Carpets and rugs take a lot of wear and tear over time. Whether its children, pets or visitors – your carpet captures all the dirt tracked into the house day after day, year after year. And that doesn’t even take into account those accidents – spilled wine, un-house broken pets and other spills and stains that come along.
Even if you vacuum your carpet regularly there is still dirt that can get trapped in the carpet; dust, mites, and even pet dander, so it’s important to consider having your carpets cleaned once a year.
Professional Carpet Cleaner Chris Stone says, "The biggest misconception that I have run across is that homeowners say that they should wait as long as possible to get your carpets cleaned the first time. The reason that kind of myth came into play is unfortunately there are a lot of bad carpet cleaners that leave the carpets really wet and it leaves actually soap residue in the carpets. When you leave soap residue in carpets, it will get dirtier faster".
Chris continues saying,"If you wait a long time to get them cleaned, basically the soil acts like sand paper on the fibers and as you walk on it you are literally wearing down the fibers. So you want to get your carpets cleaned between every 12-18 months, basically once a year and that will keep your carpets looking new for a long time.”
Angie Hicks acknowledges, “One common complaint we’ve heard over the years when it comes to carpet cleaning companies is suggesting a price that just seems too low to be true. What happens is they get there and the consumer ends up paying more than they expected."
When hiring a carpet cleaner, you are going to want to know what exactly you are paying for. You’ll see a lot of deals out there that you could potentially take advantage of, but you want to know what you are getting for that price. Does it include hallways? Does it include stairways? What size of a room? I think that is one mistake that consumers make. It may say three rooms of carpet, but it doesn’t say how big of a room of carpet, so make sure you are reading the fine print.
A professional cleaning will help rid your home of hidden dust and allergens that regular vacuuming can miss. Just as important, it will help preserve carpet fibers and keep colors brighter. But getting this work done sometimes comes at too high a price because of disreputable companies who dangle get-in-the-door prices that don’t generally hold up once you let the company inside your home. The two most common tactics:
- Bait and Switch – This is the offer to get your carpets cleaned for 5 to 10 dollars a room. Usually, the homeowner is told their carpet is in really bad shape and the offer didn’t include pre-spray, deep cleaning and sometimes even using hot water – all essential to a proper carpet cleaning.
- High-pressure sales – This tactic preys on the homeowner’s desire to get the job done right. Homeowners are told there are some spots that need additional cleaning because of how dirty they are, and that without the extra attention, those areas of the floor will stand out and make the floor look bad.
We spoke with Wendie, a homeowner who shared her experience with us. She hired a company from a coupon and thought she was getting a deep clean. However, when the company got there they tried to upsell her for getting a deep clean and pre-spray. He explained none of that was included in the low price on the coupon.
Wendie says, “He wasn’t professionally dressed or as professionally dressed as I would expect. No logo on his shirt, you know, he wasn’t wearing like a uniform-type thing. The van, when it pulled in, I noticed was a white cargo van. No windows. No writing on the side. No name of the company. Nothing.”
“It was awful. You know, he had told me that because my carpets were so dirty that they would need to do a deep cleaning, and that would be extra. And I said, well, I questioned whether that was included in the cleaning. I said normally I thought a cleaning was a deep cleaning. He said no they’d have to do that and that would be extra. I just said well, just go ahead and do a regular cleaning,” recalled Wendie.
Wendie continues, “He proceeded to clean the carpets – it was done rather quickly, but sometimes they are done quickly. And then when he was done, he called me and I went upstairs, and when I looked at the carpets, the first thing I said to him was, “These don’t look any different. They don’t… They look like they’re just wet. They don’t even look like they’ve been cleaned.” He said, “Oh that’s just because it’s so dirty.” And I said, “Well there should be a little bit of a difference.” But he said because I didn’t get the deep cleaning that I couldn’t expect a better result.”
Angie’s List tips to avoid getting scammed:
- Insist on a written estimate that details all charges – and read the fine print.
- Don’t guess if you don’t understand anything on the estimate. Do they charge by the hour or square feet of the room? Are they going to charge you for
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