Complaint Review: Empire Today - Northlake Illinois

I have a question for you that have a problem with Empire Today. Has anyone been told that you are getting carbonized flooring? I found that they use quick step and quick step does not use carbonized. Also, I found filing with BBB is not much help. I have found I was pushed to take legal action. I personally think Empire should not be allowed to do business. They are charging us for high end floors and quick step is low end with high end prices. Good luck to you all.

I too have had serious problem with empire and the installers that they hire along with the quality of the products for the price. I am still having problems. Once I complained to BBB I started to get results. I cannot go into details until it is resolved. But I can say they have installers that do not finish the job. Sloppy installers. Terrible products for the price. I would expect high end quality for the amount they charge. They lie on commercials about next day installs. They lie and say that they buy direct from warehouse and thats why they can give cheaper prices. And after we had it insalled it was 1/2 price the next day. Do you think they would would give us that price? NO Sure I have checked where they get it from. I could get it for the thrid of the price by ordering direct. You canot tell me that the insallers have that much of a mark up. They tell BBB that they are working with us to resolve the problem. The try to resolve it ASAP because of BBB.I personally think they should be put out of business.

Empire sent some repairmen to address the gaps in my laminate flooring today March 4. They came with three boxes of laminate flooring in case the floor needed to be ripped up. As it turned out they were able to bang the flooring back together so that there were no gaps. They found several other places where gapping had occured and banged those back as well. They then glued the areas down well and used more nails to make sure the boards do not seperate again. Their conclusion was that not enough glue or nails were used to install the laminate flooring to begin with. My own conclusion: Poor installation to begin with or possibly the boards did not lock together during installation, along with not enough glue or nails. Hopefully it's not a defect in the boards because if this reoccurs I do not want to have to deal with this company and have to kick and scream to get a resolution again.

While Empire did agree to fix the problem, they have done so under major duress and mostly because I have been a squeaky wheel that has been a major irritation and embarrassment to them. There is no excuse to blow off a customer when a warrenty has expired by three days. When I first called I was told it was my problem not their own. I have received a copy of said warrenty and I do not need another one as that is simply a slap in the face. Yes the warrenty says one year for defective installation, however their own installer has said he has no idea why the boards have seperated. In this case why should I as the consumer have to bear the brunt of this? If there is some problem with the board manufacturer or the materials, why hasn't Empire gone to Quick Step? I went and called myself but Quick Step said their hands were tied until they received paperwork from Empire. Assuming this is a defect in materials I'm sure Empire could retrieve their "trip fee" to come see what was going on from Quick Step. Are you also telling me a large company like Empire can't afford a trip fee? How penny wise and pound foolish is that? Yes the "trip fee" that was waved true, but it's the least this company can do considering the major aggrevation and time I've spent pursuing them. Had I not gone this distance I'd still be with gaps in my flooring. I still also maintain that putting in boards that do not match the current coloring is a poor resolution at best. The best that was offered was they will "try" to match as closely as possible. That is not the best solution. I did not pay the amount I did for a floor that looks at best hodgepodge.

We have been in contact with Robin. We have apologized to her for the inconvenience. We also as she has stated arranged to have the floor repaired for her for free. We have explained to her that there may have been a service charge for the repair specialist to go to her home but to show Robin how we do stand behind our customer service efforts we will complete this repair service free of charge. We made the decision to take care of her issue prior to receiving any complaint. We will make this a happy ending for her and will again send out her warranty paperwork so that she can have it for her records.