct in that it says they strictly forbid wet cleaning of the floor.

Well, when I saw the name of the model of the floor that was installed, it was not even remotely like the name of the floor that was written on my purchase order and and was written on the demo sample that I was shown. To make matters worse, I did not even have a scrap of the flooring so that I could look at the thickness and construction of the backing. Then, I went online to the manufacturer's website and the product name was not even listed...although I found the product name listed on another manufacturer's site for a top of the line laminate floor. And, it even looked similar to the sample that I was shown.

Well, I panicked and assumed that I had been scammed by a bait and switch (I have read some very negative reviews, so I was a little paranoid)! I assumed that it would take a while for the company to get back to me, so the next morning, I first called my bank to try and put a hold on the charge transaction. They said that it was too late, but that I could file a dispute form and they would investigate for me.

Next, we called our Empire saleswoman and left a message on her cell phone. Then, my husband anonymously called Empire Today and was told by someone on the phone that they carried both products...the name of the floor that was installed and the one that was on the order form! I then called the floor manufacturer, and they told me they did not make a floor with the product name that was on my order form. I even called the other floor manufacturer and they said that there was only one product with that name - theirs - because 2 floors could not have the same name. They also informed me that they sell their product to Empire Today. Things were just not looking good!

Finally the saleswoman called and seemed to be genuinely confused about why the model name of the floor was different than what I had ordered and paid for and why it was the same name as another manufacturer's product. She also was adament that her sales pitch about being able to put or spill water on the floor was what she was taught by the manufacturer. She was not calling me a liar or anything and was very cordial, although upset that something could have gone wrong with my order. She vowed that she would get an explanation for me immediately and even offered to drive over to my house with her floor sample.

Well, she didn't have to, because about 15 minutes later, a manager from the floor manufacturer, across the country, called me. He apologized for the confusion about the names and verified that the product installed on my floor was the same as the one that I had paid for. He said that Empire Today selects their own names for his floors and they were not aware of the competitor using it because the competitor only sells the product with that name in Canada.

He also verified that the saleswoman was correct, that the floor could be "wet" washed and that water would not penetrate it, but said they put the warning on the package, because the manner that they wash floors in commercial applications (steaming and dumping buckets of water on the floor) could potentialy harm the floor.

This man explained everything to me about the floor, its composition, how it is manufactured, etc. I was very impressed. I checked the telehone number on caller ID and it really was that of the manufacturer. When I hung up, I very sheepishly called my bank and related the news to them.

I was extremely satisfied with how this misunderstanding was handled by Empire Today. In a total of maybe 2 hours tops, they responded to my concern and went out of their way to address it. Their saleswoman called me back to make sure that I was satisfied. I told her that there was only one other gripe that I had...I did not receive a free gift. She laughed and informed me that the free gift was a bobblehead of the Empire Today spokesman and that she had forgot to give it to me. She good-naturedly offered to drive to my house and give me 1/2 dozen of them if I wanted. I declined, although some of Empire's disgruntled customers may want one to use as a voodoo doll, so I probably could make some money off them.

It seems that people have very different experiences with this company. Mine have been only positive. I even plan on pushing my luck and want to use them a third time for a kitchen floor. I will request the same saleswoman and installers if I do.

The next time that I use Empire, however, I will ask for a sample of the product when I order and compare it with the floor that is delivered before it is installed. I also recommend that people allow at least one extra day for installation, because there are unforseen things that can come up. In my case, that wasn't true, but they are only human.

For some reason, the Massachusetts division of Empire Today seems to have a better track record and seem very customer oriented (of course there are always exceptions). At any rate, sometimes it matters on how you approach the company. Believe me, it took a lot for me to stay in control and to give them the opportunity to clear things up, because I was panicking. And if they didn't, I'd have done a lot more than stick pins in a bobblehead doll! I hope this helps someone. (PS: I absolutely do not work for Empire, nor do I know anyone who does.)

Notice how Empire Carpets advertisement on the television have decreased? Due to numerous complaints filled by consumers, Empire faced a large amount of negative publicity and various lawsuits based on their negligent claims of installment next day.

Also, Empire has also faced criticism from media outlets and have been featured on two Buyer Beware segments on Channel 5. Take this into consideration before you have installation from this company.

I had a great experience with Empire Carpet when I had them install carpet in a few rooms and hallway in my house for a fair price. I was so pleased that I had them come back out and give me quote for another hallway, stairs, and living room. However, this was the worst experience I have ever had with a company. Ever. After over a week of having our heat off (we had to remove radiators in the rooms for them to install the carpet) and having our dining room crammed with out living room furniture with half a carpet installed, we realized that something was wrong. We are normally very forgiving if there is bit of politeness and empathy on part of the company, and Empire has very good operators, so we gave them about three weeks to solve the problem. At least seven unanswered calls to our salesman; numerous claims of refunding some of our money; the installers ripping the carpet and having to get completely new carpet installed because the rip was irrepairable. I am sure that the other stores are handled differently, so keep in mind that these comments are only for the Stoughten Store. In their defense, Empire eventually sent out a nice and accomodating manager to settle the problem, but they never refunded an adequate amount for the great inconvenience of not having heat in a major portion of our house and not having use of a significant portion of our home while carpet was half-installed.

Be cautious when dealing with this company. I'd check with local installers first- the next day service may not be the fastest or best deal. Compared to a local company we had install carpet in four other rooms, Empire took much longer and did not cost less- and they use fairly cheap padding.

Before I read this website and the recommendatin from Anna - Lowell, Massachusetts to contact the BBB, I searched the BBB website, as I always do when considering contacting a contractor.

Contrary to what Anna INFERS, the BBB has NO bad report on this company. My search was thorough.

I have not yet purchased from this company, but have an appointment Thursday evening 2/2/05 with them on a bedroom carpet.

I am somewhat familiar with carpet quality and pricing, both from being a widely experienced property claims adjuster for 31 years and my own recent purchases from other local carpet dealers.

If I have a problem, I will report it here. Until then, Anna, do your homework before ranting and slandering a company because they were 4 days late!

Before I read this website and the recommendatin from Anna - Lowell, Massachusetts to contact the BBB, I searched the BBB website, as I always do when considering contacting a contractor.

Contrary to what Anna INFERS, the BBB has NO bad report on this company. My search was thorough.

I have not yet purchased from this company, but have an appointment Thursday evening 2/2/05 with them on a bedroom carpet.

I am somewhat familiar with carpet quality and pricing, both from being a widely experienced property claims adjuster for 31 years and my own recent purchases from other local carpet dealers.

If I have a problem, I will report it here. Until then, Anna, do your homework before ranting and slandering a company because they were 4 days late!

Before I read this website and the recommendatin from Anna - Lowell, Massachusetts to contact the BBB, I searched the BBB website, as I always do when considering contacting a contractor.

Contrary to what Anna INFERS, the BBB has NO bad report on this company. My search was thorough.

I have not yet purchased from this company, but have an appointment Thursday evening 2/2/05 with them on a bedroom carpet.

I am somewhat familiar with carpet quality and pricing, both from being a widely experienced property claims adjuster for 31 years and my own recent purchases from other local carpet dealers.

If I have a problem, I will report it here. Until then, Anna, do your homework before ranting and slandering a company because they were 4 days late!

Dear Valued Customers,

Thank you for your postings on www.ripoffreport.com. As the supervisor of Empire's Customer Issue Resolution Center, it is my job to make sure that we achieve complete customer satisfaction. I was truly disappointed to see that you have been dissatisfied with your recent dealings with our company.

Please understand that I was unable to look into this important matter further or contact you because your postings were done unanimously. I am sure that we can resolve your concerns, as we are committed to providing quality customer service. We maintain a customer service telephone number specifically to work with our customers to address their concerns in a prompt and professional manner. Please call us toll-free at or [deleted].

Sincerely,
Empire Today, LLC

By her response, I have to conclude that Anna is either mentally unstable or purposefully deceitful. Is she really getting so worked up about a four day delay? She had these folks install several rooms of carpeting AND hardwood floors, and admits the work was "workmanlike" - I'd say it's a far cry from workmanlike installation in four days to "FRAUD" and "SCAM."

I've dealt with unscrupulous and incompetent sales and trades people plenty over eleven years of renovating the home we just sold, so I bring a healthy skepticism to my dealings with all contractors.

My interest came from seeing a company I've received good service from maligned undeservedly. The first person who filed here appears to have had a substantial, real problem with an Empire installer, and then generalized it to say they were conducting a scam. I just wanted to rebut that claim - they had a bad experience, we had a reasonably good one, as did Linda from Chicago and her neighbor.

But Anna has gone off the deep end, getting overwrought about an installation that seems to have been pretty successful, if slightly delayed, and then calling me a liar and saying that Empire folks "lie, cheat, and steal your money" when by her own admission she had "workmanlike" installations in five rooms and a hallway. Just how exactly did they "steal" her money if she received the services and materials promised?

I am amazed that someone with no connection with Empire Carpet is so interested in replying to the comment I made.

Notice how this website is Rip Off
Report, they do not endorse a company.

I had work done in my home by Empire. They installed my carpet in my living room, family room, and breakfast area. They also inaugurated
hardwood in my hallway and my 2 bedrooms. I agree they installed it with some workmanship but their claims are a FRAUD.

They do not install next day. They claim too
but they installed mine 4 days late. I would never recommend them because they are over
priced and try talking to their customer service. This is the last time I am writing to this
because it is a waste. Let the consumer believe who they want. But I severely doubt
anyone is going to believe a concerned customer that loves Empire so much that they
feel they need to get involved in something they shouldn't. If you choose to reply to this
message then it is obvious your a fake.

Take a look at the Better Business website and
see the amount of complaints filed against Empire Today (Empire Carpet)

I am deeply suspicious of someone (Anna from Lowell) who would call me a liar without having more than the one paragraph I wrote in favor of Empire to go on.

I have no relationship to Empire other than the two installations they did at our home. I didn't even say they were the greatest, although they certainly did live up to their "next day installation" advertising in both of my purchases.

Anna may be disappointed that it took them four days at her house, but that is far shorter than most other carpet installers (3-5 weeks), for what seemed to be the same price range, at least on the carpets we chose.

In fact, we just moved and will likely use Empire again for our new carpets upstairs.

So Anna, you are entitled to share your own experience and opinion, but please don't call others liars. Makes me question everything else you wrote.

I am deeply suspicious of someone (Anna from Lowell) who would call me a liar without having more than the one paragraph I wrote in favor of Empire to go on.

I have no relationship to Empire other than the two installations they did at our home. I didn't even say they were the greatest, although they certainly did live up to their "next day installation" advertising in both of my purchases.

Anna may be disappointed that it took them four days at her house, but that is far shorter than most other carpet installers (3-5 weeks), for what seemed to be the same price range, at least on the carpets we chose.

In fact, we just moved and will likely use Empire again for our new carpets upstairs.

So Anna, you are entitled to share your own experience and opinion, but please don't call others liars. Makes me question everything else you wrote.

I can believe that Empire Carpet does good work because they did my home. The main problem I have with them is the quality of the work and their "next day installation" which is a SCAM. Why did I have to wait an extra 4 days? If you want a quality service installation then EMPIRE CARPET IS NOT FOR YOU! They lie, cheat and steal your money. DO NOT BELIEVE THEIR ADS! Even the Empire contractor that installed it said that they receive on average 400 complaints A MONTH on installation. Go to the Better Business website and search Empire Carpet (Empire Today) record! DO NOT BUY FROM EMPIRE CARPET THEY ARE ABOUT AS TRUTHFUL AS THE COMMENTS THESE OTHER PEOPLE MADE!

I would like to say I have purchased carpet from Empire Carpet . The carpet is very good quality. It was priced very well. Some of the carpeting is 15 yres old and still looks new. The service is excellent . Anytime I have ordered from Empire it is installed the next day .I would not buy carpet from anyone else . I have found out the hard way if you order from other carpet stores you wait at least 6 weeks , must put a big deposit down and when it comes to installing it you have no say so about the day and time they install . You are at their mercy. I accidently saw this rebuttal forum on the computer as I was looking up Empires web page to check out their new floor products as I am planning to have a new kitchen floor installed . Empire is my choice . My neighbor had a new floor put in last week and was also very pleased with Empire . She also has Empire Carpet in all her bedroms, living room and family room . She is a repeat customer and a pleased one also .Keep up the good work.

We've had carpet installed by Empire twice. On both occasions, they came right out the same day or next day for the sales call and installed the next day. We only had one problem, with an incorrect transom, which we raised with the installer and he corrected it immediately before they left. It's not the cheapest carpet in the world, and its quality is good but not superlative, but they certainly did live up to their promise of maximum convenience, with prompt and professional sales and installation.