Riemer Floors, Inc.

Over many years of owning an historic home we have learned the need for great care in selecting contractors, but made the wrong choice of Riemer for removal and replacement of our kitchen flooring with Armstrong luxury plank vinyl. They disrupted our home for 6 days on a project with only 1 ½ days work, damaging antique wallpaper in the process. When we made our down payment our salesman assured us a carpenter would be on call to immediately inspect the floor following the quarry tile removal, and make any necessary repairs or adjustment to the sub floor. Delivery of materials was scheduled for a Tuesday, with a one hour delivery window, with work to begin first thing the next morning. I left work to be home for the delivery. The one hour window passed: no delivery and no call. A half an hour I called Riemer, was put on hold and eventually disconnected, I called back and was again put on hold, only to finally be told Riemer didn’t know where the driver was. When I asked if the materials could be stored in the garage so I could return to work, I was told they had to be inside the house. Over an hour after the end of the window the driver arrived and deposited the materials in our family room where we had to step around them every time we went in and out of the house for 6 days. Early Wednesday morning I noticed that the trim for the edge of the floor was several shades lighter than I had specified to our salesman, so before 7 am I ran out to Home Depot and bought matching reducers, so the job could move forward. The Riemer worker’s first step was to move our stove into the family room, where it remained for 5 days. His next step was to tape up plastic around each of the kitchen entry ways. He completed removal by late morning and told us the carpenter would contact us about the additional work. We heard nothing. Late Wednesday night the carpenter left a voice mail saying that Riemer had not told him anything about our project until late that afternoon. He came early Thursday morning, but since he was already booked, said he would be back Friday, He completed his work by late Friday morning and told us Riemer would be calling us about completing installation. Once again we heard nothing. By late Friday afternoon when it was clear that nothing else was going to be done that day, I removed the taped up plastic discovering it had been taped to the antique wallpaper by one of the entries causing wallpaper to came off with the tape. When I called Riemer late Saturday morning, no one seemed to know anything about our job or could explain why we had not been called. I finally talked to someone who said the installer would be out Monday morning and that a person from the service department would come and look at the wallpaper damage. Installation was finally completed around noon of the fifth day after our kitchen had been torn up. The service department person came and viewed the wallpaper and the warning «Do not use on wallpaper» on the roll of masking tape, acknowledging Riemer was at fault. He promised that Riemer would replace the damaged sections from a roll we had inherited when we bought the house in 1984. He came out 2 days later, looked at it again, and said he would have to rent a steamer, and we made the mistake of paying him. Apparently with Riemer, payment cancels all promises, because we have never heard from them again. We’ll have to take them to small claims court for the cost of the repair.

We didnt end up hiring Riemer, so I cannot comment on the quality of their service. My review is about the shopping experience.
Several people referred us to Riemer when we were looking for carpeting installation in our newly purchased home. We are not from the US, so all these home projects are a little bit intimidating. And when it comes to carpeting, we are no experts.
When we arrived at Riemer, we didn’t feel «the love». It felt like the sales associate was not interested in our business at all. We were looking for some tips, some consultation… But we got nothing from him. We had to do all the work. He came across as arrogant, not interested and not helpful. He kept on repeating how Riemer has been in business for very long and has a great reputation. Not interested in giving us a great shopping experience.
We anyways decided on asking him to give us a quote and arranged a meeting at the house. He arrived on time, but his «not interested» attitude was still present. He was even rude to me. When he was taking measurements and I was in the middle of the room, instead of asking me politely to move, he would give me a nudge with his arm!
He didn’t come up with suggestions, alternatives or anything like it.
We found out that carpets and carpet installation are pretty much a commodity, so service is the deal maker. Based on this, we decided to not hire Riemer.
On the other hand, we had a GREAT service experience at their competitor (Mc Leod Carpet One), who we ended up hiring.

Bad experience. First, the decided to show up 2 days late. Second, they smashed a painting and didn’t clean up the broken glass. Third they scratched my wall moving the roll of carpet. Their solution and customer service was horrific. Everyone kept passing the buck. When I finally got a hold of the owners — Paul/​Dennis they couldn’t have cared less. It was normal business for them.
I am usually an advocate for small business but this was terrible.

Lucky me, they’re open till 9:00 on Monday night. Whoopee. No fooball game!
Okay, so I hate shopping, but boy do I like looking for wood flooring (not really).
Well, we have a wedding to get ready for in September so we thought we would get the house ready for a lot of activity in the next nine months. We have always wanted wood floors so now is the best time. Riemer has the largest and the best selections for hardwood floors (carpeting too). We had a salesman by the name Tom, a name I’ll never forget. He was helpful in guiding us in the direction we needed to what we thought we wanted. They gave us sample squares (2’x2’) to see if we liked them in our house and lighting. Bring your sportute or truck as these wood floor samples are big and heavy.
We decided on the color, wood type, and ordered. Installed when they said. They also offered store financing if needed.
Now I can say I have a wood (y) and boy does it look great. Don’t forget to ask for all the finishing touches. They’ll know what they are to help you.
Now I have more work, painting, curtains, moving furniture, wow, I’m already sore just thinking about it.