I decided to go with Empire because a friend of mine works for the company. Big mistake. Although their products are great, at least the flooring type I chose, their customer service is a nightmare and their installers do shoddy work, are messy and rather rude. They wouldn't give me a specific time to be home/awake for the install but showed up at 8am every time. They would knock (couldn't find illuminated doorbell?) and proceed to leave after less than a minute. I actually had to chase them down once as I was getting dressed and calling out that I was coming. As I said, the installers are brusque and rude then left a mess in my garage where they had been sawing. After the floors were installed I was actually fairly impressed, for about a week. Then I noticed at least 4 places where the edging was coming up or there were bubbles and one corner which was cut to sharp angles and left for unwary toes to catch. I called to set up repairs which wasn't terribly difficult, went through all the problems with the scheduler and was assured they will be taken care of. When the installer came back he had about half the information I gave the installer and none of the equipment he would need to do the job. He took his own notes and said to reschedule. I did. They didn't come on the day scheduled, they called earlier in the week saying there was some sort of confusion as to which day they were supposed to come. They left one voicemail on the wrong number and didn't call again. How? I don't know. Apparently there is no communication between schedulers and installers. Finally they did fix the floors, for now. I'm just wondering how long it will take for something else to fall apart or go wrong and force me to go through this whole mess again. Bottom line: If you want good quality flooring and professional customer service everywhere from the sales visit to the installation, go with anyone but Empire. read more

I was thrilled with the carpeting, I shopped around before I chose Empire. I was impressed with the salesperson who was knowledgeable but NO pressure. The workmen came on time and moved everything I couldn't with no extra charge! The carpeting itself?! I am so happy with it. I like the color, the weave, the way it compliments the rooms. I am seriously thinking about carpeting some other rooms and will definitely choose Empire again! read more

Drove 76 miles to my rental for an appointment which was confirmed by email the night before BY EMPIRE! No show, no call. Could not get in touch with ANYBODY who could reschedule or tell me what hapened. Wasted a 150 mile trip, hours of my time after spending all the dime dinking around with their website to 'register' for their rotten 'service. They are scammers and have terrible customer service. If they can't even show for an appointment, what would make me think that they could perform on the job???? Stay away. read more

Excellent sales staff as very knowledgeable about the products and coordinating colors and flooring products. Very courteous and friendly installation staff who did top notch work in a timely manner. The only reason I didn't give a 5 is due to the installation staff not updating me or anyone else on their arrival. I was told early in the morning that I was their second installation but wasn't given a window of time. I finally called customer service at 16:30 and learned their first installation was taking way longer than expected. They finally arrived at 18:00 and were done by 20:30. read more

We had schedule a pre measure for our basement. The representative did not show even though there was a 4 hour window. I called they apologized and gave me a $50 credit and reset the appointment for the following day, another 4 hour window. Again they did not show. This time when I called the lady that answered the phone said she was going to call the representative. She returned to the line only to say he would not answer. So she said all she can do is reschedule. I asked to speak to a manager. After 30 minutes of being on hold I hung up. So beware!!! read more

From the initial phone call, to the sales person coming to my house, to the installation. Everything went smoothly and seamlessly

Please look into other options and save yourself from a terrible experience!!! I never write reviews like this, but I had to with Empire - I was so disappointed in every way. I really wish I read the reviews before I went through them. I could go on and on as to why my experience was so terrible, but am still recovering from this experience and have yet to have my installation completed! The company is extremely unprofessional, very poor communication on all ends, work is done quick and not well. Do not go this route, I warned you! read more

Worst carpet installation. Had to come back out 3 times to fix errors. Carpet is still not right. Not stretched to walls and they actually tried to blame my cat! Carpet rippling in all rooms. Constantly stepping on ill-placed tack boards with my bare feet. Sales Rep extremely pushy. Empire Today manager not helpful and after being out three times said I would have to pay for future repairs!!! It's been just about 2 years since my installation and I am really mad. read more

After being referred to this company by a friend who had a great experience several years ago, I was a little hesitant after reading some of the negative comments regarding more recent experiences. However, the carpet was installed last week and I can say that I am very happy with everything! Specifically, some of the negative comments on this site refer to large seams in the berber carpet. I happen to have chosen a berber and the seams are barely visible. You have to look very closely to see them. The salesman who came to my home was knowledgeable and he made the carpet selection process quick and simple. I was surprised to find I could schedule the installation for just a couple of days later. The installers were done in 2-3 hours. Overall, I am very pleased with Empire and will use them again the next time i need new carpeting. read more

I had used Empire 3 times in the past for carpeting and had a good experience. Bought a new condo and needed new vinyl flooring put in and gave them the job which was a mistake. The dented my refrigerator and ruined a brand new paint job with their dirty hands all over the walls. On top of that, all of the baseboard was pulled out and reinstalled in a haphazard/mismatched manner (looks terrible and will have to be redone eventually). The floor is actually great except for the kitchen which is all lumpy. They did a poor job removing the old ceramic tile and installed the new LVT over lumps of old mastic without prepping the floor properly. They were responsive initially but the local customer service person (Evan) has become somewhat unresponsive and irritable with me. Still working on trying to get it resolved and will updated this review if things improve. Overall, a true disappointment for $12,200! read more

Empire came out to measure for two projects we were interested in having done in our home, flooring and carpet. Everything was going fine until we let them know we weren't ready to make a decision and set up a date and were just starting to look at options of materials and costs. The salesman instantly became very rude, refused to leave us an estimate for the work and their offer to price match the big box store and later that day text us to say what "they were willing to offer" apparently if you are looking at getting multiple estimates and don't decide on the spot they aren't willing to offer discounts or price match. Pretty shady way of doing business and very unprofessional. They will not be gaining our business. read more

We purchased carpet for our downstairs living room, stairs, hallway and bedroom. On the date of installation we waited all day and the installers finally showed up after 4:00pm. They looked at the amount of work and said this is at least a 8 hour drive and we have been working all day so we are leaving. The installers tried to call their manager to tell them how big of a job this was and of course nobody answered. They have my money an I don't have carpet. read more

Overall, we are very disappointed with the communication of your teams. We had initially picked out our carpet and it was not communicated that it was on back order nor that the appointment would not be kept resulting in huge disruption of our environment. We compensated your time line on having it delivered the following week only to have your company pick out our carpet because what we had picked wasn't available. We had spoke with several sales reps and offered $50 compensation for our trouble. I even had one of your reps tell me that we should not use your company because your company services commercial areas not homes. The compensation was increased; however, we still needed your service men to return to correct mistakes made when installing the carpet. Poor service and communication read more

Well here i go again. You think i would have learned from last time I used these guys. I didn't. The whole thing has been a pain in the you know what. We were going to get some capret and vinyl tile installed. By the way the vinyl tile is a great product, its the only thing that we did not need replaced after the flood in the basement. So were like lets get this product again. Its a bit expensive but its worth it. We had a professional company come out and dry the floor and remove all the water damaged stuff. Its been over a month and half since the flood. We had the empire guy come out and give us a esimate and scheduled a time for the work to be done. Frist the messed up what was to be installed frist. It was going to be the capret frist than the tile because you cant walk on it and the capreted room is in the back. We got that all fixed and they assured us that they would be able to do both the carpet and the tile in one day. Please keep in mind that we already have the tile installed by empire in the basement over a year ago in two rooms (in the same basment). The tile guys came out and took about 2 minnutes and said after they placed a mioster meter on the cement that its to wet and the tile wont set to the adhisive. They said they would come back in a couple of days and check but in the mean time to place a fan on the floor. I did a fan, space heater and dehumidifer. They came back and said that it is still to wet and they cant install the product. I ask than why did you sell it to me ? Word to the wise ask lots of questions and don't pay these guys in advance like they like. Learn from my mistakes. read more

I was very pleased with the whole process from start to finish. I am very happy with the product. The only negative thing that I would have to say is the installers seemed to be upset that there was furniture that needed to be moved even though I was told that they would move the furniture for me. There was only like four pieces that needed to be moved everything else I move myself read more

Was quoted extremely high by a company named "Floor Coverings International" so I went ahead and got a second quote with EMPIRE. The sales guy was smooth and cool I believe his name was Matt Jones. We had 3 BR's, 4 closets, and the hallway leading to the stairs covered in LVP and replaced the carpet on the the stairs. The job was completed within 2 days and me and my wife are more than pleased with the work that was done. read more

We chose Empire as the pricing was just a tad under the big name people. Our salesman was wonderful (retired police officer) and answered all of our questions. The guys that came out to install were nice enough, however they were an entire day late. They did not install the transition strips to our satisfaction so we are still trying to do them ourselves. They left nails they were using to attach the quarter round only part way in..... My husband signed off on the work not knowing that once he did that we would never see them again. Which proved to be true as the guy who came to stretch the carpet to the new floor called the installer about the transition strip and they said they would "possibly" be out on Monday to reattach the transition strip so my husband signed off as he was told that the installers wouldn't get paid until he did. Of course, NO ONE ever came back or called. In hindsight I would use someone else, and when we have the rest of the house done that is what we will do. Let me mention though that the product itself is very nice looking. read more

We ordered carpet from Empire a few months ago. The sales experience was great; lots of choices, differing price points, and felt like we made a good decision. But on the install date, they showed up 2 hours late ---AND WERE AT OUR HOUSE FOR NINE HOURS. They didn't leave until after 11:00 PM. The installers were clearly inexperienced and complained that they had to move furniture (which we had paid for as part of our package). Moving furniture took about 15 minutes total, by the way. Around 8:00 PM I tried calling the sales guy to say they needed to leave as my kids had to go to bed. I couldn't get a hold of him so I told the installers they needed to leave by 9:00 PM. They argued with me and told me that if I didn't let them finish, they would leave the carpet unfinished and wouldn't be able to come back for at least a week. I let them stay because I had already missed a whole day of work. Eventually they wrapped up and left without cleaning up all the spare bits of carpet fuzz they left all over the house. Last, there was something about the color of the carpet itself that was slightly off from what I remembered. I couldn't be positive, so I sent an email to Empire telling them the color seemed off. The next day the sales guy called me back and I asked for a discount due to the poor service.He hemmed and hawed and about 4 days later I got a call from the regional manager. He said he'd offer me $100 off but that they couldn't do anything more. I was ticked. He wouldn't even talk about the carpet itself not matching what I ordered. Again, I wasn't 100% positive myself. Now, three months later it is apparent they installed the wrong carpet. What is supposed to last 15 years has already matted down completely on our stairs and in high traffic areas. Vacuuming it helps, but then it immediately lays back down. We called Empire to do a service call at our house as we wanted them to verify for certain what was actually installed and to figure out why it is matting down so much. Guess what? They just called and said they couldn't make the appointment today!! I've decided it's time to take action since we've done all we can trying to work on this issue locally. Great jingle...horrible service. read more

Run away, if the sales man Nate comes to your door he will sell the world to you and provide nothing. It was all lies to get business. When it comes to getting the work done it will be a hundred excuses why it can't be done. Then tries to tell you why it's your fault read more

I was sold LVT in a rectangular shape. The sales rep showed it to me and sold it to me. The installers showed up with square and I was not made aware of the tile until they completed demo on my floor. I was left with a siticky mess In my kitchen and was told they don't even make the rectangular shape. I have a 1 year old child and a dog. Leaving the floor sticky and unusable while I looked for a different provider was not an option. So they installed the tile which they brought. I remind you this was not what I chose, or paid for. As the finished they quickly tried to have me sign a document without reading. I looked over their work and noticed they completely smashed my refrigeratior power cord. Their fix wa to break off one of the prongs and ask me if that was ok. Also they cracked the wood floor in my home which is right next to where they were working. When I pointed this out they gave me a frozen type of wood filler and said I could fix it myself later. Also they grouted in my dish washer. So I will not be able to remove it in the future without taking out the tile near it. I found out they sub out their labo which is likely why it was inexpensive and awful execution. When I called my sales person I was told it had never happened before but a manager would call me. When he did, over a day later he was unapologetic and almost unbelieving of my experience. I asked for a refund and he said, while this has never happened, that isn't an option. I was sold a product that they don't offer, was left with an usafe environment and then when left with no other option had them install what they had for safety of my family. He then called me a day or two later and said they would offer me $300 which isn't close to what I payed for this. Also, after the I stalkers left I had tiles lifting up. I stayed off them longer than they said, but still there was damage. They came back to fix it but obviously did not put down enough adhesive in the first place. I am extremely disappointed, I was sold a product they don't even make. Then had damage to other flooring and appliances by their Installers. Then when I made their management aware I was treated poorly and offered a very minor financial refund. Don't forget I also had to fix my surrounding floor and appliances. Sales, install, and management were all incompetent. I would recommend that anyone else choose a different provider. read more

I don't normally write reviews but this was such terrible experience filled with misrepresentations, lack of follow-up, and shear incompetency that I had to let everyone know what a terrible company Empire is. What started out as a great experience quickly turned out to be a total pain with no follow-up, incorrect measurements, and a quote that over $1,000 higher than I received from brick and mortar store in town. David Larson, the sales rep came to our house and was very nice and seemed to understand what we were looking for and was very knowledgeable about the carpets. However, we quickly learned that David either does not know how to use a tape measure or was trying to rip us off. We wanted carpet for an upstairs bedroom and a small basement. Our entire house is 1,500 sq ft and David said we measured 1,100 sq ft of carpet needed. This of course did not add up and when he gave us the "bottom line" quote we were shocked at how high it was. David assured us that was a great price for such high end carpet, which of course is total BS since Empire does not exactly have high end carpet. I told David that price was not even close to what we were thinking and he quickly packed up his carpet samples said they do price matches and went on his way. The next day I had another contractor come out and measure, which I watched this time, and low and behold the Empire sales rep had over measured by almost 400 sq ft! While this was happening I received a phone call from Will Pridgen the sales manager asking how my experience went and if I was ready to sign on the dotted line. I explained the problem with the quote and how high it was and the fact that David did not measure right. Will seemed confused and said that didn't sound right and he would have a more senior sales rep come out to measure. I told him that wasn't necessary because I wanted to see what other places would give me for a quote. He said he would match it. I explained that he would have to do better than that because they tried to screw me the first time and now he would have to beat it or I would rather just go with the company that was honest the first time. I called him back to get his email and send him the new quote I got that was $1,000 cheaper, and included vinyl flooring for our kitchen, but I never got a call back. Instead I was contacted by an Empire call center several days later who again tried to give a hard close me on the deal. After explaining the situation to this person three times because she couldn't understand what I was telling her, she finally said that she couldn't help me if I had already reached out to the sales rep and his sales manager. Not sure why she called me in the first place other than to waste twenty minutes of my time. After several more phone calls and emails, David finally called me back, said they would try to match the carpet cost and he would let me know that afternoon. Five days later and I still haven't heard from him. Needless to say, we went with Bloomington Carpet One and worked with Lyn who was great and honest from the beginning. Save yourself the headache and trouble and stay away from Empire. They give outrageous quotes and the people who work there are here today gone tomorrow so they don't care about reputation. The only thing they care about is a hard sell and getting your check in their hand before they leave. read more

EXTREMELY dissatisfied with my experience of carpet and luxury vinyl tile (LVT) installation. Installers of LVT did horrible job and left garbage, including their lunch and beverage containers all over my kitchen. Huge language barrier with installers so they did not understand what I was wanting or needing. The job ended up having to be redone and then sub-flooring all torn out to start over. Had to talk with 6 people before I even got to a manager and manager did not respond in a timely fashion. Still trying to get reimbursed for the work due to all the issues I had. I would NOT recommend Empire due to the lack of responses and compassion to what i went through. I STILL have a thick coat of dust on things throughout my whole upstairs from them removing the subfloor. Very, very frustrating. read more

We had kitchen flooring installed by Empire and were satisfied with the results, but we apparently got a bad batch of their vinyl tiles. That isn't their fault, but that's when the problems started. Since APRIL 2016 I have stayed home on 3 separate days with no phone call or explanation as to why the repair crew didn't show up. Dozens of phone calls yield only voicemail with manager Mike (and sometimes that is full, so I can't leave a message). This is such a disappointment and frustration and I will not recommend Empire to anyone. read more

The rep was cool. He made 2 trips in one day to my house way out in the middle of no where. We haggled on price and couldn't settle in the morning. He left, then called a couple hours later ..said his manager and talk to talk to his boss, yada yada yada (typical sales baloney, I'm "working" so hard for you! stuff) and we settled for $2000 less than what we were quoted, so he came back in the evening to sign papers. 2 day install - one day for LVT and one day for the laminate. The day before LVT install, a guy calls and says they are behind on a job and they can't come to do LVT, could we reschedule. I said, why don't you send a bunch of dudes over and get it all done in one day. The guy says, "yeah sure that sounds great!" So that saturday comes, I pack up my children and pets and we leave so we're out of the way and my husband stayed. 2 guys showed up and they stayed for 3 hours and did the LVT and left. Said all the dust from installing laminate would mess up the LVT. Ok........ So my husband takes a day off work (unpaid) on Monday so the laminate can get put in. Kind of a hassle, kind of a financial burden, but we want it done because we moved all of our living room furniture and kitchen hutch away - so all my dishes are packed up, etc etc. The installers got a TON of work done, but did not finish. No trim and the stairs aren't done. So they had to come again. Another unpaid day off work (Tuesday) - installers arrive. Bad news...Empire ordered the wrong stairs. They can finish the trim (so then the main flooring is finished..I can put my furniture and kitchen stuff back in place, THANK GOD) but will need to come back AGAIN. For a 4TH TIME to do the stupid stairs. SO, ANOTHER DAY OFF WORK, unpaid!!! This has turned out awful. The floors look nice, but so far it's been a sad experience. I hope this doesn't reflect the quality of the product ******* Update on quality of floor..not worth the price tag. My 7yo dropped a fork and it dented the laminate. That's pathetic. read more

Well I used these guys. And I wish I would have read the revues first, the whole thing has been a pain in the, you know what. We were going to get some carpet installed and Vinyl the 2nd bedroom. Never again will I deal with them, I wish I never called them, and went with home depot. So they came and installed the carpet in the bedroom, next day we have notice a SEAM by the door , so we called them back and the guy said, I will send someone out tomorrow between 3 and 6 pm , here it was 8 clock and nobody came, so we called them back the next day and complaint, someone came the next day he's excuse was they were busy, so the guy said, yes we have to replace this carpet it can't be fixed , so here we are 5 days later nobody called us back, nobody came, the question that I have how in the hell can this place still run commercial on TV and make money, I am ready to call channel 5 and tell the state of MN how bad Empire is,. read more