Complaint Review: Empire Today

I have been fighting an uphill battle for over a year with Empire Today flooring. To sum it all up, they will not stand behind their warranty. Do not trust the salespeople who come out to give the in home estimates, they will tell you whatever they can to make the sale, and FYI they do not install next day. They use many excuses such as not having that individual product, or color in stock, or having enough installers.

I have laminate flooring and carpeting, so I have plenty of experience with Empire. I only have half of my upstairs carpeted at the moment, because of how strongly I feel about not ever wanting to do business with them. The main warranty issue deals with several scratches on my laminate wood flooring; however the warranty states the flooring to be "scratch proof, but not scratch resistant", so basically they will find any "gray area" to do whatever they need to get out of the repair. I spent the extra money and choose this company because at the time of sale, I believed in the 15 year warranty! Now I know it is a hoax, after trying to resolve this...

I have gone through the BBB, with no resolution. In fact Empire raised the price to repair the flooring from $400 to $450, that I would have to pay out of pocket, when it should be covered under the warranty. They are still uncooperative. Empire sent an "independent inspector", which was paid by Empire, from Christian carpets and hard surface consultants in Otsego, MN. He told me the truth of my flooring in person, stating the floor was pinning, noting the scratches, taking pictures, etc. He stated that they would need to take off the round and possibly uninstall the flooring to find out where, and that is/was not my responsibility, but merely something routine that should have been done prior to installation. After relentless attempts to actually get the report, it stated that it was from consumer abuse of the flooring!! I don't know if the inspector lied or Empire. Neither the inspector whom left his business card or the local Eagan Empire office will return my calls!

My only option at the moment is to go all the way to Illinois to take them to small claims court, or contact Uniclic laminate flooring company for the actual product warranty. However, the installer mentioned that my subfloor should have been inspected prior to the install to see if it was suitable. The humidity level was a 14 during the inspection, which is higher than the normal 12. Be cautious when dealing with this company, they lie, don't return phone calls, don't stand behind their warranty or workmanship, the list is too long to list every detail. This needs to be resolved, and I am not about to give up, after being lied to, if they are to remain reputable and stay in business then they need to be held accountable for their actions!!!

I have kept track of their insufficiencies, and all the countless times I have called, not being able to get ahold of someone. My advice is to do business with a local company. Empire requires the consumer to call an 800 number, with computer voice prompts, and to operators that can't speak English proficiently enough to assess the situation, leaving the consumer vulnerable and angry!!

Karen
Apple Valley, Minnesota
U.S.A.