They promote free installation with purchase. Is it really a good deal or they have Free carpet/flooring installation at Home Depot/Lowe's (Raleigh, Wendell: wood floors, sales) - Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Cary - North Carolina (NC) -The Triangle Area - City-Data Forum. The Home Depot offers a stunning selection of vinyl flooring. Installation services are available for homes of all sizes. Licensed, certified, and vetted with background checks, our professional installers show up wearing an official Home Depot badge, so you’ll know we sent them.

What Homeowners Need to Know... Before Signing the Check!

Don't Fall For Those Relentless TV Ads about Free Carpet Installation Specials! The Carpet Professor Reveals Honest Carpet Buying information for homeowners. Learn the Real Truth about Choosing New Carpet wisely, How to quickly spot common retail Carpet Scams and make Smarter Carpet Choices!

The last time I checked, all four of these Giant National Carpet Retailers use OTHER companies to facilitate their carpet sales, measuring and installation services. That means if you ever have a carpet problem or complaint, you may have a hard time getting anyone to help you or take responsibility for making things right.

Did You Know?

Home Depot, Lowe's and Costco contract out all their flooring sales, measuring and installation services to different companies?
Empire Today REQUIRES all their salespeople to form their own CORPORATION so they will be Independent Sales Contractors?

What does this all mean to YOU the homeowner?

With so many fingers in the pie it is not too hard to figure out that you might end up paying way too much for your new carpet or flooring. These four nationally advertised conglomerates take a large chunk of the profit right off the top and then let all the other privately held companies and independent sales contractors each have a crack at making more money from your purchase by convincing you to agree to unnecessary add-ons and bogus upgrades.

From costly measuring fees to needless carpet and padding upgrades, from carpet and padding removal and disposal fees to costly installation extras and add-ons, there are plenty of ways they will make you cough up a lot more money before it's all said and done.

The Lure of a Great Sounding Deal...

Get Three Rooms for the Price of One!
Get 60% OFF New Carpet
Free Basic Carpet Installation!
Free Padding!
Low Price Guarantee!

Sound familiar? Get out your magnifying glass so you can read all the fine print on these great sounding offers. These advertised deals are designed to attract unsuspecting homeowners who would like to save money but don't know how to go about it. Unfortunately, these four conglomerates are heavy-hitters with deep pockets and have only one thing in mind: Making huge profits.

Both Lowe's and Home Depot have been spending millions on advertising to lure-in unsuspecting homeowners by giving away free 'basic' carpet installation. They make up a portion of the free installation costs with increased carpet and padding charges. Then they increase the add-on charges for anything and everything that is considered beyond their limited definition of a 'basic' carpet installation.

Their so-called 'free' carpet installation you saw on TV may not end up being totally free once their sub-contracted measurers and installers get a real good look inside your home. It's highly likely there will be numerous extra fees & charges tacked-on to your final bill.

Final Bill? Yes, while they always require that you pay UPFRONT and IN FULL for the whole carpet job before they will place your carpet order, the final bill comes on the day of installation when the independent installer determines that your job requires extra things like - hours of extra floor prep, old carpet and padding removal or dump fees, new flooring transitions, custom upholstery work for stairs, additional labor for moving furniture, removing and replacing damaged tackless strips, Nailing down a squeaky subfloor, repairing rotten wood from hidden water damage or any other extra fee for labor and supplies that they deem beyond their limited definition of a 'basic' carpet installation. Yikes!

These extras can easily add up to hundreds for extra fees & charges that you were not warned about.

As Gomer Pyle would say... Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!

What about Home Depot's Low-Price Guarantee?

They say they will beat any competitor's price by 10%, but according to their fine print, that's only on identical in-stock items. That makes it virtually impossible to substantiate a claim because they use private labels on all their carpet samples.

They change the name of all their carpet styles and colors to make it difficult (if not impossible) for you to comparison shop. A low-price guarantee sure sounds good until you read all the fine print. In the end... You Lose.

The Big Box home improvement warehouses have been charging homeowners a measuring fee just for coming to your home and sizing you up. From what I have been told, the licensed & certified measuring specialists they contract with... are required to measure your home using a 'special measuring method'.

Does that mean they add another 5, 10 or 15% of material to the total? You may never know for sure, but basically they want to make darn sure there is MORE THAN ENOUGH carpet to work with so they never have to worry about running short of carpet and padding for your home. Yet it still happens...

Over-measuring translates into you paying for a lot more for new carpet & pad then you might actually need. Adding just an extra 10 yards of material to your order could easily add $250 to your total cost of your job. Ouch!

Empire Today likes to attract customers by airing repetitive TV ads featuring unbelievable sales offers with next day installation. If you call them, they will send a sales professional to your home who will show you samples and try to 'close the sale' on the spot. Know this...

Are you getting a fair & square deal?
How long will these flooring products last in your home based on your level of foot traffic?
Are they trying to sell you a low-quality Polyester carpet and say it's just as durable as a Nylon Carpet?

These are just a few questions that you need solid answers to before you should commit yourself to buying from any shop-at-home flooring retailer.

All these retailers all use private labels on their products and use independent contr

Is Home Depot Offering Free Installation On Flooring