<p>Has anyone out there used Empire or similar next day service for carpeting? How was your experience? How do you choose carpeting? What’s in style these days? One friend mentioned that berber is out and textured is in. Does textured (the stuff with patterns of high and low cut in the surface) clean up well? Etc. Thanks!</p>
<p>I used Empire shortly after I moved in to replace some ratty carpeting in the family room. Selection was limited to Empire’s brands. The purchase process was quick and convenient, salesman was friendly and helpful and installation went well. I went with a mid-grade plush carpet (no texture). Only thing I’m not too happy with is the quality…fibers are already matting down in traffic areas after 3 years. </p>
<p>Next time I’ll do more research before purchasing carpet. My parents have had Karastan carpet down for nearly 20 years and it still looks pretty good for being nearly white color.</p>
<p>The closed loop berbers are out of style and more difficult to clean. I like the textured/patterned looks but I too am skeptical about how well it cleans.</p>
<p>We’ve used Empire twice. First time was fine, second time wasn’t: they didn’t have the carpet we’d originally ordered and tried to upsell us to something else significantly more expensive. Trying to do the upsell when they’d arrived at the job site didn’t go over well with us. We cancelled the order and looked elsewhere.</p>
<p>We won’t use them again.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t use them simply because I can’t stand their onslaught of identical commercials and therefore wouldn’t want to reinforce and support them in that. I’m so sick of them.</p>
<p>I recently bought carpet for a house from Home Depot of all places. It was quick, convenient, priced right, and installed professionally (not too challenging of an install though). This was my only experience with them though so I’m not necessarily recommending them but think they’re worth at least considering.</p>
<p>Lowe’s has about at least a dozen rolls of various carpets in stock. I purchased from them and had it installed fairly quickly.</p>
<p>^^ The Home Depot one I bought was in stock as well and hence could be installed quickly. They have a far larger choice of carpets that aren’t in stock and take some time to schedule for installation.</p>
<p>I checked Lowes as well and they were about the same as far as how their carpet department worked but slightly more expensive, as is usually the case, but I liked the particular carpet at HD better for this one house.</p>
<p>I’ve carpet at home depot. They were very quick and it came out looking really well.</p>
<p>That being said, most of the rooms at my house i’ve torn up the carpet and gone with the natural hard wood floors.</p>
<p>Thanks folks! I am glad to hear about the good experiences with Home Depot. They would probably be the easiest ones to deal with since we have one close at hand. I have liked their selection but was unsure of the quality. Good to hear you’ve been happy with their service. Will choose them over the other. The smaller places seem to be wayyyy more expensive.</p>
<p>Costco,if you’re a member… great service and price.</p>
<p>Will any place move the furniture before/after installing, or do I have to do that myself?</p>
<p>^^ The installers for the HD carpet I recently bought would have moved furniture but at an extra cost. My W and I moved it ourselves in a short amount of time and it was no big deal and worth the savings but this varies with every install I’m sure.</p>
<p>Make sure you ask the question if you want them to move the furniture and factor that into the overall cost since one place might charge more than another.</p>
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<p>I have no idea if Empire carpets are any good or a good value.
But please be forewarned of the following:</p>
<p>Empire is an in-home sales outfit, much like window replacement companies, siding, etc.
The salesman will come to your house and will use high-pressure tactics … "if you place an order now I can cut the price … " Etc.</p>
<p>They will often insist that both husband and wife are there for the demo and sales pitch (if married of course) especially if there is going to be any financing.</p>
<p>Even without that, they still don’t want one spouse to come home later that night or the next day and say "You bought what!?</p>
<p>In most states (if not all) you have a 72-hour period to cancel the order.</p>
<p>Personally, I’d rather make any big purchase on my time, away from the house.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Home Depot, at least in my area, doesn’t have its own installers, but contracts out the work to local firms, whose performance varies a lot. I used HD for carpeting once. There were delivery delays and then the installers were difficult to schedule. I generally prefer to support local small businesses when I can, finding them more accessible and accommodating. I think this area can be a “you get what you pay for” proposition.</p>