I had the unexpected pleasure to install carpet from both Home Depot and Empire Carpet in the same week. Here is a summary of the experience.
Home Depot
Home Depot’s carpet installed first. The measurements were done electronically, sent to a measuring company and a computer laid out the carpet to leave the fewest remnants. Home Depot often runs “$99 installation” specials, so the installation cost was fairly small. The carpet cost ~$4.22/sqft, and I upgraded the pad to the 8lb pad for a few cents per sqft. Overall cost was about $4.80/sqft with the upgraded pad and installed. The carpet we installed was a plush carpet. It was slightly more expensive than average, but we wanted it to be soft. The result is gorgeous – a very soft, thick carpet that looks great. It’s an off-white color, and looks beautiful.
We had to wait 3 weeks for the carpet to arrive, as Home Depot ships it from Georgia. The installers were great, and did a very nice job.
Empire Carpet
Empire’s sales model is to come to your house and use a full-service salesman. They are very nice, pleasant, and don’t pressure you much. The salesman measures manually on a piece of scratch paper, and somehow those measurements get back to the installers. Despite the lack of technology, they got the right amount of carpet.
After measuring, they do try to gouge you on the price, so you have to be careful and it is a requirement to negotiate. Taking the list price would be silly. In our case, we were trying to pick the closest match carpet to the Home Depot carpet listed above. We found the one which was closest in terms of texture, softness, and color. We knew it was a slightly different color, but it was hard to tell from the small samples how close the texture would be once installed. Initially, he offered a price of $3870 for the carpet. I suggested $2000, and we settled at $2600. This worked out to a price of $4.44/sqft. I don’t know if I negotiated well or not – I wasn’t trying very hard. He said all the usual salesman things, but you just have to be persistent. I’m pretty sure that I could have had the carpet for $2000.
Empire can install the next day because they use local warehouses. In our case, they installed 2 days later. The installation was very good, although I didn’t think that their edge cutting was as good as the Home Depot installer (there was about 1/8″ gap which I didn’t think should be there on one wall).
In terms of quality, Empire’s carpet is not as good as the Home Depot carpet we picked out. It is noticeably thinner, doesn’t feel as good or as soft, and doesn’t look quite as nice. Don’t get me wrong, it looks good, just not quite as good when side-by-side to the Home Depot Carpet.
Conclusion
Home Depot is easier, cheaper, and has slightly better quality carpet. But with Home Depot they take longer to get the carpet installed. In our case, Home Depot also made a big mistake with the carpet which is why we had to have Empire finish the job. If I had more time and could do it again, I would probably go with Home Depot.
Don’t rule out the little guy. I just had a full basement carpet install and ended up using a small local flooring company and received better quality carpet for significantly less $ and had it installed 3 business days after receiving the estimate. Empire quote was ridiculously high for inferior product. I refused to budge on price and their sales guy left my house, but what do you know, a manager called me the next day to try to resurrect the deal- too late! Do not EVER pay what Empire wants from you initially. Better yet, shop around locally, it is well worth it.
I own a small carpet store in the upper mid west. I have worked for home depot, lowes, & empire if anyone knows them better take a shot. Empire is the highest priced & they pay about $5.00 per sq yard to the installers they don’t pay for extras but still charge for them .
Home depot & lowes do everything the same just keep changing sales
tacktics. Free pad, not true. At that time you purchase the carpet they would mark up the install rate to make up the differance. Now it’s $199.00 for your install. You can ask 100 installers. They will all tell you that’s not true better yet ask the installer from Home depot if every job he gets $199.00 and almost every carpet store sells the same carpet. There are only 3 major manufactures for the we’ll beat it by 10%. Not going to happen they all pay for private labeling they say not the same name not the same prouduct . They both do not have in house installers they hire a few companys to farm the work out to then those companys farm it out agin and agin im sure the last installer on this food chain feels awsome about sharing his pay check with everyone before him.
Any more qwestions.
I have used several flooring companies over the past 19 years in our home. I have used HD and Lowe’s and some small local ones as well. I do think Tony is right. He might want to express his opinion a little nicer. He is just trying to save you some grief. He is saying that you should shop around and compare. Get references. I agree that the installer is one of the most important parts of the experience. I actually had the crew from Lowe’s show up 4 hours late and drunk. I had to have their supervisor come to my home to deal with them. He was there within 30 min. I am glad to hear about all of your experiences. It gives me a lot to think about. We are needing some laminate wood floors installed. There are a lot of the smaller local companies that I will check out. Thank you all for sharing. And thank you Tony. It sounds like I might need to check into “Full House Flooring”.
Thanks again,
Carol in OKC
Won’t even consider empire until they change their obnoxious jingle.
I just had Empire install some carpet. We are very satisfied with both, the installation and carpet.
However, I would never use them again nor would I recommend them to anyone. The reason I say this is we called because they were offering 60% off. When we picked out the carpet we wanted, the guy gives us the price, and it was way way higher than the other quotes we received. When I asked if the price included the 60% off, he tells me that discount only applies to a few select carpets, and of coarse the one we selected was not one of them. So I said OK thanks for your time but your not even in the ballpark. That’s when he calls his manager, and gets special permission to lower the price, by over half. That tells me if I didn’t ask about the discount, they would have happily gouged me.
It gets worse from there. After thinking about it, we called him back and say OK, let do it. He comes back to the house and after filling out all the paperwork asks for payment in full. So I say, what do you mean payment in full? You haven’t installed the carpet yet. He says that’s just how they do it. So I tell him forget it then. I’m not paying you in full before the work is done. I just had $10,000 worth of windows replaced in my house, and they didn’t ask for payment in full. I’ll give you half now and the other half after it’s installed, otherwise, have a nice day. Low and behold, his manager gives special permission to pay half now and the balance after the installation is complete.
The lack of trust was unbelievable. He actually sat in my dinning room calling his office so they could run some kind of check approval, making it very clear to me that they did not trust me to write them a valid check, yet I was supposed to trust them and pay it all in full before the installation.
I think I got lucky. Most of the time if a company wants to be paid in full BEFORE the work is done, they do very very poor quality work, and know they won’t get paid after, so they need to get it up front.
Like I said earlier, I do not recommend using Empire for the simple fact that they were not straight up with me from the beginning.
I bought laminated flooring from Empire 2 years ago and now it is warping. I have several issues with them They call you back if they want too, they call you back after hrs when you tell them what time you leave, You may get a call and maybe not, The kicker is they blame me for moisture getting in the floor. I damp mop my floor and (on my knees) and dry. We take our shoes off and never take liquids in the room. They said I let water sit on the floor more Oh no thats impossible its your fault. What happened to the 25 yr warranty???????DO NOT BUY FROM EMPIRE PASS THIS ON
ok people, here is the nitty gritty on buying carpet, it really is simple. how long it will last depends on if it was made of nylon or not. anything but nylon will only last 2 -7 years. nylon will last 10-20yrs. how it was made is important too, this will determine if it will shed or not. they can either STAPLE the fibers on the backing…….. or use a continuous filiment construction (when they weave it through the backing). if you dont want your carpet to shed like the ladie above, make sure it is continuous filiment. the back of the carpet should say bcf or continuous filiment. if it doesnt say, its STAPLE.
SO KNOW YOU KNOW ALL THERE IS TO KNOW ABOUT CARPET. 1. IS IT NYLON OR NOT, 2. IS IT BCF OR NOT.
good carpet (nylon fiber, bcf construction) cost 4-8 bucks per sq.ft including pad and installation. the price depends on how thick (heavy) it is.
……..to be continued
part II
home depot versus empire
empire gouges old ladies, nuff said. if you buy from them you support them, and your as bad as them, there is no good reason to buy from them.
home depot vs the little guy.
1. home depot has no price advantage as all the little guys team up in buying groups and pay the same for the carpet as home depot.
2. pick out what you want from the little guy or home depot, make sure its a nylon bcf thats in your price range. use this sample and tell the folks that you are getting bids from that you would like a bid on that carpet or something very similar in quality and weight (thickness).
3. get an out the door written estimate from at least three people. you have to pay 50 bucks for the home depot estimate but its worth it, to get thier final “real” price. and if you use homedepot they will discount it from the price. also, the small guys will give you an additional 50 bucks off if you go with them, just tell em i said they would (and they will).
NOW YOU CAN COMPARE PRICES LIKE A PRO.
i think you will find that most places are pretty close in price.
the diffrence is the quality of the service and the installation. the homedepot will be a pain in the butt, and the little guy will fall all over you. if you have a problem the little guy will jump to help you, homedepot is a pain in the butt, nuff said. the little guys installer is better. the little guy will measure himself, order himself and schedual the install himself, when you call, he answers and can help or answer any question you have about the order on the spot. home depot…pain in the butt. it only takes 5 days to get carpet to california from georgia, the most you have to wait with the little guy is one week. home depot….3 weeks …pain in the butt. installation warranty with the little guy..well you just call the little guy and he comes out himself and checks on it and fixes it. home depot….pain in the butt….they didnt install it….the contractor that they hooked you up with did…you gotta find him to fix your problem not homedepot…pain in the butt.
also one last point. the most import person in the whole deal is the salesperson. he/she runs the whole show, make sure you like them and work well with them, they ultimately determine your price, how smooth things run and they are who you call when theirs a bump in the road, they make all the diffrence. a great salesperson is more important than the store you buy at. wether it be homedepot or the little guy. you will know them when you see them because they will always under promise and over deliver
and one last final point. if homedepot gives you the lowest bid (and its possible this could happen) but you would like the great service of the little guy. just take your quote to them and ask them to match it. they will. then you get the best price and the best service. Thats how you do it!
Tony-
A grammar lesson:
T-H-E-I-R = ownership. Their business.
T-H-E-R-E = location. There it is.
T-H-E-Y ‘ R-E = they are. They’re buying carpet.
My Empire Sucks story:
I had to replace the carpet in the hallways/staircase of a three story three family in Boston. I had used
Empire before, so gave them a call and got an estimate. The price was $4.53 per sq. ft. installed. To
say that the salesperson was incompetent would be generous. He had to measure everything three
times, could not do simple calculations. He made so many mistakes on the order crossing things out
two and three times that it was unreadable. He told me that I had to put down a third of the total cost
because it was a special order and would take 10-14 days to get the carpet. Then in the next breath
said that it could be installed the next day.
Came up with an estimate of $3,692 based and 774.26 sq ft. I said that seemed high. He said: no,
and that this was a big area. I asked if there was an additional labor charges since this was a
staircase. He re-iterated: no, it’s a flat fee. I agreed to remove and dispose of the old carpet to save
$200. He called the office and the lowered price for $3,001 was agreed upon. When I ripped up the
carpet I looked at them and concluded that there was no way that this was close to 800 sq ft. I
measured it and came out with 304 sq ft. I am an architect with 30 yrs experience and an expert in
this area. I had a third person measure it and he came up with 305 sq ft.
Granted it was a staircase with more waste than normal, but over150%. I called the office and
complained. A manager came out and first he said was that in the order was written for 680 sq. ft.,
not the original 774.26 sq. ft. that the basis for the quote. He also confirmed that the price included
installation and that there was not a separate labor charge. When I asked why there was no
adjustment and that the price still reflected the original 774.26 sq. ft. he had no answer. He also
confirmed that it was in stock. No one has ever explained why I had put up $1,000 deposit instead of
the standard $25. A question that remains unanswered to this day.
He measured and came up with 502 sq. ft. Not sure how using the same equation they came up with
three different sizes for the same square footage of floor space. He told me that he would give me a
$500 credit. I said OK and the installation was scheduled for the next day. I really didn’t have much
of a choice, as I stood to lose the $1,000 deposit.
The installers arrived with the work order where the price was still $3,001. There also was a note to
call after the work was done. When I told them that this is not the right price, they called to the
office before they started, but the manager didn’t want to talk. I took the phone and reminded that we
agreed to lower price by at least $500. He answered that he would discuss the final price after
installation. The installers installed and I called to manager again. This time, he said the bill was
$2,800. I reminded him again that he had agreed to a $500 credit from the $3001. He denied that he
had ever having agreed to that. Among the scrap was a single piece 12ft x 6ft =72 sq.ft and I tried to
get a credit for it. I tried to pay for 430 sq ft instead the 502 sq. ft. (502-72=430), the amount actually
installed plus waste. He said: no. So I said that I would pay for every sq in that was in the truck. I
took out my calculator and computed: $4.53 x 502 sq.ft + 5% (taxes)= $2,387.76. He said: no, that
$2,601 was the best he could do. I reminded him that the contract was for $4.53 per sq. ft. for 502
sq.ft. not for 545 sq.ft. (There was a total 502 sq. ft. of carpet in the truck). I still questioned the 58%
waste (based on 502 sq, ft., not the 545 sq. ft. that I was charged for), but have decided to drop it
He pretty much demanded the new higher price even though he could offer no explanation as to how
he came to that price. He also told me that I had to pay it since it had already been installed even
hough the new higher price had never been discussed. So, I paid $2, 601. Very expensive carpet for
the 305 sq. ft. of floor space!
I am a installer. I have installed for 30 years.
What people miss and don’t understand is that lowes, home depot charge by the square foot.
Installers charge by the square yard.
Carpet at a carpet dealer is sold by the square yard.
Lowes and home depot charge .55 cent per square foot for padding.
That converts to $5. 50 per yard.
carpet supply stores sell padd for $1,75- $2.25 per yard
Lowes and home depot will charge .99 cent per square foot
That converts to $9.00 per square yard
I install locally for $3-4 per square yard
out of town for $4-5 per square yard and
if the job is big enough will go anywhere in the country for $3.00 per square yard (bulk yardage discount)
you do the math and see for yourself if lowes and home depot is the cheapest.
their is 9 square foot in a yard of carpet, vinyl,.
take their price per square foot and times it by 9 and you will get what they are charging per yard.
Then call an installer or carpet outlet and get a price, priced by the yard.
You will be amazed at how much of a differance there is..
Having carpet installed by Empire today. NOT happy so far, although the installers themselves are fine. They showed up without enough carpet, this was the warehouse guys fault. They said theY will come back tomorrow to complete, this we were not happy with. Our contract showed carpet would be delivered today, the salesman told us it would be compeleted in one day. We called Empire and were told it not so many words, too bad. Although they would knock a whopdie doo $75 off. Then when installers were laying the pad we asked about it, they said it was 6lb padding. Again salesman told us it was 7 lb. He did not write it on the contract, but we had written it in our notes. VERY UNHAPPY WITH EMPIRE, WILL HOT USE THEM AGAIN.
I agree with Tony. HD has the price of install built into the material. I work at a flooring store and the carpet at HD is the same as the lowest quality stuff we are willing to call “residential”. Also both HD and Menards sell junk terracotta tile and name it slate or porceline based on the color of the glaze. Bring in a sample from a big-box to a mom and pop and I bet they can beat the price with something similar.
I will tell you I read a lot of reviews before going with Empire and I will tell you I made the wrong choice. The carpet is horrible quality!!!!!!!!!!!!! You can see the backing through the carpet as if your carpet was balding. Then the installers were late and none of them spoke English. They started at 4:30 PM on a Saturday and did not finish until 10pm. The carpeted over vents and put in two different lots of carpet which were different colors. The customer service is sucks and no one returns your phone calls. Word to the wise stay away from this company!!
I need carpet for the my whole house in the suburbs of Cleveland, OH. I will move all the furniture and tear out the old carpet. My house is on a slab, so I need good padding, as well. I’m very flexible on the install time – no rush.
I need a great price. It’s a lot of carpet.
Contact me @ rcamoore@msn.com if you can give me a great deal.
I just had carpent installed by home depot. My rooms are seamed in the middle, I am outrage, because you can see the seam in plush carpeting. They gave the excuse that it was because of the grain. I am not going to let this huge mistake go away. Pissed Off
Home Depot\Empire are basically the same. JD, although he can’t spell, had some good points.
Actually the two types of nylon to look at are called staple and continuous filament.
Staple – Short strands twisted together. Some fuzzing, but not much. The staple yarn system produces textured plushes.
Continuous Filament- Extremely long strands that don’t fuzz(pill) at all, saxonys, plushes, etc.
Empire usually stocks a lot of polyester because its cheaper than nylon, so their inventory doesn’t cost as much.
The Depot sells a lot of carpet, as well as Empire. But both also have a ton of overhead. They buy really low, most of that savings is plowed back into overhead. Both stores have no REAL flooring people because they pay so little. Honestly, any positive outcome is usually luck. What did your grandfather say?, “even a broken clock is right twice a day”.
I had a customer that was moving, got a price from Home Depot. A friend told her to call me. She wanted it done right away. I bought the carpet from Home Depot(she was buying a cheap instock piece for speed from them) and installed the carpet for $325.00, Home Depot was $550.00.
Moral of the story. If you live in the Oakland county part of Michigan, email me. I’d love to help.
I just got quotes from Home Depot and Empire. Empire was a lot more than Home Depot. HD wanted $1480 and Empire quoted $2508. The thing that upset me about Empire was the sales guy tried to get me to sign a purchase agreement, but he was calling it a quote. It even said on the agreement there was a penalty if I cancelled. He told me there was a price match garuntee, but they would not match Home Depot’s written quote. The Empire guy was really nice and there was no pressure, but he was really sneaky trying to get me to sign the sales agreement without reading the form. Be careful with the Empire sales people. I didn’t sign and I’m not going to use them. I found a local independant company in my area and I think I will use them. Just a couple of reviews on-line from the local people, but they beat HD’s price. This is in LA.
I had three rooms of carpet installed by Empire about a year ago. Service and Installers were great. Several months later I order more of the same carpet but I had to cancel my order. Refund was immediately given. Now I want to replace the
Sorry, accidently pressed submit. Anyway…now I want to re-place the order and get three more rooms of the same carpet that was previously installed and I just learned that Empire today no longer provides service to my area in St. Louis. How do I find out the name of manufacturer of mycarpet so that I could get the same carpet. I know it is a berber carpet with the series name Treasure and the style name Honeycomb. Any suggestions.
Signed,
Desperately seeking matching carpet.
I just went this morning to HD and looked at carpet and wood flooring. I liked the sales lady. She was knowledgeable and very nice. We had to pay $50 for the guy to come and measure the home. The $50 we will get back when we buy the carpet.
On Monday between 8 and 12 I will have someone come to my home and measure. The carpet should be installed before Thanksgiving.
I read a lot about the people who measure the sqft wrong to make a few extra bucks. I am afraid to get ripped off here, however, I will be open minded and watch the guy. Computerized layout sounds really great and there isn’t much room to gauge the customer either. My only concern is that the installers are not done on time and my Thanksgiving will go bad because of not having carpet in the dining room and or the wood flooring isn’t installed in the kitchen and working area of the kitchen. Wish me luck…..
I am very dissatisfied and angry with the treatment that I received from Empire representatives and installers. Between the missed appointments by the carpet installers, incorrect order processing by customer service, and total lack of communication between the customer service and the carpet installers, I eventually cancelled my order and stopped payment on the check for the $100 deposit that was requested. They do not deserve my business!! That nice little Empire commercial about next-day service and convenience is totally false advertisement!!! I will advise anyone thinking about using Empire to find another company.
Just had carpet installed from Empire and it has been a terrible experience. The first installation crew was less than professional and only one guy spoke broken English. They damaged a heat vent by severely bending it in with their stretcher and then claimed it was like that when they got there. They tried bending it back and anyone knows bent metal cannot be returned to its original smooth finish. It will have to be replaced
The upper hallway was pieced together in three pieces which I was never told would be done. They cut the carpet around the mantel when I specifically asked that it be placed underneath it. There was a gap between the carpet and the mantel. They left a mess in the hallway and never put the furniture back as I was promised. I thought they were taking their tools out to the truck and were coming back in to move the furniture but they just left.
I had a second crew here yesterday to fix the carpet where there was a gap by the mantel. The customer service rep told me they would replace the whole strip since that is where the seam is and they would only need a strip 4′ x 20′ and it was from the same roll so it would match. When the crew got here they said they couldn’t guarantee the color would match and that the seam may not meld well since the carpet had been in place for 3 days. I told him it really hadn’t been walked on in that area and he said it didn’t matter. I didn’t want to take the chance that the color wouldn’t match so they stretched the carpet by the mantel to eliminate the gap. The carpet does look better, however the guy took several gouges out of the oak mantel with the tool he used to tuck the carpet edges back under the trim and the mantel. I called customer service and now they need to send someone out to repair the mantel.
The second crew knew nothing about the carpet in the hallway being replaced so after talking with customer service again yesterday I am now waiting today for yet a third crew to arrive and replace the piecemeal job in the hallway. The customer service rep guaranteed that I would be the first appointment of the day and it is 11:00 and they haven’t arrived. I called the general customer service number to find out where they are. After being on hold she told me that the driver left his phone at home and she couldn’t get in contact with him (how did she know he left his phone at home if he didn’t have a phone to let her know that?). I am tempted if/when they show up to tell them to just go away as I am worried what they might damaged today.
I think it is ridiculous it has taken 3 appointments and things still may not be right. In addition I have to schedule to have a furniture repair company come out to fix the mantel. I would recommend anyone considering new carpet stay away from Empire unless you have a ton of free time to sit around waiting for them to keep coming back, trying to get it right. Needless to say, I will never use Empire again.
I love these people on here babbling about things they dont know anything about…for starters you will find bad experiences with any company especially a multi million dollar company like home depot or empire today…some people have bad experiences and when you do over 1000s of jobs a day its going to happen. Empire (i personally can speak for) will do everything ton rectify a bad experience..that is an advantage of using subcontractors..the installers are “the little guy” but thy are forced to play by the rules of the big company so if there is a problem the contractors fix it or they pay for someone else to fix it. so its in there best interest to do it rignt the first time. my favorite statement is the one that empire doesnt pay the installers well.. they are all contractors, that are incorporated, with insurance and back round checked, I do payroll for empire..they are paid very well. As for those who say that empire doesnt pay alot on advertising why dont you try to get one of the TV stations to do a “shame on you” or “help me howard” on Empire..see how far you get…i wonder why that is???
To HomeImp,
Your pathetic lack of English grammar and syntax leaves me with no other conclusion than to simply avoid Empire. I was already leaning that way after I read *every single post here*. However, after your post started with “I love these people on here babbling…” and then continued to devolve, I am left with one question: did you actually think you were performing anything but a disservice to Empire?
Have a nice day. I’m going to get some estimates from “a little guy”, HD and Lowe’s. I won’t even waste my time with Empire. And I have you, HomeImp, to thank!!
“The best thing to do is to find a smaller floor company in your area get an estimate from them and then take the sample to a bigger store and compare there price to the same carpet.”
That is an impossibility. The industry makes it impossible to compare carpet from one store to another. From what I can tell, the only places where it’s relatively easy to get the technical specifications on any carpet is at Home Depot or Lowe’s. I have had zero luck getting technical specs outside of these store, doesn’t matter if it’s Empire, Carpet One, or the two local shops I tried. The stores always claim that they would have to call the mill. Really, does it change that frequently? Why don’t they have that information on hand already? None of them get back to me with the proper info either, but phone calls to see if I’m ready to order are in no short supply. One store showed me “Painter’s Pallet” by Mohawk. Google provided some wholesale prices, but nothing in terms of specs.
As an engineer, I’m hung up on knowing the “specs.” Sure, some might not find it that important, but I don’t intend to buy any carpet when I don’t have that info.
That’s why my experience has been frustrating so far. I need just over 1000 sq ft installed and have all the furniture out and have already done the take-up and prep (as I knew I needed to do some sub-floor repairs). Rolling the dice with a HD or Lowe’s installer is not something I care to do and in addition I know I’ll be paying an arm and a leg for labor. It’s plain silly to think that either store will only pay an installer $199 to carpet 1000 sq ft. The cost is buried in the price of the carpet. Since my install is simple (very basic, three seams, existing tacks, no steps, no furniture, no take-up) I would like to limit the cost of install to the basic average of $4 sq yard (that’s the research I’ve done anyways).
HD and Lowe’s won’t break out their hidden labor costs, and the small companies don’t like to pony up carpet specs. It’s a lose, lose for the customer.
I have used Empire twice and very happy each time. Measure one day and install the next—you can not beat that.
I did ask HD to give me a quote and they had a week delay before someone could come measure, then 2 more weeks after than before they could install.
Its very interesting to note that small installers always try to point out that home depot uses seconds and your going to get ripped off. They use that to justify their higher prices, never mind that you can’t tell whether the carpet you got is seconds or not, and in fact in many instances, they’ll use the same carpet and suppliers as home depot and maximize their profit on your install.
I’ve dealt with Home Depot on the business side and they have low prices because they squeeze their suppliers. They have buying power, like Walmart, and get the best deals from suppliers. Mom and Pop shops simply can’t get the same deal. So what do they do? They make claims about the quality of the carpets coming from Home Depot and tell you to trust them because they have been installing for so long. And installation isn’t rocket science…it doesn’t take a PHD to install carpet and certainly not 10 years of experience.
The bottom line is that its a business and those small shops can’t get the same deals from suppliers that Home Depot gets. Because of that, they’ll give you cheaper materials to try to match the home depot prices. If they can give you the same “seconds” at the same price as Home Depot, go for it! I told my mom and pop shop that I don’t care if home depot sells seconds, I’m carpeting a basement have pets and kids, and I WANT seconds if it gets the price down. But they couldn’t match it… instead they just point out how bad home depot is. Put your money where your mouth is- offer the same products at the same prices and that will lend some credibility to claims like Tony’s. Offer us seconds, we’ll take them.
If you want to save money do your home work. I did! Nylon is the best fiber… Period. You folks that fall for HD or Empire have spent 40-50 % more money than you needed. Remember you the end user are paying for the massive ad campaigns put on by these two companies. There are smaller companies out there that have lower overhead. If you get a bid from them you’ll find they are very competitive. Look in the phone book and check out a company called ” Carpet Direct” . I saved 40% over Home Depot and got the “same” carpet from Carpet Direct for $18.99/sy and Home Depot was selling it for $32/sy. Even with Home Depots $97 install Carpet Direct beat them. It broke down to be installed $29/sy with Carpet Direct and $46/sy with Home Depot.
Empire is a rip off!!!
They came out to my mom’s home and WOULD NOT give her the square footage of her house and the carpeting price per square foot! Then when we insisted they finally, DAYS later, gave us the info. We measured the house ourselves. THEY OVER MEASURED BY OVER 700 SQUARE FEET TO JUSTIFY THEIR NUMBERS! They lowered their price from over $6,000 down to just over $3,500 but it was too late. They are crooks! Never buy carpeting from ANY company without knowing the square footage and measuring you’re home YOURSELF.
30 years ago I had a small chain store carpet my house for $3,000 (living room, dinning room, 3 bedrooms, hall or 155 yards). 10 years ago, I had the carpet replaced by a minority company for $2,000 (carpet holding up well and service was terrific). I compared the cut pieces of the new and old carpet and they were nearly identical. Empire came over today, July 9, 2010 to do my small recreation room (the rest of the floor would be ceramic tile), 14 x 18 ft with very similar carpet for $1,877. Replace the hall way carpet up stairs for $799. He never mentioned taxes, type of padding, or the merits of different carpeting because I told him I would not buy until I finished remodeling the the recreation room. The salesman was a bit miffed. I can have nice ceramic tile installed for about $6 a sq. ft. (wood floor kitchen and hall included screwed on 4 inch centered cement board and glued) as compared with the Empire $7.66 (not counting tax etc. and I did not think of negotiating) and get a very nice area rug for a few hundred bucks. Then I won’t ever have to worry about moisture on the concrete floor either. By doing the math, it is obvious that the salesman gets you for what ever he can. In my case, I think he could high ball me because I have a very expensive looking kitchen with counter to cabinet granite back splash, ceramic tile floor, stainless appliances, etc. By shopping for the expensive kitchen, I paid 1/2 of what a cheap kitchen would cost. This is a buyers market. It pays to shop and they get you on what you do not know. Also, it is very hard to compare apples to apples. The real killer is not the materials but the labor. For example, I had a contract for my kitchen itemized where they wanted $195 to “disconnect stove, sink (no disposal), refrigerator. To be removed by others.” If I did not have it in print, I would not believe it.
I can comment on Empire carpets. At least in the North East Ohio area. I have been in the industry for over 30 years. I did work for Empire with in the past year just to learn about all their gimmicks. The sales gimmicks that they want you to use are not good. they were very hesitant about hiring me but I am glad that they did.
They said that they wanted fresh minded people that knew very little about carpet and floorcovering. Know one should ever call Empire first. You should call at least 2 other retailers then call Empire or visit HD. You should hold out until the in home sales person makes at least 4 calls to his boss. They will offer to give you a discount by taking photos for their photo album or put a yard sign in front of your home. They carry gift certificates that will magically appear. If you hold out you can get a great deal. The sales person will get a real ear full at the next sales meeting but that sales person will move on and you will be satisfied.
I deal with local distributors that can cross reference any style out there.
One way or another all the private labeled carpet comes from the same place.
I did sell to many people during my few months with the company. I always gave the bottom line best price and made very little. The company did not like it but I could not see ripping off the people.
I am certified many times over and have sold and installed thousands of jobs for over 30 years. It is sad that times have changed to the point that large big box type stores and in home retailers with old Kirby sales tactics confuse the average consumer.
If people would just shop at their local retailers they would get good service and fair priceing. The local stores know that they need to compete and will give you the best deal.
Empire did not like that I broke down all of my own measurments. I was able to cut out all the waste on a job that they wanted to charge money for. Also we were not supposed to give out the job size or leave any samples.
I gave the company only one of my personal customers from way back.
The job was a carpet job valued at just over $1400.00 my commission was less then $35.00. My customer got a great deal but was unhappy with the installation. I went and fixed the job myself.
BUYER BEWARE. SHOP AT YOUR LOCAL RETAILER FIRST!!!!!
I bought carpet from H.D, it was installed by Carpet-Pros. The job was ok but one of the worker’s stole my check book and a box of check’s also credit card’s and some important paper’s. No one else was in the house. When I called the business center manger, Jennifer Hardy, it was like, too bad, you can file a police report if you want. I was also not left any of the unused carpet. It has been a busy week getting everything canceled and closing bank account’s. Don’t use Carpet-Pro’s…
I’m very glad I found this blog as we just ordered from Empire last night. We had a local small company come out, and while A LOT cheaper – it was a crap quality carpet. (Husband was the only one home during that meeting – so sandpaper carpet was ok with him for the price he was quoted.)
I called Empire, they were on time to the appointment and I feel as if we got a good deal. Not only will the installers pull up and dispose of the existing carpet, they are removing baseboards and reinstalling, tack strips are included and they are moving all of the furniture… Yes, it was more that I had intended to spend… But it is always nicer carpet than I had planned on putting in an upstairs game room and 2 bedrooms for my children. (oh, and stairs that WE built – which are not perfect in the least)…
I’ll come back to this blog once it is installed on Thursday, but I am quite confident that I’ll be happy with the install – and the carpet.
Don’t fall for Home Depot’s $199 deal. First there are hidden costs. In the final bill, they will charge you $45 for “removal of shrinkwrap that the carpet comes in”, and even if you ask, the installers will refuse to leave the shrinkwrap (which may at most amount to a plastic shopping bag, ridiculous) because it’s part of their cut from HD. Plus, they oversell you carpet, by as much as 30% (on top of the regular 10%-15% ). Plus the installers have a deal with HD that they charge you for the same amount of underlay as the carpet, no matter what (esp with stairs and irregular installations, actual underlay is much less than carpet, as it doesn’t need to be cut from a single roll as the carpet plus not all areas are underlaid). Not only that, but the installers refuse to leave you any leftover underlay (which you paid for) because they go around and use it in another job. It’s a scam arrangement between HD and installers. Quality of job depends on installers, but outfits like HD usually deal with the most incompetent installers that cannot find jobs other way. All in all, stay away, in the end, you will pay 3 times as much for a half assed job.
I can’t speak for the Home Depot, but I just carpeted 700 square feet in my house with carpet from Empire Carpet. The price installed works out to about $3.70 per sq, ft. The carpet is a 65 ounce, very dense, plush premium carpet. They threw in an upgraded pad. It has a 20 year warranty and is supposed to last 7 years before showing any signs of wear. When shopping around, it is important to know the weight and density of the carpet, wear warranty, and stain protection. If you don’t know this, you could be comparing apples to crab apples. The Empire salesman started out very high, but I talked him down to about 35% of his original quote. I told him that I had an appointment scheduled the next day for another carpet company to come out and give me a quote. I did not have intentions on making a decision right then, but the salesman just kept lowering the price. I had already done some research and had a budget in mind. I think I got a very good deal on the quality of carpet I purchased. The kids and the dogs have already had a few accidents, and the carpet cleans up well. When negotiating with Empire, it is important to stand your ground. I have read a couple of posts that said Empire salesmen are not pushy. That wasn’t true in my case. They can be quite intimidating, if you let them. They tout themselves as the largest carpet outfit in the country, and look down on all their rivals. They say they can offer low prices because they buy up millions of yards of carpet and warehouse it so that it’s readily available. Make them eat their words. Do not take the first offer, and if necessary, make them call you back at a later date. If you don’t negotiate, you will NOT get the best price from Empire. Oh, and the installers were very professional and fast. They were like machines, working very efficiently. Overall, I am very satisfied.
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I am a small flooring business owner and can state emphatically that we work harder for your business, with more product knowledge and hiring only the best installers, and yes, we can compete price, we just can’t install the product next day, I order from the mill and it takes about a week for material to arrive ( as long as there is mill stock ), with every job I install bearing my companies name and reputation, I strive for complete customer satisfaction, depending on referrals more than the corporate giants, we definitely care more about you the consumer than the big guys.
Sounds like secret is to get price from Home Depot, then tell them you just want the carpet, that you have son-in-law that will do the installing. In this economy there must be many installers you could get to measure and install for you, then you get best carpet price, installer cuts out middle man and gets to keep all the installing money and you get the carpet you want and get a good guy to install it. Maybe too naive, and you’d have to know someone who knows someone who actually can install for you and do a good job.
I USED TO BE AN ESTIMATOR IN NORTH GEORGIA. I WENT UP AGAINST ALL OTHER LOCAL COMPETITORS AND HEARD A LOT OF HORROR STORIES ABOUT EMPIRE, AND EXPERIENCED A FEW TOO. CUSTOMERS WOULD TELL ME OF THIER EXPERIENCES WITH HOME DEPOT, LOWES, AND OTHER LOCAL SMALLER COMPANIES, OUR COMPANY AS WELL AS THE OTHERS WILL HAVE A SMALL PROBLEM NOW AND AGAIN U WETEN TO RESOLVE THEM AND LEAVE THE CUSTOMER SATISFIED AND HAPPY TO RETURN TO US IN THE FUTURE FOR MORE FLOORING. I WENT TO THE HOME OF A YOUNG WIDOW WITH A YOUNG SON. HER HUSBAND HAD JUST PASSED AWAY. SHE WAS LIVING ON HER INCOME ALONE. SHE NEEDED LAMINATE FLOORING INSTALLED IN HER HOME, HER SON HAD ALLERGIES TO THE DIES IN CARPET SO SHE WANTED IT REMOVED. EMPIRE WAS THE FIRST TO QUOTE HER AN ESTIMATE. THE YOUNG LADY SHARED WITH ME HER EXPERIENCE WITH THE SALESMAN. HE COMPLETED HIS MEASURING AND PRPARED HIS ESTIMATE ON SITE. HE PRESENTED HER WITH A QUOTE OF $12,000.00 THIS PRICE INCLUDED REMOVAL AND INSTALLATION AND QUARTER ROUND, ALSO MOVING AND REPLACING FURNITURE. THE YOUNG LADY TOLD THE SALESMAN THAT THE PRICE WAS TOO HIGH FOR HER, AFTER REASSESING HIS QUOTE HE CAME BACK WITH AN OFFER OF AROUND $10,500.00. SHE KNEW SHE COULD NOT AFFORD THE JOB PRICED AS IS. THE SALESMAN KEPT HOUNDING HER STATING THAT THIS WAS A VERY GOOD PRICE AND THAT SHE WOULD HAVE A HARD TIME BEATING IT. SHE REPEATEDLY TOLD THE SALESMAN THAT SHE COULD NOT AFFORD IT. SHE EVETUALLY AKED HIM TO LEAVE. HE PERSITED ON GIVING HER QUOTES FOR LESS AND LESS, SHE FIGURED OUT THAT HE WAS TRYING TO GALGE HER AS HE EVENTUALLY GOT HIS QUOTE DOWN TO $9000.00. BY THIS TIME SHE WAS IN TEARS BECAUSE THE SALESMAN WOULD NOT LEAVE. SHE FINNALY HAD TO DEMAND HIM OUT OF HER HOME. I CAME OUT A DAY OR TWO LATER AND MY QUOTE WAS AROUND $6000.00 FOR THE SAME QUALITY MATERIAL AND LABOR CHARGES. SHE WAS VERY SATISFIED WITH THE PRICE AND MY DEMEANOR AND GAVE US THE JOB WITHOUT GETTING ANOTHER ESTIMATE. I HAD SEVERAL OTHER EXPERIENCES WITH CUSTOMERS THAT HAD SIMMILAR EXPERIENCES WITH EMPIRE. AS A FLOORING PROFFESSIONAL I WOULD HIGHLY RECCOMEND YOU GOING TO LOCAL SMALLER COMPANIES AS YOU WILL FIND BETTER PRICING AND BETTER SERVICE. EMPIRE USUALLY USES HIGH PRESSURE TECHNIQUES TO SELL YOU AS THEY ARE COMMISSIONED SALES PEOPLE AND THEY ARE CONCERNED MORE WITH THEIR BOTTOM LINE AS OPPOSED TO SERVING YOU.
Sounds like Empire = high pressure sale, if u like to haggle this is for u. HD = hit&miss, install$ built-into carpet price so what? as long as you are happy with the total$, I actually like that they make it simpler. I also like that HD’s showroom has the carpet details on the back, you know what you are buying. I went to a local Century Carpet today and their samples don’t tell you what weight their carpets are am I just going to take their words for it? I suppose if you are the type who value personalized treatment and have lots of time, go ahead find a local dealer you like. Me, when a vendor is “too nice” to me, the cynic in me asks what am I giving up? I guess I am just the left brain buyer, the more number you show me the better, the rest am going to assume you are not giving anything for free. Repeat customers, how often does one shop for carpets anyways in one locale? Great if u know a good installer then concentrate your effort on purchasing the carpet, if no installer, tougher. In these days of outsourcing, am questioning how many shop owners can afford to maintain their own installers rather than contract out.
Called ET for quote during their “70%” off sale. Dude pulls up in his slick black Cadillac, blabs on a mile a minute, makes measurements, punches on his calculator for a minute, writes down incredibly high numbers. “Do you want good, better or best carpet?”, “Do you want List Price, Sale Price, or Install Tomorrow price?”. His quote started out between $5500 and $8500 for ~60 sq yards…. I laughed. He crossed those out and wrote some more. I laughed again. He said blah blah blah let me call my boss. Keep in mind that I have good ears and he was not talking to anyone on his phone. He wrote down some more numbers. Ending at $2900 for the same thing he started at $6000 including a crappy 4lb padding… plus my old carpet was already gone and tack strips still in place (i.e. simple install) You can do the math. I had to dismiss them just on general principle in that they would have been happy had I just paid full list price and made this d-bags Caddy payments for the next 6 months. ET just plain sucks. Use at your own risk and get fleeced.
So I am a little scared now after reading all these bad comments about Empire. I ordered carpet last night which is being installed as we speak. I am paying $3600 for 1280 square feet which comes out to about $2.80 per square foot…. the salesman last night was 30 minutes late which was really annoying, he came at 930pm!! Then he said if I purchase tonight he would give me 10% additional off so the $3600 was my total. He was pushy and annoying but I really wanted the carpet. I had another appointment today for Luna carpet that I canceled because they won’t come in and give me a quote on carpet that was installed the same day! I wanted to get another quote because the Empire guy said he would match any other price, which could be BS too. Did I get ripped off??
Do a search online for complaints on Empire Today! I have just read hundreds of online horror stories on this company!
Save yourself the aggravation and move on! We contacted Empire and the salesman “David B.” gave us a quote on a 64 sq ft. bathroom tile floor. He took some measurements and handed us a quote for $1884.00. When we asked him to break down the price he said he couldn’t do that. He suggested changing the pattern from diamond to square, and then he reduced the price by half!!! How do you remove 2 boxes of product and get 50% off??
The house is 10 years old and the subfloor and cement board are very solid. The sub-contrator installers showed up the next day, and started chipping at the tile. He assessed the job and told us he was only getting $300 for this job and was not worth it!!!
After partly destroying our floor he cancelled on the spot, saying it couldn’t be done without damage to the toilet and subfloor. We disagreed, we had a contract to do the floor, and called customer service. With no help the installer left. (Funny that he left his card?)
We called our salesman David for some advice and help us navigate through customer service, he said quote ” I am just the salesman” and said he would call us right back. This is 2 days later and he never even attempted to call.
After losing a full day at work for the installation and countless calls to automated customer service lines, a regional manager agreed to come out and look at the job “first thing tomorrow morning” to see if it could be done. We had to call to find “Orlando” at his office and finally just cancelled the job.
This company has no ethics and will leave you feeling very frustrated. I am happy we cancelled the job and saved ourselves any further problems.
Home Depot is a NIGHTMARE!!! We ordered carpet back in October. They set up a measurement which took a week to get the call for. They came out several days later. Then we were waiting for the call from Home Depot to come and finalize the purchase. A week later we called and they said, oh yes you’ll have to do that. ???????? So we head down to the store and sat for two hours with the sales associate. He caught that they tried to use the extra carpet from room 2 to finish room 1 which was a different color!!! So he did the math and made it work. Then we started waiting and waiting again. A week later we call and ask where is the carpet. Oh, it had to be ordered so that takes three week and then they’ll call and set up the installation. That took another week!! So over a month later the installer arrived and they lug the carpets up to the bedrooms and start calculating. Oh, Mr Customer, you realize that you’ll have 6 seams in bedroom one and 4 in bedroom 2 right. NOT!!! They screwed up the initial measurements so back it went. A trip to the store to ensure they knew we ordered two different colors and in the Deluxe, not cheap grade with the best padding. Yes sir. Waiting…. waiting….. waiting. Another three weeks passes, so much for the “Rush Order”. Then another week for installation. Its not been over two months since we first walked into Home Depot. Whoops….. Wrong color for bedroom 2 and cheap pile for bedroom 1. Back it goes AGAIN!!! Never, ever order carpet from Home Depot!!!!!!!!
I,VE BEEN SELLING AND INSTALLING CARPETS FOR OVER 30 YEARS SO I KNOW ! IF YOU BUY A SHINY CARPET IN A HIGH WEAR AREA THE SHINE IS THE FIRST THING THAT GIVES OUT THEY DON,T WARRENT SHINE STICK WITH LOW LUSTER . MORE IMPORTENT THEN EVEN THE FIBER IS THE PROPER PADDING I WOULD NOT PUT A FABERIC OVER A SPONGE IN A HIGH WEAR AREA HALF IN. SYNTHETIC FIBER PAD ON ENTRANCE WAYS AND STAIRS ONLY! ANY INSTALER WILL TELL YOU YOU,LL NEVER NEED A RESTRECH IAND WEAR WILL BE 4X GREATER DUE TO REDUCED SHOCK STAINS WONT BE ABSORBED INTO A SPONGE IF YOU WANT THE LITTLE BIT OF BOUNCE AND I MEAN VERY LITTLE THE HALF IN. UPGRADE WILL CRUSH NICLY UNDER FOOT COMBINE THAT WITH SUPERSTRAND DUPONT SORONA FIBERS SWITCH PADS FROM HALLWAYS TO LIVING ROOMS ADHERE TO HIGHT AND YOU,LL HAVE A WINNING RECIEPE.ROCCO CERAVOLO NEWLAW1234@YAHOO.COM ANY QUESTIONS.
Well I wished I read these complaints before I had my bad experience with Empire. Their commercials are absolutely misleading,you do not pay for two rooms and get the rest free, unless of course the two rooms cost 4000, dollars, which is what I paid for 4 rooms and a small hallway.I paid because I like the next days service, The Sales person said they have a team of people coming as early as 9.00am, and that will include the team, one group lay the carpet, and the other team move the furniture.Sounds great so far. Well my husband I woke early cleaned the house, and my daughter who was not so well at the time so just couldn’t out and about, so I booked us into a hotel so she would the comfort of an air condition room, this in the middle of the summer in Georgia, and simply boiling hot. At 9, that morning no one showed up, nor did they at 10, 11,12 o’clock, I finally called the sales agent, to find what happened, I was simply referred to the installers. I called the team, and was told they were on a job, and we can expect them at 2.00. I started ask about the 9 am time I was promised, but they weren’t able to communicate in English very well.Well now I had to change everything around, an luckily was able to do so without much problems. At 2.30 the installers drove up in my drive way, two very apologetic men showed up, and was genuinely sorry for the delay, and I realized they weren’t the ones at fault. You see that lie is something all the sales agents tell the customers. It seems the team had informed the sales agent even before he showed up at my house the day before. that their first job was scheduled for 9 am, would available to do mine around 2.00 pm. The Sales man didn’t bother to let us know that. Well I let it go cause at least they were there, I ask them if the rest of the team was on their way, as I was ready to get this thing started and since I was not going to be there as they work, I would at least like to meet them, before I leave perfect strangers in my house. Well they looked knowingly at me and told me that they are the ones to do the job, they were the team most likely this a normal sales pitch for the sales people to use. I suppose the agent didn’t really lie, as two can be a team, however I wondered how one person could move the furniture, while the other lay the carpet. The Agent deliberately mislead us in just about everything,they’ve lost my business for future referrals, I too work in sales, and I get at least 60% of my business from referrals, and that means honest and straight forward information on the products and features I sell. Well in the end the two installers who I might add are independent contractors did a remarkable job, and they were as tired as one can be, I tried to give something to drink, and they politely refused, saying they were fine. I wish I could just purchased on my own and just hired them to install it. I think this just is gimmicks by Empire and obviously with the knowledge of management.Their agent are snake oil sellers, lies lies lies.
Well, now I know not to use either Home Depot or Empire.
But what I DON’T understand is why none of you with true horror stories haven’t sued them.
Small claims courts are made for you. They don’t cost much to file a claim, no attorneys allowed, and, at least in my state, you can sue for up to $7,500 plus the cost of filing. These companies use these terrible business practices with their customers and subs for one reason: they pay.
If you really got ripped off (architect in MA, I’m talking to you, in particular) sue them for their misrepresentation and over charging you. If they started a job and didn’t finish, or caused damage that you can’t get them to take care of, sue them for that. If they claimed premium backing and you got garbage, sue them for that.
If even 10% of the people who were ripped off by Empire or HD sued, they just might have to reconsider their methods, because they’d no longer be as lucrative.
And, BTW: using all caps is seen as shouting. If you are in the industry, and want to look professional, avoid all caps, and use spellcheck.
I need to carpet my whole house except for the dining room, kitchen, and bathrooms. I live in Dallas, Georgia. Any suggestions of who to go with out here?? We just bought our house last October and have 2 boys. I need a reasonable price on top of good quality carpet that lasts or maybe even a different type of flooring. We haven’t decided yet. It’s not every day that the husband and I can afford to replace every bit of flooring in our house so we need it done right. We’ve never had to purchase or have flooring installed so we are clueless about what to look out for. I’ve been reading some of these comments, and they are very helpful! Thanks everyone!