Avoid using Emerald Flooring at all costs!
In August 2017, we bought new Armstrong engineered hardwood flooring from Emerald and hired them to install the flooring in our home. They used one of their contractors to install the flooring. After the installation was complete, we noticed that the wood had splintered in a few spots, and that the installer had used a black sharpie marker to hide the splinters. Seemed strange that he didn't point that out to us when he was there.
Then, about a month after it was installed, we noticed that the wood was continuing the splinter in dozens of places around the house. We were very concerned because we have little children in our home and didn't want them or us to get splinters in our hands and feet. So we contacted Emerald to let them know about the splintering, and they sent the original installer to look at the splintering. The installer said it was normal for the wood to splinter, and didn't offer a solution. We weren't satisfied and continued to contact Emerald.
After repeated calls and multiple messages left with Donna, the receptionist, we still had not received a call back from Jim, the owner. We continued to call, and even enlisted the help of our neighbor who has a family connection to Jim, the owner of Emerald. But still no action.
In December 2017, I physically went to their store to confront Jim and ask him to come to our home that day to look at the splintering, which he reluctantly did. After assessing the splintering, Jim ordered a new box of wood and sent a different contracted installer to replace the splintered pieces.
All good, right? Wrong! The wood continued to splinter. So we contacted Emerald again. After multiple attempts to reach Jim, he finally passed the buck and sent the supplier, Derr Flooring, to look at the splintering. The supplier looked at it and said he felt it was an installation issue, and said he would contact Emerald about it. Well, Emerald wouldn't take responsibility for the installation and insisted it was a manufacturer defect. So we asked the supplier to submit a claim to Armstrong.
In March 2018, the manufacturer sent a rep to look at the splintering. It took over a month to receive any word on the claim. Again, we had to reach out to Emerald to find out about the status of the claim. (Notice the pattern here? WE'RE always the ones calling them, not the other way around.) Jim never called us back, but had Donna relay the message to us that the claim was approved for a new box of wood. This doesn't resolve the root problem because the flooring continues to splinter.
So we requested a copy of the claim, which they said they didn't have. So we requested it from Derr Flooring. The claim was very vague and didn't specify what was approved to be done. So we called Armstrong directly, who was surprised that the claim was never provided to us in the first place. They said they would contact Emerald and have them contact us to explain the claim. Two weeks went by and no phone call. So we called Armstrong again. They were surprised that we hadn't received a phone call from Emerald. (We weren't.) They called them again and then told us to call Emerald the next day. (Really? We have to call them again? Shoot me.)
It's now May 2018. We have HAD IT with Emerald. Their customer service is horrendous. We have always been the ones to reach out to them to ask for updates, usually being told we’ll get back to you, which never happens. They're never prepared with updated information. Jim seems to always use Donna as the go-between, never willing to step up and take care of the problem.
We feel we received a poor product, poor installation, poor service and poor communication from Emerald Flooring.
Better Business Bureau, here we come!