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I was just curious if any progress has been made by Heaven’s Best Corporate and LMCCA in regards to carpet manufacturers and their listing of bonnet cleaning specifically as a unapproved method of cleaning as it pertains to their warranties? Also, if I remember right, Heaven’s Best is the only approved bonnet cleaning process for Tandus carpet in regards to their warranties. If you go to their website though, it still says no bonnet cleaning allowed. Do we have any documentation available that says Heaven’s Best is approved to clean their carpet as it pertains to their warranty? Just curious as we have an existing commercial customer that is installing 30,000 sq ft of new carpet (Atlas is brand) and they want to stick strictly to the warranty for cleaning. We all know warranties are a joke, but customers don’t, even if you tell them otherwise. Bldg is a 28 story high rise and cannot be cleaned (properly) by a truckmount, so other 2 bidders will have to go portable route (and so will we if we chose to even resubmit a bid for “steam cleaning” only). The original bldg mgr we dealt with loved us, but the new bldg mgr that came on for our last 2 cleanings is a piece of work (I would use other words, but I like to keep it family friendly on the board), so we may just unfortunately wash our hands of this account.
Hey There Dave. Hope all is well in Denver
I’ve run into this as well on a couple of occasions. With one I went thru the warranty information and determined that some areas of the building may need to be cleaned on a weekly basis and other areas monthly with the whole thing being cleaned on a quarterly basis otherwise warranty would be void. Manager took the paper, crumpled it up and tossed into garbage. muttered about that costing a fortune.
I know not the answer you are looking for but somewhat related. Hopefully others may chime in
Dennis,
We said the same thing. They want twice a year for all halls and 4x for main floor and couple other high traffic. We said minimum quarterly for all and other areas more, plus pile lifting once a year, vacuuming daily by their staff, etc. Can’t fix stubborn/stupid…..I was just more interested in progress on the warranty front. As I said, we all know the warranties are less useful than a roll of Charmin, but perception is reality.
Very, very few customers know what is entailed in their warranty yet many, many carpet sales people sell the warranty as the main reason to buy the carpet. Quite frankly this warranty issue is hurting my business. I know of at least 6 customers that have called me in the past few months to tell me they bought new carpet and to ask if I can do the type of cleaning their warranty calls for. That’s just 6 that I know of for sure.
I have been selected as the recommended carpet cleaner to all the customers of the local Carpet One dealer. Needless to say business has been good. They decided to eliminate their hot water extraction truck and just let others do it. They like the fact their customers were happy with my service and pricing as well as the fact of the low moisture process. They don’t seem to be concerned about any warranty issues. I suggest getting in with a dealer and carpet layers if at all possible.
This is the file that I got from Corporate about Tandus. Cody or John may have more information/files to send your way.
So, here’s an article that discusses how almost every major carpet mill (Tandus included) directly says to not use bonnet cleaning for commercial carpet. Really need the mills to wake up and just hold bad carpet cleaners accountable instead of what they deem as a “bad process” (or bad “owners” that don’t get their carpet cleaned as often as they should). We have 2 commercial customers that are or have gotten new carpet this year. We lost one of them as an account (see above w/ 30,000 sq ft 2x/yr and 8,000 sq ft of traffic areas only 2x/yr, although we are ok with losing this one with their current manager) and we have another that will soon be installing new carpet (12,000 sq ft 4x/yr). Thankfully, the 2nd one realizes how bad the carpet looked before we came on and how good it looks with us, so common sense won out on that one when she brought up the warranty. Nevertheless, this is still going to be a thorn in all of our sides as we try to grow our businesses with more commercial work.
http://www.cleanfax-digital.com/#&pageSet=6
In case anyone is wondering, we bid high on the one as steam cleaning the carpet would take us at least 8 days each time. Funny part is, we could clean it 3x/yr all carpet, and 3x/yr traffic areas, and it would cost them almost HALF what our bid was for steam cleaning 2x/yr and 2x/yr respectively. Oh well, can’t change stupid.
Thanks for the article Brian. My experience with warranties has been on the residential side and dealing with customers that have no idea what the warranty entails only what the carpet salesman told them.
This is a sour subject for me because I to have lost some jobs as a result of some “implied” and/or “misleading” warranties and cleaners with OPINIONS.
Truth…
1. Heaven’s Best IS certified to clean Tandus carpets.
2. THE DIRTY LITTLE SECRET: Warranties are made for the manufacture, not the consumer. To prove my point, If the warranty says “cleaned every six months” and it is cleaned six months and a day, the warranty is no good. If the carpet installer(s) isn’t certified by that manufacture, Yep, you guessed it. Warranty is no good. If the pad used isn’t manufacture certified… no good. When we say “The warranty isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on” we mean “Getting the manufacture to stand by it”. It’s truly a joke. (If you wanted to read for an hour, I have more, but I think you understand)
To the manufacture, the “warranty” is worth millions each year, Because it’s well crafted to “releave themselves” of any and all responsibilities and accountability.
Note: To get “certified” is additional money maker for the manufacture!
Gordon,
I think you’re preaching to the choir as we all know the warranties are a joke, but the customer that is spending anywhere from $5-10k (residential) to well over $100k+ (commercial) is being sold these warranties by the salespeople. As they said in the movie Tommy Boy, “then why do they put the guarantee on the box?”. Same goes for carpet warranties. Until they remove “no bonnet cleaning” from their warranties, we are going to have an uphill battle. It would be a different story if the warranty just said HWE recommended, but when they specifically call out bonnet as a no no, that is a problem that even the best operator is going to have trouble overcoming. As an operator, if there is anything we can do (besides supporting LMCCA) to help change the carpet mills’ policies, I think we are all ears and willing to do it.
David,
I wish I knew. It’s like having a massive elephant in the room. Until they fall through the floor, they can do what ever the freaking crap they want.
Okay, perhaps the only way to compete in their stupid lie and deceitful game is to tell the customer, “It’s no fun playing a game with dishonest people. If I were to compete in their game, and still be 99% more truthful, I would say “”Who said anything about “bonnets”, these are buffer pads. (Correct?) Your carpets will last two to three times longer without the Hot water guys soaking your carpets, creating mold and mildew, and deteriorating the backing of your carpet so you will have to replace the carpet every few years.” “I’m your local guy here, that does live in our community, that pays local taxes and buys local groceries, that is seeking to make an honest living, and providing you the best cleaning experience my years of training has allowed.” “I understand this carpet is a large investment and I promise to help you protect your investment by giving you my Heaven’s Best!” And if you so incline, “Scouts honor.”I said this was a sour subject.
It is frustrating. Sales people hide behind the warranty and make the warranty the number one quality of the carpet and that is a sad way to sell something. Every sales person should be required to sit down with the customer and read them the entire warranty. I recently spoke with a friend that was buying a brand new vehicle and the sales person was closing the deal by saying how great the warranty was but he let it slip that in order for the warranty to be honored the buyer had to get the oil changed only at the dealership and only when the life of the oil was at 25% or lower. Bottom line is? Every warranty has terminology built in that is rarely read or understood and makes it easy for the manufacturer to not honor the warranty.
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