Purchased LVP flooring from empire today less than 5 months ago. After installation the flooring was making a smacking noise when walked on certain areas. Upon contacting the installer they eventually came out and redid the floor. Myself and the installer noticed when they pulled up the LVP there were many many areas where these same installers did not properly lay the floating material during the original installation thus causing the LVP to make the smacking noise when you walk on certain areas.

Unfortunately after the installers redid the floor most of the original areas were fixed, but NEW areas making the smacking noise surfaced. Upon contacting the installer he came out and basically said there was nothing else he could do and that I would need to contact Empire Today. After contacting Empire Today they sent the installer out again who reiterated what he previously told us, however at this point he indicated the installation manager would be in contact with us.

Well the installation manager T. Boyd came to our home checked the floor with his leveler and indicated the floor was level and within INDUSTRY STANDARDS and there was nothing Empire Today could do except send a 3rd party associate to check the floor and this 3rd party associate would basically conclude the same as what T. Boyd had already informed us. Boyd did offer to have new installers come out (at the cost of Empire Today) and touch up the areas making the noise but also indicated we would have to sign off as satisfied the same day even though we would not have time to check the floor to confirm actual satisfaction. Meaning we would not have an opportunity to verify the previous issues were fixed and that no new issues are present. Boyd informed us if new issues arose as a result of the 2nd redo it would be a lengthy process for us to have those areas fixed by Empire Today because the floor is leveled based on industry standard and because he did not hear or see these issues when present in our home (after all of our furniture had been moved out for the redo it was difficult to point out all the noise issues). Our complaint HAS NEVER BEEN that the floor was not leveled but that the floating material underneath was not properly or professionally laid under the LVP once again, especially since new issues arose after the first redo.

Boyd tried to indicate the noise was the result of the floor shifting because it is not glued down. 1) we were told glueing the LVP would void the LVP manufacturers warranty 2) we were NEVER informed the floor would make noise due to poor installation of the floating material. The noise was not due to shifting as it was discovered within the first 1-2 days after install upon which we immediately contacted Empire Today within the week. We waited over month before having the installers come out to ensure the noise would not change after acclimating to our home and environment.

Please beware of this company while there is a warranty on the workmanship the warranty has a major loop hole. Empire does not care if the customer is satisfied, they only care about installed within industry standards. There are numerous other issues wherein I would have expected better from trained professional installers. after having installers to our home 4 times we only received 1 redo, because there are no major dips in our floor but if there is noise where the professional installers did a poor job laying the floating material you will have to accept it after the first redo because additional redos are nearly impossible as long as there are no noticeable dips in your floor. And any redos after that could potentially result in the same shoddy work and you may have to jump through hurdles to get Empire Today to redo your floor a 3rd time.
I will never purchase from nor recommend Empire Today to anyone as it is my belief they have deceptive business practices and use industry loop holes to take advantage of consumers. Nowhere in the contract was it mentioned the floor would make these sounds. No where in the contract did it state the floor would not be completed to customer satisfaction but based on industry standard. We spent over 5k to live the next 15 yrs with floors that make noise due to poor installation or we could pay another 5k to have another company come out and redo the flooring and cross our fingers that they have more professional less rushed installers than Empire Today, this is not acceptable.

I would greatly like to return this product and receive a refund but Boyd basically informed us that Empire Today would rather drag you through court for years rather than refund your money— according to Boyd there is basically too much work from past hurricanes for Empire and their installers to spend too much time redoing any home to customers actual satisfaction.