So here is what "The Best" is, by their standards.
I scheduled an in home appointment for a quote for flooring. The representative came to my house looking like he had just run a marathon. His clothes were ragged, and he was covered in sweat. I get that we live in Arizona, but seriously, how hard is it to take a change of clothes in your vehicle, change so you look presentable, and can represent the company you work for?
Not only did his appearance stink but so did his attitude. I opened the door and he walked in, with no real "hey how are you" small talk, and started measuring the rooms.
We then sat down at my table, and he pushed what I can only presume was some of the top of line materials. For my small area that needed laminate (about 750sq ft) he quoted me nearly $7k!!!!!!!
Once I told him that is far beyond what I was expecting, he shrugged it off, and said "Ok well thanks", then just left, without offering any other types of laminate.
I found a like model of laminate, cost on it was around $1,600, so where exactly did the $5k in materials and labor come from????
I was hoping and waiting for a follow up phone call, finally after a week I got one. The lady to introduced her self and asked me off the bat "so when would you like to set up your installation?", I giggled and told her what happened. I did tell her, that I was willing to give Empire another chance, as long as they didn't send the same guy. I told the lady that I would be in work, so the guy coming to my house would need to call me (so I could leave early), and be as close to 5pm as that was when I finished work(I had a 3pm - 5pm scheduled window), she acknowledged my request.
So the next day I get a phone call right at 3pm from the same lady. "Mr Watts our sales person is at your house and no-one is answering"....."are you kidding me" I replied. I repeated our phone call and my instructions from the day before, she apologized and I told her to have the salesperson call me before he left.
He called me, and was actually very polite, I thought "finally, someone professional". He waited around for 5 minutes for my wife to return home. He went over some options with her and told her he would be in touch via email with a couple of quotes. Well sadly that was about 3 weeks ago, we have never had any further correspondence, via email, follow up call, etc, nothing!
What I find amusing is the first guy they sent, bashed the names of the competitors (who I will be getting quotes from) and said to me "you can read all the reviews on google, but its our BBB rating that really matters", well here is another "google review" to add to the list.
I work for a BBB accredited company, and how Empire flooring got the mark they did, is beyond me. read more