Magic Carpet & Flooring — Local services in Norfolk

Hi! I wanted to offer my experience with Magic Carpet and Flooring here. After seeing recommendations for this company on a local moms Facebook group, I got my husband to set up a meeting with Gary about a month ago, and we planned on getting hardwood floors. Gary came out, seemed really knowledgeable and nice, and gave us an affordable quote. We told him we would call if we decided to go with him, as we had a few more pre-scheduled appointments for bids that week. Gary’s bid was the cheapest so we decided to go with him. Ultimately we decided to go with new carpet to replace the existing carpet instead of hardwoods, since our chocolate lab has a hard time walking on slick floors. We called Gary last week, and he told us we could come to his warehouse to look at samples for carpet. We went to his office, and honestly I should have known then to walk away. He didn’t get up from his desk to greet us, just gestured towards the samples for us to look at. He seemed indifferent towards us, almost irritated that we were even there. It took him over 10 minutes to find anything from our meeting, and he just found an invoice but no notes on our space. The way he treated us was night and day from the guy who came to our house a few weeks before. I shrugged it off though and thought maybe he was just having a bad day, and besides the price was too good to beat. We picked a color and he was scheduled to install the carpet this morning. My husband and I cleared the whole space ahead of time, and I got out of the house early with our toddler to get us out of the way. I get a call from my husband about 45 minutes after leaving the house and he said Gary and his crew showed up without enough carpet to do the job. Gary blamed us and told us we hadn’t asked for our whole space to be done, just part. He tried to say we asked for the middle of this space to get done, not the outer connecting two areas. This was fascinating since he had measured the entire space when he came out the first time. Any good professional would have just said sorry for the misunderstanding and made a plan to fix it. Instead he got angry and told us he didn’t have more of that carpet in our color, so he would have to order and wait for it to come in or we could pick a different color and they could do it today. We have 30 people coming to our house this weekend for my baby shower, we both teach and school starts Monday, and I’m 34 weeks pregnant, so waiting for a new shipment didn’t make sense for us. We decided to just go with a different color and get it done today anyways. My husband went in the other room to call me and send me pictures of the new color options and we decided on one. When he came out to find Gary, Gary’s crew was gone and Gary was about to leave. My husband asked him where he was going and said we decided to just pick a different color after he talked to me. Gary told my husband that he was going back to the warehouse to get it and couldn’t “just pull it out of his a$$.” My husband told him we were trying to compromise here even though they are the ones who messed up. Gary yelled at him and said he was canceling our job because of our attitude and we should find somebody else to do it. After my husband told me all of this, I called Gary to ask him what happened. He yelled at me and told me it was our fault and then hung up on me. So take it from this pregnant lady, who was in tears after getting yelled at by a shady Jekel and Hyde contractor, and do not ever call this guy if you actually want the job to get done. It’s not just us either, go read his google reviews and yelp reviews....you never know which of the two personalities you might end up with! If giving less than one star was an option, that’s...

Our real estate agent recommended Gary cuz of his great prices and quality work. He did offer a great selection, great prices, and quality installation. BUT, if you want good customer service and a contractor who doesn’t literally yell at you, hang up on you, and threaten you with litigation within 36 hours of not receiving final payment (due to not sending pictures of the finished job or offering a link to make payment), then do not call. I will NEVER work with Gary again from Magic Carpet! Our experience: initially he yelled at me as I was asking basic questions about hardwood installation and got very defensive, so I told my agent I wouldn’t work with him. She must’ve called him cuz the next visit to his shop, he was much more professional, so we moved forward and ordered materials and paid 50% down. We are a military family and the work was on our rental, so I actually flew down to meet with him, but we were out of state when the job was finished. He sent a text that the job was done, so I tried calling (Went to voicemail 4 times), 0740 next morning I get a short “need payment”, I texted that we needed photos, to check his phone, and send a link for payment. Gary sent the photos at 7:17pm, and at 0740 the next morning (now only 36 hours after the job was completed) Gary sends a threatening text about putting a lien on our home for non-payment. I decided to call his office phone, it also went to voicemail, but he called back and just started yelling and accusing me of being a liar and that he was gonna head right to the courthouse and put a lien on the house, meanwhile I can’t get a word in, and then he hangs up! I had my husband call back and firmly ask if he wants payment or not. He finally took payment!! We are...

Writing this as I'm wait for the installers, who were an hour late, take forever to finish the install. The initial interaction with Gary was good. He was friendly and personable. He came out the same day I called him and gave us a quote. He said to call or text when we were ready, so that's what I did. He set up the install for 2 days after I let him know we were ready for 9am. Day of, 930 rolls around and no one is here so I call and ask if we were still scheduled or if something had changed. Already upset because I had to leave work for this, and they are late, Gary says they are on the way and should be there shortly. When I asked if he knew a time he says, because of traffic I'm not sure but they should be there shortly. Another 30 minutes later and the installers show up. The carpet was darker than expected. The room needing carpet was a smaller room, 15x17, and when I looked out the window the carpet is rolled out in the middle of street and in 3 pieces? The installers were clearly having an issue with certain things which showed in their body language and their blank stares. The room getting carpet was pretty much a basic square with the exception of the fireplace. I feel like being an hour late is very unprofessional, especially when people leave their jobs for you to do yours and your late. The seam for the 3 pieces is very visible in my opinion, and the transition piece is way too thin and looks horrible. I feel like working on being more efficient and on time wouldn't be a bad thing. Yes the carpet was on the cheaper side for a decent carpet, but the being an hour late and taking over 2 hours to install such a small space in ridiculous. Would not use again...