Yesterday I had the privelege of visiting some friends from my church to give them an estimate for carpet cleaning. After inspecting the carpets and a reasonable price for the job had been discussed they booked an appointment with me to come back and clean the entire down stairs carpets. While I was there they asked me about a large sectional sofa and matching chair that also needed to be cleaned.
 

I learned from asking questions that they had hired a person a number of years to clean their upholstery and they said he did a "great" job. They went on to explain that he spent about (3) hours cleaning the sectional sofa, which is quite large, and the matching chair. I knew from experience that it would take me about 2 1/2 to 3 hours as well to properly clean furniture this large. They went on to say that the furniture stayed clean for a very long time and wanted him to clean it again but he had gone out of business. The wife stated thay they had hired a major chain (I will not expose their name on this blog) to clean the furniture and it only took them only about (45) minutes to clean. The did not like the way to cleaning went nor did they like the fact the furniture re-soiled very quickly. Hence, they did not want to hire this major chain again.

What is amazing about this story is NOT that the major chain did not do a very good job but that they charged more than the first cleaner and they are about $65.00 higher than me. They have a very low advertised price, but after they get into the door everything changes. We call this 'bait & switch.'  This is one of the reasons, I believe, people wait so long to have their carpets, upholstery, or tile cleaned. They got burned and don't want it to happen again. Personally I can't blame them. I have said many times on this website that they best way to hire a service company is through a referral. Usually, if a company did your friends right they will do you right too. I hope this information has been helpful to you.

Sincerely,

Michael Hull