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🙁 I was asked by a church to supply them with our cleaning solution so they could clean 150 chairs themselves. One way or another, they were determined to do the work on thier own. They promised to hire me in the near future to clean thier carpet (large church!). I was eager to help, selling our cleaning solution and loaning them my extractor. I was sure that this was going to be a great opportunity when I was greeted by 30 parishioners who thought I was their “HERO”. I spent about 30 minutes organizing the project and giving a crash course in upholstery cleaning. Once everyone had a position and understood thier task, at 7:00 pm, I drove 50 miles back home. Less than 5 minutes at home, I received a panicked phone call from the church explaining how the dye from the red chairs was bleeding. The excess “red” solution was dripping off the chairs onto the carpet, leaving a stain that our 20:1 would not touch. I was not worried nor thinking of color-fastness as I have never encountered a commercial fabric that wouldn’t hold dye. Does anyone have a suggestion on how to remove this dye from the carpet or am I SOL?
Brian,
I completely understand that you feel obligated and will try to get those drip spots out. However, if they don’t come out, I think the church is SOL, not you. They wanted cheap and they got cheap. I’ll bet they are kicking themselves at least as much as you are probably kicking yourself for having agreed to their request.If they had rented equipment from another place that normally rents out equipment, they wouldn’t expect that other place to come in and get those spots out. So they should be grateful that you are willing to try. If they actually think you should have anticipated everything possible even though you were not being paid, they need to step back and do a reality check. I’ll bet they are grateful for your assistance and I also bet they won’t hold you responsible if the spots prove to be permanent.
Some of us could say you were remiss in not checking for color fastness, but you are right in that it is actually rarely an issue. Besides, you were renting/loaning equipment, not doing the work yourself.
Have you already gone back and tried to extract those spots? It seems if the color would bleed out of the chairs easily, then it should come out of the carpet also.
Having stated my opinion, I feel your frustration. There is a lesson here for all of us that you have learned on behalf of all of us. Thanks for sharing your situation.
Please update us on the outcome.
Good luck!
Mike
😉 Mike, Thank you for sharing your wisdom and thoughtfulness. You made me feel better about the whole thing. I returned today and spent 8 hrs. and $100 in product, removing the majority of the dye. When I found our Pro-Spotter removed the dye, I started to pump up my cleaning solution until it started working. I ended up using 24oz of 101 and a prayer per 2.5 gal. of hot water. Worked pretty good. Cold water wouldn’t cut it. I was again the “HERO”. When I finished, they asked me for a bid to clean their entire church (12,800 sq.ft ). As I was walking out the door, another church called for a bid (4,200 sq ft ). Winter is warming up !!!!!!!!!!! Thanks again!
Brian: I would also like to express my gratitude for your sharing this experience. I can just imagine your thoughts and feelings after you discovered what had happened at the church. Your heart was in the right place tho. I do hope that the final outcome on this is greater than your expectations as it sometimes does happen that way.
Be well dude!
I would like to share the results of the chair dye. I posted earlier that I successfully removed the dye. This is not true. I trialed and errored until I found something that I thought was working. Since I suffer from color blindness, I relied on the church secretary for approval. Once I removed the dye, she left me alone in the church to spend 6 hours to remove the dye. The next day, I was informed that I failed. I then took one of my part-time employees along for the use of her eyes. We failed to remove the dye completely, but did improve the situation. Everyone involved seems to be happy and grateful for my “no charge” efforts. I did clean a large portion of the church carpet with more to come. Also cleaned for two of the members. Good deed turned out OK!
Brian,
Glad to hear you had satisfactory results!Also, I am interested to hear about your color vision difficulties. I too have bad color vision. I once cleaned an area of yellow that a lady customer pointed out to me. I never saw it, but she showed me where with her hands, so I just cleaned the area carefully and asked her to check it when I was finished. It all came up fortunately, without me having to confess my color vision difficulties to her. I try not to admit it to customers if I don’t have to.
Do you ever wonder what other people see that we don’t or how things really look to most people?
Mike
Mike,
I believe my condition is called red/green color blindness. I can see all colors, however, red is very difficult or impossible to see when on certain background colors. Other colors, depending on the shade and background, are also hard to see. I confess my condition to nearly every customer. They understand and appreciate the honesty. The main reason I confess is to eliminate the possibility of a customer thinking that I failed or didn’t care. If a customer is not going to be home for the appointment, I ask them if they have any red stains and if so, outline the stain with coins, paperclips, ect. I also tell them that if they see something I missed, please give me a call.
I hired a college student last summer that had the same condition but more severe. We were not a good team. Mike, I feel for you. If you ever hire someone, make sure they can see. Many males have this same handicap.
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