S Rao

Review of Empire Today, LLC

We are landlords living in the suburbs. Based on a...

We are landlords living in the suburbs. Based on all their advertising, we called Empire for an estimate on carpets and flooring for our Chicago rental condo. An sales consultant (Hal) went over to the condo and measured it and then sent us a screenshot with a one-liner stating that it would cost $900 for the carpet installation. There was no mention in the screenshot of what kind of carpet- quality or color, etc. When my wife called Hal and asked him if he could provide more specifics, he stated, that as a rule, the landlords should have been present at the rental condo at the time of his visit. On that call he was rude and condescending to my wife. We had to call Empire and their office apologized and promised that their pricing department would discuss all the details with us. They added that Hal would not have the authority to price anything out in any case.

A few days later, Hal was scheduled to show us samples of the carpets and wood floors before any decision on proceeding with installation. Instead, he calls us and says that the tenants and him had decided on the color and quality of the carpet and the installation was "all set to go." He sounded flatly irritated on the phone call and started stating some bizarre rules about how they never deal with the owners or the landlords, and that they only deal with the tenants! I reminded him politely that I would be the one writing the check for all the proposed work and therefore, I would have to approve of the specifics. He continued to sound irritated and we had to cancel the installation entirely due to his unprofessionalism on two occasions even before the job was started.

We will be looking elsewhere to have this job completed. Empire: one star for flamboyant promises on TV ads, incomplete estimates, and compete lack of professionalism of contracted staff.