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We cleaned an apartment for a client that we have been cleaning doing for four years. They claim that after we left a horrendous odor surfaced and it will not go away. I recommended that the carpet be replaced because of its terrible state. About 20 burn spots and mass staining. Anyways, instead of calling me back they called another carpet cleaner for a second opinion. The new guy told them that all of the staining should have come out (i told them it wouldnt, I even tried several different things). He also told them that I must have left water trapped in the pad due to the way that the fibers were pressed down so tightly (yes it is berber carpet). The new cleaner claims this is the cause of the smell. Now I know i didnt leave water in the pad because I didnt put water in the pad.
I have no idea what the smell is. Unless it is something I activiated from the tenant that left who they believe was dealing drugs out of there.
The owner is demanding his money back. He scheduled with the new guy to clean it tomorrow. He claims he still plans on using us in the future. Honestly, I dont think I am going to agree to work for him in the future. “I dont think you will be happy with our system sir.”
Very frustrating.
Jared
Jared,
I wouldn’t worry too much about it unless this guy sends you a lot of business. As we all know, berber “crushes” and lays flat very easily, especially as it ages. That is usually due to the fact it is all or partially constructed of either olefin or acrylic, which both don’t have the resilency of regular nylon. Even if it is 100% nylon, it will still crush and lay flat if it is really old. The best the other guy will be able to do is get it to stand up…….until someone walks on it and it will immediately flatten back down. Myself, I would want to be able to attempt to clean it again before I gave any money back, but sometimes it is not worth the hassle. If it’s possible, I would tell the owner that you will meet him there after the other guy cleans it and then discuss whether or not you will refund his money because I’m guessing it will not look much better.As for the odor, if you did somehow get the pad wet and activated it, it should go away once the pad dries. My guess is that they will be fighting that odor for a while. Could be something the tenant left in the ducts, fridge, behind the fridge, etc.
Hopefully you have reached a point in your biz where you can comfortably tell someone in a respectful way that they may want to find another carpet cleaner. People like this aren’t worth the headache or hassle, and usually they don’t do enough business with you to make a dent in your numbers if you let them go. We’ve all been there and feel your pain/frustration………….
I would tell them that you will give them there money back if the new carpet cleaner can make it any better. Tell them after hes done you would like to see it. Most likely he wont be able to make it look any better.
The mysterious bad smell–reminds me of a story(true or not, I dont know). This couple had a really bad divorce. After all the paper work was done, the wife was allowed to go back into their house and pick up the items she got in the settlement. While she was there, she placed afew shrimp in the curtain rods of one of the windows. After a couple days Mr. X started noticing the smell(bad smell). He hired a maid service to come in and clean, then a carpet cleaner, then an inspector-to look under the house for a posable dead varmit. NOTHING worked. So he put the house up 4 sale. But when people came to look at it-the smell drove them away. He started discounting the place–still no sale. So after acouple of months the price was about half it’s value. The Mrs. X then made a low offer and it was accepted. You know this just peeved Mr. X-but what was he going to do and frankly the bad smell was now going to be HER problem. So he moves out and takes anything and every thing that is not permanant attached -even the curtain rods.
Now you know the rest of the story.
Back to your situation-do you want to keep this account? If the other CC gets rid of the smell and makes the carpet better, give the money back. And Im not one to just give money back, But-the high road is less traveled.
M
I’m sending the money back. It is a small apartment complex that rents to anyone with a pulse and it shows. There are only like twelve units. I’m done with them. It just isnt worth the headaches. I spent three hours there and only made $90. I did everyhting I could. Should they call again, i’m going to suggest they use the second guy in my nicest voice.
The hardest thing to do is to fire a customer. In my experience-there is a bigger and better customer just around the corner.
M
For us, the easiest thing to do is fire a bad customer…
I would not refund the money until I had ensured that the odor was a real issue…I would have thought you would have detected something while you were there. And then if there is an odor, see if the other guy makes it go away…If he does, then the money is his in a heartbeat, if not, try to help him out by using FAE, deodorizer, etc. to make it go away and be a hero, taking the high road.
Little in this business to me is more satisfying than making a problem go away that the others can’t…Even if you do not want to work for him again, you might want to work for some of those he might tell about you…
Just a couple of thoughts…
Once another carpet cleaner touches it – the refund idea would be history for me. Who knows what they are up to. They may seek a refund from him too. Maybe these are the same type of folks who go out to eat and complain about a hair or something to have their meal free. Hey, scam artists are everywhere. Can you say “free carpet cleaning”? ha I’d want to go and smell that place for myself and then have an opportunity to spray it down with fresh scent at least!
I agree no refund unless the problem is solved by someone else and the problem truly is in the carpet. I cleaned for a lady who had some of the worst filtration lines I’ve seen yet, I mean black and about 6 inches from the wall. I told her that those were not going to come out very easily and I would have to charge extra to get them out. She said not to because they were just going to rent the house anyways. I left and she had even tipped me because she was happy with my honesty and hard work. She called me a day or two later and said that she had a good friend who was a carpet cleaner who told her those should come out without any problems and that she wanted her money back because I didn’t get the filtration lines out for her. I told her that I could have gotten them out but she didn’t want me to for the price I was willing to do it for. I also asked her that if she had such a good carpet cleaner for a friend why I was cleaning for her, of course no answer to that question. I told her to have her friend or any other carpet cleaner see if he could get them out for her and that I would come by to take a look, make sure he did a better job than me and refund her money. That was roughly 2 months ago and I haven’t heard anything since. I would like to retain her business but not if it is going to be a haggle everytime. She obviously wanted to pull one over once she realized that she did want those lines out but didn’t want to pay for it.
People hire you and pay you when they see the final product, you know what kind of product you provide, stand behind it.
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