Substandard carpet pad?
This had occurred in the past, and we had replaced the sump pumps and employed agencies, such as Serve Pro to insure that the carpeting and padding were appropriately treated and in the nine+ years we owned the home, this never caused any problem with either the carpet.
As one would expect, the water wet the carpet and the padding. We immediately called Serve Pro, and as they have done for us before, pulled up the carpeting to expose the padding so that the extent of the dampness could be determined and set up high velocity fans. As the workers began to pull up the carpeting, which at this point had been installed for less than 6 months, large portions of the carpet literally disintegrated in their hands. In fact it occurred to such an extent that the workers commented they had never seen a carpet fall apart like this.
I immediately contacted Empire Today and was transferred from person to person, until someone agreed to come to the house to inspect the carpet. During one such telephone call when I described the events with the sales representative, I was told they are independent contractors and we cannot be held responsible for what they tell you. Two representatives from Empire arrived, a man who said very little, and a woman who spoke broken English. I was admonished for not keeping all of the bits of carpet and I tried to explain that there wasn’t much to keep as it simply fell apart into fibers. Given that the three of us who reside in the home are asthmatics, I was leery of having wet fibers floating about. I was also advised by these representatives to make a claim on my homeowner’s policy. They surveyed the damage, and took with them all of the samples we had reserved.
Despite repeated telephone calls to determine the status, I was unable to get an answer. After multiple attempts to contact someone, I was offered the opportunity to purchase the same carpeting again at cost. I declined that offer stating that the carpet was clearly substandard and I had no intention of putting it back in my home.
Through counsel, I offered one of the options reflected on the Empire contract, “to pay 15% of the total to cover the labor”, and I added that I would still pay for the carpeting on the second floor staircase as it did not seem fair to keep and use a product without paying for it, and “cancel the contract”.
We were repeatedly advised to make a claim on our homeowner’s, as if that would solve the problem of the substandard carpet. We repeatedly responded that in the state of Maryland, this type of water damage is not covered. Hence, that is not an option, and truly this is the result of bad workmanship and bad business, not an unforeseeable catastrophe such as a fire.
Finally after repeated messages and correspondence, we received a letter dated June 5, 2007, wherein Empire states that Empire states that its warranty expires in September, but there is no offer to honor it and that the manufacturer’s will honor its limited product warranty provided I “produce evidence that the carpeting is defective”. Any such evidence was taken by the Empire representatives when they inspected the damage months ago.
I have repeatedly made what I believe to be more than a fair offer. At this point I want the contract cancelled and all of the carpeting removed from my home. The sales person used deceptive sales practices in asserting the quality of the carpeting; Empire refuses to stand behind its own product, its sales representatives, and is only interested in getting as much money as possible out of people.
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