June 2008 Archives

Dear iFLOOR,

Orville and I want to tell you how wonderful our floors turned out. Lou was the BEST in assisting us with picking the right type and color. He went out of his way to accommodate us and that is not an easy task. He was always available to us and worked out our changes in flooring very professionally. He is a definite keeper. Also, the installation with Taylor and Kenny went great, they too were very efficient, timely, and professional. You will get all our work in the future and we will recommend you to our friends and family.
Thank you very much, and again, Thanks to Lou, Taylor and Kenny.

Carolyn

===============================

Thanks Carolyn - The installation professionals and Lou the flooring machine thank you as well. They are a great team and the results speak for themselves. Spread the good word. Oh wait, you already are. :0

Thanks

I just wanted to send a quick note to let you know how pleased my wife and myself were with the customer service that we received from Rita.

We are in the process of remodeling and flooring has always been on the list "to do." When we were referred to iFloor by our contractor, we immediately visited the Tinley Park store. Choosing flooring is about as difficult as choosing our children's names!

When we walked in, Rita was ready to help us in any way. Rita treated us like people rather than a "sale". She walked us through the different types of flooring, found out what type of subfloor we had, asked other questions and then gave us her recommendations on what style, type, thickness to look for in a floor. When we left, we knew that we would be purchasing from iFloor because of the experience that we had at the show room!

Like I said, I just wanted to pass a note to you guys to let you know that you've got a great employee!

Sincerely,

Sean & Tarne
=======================

Thanks Sean - we surely know that Rita is awesome. And I understand how tough buying a floor can be. Although you are the first that I have heard compare it to the task of naming your children I do agree that it is reflective of a largely annoying process. The good news is that people like Rita can make all the difference in the world. Thanks for sharing.

I wanted to take this opportunity to let you know how pleased I am with the purchase of my Somerset Country Collection hardwood flooring. I needed over 1300 SF of hardwood along with the trim and a nail gun. Needless to say with that much flooring required I was bit trepidations about making such a large purchase over the internet. I began speaking and emailing with Eugene Rafer about the project and the various rooms and conditions I had and he was able to point me in the right direction of the hardwood that I needed.

The ease of the iFloor website also aided in my search. After much research on iFloor and after visiting other retail establishments to look at their products I decided that purchasing from iFloor would be the right choice. Eugene alerted me to when the next financing special was to start and had me get prepared by being pre-approved for the credit. Making the initial purchase was very easy.

After the purchase was completed the follow-up by Eugene along with Emma Linsangan and Sherryl Espadon was great. I knew exactly where my order stood and when to expect the various shipments.

I have several weeks of work ahead of me to get the new floor laid, but after completing my first room and seeing the beauty that it has added I am looking forward to the additional hard work.

I will definitely be purchasing more items from iFloor in the future and will be recommending you to my friends and colleagues.

Sincerely,
Tim
Leesburg, VA
======================

Thanks Tim. We appreciate your business and love to sell hardwood into Virginia for lots of reasons. ;)

Kudos to the team that lived up to the promise to serve. People make the difference!

Dear iFloor,

Amy in the Tacoma store helped us and she was great!!!! I sent her an email so here is a copy of that positive response, we are very pleased!!:)

"I just have to tell you right now...WOW, we finished late Sunday night and couldn't be more pleased, it is beautiful and went in with no mess-ups, mishaps, couldn't have been more perfect, and we will be back for more kinds soon. We have a kitchen to remodel...

Thanks so much for all your help, we tell everyone about where we got our flooring:) Take care!"

Again, Thank You iFloor

Sincerely,

Penny
=================

Thanks Penny and kudos to Team Tacoma for putting their name on it!

Dear iFLOOR,

I just wanted to send a note to comment on the help & service that Amir Jusic provided to my wife & I. We went to many different stores looking for the right floor & many stores had similar samples & prices. The help & service that Amir provided definitely contributed to our decision in choosing our flooring from your store.

Tasie & laura
Shelby Twp

=======================

Thanks Tasie. (btw - cool name)

Michigan is alive and well. Buy American.

Kudos to Ben, Orbie and the team at Harris bank to work together to help customers in the Chicago area put together great home improvement offers. http://www.harrisbank.com/

Come on into iFLOOR or Harris Bank in the Chicago area and let's help you improve your home.

Hi, I just wanted to let you know what an asset Jame Awasen is to your company. He is extremely knowledgeable about your products and answered any and all of my questions. He spent time on line and on the phone with me making sure that my order was right. I appreciate that level of kindness and commitment to helping your customer. It is not often that you get that from any business much less a website. Your prices were great and the flooring was shipped exactly when I was told. There was no problems with the shipment and my dad who laid the floor said he was very impressed with the minimal amount of waste. However, the best part is that the flooring looks beautiful down. It far exceeded my expectations and James did also. He was so very sweet and personable and definitely deserves an enormous raise. You really ought to keep him around oh and by the way I already recommended ifloor to a couple who were shopping for flooring in Lowes last week. Thanks for a very pleasant experience all the way around.

Sincerely
Julie
Kermit, Texas
===================================

Well said by Julie(except the part about the massive raise.) ;) Kudos to James. I especially like the part about getting customers in other stores like Lowes to learn about iFLOOR - Flooring That Fits - Life, Home, Budget.

Thanks Jim.
It has been a pleasure doing business with you. We were sweating this flooring decision out, considering lots of different flooring selections and trying to get this project done before we travel up to Maine this weekend and new furniture arrives! Once we decided to go with cork, we found iFloor online with not only the best price, but the best availability. You personally responded with sensitivity to our timetable and true professionalism. Thank you for that!

____________________________________
Robin

====================

Kudos to Jim for making a difference in Nashua! New Hampshire - Tax Free or Die. (Or is that Live Free or Die?)

I discovered your store through your friendly web site. However my letter is to say how helpful Julia Powell and her team at the Concord store were in selecting and ordering my floor.

I truly appreciated their expert advice, and flexibility in organizing the delivery.

Many Thanks from a happy customer

Vahe

=======================

Vahe - Great feedback about great people. Concord is a force in Northern California!

From a customer in Charlotte, North Carolina:

Steve,
I just wanted to let you know that my wife and I recently visited your store located in Charlotte, NC. We are currently in the process of buying our first house, and the one we are looking at getting will end up being a great deal, if we can resolve the issue of its old floors.

We have asked many friends, and even contractors, about the best place in Charlotte to get floors. A surprising amount of people kept directing us to a place called "ifloors.com". Of course, there is no "s", but anyway....

We looked them up online, and found out that they are part of a larger company, nationwide. This of course made us feel a lot better.

When we finally got to the store, we were very happy with our experience. Nate and Erik were both very helpful, and were more than willing to walk us through this process. As this is our first house, and our first project of this magnitude, we were both nervous and excited at the same time.

I have never done anything with floors before, and didn't really know where to start. I didn't know how much I didn't know about flooring until Erik and Nate got their hands on us!!

We looked at some samples at the store, and began discussing prices and timelines with Nate. Erik took my wife around the showroom to look at other options, while I discussed details with Nate. I insisted (against my wife's wishes) on going to Lowes and Home Depot to price out their floors. Lets just say I'm not emailing their companies to tell them how great an experience it was. Enough said.

I'm sorry to say that we haven't quite made up our minds yet on what we want to do. We have some unresolved issues with our financing and housing choices. One thing we HAVE made up our minds on, however, is that we will be buying our floors from iFloor.com, and we will be telling our friends about you as well.

I am in customer service, and sales, so I know how important these emails are. I also know how important having people like Nate and Erik represent your company is. I just want you to be aware that you have an outstanding team in Charlotte (minus the location), and my wife and I are grateful for your team for helping us with a major decision.

Thanks again,
John
=======================================
John I couldn't have said it better myself. The Kudos to Nate and Erik for delivering on our mission statement.

Just sharing some customer photos from a hand scraped exotic floor. Very cool and highly functional.

Exotics are going up in price now and in the fall as I have predicted for about the last year. The Tropical Timber legislation has finally passed and will become effective in September 2008. Despite our existing practice of sourcing from legitimately managed forests the prices are likely to increase as the supply of the illegal stuff (the stuff that they are stealing from rainforests) goes down. That is a totally good thing for obvious reasons, but as the supply is lowered prices will go up.

Just giving everyone the heads up!

More and more I see iFLOOR mentioned or resourced as an expert in print media as well as TV and cable too. HGTV, DIY, The Washington Post, New York Times and many more (see photo below) as an expert in the field or as a resource for those who need flooring education and who seek flooring that fits, their home, their life, their budget. (Yes I customized that to fit our tag line. Holy commercialism batman.)

Anyway i though it would be fun to revisit this topic just for a moment which just a few of the magazines shown below:

Kudos to the Distribution and Logistics team for really trying to do their part to reduce our footprint.

We have continually tried at all levels to be very conservative with our resources and that extends to how we dispose of things.

After a great effort by our Distribution team with help from Finance and even some volunteers we have seen a HUGE reduction in what goes into our garbage dumpster at our primary distribution centers. This has been a very impressive feat and is just the beginning.

We are hoping to continue to find additional resources to recycle even more of what we find to be "waste" and ideally prevent some of the waste. Although when you remove carpet, wood or other things from consumers homes that is a steady stream that will never end and that is why recycling can be such an important piece of the puzzle.

Today I believe they have organized a paper, cardboard, a couple types of plastic, wood and banding recycling programs and we are moving toward recycling residential carpet, padding and other large items as we continue to move forward. I am proud of the great work they have done! I think the wood recycling program is particularly innovative!

Here are some photos of what would have otherwise gone to a landfill.

From time to time it is important to recognize someone for doing the right thing even if it is not directly work related. Scott has been driving for iFLOOR for a long time and during his off hours he had a very interesting encounter as described below:

On August 8, 2006 Kent Citizen Scott Perthal observed Kent police officer Tami Honda as she made contact with a suspect. The suspect violently resisted officer Honda's attempt to arrest him striking her in the face with his fist. Office Honda used her tazer on the suspect, he fell to the ground, ran into a nearby store. The suspect left the store when he saw that office Honda was in pursuit. Officer Honda pulled her firearm and pointed it at the suspect.

As the suspect ran away from officer Honda he was grabbed by Scott Perthel. Mr. Perthel's statement to the responding officers described the scene and his actions, "...she (Honda) was picking herself up, trying to go after him and he (suspect) ran into me and I just wrapped him up and held him there until backup came." Officer Honda stated that Mr. Perthel had yelled to the suspect, "STOP!" and then he grabbed the suspect and assisted her in taking the suspect to the ground and holding him there until backup officers arrived.

Mr. Perthel jeopardized his own safety to assist the Kent Police Department in the arrest of this suspect. His actions not only helped detain the suspect, but also were instrumental in resolving the situation without injury to the officer or the suspect.

==================================
Scott is modest about his contributions. I think it is cool that he pitched in when others could have, but did not. If I am not mistaken Scott also has some training in some form of martial arts, which probably aided his levelheadednesses and ability to deal with what was likely a very odd visit to 7-11!

Nice Job Scott. Way to make a difference in your community.

Kudos to the tech and marketing team for pulling off a nicely executed site look and feel update along with some cool engineering stuff which you can't see, but it important nonetheless.

Take a peek at iFLOOR - Flooring that fits, life, home, budget right now to see what is new.

Hopefully I my plans will come together for a quick trip to China in the next couple weeks to see some of the best factories in the world and perhaps even check out some other prospective providers.

Below are some shots from past trips randomly assembled. If I am able to squeeze the journey in then I hope to have some new shots to share:

Although we don't want to waste trees by running hundreds of thousands of our new iFLOOR catalogue I did want to share the "pre-press" version electronically. More details to follow along with some edits, but thought a preview would be fun to share.

Below is a 3 MEG PDF file that you can peruse without killing any trees! Take a peek.

iFLOOR Catalogue.pdf

Another whirlwind tour to visit with the great people of iFLOOR. Flew out Monday evening and visited Balitmore, Parkville (MD), Wilimington (DE), Eatontown and Brooklyn, NY. Although the visits were quick they were great!

I will try to get back to regular posts tomorrow.

The West Roxbury store around Boston is a great store with great people setting new records.

I have attached some pictures that show this location which continues to make great flooring progress in the Boston market!

Part of buying bamboo right is knowing where bamboo comes from, how it is harvested, managed and otherwise cared for environmentally speaking.

There are lots of differences in bamboo flooring, but we want to be sure that we try to understand how to build the best flooring possible and in some cases that means you have to take time to go to the origin of the bamboo itself.

Below are photos from a trip to the Anji province in China.