Moving Services Winnipeg
Hiring a Carpet Cleaner? Watch For These Six Red Flags
Over my 25 year career as a carpet cleaner, my clients have constantly told me how tough it is to hire a carpet cleaner. It is unbelievable how many horror stories are out there. Maybe you have one to.
It bothers me to hear these stories, as it affects me and every other honest and ethical carpet cleaner out there. So I am fighting back. Taking a stand. I am revealing six big red flags to disqualify the carpet cleaner you are considering.
Red Flag #1: UNBELIEVABLY LOW PRICE. Who isn’t attracted to a low price. We all want to work within a budget. But some carpet cleaners use a really low and unrealistic price as the bait for their false and misleading advertising. They offer a cheap price-usually between $4.95 and $9.95 per room-and then, once they are in your home, they pressure you into buying “add-ons”. If you don’t buy the extras, you are left with substandard work at best. It’s as if you were buying a house and found the homeowner was charging you extra for windows and doors. Carpet cleaning is not as cheap as some unethical cleaners would like you to believe.
Red Flag #2: BAIT AND SWITCH. Dual process carpet cleaning describes the process of shampooing or heavy pre-conditioning, followed by hot water extraction cleaning (many refer to this as two step or double cleaning). Unfortunately, unethical carpet cleaners often use dual process as a bait-an-switch technique. Here’s how it is done: First they “bait” you with a basic cleaning (single process) at an unbelievably low price. Then when you call, they try to “switch” you to more expensive dual process cleaning. If you don’t fall for their switch and choose their basic service, you’ll likely receive poor workmanship using little to no chemical and they will not guarantee their work. An ethical cleaner will do whatever it takes to properly clean your carpet.
Red Flag #3: UNSUPPORTED CLAIMS. “THIS CLEANING METHOD IS THE BEST.” You’ll read this in almost every ad. You’ll hear this from virtually every carpet cleaner. Remember this: The method that’s best for you is the method that achieves your goal. If you want a method that dries quickly, then a method that takes a long time to dry isn’t best for you. So before you choose a carpet cleaner, identify your objectives. Then select the method that best reaches those objectives.
Red Flag #4: OUTDATED BELIEFS. “HOT WATER DAMAGES YOUR CARPET”. Years ago, many people believed this was true because their carpets were damaged by “technicians” who didn’t know how to properly clean using hot water. But today we know it’s false. By washing and then rinsing your carpet with hot water, your carpet is thoroughly cleaned-in the same way a person who showers and rinses off the dirt and soap will be much cleaner than the person who takes only a sponge bath is. g
Obviously, each carpet cleaner will be biased toward his own method. And each method does have advantages. So I suggest you look to what carpet manufacturers say. Shaw Industries, the world’s largest carpet manufacturer in the world, recommends hot water extraction (better known as steam) cleaning, as well as most of the VLM (Very Low Moisture) methods.
Red Flag #5: IMPROPERLY APPLIED CARPET PROTECTOR. Many carpet cleaners offer carpet protection as an additional service to their clients. This is commonly referred to as Scotchgard. Unfortunately some of the unethical carpet cleaners will spray on water only. Unfortunately this “Aqua-guard” offers very little in carpet protection.
Another problem lies in the technician following the dilution rates rather than the coverage rates. Allow me to explain. The label will instruct the technician to mix the product with water, anywhere from 5-16 to 1, depending on the product. However a gallon of unmixed product will usually cover anywhere from 800-1200 square feet.
This leaves the carpet cleaner with a dilemma. Following both the dilution and coverage rates will leave the carpet way to wet. This leads to the carpet cleaner not giving you proper coverage so as not to over-wet the carpet. However by reducing the dilution rate, proper coverage can be attained without over-wetting.
Red Flag #6: Your cleaner is not IICRC trained or certified. The Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification or IICRC, is the training body for carpet cleaners. They also set mill approved standards for cleaning. The training and certification you would want to see from your technician is the CCT, or Carpet Cleaning Technician. Even if there membership card is expired, it still indicates that your technician has completed two days of classroom training and wrote and exam at the end with a score exceeding 80%. However due to the constant change in carpet fibers and cleaning technologies, if the certification is more than five years old, they may need a refresher.
If the carpet cleaner you are looking to hire fails to meet the above criteria, do yourself a favor and do not hire them. Otherwise, you may have your own carpet cleaning horror story to share.
About the Author
Choosing a professional cleaner is rarely an easy task. Mike Norlen, owner of Midwest Carpet Cleaning in Winnipeg has made it easy for you by providing his free to download Consumer’s Guide to Carpet Cleaning. You can download it free by going his website now.
http://midwestcarpetcleaning.ca/services/free-consumers-guide
What international moving companies can I use from Winnipeg (Canada) to Cuernavaca (Mexico)?
I would like to know if there are any companies that provide international moving service from Winnipeg Manitoba Canada, to Cuernavaca, Morelos Mexico and estimated prices considering stuff for a three member family.
Thanks a lot!
Our neighbor in Mazatlan Mexico does International moves. Many satisfied customers. Website is below. E-mail or phone and ask about your alternatives.
NEW LOW RIDER TRUCK WINNIPEG
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As each moving company gives you an estimate based on what they see in your home, Moving Services Winnipeg leave the paperwork out where the next moving company can easily see it. Moving Services Winnipeg Ask questions about the difference in pricing since it may have to do with what services one company provides that another does not.