Complaint Review: Empire Today LLC - South Hackensack New Jersey

I saw the Empire commercial and called for a free home estimate for hardwood flooring. The person that came to my house was not very knowledgeable. I picked out the solid oak flooring in natural. It was 3/4" X 2 1/4". This was for a bedroom. I had removed the carpet, underlayment, and staples. So my floor was just plywood. While I had access to it, I put some screws in it to quit the squeaks.

The flooring was called Achieva 2. I also wanted the matching quarter round molding and included the closet. She did not know what piece would be put in the door to transition to the hall carpet.

At first she couldn't make a Saturday appointment unless it was for the whole house, then she called someone and she she could. My house is in central NJ. She quoted me a price of $2,100 but then quickly said $2,000. I pointed out an ad for Smart Carpet. They had hardwood with Scotchgard for $6.39 Sq. Ft. installed. She then reduced her price to $1,250, so I went with that price and for installation on the coming Saturday.

I searched for the wood, "Achieva", but didn't find it. I did find someone saying that they had been given Mohawk brand wood instead.

meanwhile, I had made an appointment with Smart Carpet, so they came and gave me an estimate $1,450 and they said that Empire couldn't have a Scotchgard flooring.

They said to call on the Wednesday to confirm appointment, so I did and it was confirmed. They said to call at 9:00 AM Saturday to get a better time of arrival which can be from 8AM till 6PM. I called and they came about 9AM. They brought in the flooring and guest what.

It didn't say Achieva, it said Mohawk Red Oak Natural flooring. I checked and it was the same thing as described for Achieva. It had a 25yr guarantee with Scotchgard. Why does Empire Today lie about the name of the wood. My guess is that they don't want you to do any comparison showing. Since it's Empire's made up name, you will never find it anywhere else to compare. But since the wood that was described to me was the same except for the name, I didn't complain.

I didn't like the idea of the name, but went ahead with it. You will have to decide what you will do. I just want to let you know exactly what to expect. The material that they put under the wood was not the same as was shown to me. The material shown to me had a checkered pattern and felt strong. What was put on y floor was a solid looking type paper that seemed to be less quality then what was shown. I am not an expert in this.

The two guys that came to my house were very good. It looked like they did an excellent job. They had some spacing away from the walls to let the wood expand. They cut the bottom of the doorway to fit the floor their. They also to up the track that the closet doors slide on and put the flooring down and replaced the rail. They removed all the material from the house and put it outside by my garbage. The only thing was that they were going to take the partial box of flooring that I had left over till I told them I wanted to keep it. When you order the wood, you have to buy it buy the box. I like to keep it in case one of the floorboards gets damaged. Anyway you paid for it, so you should keep it.

In conclusion, I got a good deal and a good installation. But I didn't like some of their tactics and you have to be smart or you could be ripped off.

Cowboymc

Piscataway, New Jersey

U.S.A.