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Empire Today War
I am currently in a war with Empire Today. I am so upset with the quality of their work and the quality of their product. We had carpet installed Oct of '08 and it looks like hell already. It's wavy, bumpy and matted. I am horrified to have anyone over to our home.
I wrote them a letter basically stating our dissatisfaction and they called Paul to discuss. They have offered us 25% off of new carpeting. 25% off of more business for them! We had the carpet for a year and a half and they think we are going to buy more from them? What a freaking joke! The war is on. Wish me luck. I am a very reasonable person when it comes to things like this. I am offering what I think is a VERY reasonable counter-offer which is 25% off of what we have already purchased.
Anyone have to go head-to-head with a large company? I'll take any pointers.
Re: Empire Today War
For anyone interested, this is the letter I sent to them....
To Whom it May Concern:
In October 2008 we had wall-to-wall carpeting installed throughout our home. One year later the condition of the carpet can best be summed up as an embarrassment. We were informed by our sales representative that the quality of carpet we were purchasing was superior and would be installed by professionals. We couldn?t have been more excited about how this purchase was going to improve the look and feel of our home. So it is out of disappointment that I write this letter.
Throughout our home the carpet is matted and in several spots it is bulging and rippled. We filed a complaint and had your carpet inspector come to our home to analyze the carpeting. The report came back that the condition was ?within normal wear?. It is unbelievable to me that after one year in a home where there is extremely light foot traffic, the carpet could be in such poor condition and be labeled ?normal?. The 10-year old carpet that we had removed was in better shape than what we have now. We were hopeful that we would be able to have this carpet in our home for at least that long but now know that we will be regretfully looking at purchasing new carpet again in the very near future.
I also feel that I need to bring to your attention, the poor quality of service we encountered. My husband contacted your office to raise his concern and he was told by your customer service agent T. Nguyen that ?waiting a year to call was retarded?. Clearly we expected more tact and professionalism from your company seeing as you boast excellence ratings on your Web site. I am sure that you will agree that this type of language supports neither your dedication to superior customer service nor your dedication to business ethics.
We had heard complaints from other customers of Empire Today but chose to ignore these warnings and felt that the complaints filed through the BBB were possibly unfounded. We now know that we should have heeded these red flags and considered another supplier.
If they're not moving on anything, file with the BBB. Is there a written guarantee of their product/services anywhere? That could help your case.
But definitely file with the BBB. I'm not sure what other steps to take, I hope others have better ideas. But good luck! I hope they just eat it and replace it.
I also heard bad things about them when I did an internet search. Unfortunately they probably don't care. I've heard that they do a lot of bait and switch and even some of their sales people have admitted to it.
I would just do a social media campaign and post their shittiness on your facebook, tell them you have a twitter account and you're going to blast them, go on every yelp location and biiitch, etc
Okay - this is crazy.
For whatever reason, a couple coworkers and I were talking about carpeting the other day. I think it was an Empire ad. One of them had a horrible experience with Empire and the other has a friend that had a similar experience. I was all 'I think a friend used them awhile ago and she was happy with them.' I remember when you had this done - I can't believe it was 08, but now that I think about it it was before Dex. Anyway... long story short, I've never heard of anyone having a good experience with Empire.
I'm sorry yours wasn't different. Keep on them. Definitely contact the BBB and let Empire know that you're going to the BBB. Basically, be vocal. Tell them that you're not afraid to make your story known. My guess is they're just trying to wait for you to get fed up and give up. Don't.
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Funny you mentioned bait and switch. Obviously when they come to your home you see a small sample piece for maybe 20 minutes and then it's gone. When they came to install, we both thought it looked different to us. It came in a broken down van with two assumingly non-Americans. ::sigh:: their carpet installer that they sent spent more time in our bathroom than with our carpet. Gross!
I need to get a little more fired up before I call them today. Thanks for your support!
Bogus meetings with their sales people is a VERY interesting idea! LOL Wonder what they would think of the crappy carpet we have now!
OMG that would be awesome.
Set up an appointment and possibly even record it (tape recorder - do those still exist? lol). Have them give you an opinion on your carpet. Tell them you recently moved and you can't tell the quality or age of the carpet and see if they'll fall for it and totally talk crap about your 'old' carpet. You could so use that against them.
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It may be illegal to record people without their knowledge but I'm not sure, I think that's just on the phone. I believe if they get in your house you could. I would set up a web-cam because those are easy to use and you could just leave your computer out on the coffee table. I totally vote for this and use a fake name since they probably have yours on file.
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keep us updated! and don't back down!
WOW. I like the idea of bringing them in to "judge" your current carpet.
Have you paid it all off? Did you do a credit card? Depend on the type of card you may be able to get the $$ back and have them take out your carpet. I know my AMEX is all about the customer and making sure they get what they pay for.
Good luck Gerrie! Empire messed with the wrong family!!
oh wow, how terrible! though I must admit, i never noticed that your carpet looked bad at your house!
we went "to war" with spirit airlines....nothing ever worked in our case though, just our refusal to fly them again, and even though we travel a lot, i don't think that phased them! LOL
i wonder if you are in some database where they will type your address in and know you are a previous customer when setting up a meeting? maybe give them an address that is just a little off of yours....but not a real address
and when they are lost and call you, you can give them the right one so they come over.
i hope they do the right thing, i'm sorry that you now have this to deal with too!