He’s on about 600 times a night. Apart from the phoniness, is it true that you can get your carpeting done next day? And…is the quality any good? Sounds like a scam to me>
I can’t bring myself to even call them. His pseudo-nice voice sounds like the type of guy that would have human body parts in his freezer and small children chained in the basement.
Probably kicks puppies, too.
Why not? You will probably get fucked on the price for the quality you buy, but there is no reason you can’t get the carpet installed next day.
I suspect that Empire has a ton of independent installers that they schedule as needed. I also suspect that if your appointment is near the end of the day, it will be the day after, not tomorrow.
FWIW my mother called a large chain carpet store for new carpet (many years ago) and it was installed either 3 or 4 days later. So next day isn’t that big a stretch.
I have two stories about this…
First a friend of mine called Empire, and had them install flooring for them, and they were really happy with the floor (and I must stay, it DID look nice).
Two, a bit more personal. I called Empire and set up an appointment for them to come give me an estimate. The estimate appt couldn’t be made for several weeks.
So from my perspective, their next day installation isn’t as nefarious as it sounds. Lie Rick said, most places will install within a few days anyway.
I remember hearing the Empire carpet guy and the jingle when I lived in the Chicago area over 20 years ago…
Imagine my surprise when they went national a few years ago. The jingle certainly brought back memories.
Anyway, I’ve never use them, but it’s certainly not a recent fly-by-night venture.
Empire is absolutely not a scam. There are pros and cons to using them, however.
The quality of the carpet itself is exactly the same as you’d get from any carpet store.
The quality of the installation depends on the installers. From what I’ve heard, they’re generally pretty good, but can vary widely.
So what’s the downside?
They can install next-day because they keep lots of stock warehoused locally. Most carpet stores (in the Eastern U.S. anyway) have to order the carpet from Georgia, where most carpet in the U.S. is made and warehoused. BUT–the big mills send one or more trucks up here daily. so the store receives it within a couple of days anyway. (If you multiply the huge numbers of available carpet styles by the number of colors in each style, and consider the fact that carpet is extremely bulky and hard to handle, then you see why it makes sense to warehouse it centrally.)
The only way Empire can reasonably stock it locally is by having a very limited choice of styles and colors available. It may seem like a lot, but compared to what’s available in a carpet store, it’s very little. Also, I’m going to guess that Empire only stocks the standard 12-foot width. More and more carpet is now available in 15-foot width also, which costs the same on a square-foot basis, and often allows for a nice seamless installation and/or less square footage needed to do the job.
And the local stocking means that they have to charge more for the carpet. Furthermore, the salesmen are (AFAIK) paid by commission only, so they can really screw with you there.
The upshot is that you can definitely get decent carpet installed the next day from Empire. You will probably pay more and have much less to choose from.
The advice I give people is this–if you absolutely do need it the next day, then try Empire. If not, go somewhere else. As others have said, most regular carpet stores can install your carpet pretty damn quickly anyway.
[post=6377415]Right there with you.[/post]
Way back when we had another thread about that old guy. His name is Lynn Hauldren. From what I’ve read in the link and elsewhere, he didn’t have an easy time of it in WWII.
Off to GQ.
And he’s one of the nicest old guys you’ll ever want to meet. My stepdad sings in a barbershop quartet and Lynn Hauldren’s first group mentioned in the Wiki article was like the world champion barbershop group for years and years. He comes around sometimes to the shows and is really down to earth and friendly. It mentions that he was an advertising executive, but for a time he was the go to guy in Chicago if you did radio ads and needed a last minute fix on your ad. He was already a very wealthy man by the time he started with Empire (also according to my stepdad, who also worked in advertising in Chicago back then).
Empire’s been around for decades, so no fly-by-nightness with them.
As noted above, the main trick in the “Empire today, carpet tomorrow” bit is that the local installer has to have the carpet in stock. If you want a beige plush or oatmeal berber, you’ll be in luck. Vary too far from the basics, and it will need to be ordered, but even that doesn’t take long.
The one fantastic point for them though, is they come to you with the sample books so you can throw a chunk of carpet against your furniture and walls and really see what it looks like, as opposed to looking at carpet under fluorescent lights at a store and not having any idea how well it will mate with your stuff. This alone is worth the price. When we called Empire a couple years ago, we had a strong notion in our heads of what we wanted, but when we laid the sample down next to the painted walls and existing wood floor, our immediate response was “ewww…” Had we bought from a carpet store, we’d have been in for a long-lasting expensive blunder.
Yes, I know you can check out samples from carpet stores. Been there, done that. having someone else do it is worth the modest premium. Actually, Empire quoted us less than what Home Depot wanted.
No experience directly w/ Empire Carpet here, but I have an “Empire Carpet Guy” bobblehead on my desk here at work (like this one) and I have a couple of friends that work in their advertising department, at their main offices located near O’Hare. They’re a decent company to work for according to my friends.
I’m waiting for Lynn Hauldren to host SNL.
A couple of months ago, my wife decided she wanted to finally get wood floors for our living room/dining room space RIGHT NOW. I’ve learned not to argue with her when she goes to that place.
So she called Empire, and a few days later a salesman comes to our house. Turns out he is a former student of hers, which kind of seals the deal. The next day, the (contracted) installers are there, putting in our new floor.
Pros: It was quick, and it’s a very nice real wood floor. It was somewhat expensive, but the salesguy got us a good deal on account of knowing my wife and it ended up being comparable to other places we looked, price-wise. It was a large area (>400 sq ft) so it took two days to complete. Oh, another nice thing is that they removed and carried away our old carpeting, and moved all of our furniture for the install (except they don’t do pianos or aquariums, of which we had both). Also we got 0% interest for 18 months.
Cons: I wasn’t 100% happy with the work of the installers – specifically, I would have finished some of the quarterround trim pieces differently, and they left a couple of nail holes exposed. But I can fix those things myself if I feel so inclined.
So, overall, not a bad deal.
I called Empire a few weeks back and a salesman came out that evening. He was extremely personable and gave me a good estimate and I told him I wasn’t in any hurry and I’d think about it.
He was supposed to check something for me and call me back the next day, but he never did.
I called him again a few days later to ask questions, and he brushed off my questions and made me feel like the first person who had ever had any questions about installing flooring.
I eventually called the 800 number again to try to get answers to my questions. They wouldn’t answer them. The salesman claimed that he had turned in that paperwork to the office, and the office claimed that the salesman had it.
Long story short, Empire walked away from selling me almost ten thousand dollars worth of product.
I really don’t know what’s up with them, but I think they’re whole business model is to sell to people who are desperate to replace their flooring really fast.
About 15 years ago I bought carpet from Empire. They came the next day to show samples. I was satisfied with the carpet and the installation.
There was a funny aside: they would have committed to installing the carpet the day following the salesman’s visit to my house (per their ad), but I wanted it installed several weeks later, right before I was selling the house. THAT day they called and begged off a few more days. Probably delivering on a “next-day” promise.
My only comment is that they shouldn’t have changed the name from “Empire” to “Empire Today”. The latter doesn’t sound like a service business name, it sounds like a regional tabloid newspaper.
Besides, it doesn’t fit the song.