Customer I cleaned for 4 months ago now says I left too much "soap" and demands a free reclean

[Kevin Dumas]

Sounds like the carpet cleaner/renter was trying to do some bad mouthing to pick up some future business.

 

[Johnny Bravo]

@Mama Fen hit it out of the park. I wish I had her tact. Id' of ended up getting a 1 star review after I told them to kiss my butt.

 

[Mama Fen]

Sounds like the carpet cleaner/renter was trying to do some bad mouthing to pick up some future business.

That's precisely my thought too, Kevin - someone is renting and says "hey, this guy did it wrong, I coulda done it better".

 

[mike$]

I have a policy that on any work that I do even 1 year down the road that the customer get a free service call out. I am more than happy to come out, take a look at it, and determine the cause and validity of concerns. If it's something I did wrong I fix it. There's just no way of knowing without looking... Sucks that the job is far away.

 

[Mama Fen]

@Mama Fen hit it out of the park. I wish I had her tact. Id' of ended up getting a 1 star review after I told them to kiss my butt.

Oh Johnny, that statement is just too loaded, lol. I'll leave your butt alone.

Tact doesn't usually win back a truly bad customer... but it sure does make you look good to the audience who's watching that customer act like a spoiled brat!

For the record - some training companies advocate the use of "active listening", where you repeat the customer's complaint to them in the form of a question to show that you understand their problem ("Ok, Miz Mitchell, to make sure I understand right, you're saying we cleaned your carpet last week but it still smells like urine?").

I'm only a fan of this SOMETIMES.

When done properly, it can help calm an angry customer.

But doing it right can be tricky. The wrong body language or tone of voice can make active listening come across as a personal attack, as in "Do you really expect me to believe this nonsense?!?", or as a stalling tactic.

 

[Odin]

we have a no money back guarantee if you are not happy with our service or product may we suggest you get a few friends together and settle it yourself!

Come on go back and re clean it no one is perfect I know your dying to find out what it looks like?

or give a partial refund or full refund

Maybe pay another carpet cleaner that is closer to clean it?

 

[PATRICK YANELLO]

Interesting how there is soap residue when you didn't use any soap!
There are way too many variables in a vacation rental after 4 months to call you back.

Of course i stand by my work and guarantee it, but in my 10 years of delivering great results and excellent customer service I have never been called back 4 months later.

Biobreak with citrus SDS says sodium carbonate, among other things. Isn't sodium carbonate soda ash, laundry detergent?

 

[PATRICK YANELLO]

Just say no.

OR...

It's not my policy to re-clean a rental 4 months after use.

 

[Mama Fen]

Biobreak with citrus SDS says sodium carbonate, among other things. Isn't sodium carbonate soda ash, laundry detergent?

It's actually a water softener, and it helps to suspend soils and lift them more easily from the fibers during cleaning.

 

[LeeRoy]

After 4 months??? They are just trying to get your services for free. Please stick to your guns and don’t give in.

 

[Joe cool]

I would say , a carpet is like a window it can get dirty the very next day .
If there was a real problem within 7 to 10 days I would most definitely come out and correct the issue .
But 4 mos. It's just time to get your rugs recleaned .
Light colors and kids with heavy traffic your carpet just gets dirty fast .
HAVE A NICE DAY .

 

[Bob Savage]

Soap in the carpet? Probably Resolve applied to clean up spills by the renters over 4 months. Not coming out, lets put more Resolve on that area. That'll get it for sure!

No one can prove how soap got there, if it is even in the carpet.

Did this carpet cleaner renter do a test for soap in the carpet? I doubt it.

 

[United Custodians LLC]

I have perfect yelp and google reviews. I've been in the industry 10 years. I clean a ton of vacation rentals where I live. This particular job is very far away, and it actually took so long to set up and drive to (had to use portable, nautilus) that I decided after the job that I would never travel to that same area again. I ended up spending like 6.5 hours of my day for a whopping 230 dollars. So I cleaned this carpet, sprayed with biobreak, brush pro'd it all, set up fans after I was finished. I really did a nice job. Rinsed with just water. It looked great, and I just now get a call...almost 4 months later... he just left me a voicemail saying that he had a professional carpet cleaner stay at his vacation rental, and the "pro" said that the carpet has too much "soap residue" in it and it looks bad. Then he said his maintenance man confirmed that there looks to be too much "soap". He then said "I really hope you guarantee your work and can come fix this for us". 4....Months...Later. In a vacation rental, on the beach, that sleeps 6. Sun tan oils, sand, blacktop parking lot. All of these rentals get dirty very quickly. Lots of property managers have me on quarterly and bi-annual cleaning schedules.

I am somewhat averse to confrontation, and I tend to get really panicky before confrontation for some reason. What do I tell this guy? I have never, in my 10 years , EVER had anyone expect a carpet cleaning 4 months after the fact, for free, because EVERYONE and their brother, who has never met me, agrees that I left it "too soapy". WTF. How would you approach? I don't want to jeopardize my perfect 5 star reviews, but I also don't want to waste my entire day on this stupid nonsense.

This is why I don’t have a website and don’t do residential next time let them call the carpet cleaner you was trashing you and they will learn the grass ain’t greener on the other side I wouldn’t let one negative review worry you people will see all the other grate reviews

 

[floorclean]

Very easy to say you wouldn’t go on the defensive when faced with an idiot trying to get something for free. But 9.5 out of 10 of us would. And I’d agree with who ever it was that said if all you ever have is good reviews it makes them seem less trustworthy.
And besides if you don’t know how to set customer expectations before or after your work is complete your done for. The last thing you want to do is always be addressing complaints. At the end of every job we do I make it a habit of telling the costumer how often it should be cleaned. And when they say and they usually do that that seems like a lot of cleaning. I tell them that it will stay as clean as it is now if no one ever walks on it. it’s a joke but it gets the point across.

 

[Tcoulter]

So I really wanted to tell the guy that I can't help him out. Because it is ridiculous. He flat out told me he is going to leave me a bad review on every forum that he can. We talked about 10 mins. I told him basically that he is a ridiculous person and that it is sad that he wants to hurt my little business over this. He asked if I would at least take a look at the pictures. I told him absolutely. He txted me. It looked pretty horrible, but god knows why. Probably suntan lotion sprayed everywhere and attracting soil. I called him back and told him that it is still not my fault and 99% of cleaners in America would tell him that it's not their problem. But I told him on the sole fact that he is threatening to leave bad reviews, something I do not want, that I would go back and give him a traffic area cleaning. Only the really dark areas, and I would put a little encapuguard on it after cleaning it with only cleanfree. I also told him that I will not do work for him anymore, as I am not even servicing that far out anymore for less than $400 anyways.

He txted me back with lots of smiley faces and thanked me. I'm hoping that maybe he will be so happy that he even leaves me some good reviews. I feel as though I really shouldn't be doing this. But I'm gonna go over there on a day where I'm not super busy anyways, and the fact that I can guaruntee no bad reviews is worth the couple hours lost I guess.

 

[Luky]

Bad, bad decision on your part..... It's the dignity part that bothers me...
Look, I've gotten bad review from person I have never cleaned carpet for. So what? And yes, couple hours lost is really bad investment for a person, who wants to take advantage of you. Maybe you should revisit your guarantee policy, written clearly on invoice you handing to a customer. It's unrealistic to guarantee 30 days, I did realize it soon enough and had it changed to a 7 days . Now, that's more realistic...
You've ask us for an opinion on how to handle the situation. I don't recall anyone mentioning redo( except for @ Odin who gave you a subtle nudge to regain self respect), still you've decided to ignore everyone...
C'mon man............
P.S. Did customer texted you smiley faces or smiley feces.... I guess, the latter is more obvious...

 

[PistolPete]

I wouldn't have gone back on that one either.
I would have called his bluff and let him leave the reviews.
I would have recorded the conversation, and let him know that you were, then repeated back his threats for clarification.
Then if he did leave reviews you can counter them below saying he was being ridiculous.

 

[Rick Imby]

Dear ----Dikwad--

Your account has come up and it appears you are ready for another cleaning. Many of the vacation rentals we do are on a 3 to 4 month rotation. Or after a particularly dirty group stayed in your rental. I am sure you are aware that the rental properties get severely abused by some renters. If the carpet cleaner that stated it has too much soap in the carpet cleaned your carpet (the only way he could know that ) I suggest you have him redo his job.

Thank you for your business. We no longer service your area as it the travel time makes it too expensive for us to work there.

PS. Your Negative review extortion is not a problem.

I will state in the response to your reviews that it was 4 months after the job was done you tried to extort a free cleaning out of me on a VACATION RENTAL.

 

[Johnny Bravo]

I also told him that I will not do work for him anymore, as I am not even servicing that far out anymore for less than $400 anyways.

He txted me back with lots of smiley faces and thanked me. I'm hoping that maybe he will be so happy that he even leaves me some good reviews. I feel as though I really shouldn't be doing this. But I'm gonna go over there on a day where I'm not super busy anyways, and the fact that I can guaruntee no bad reviews is worth the couple hours lost I guess.

BIG MISTAKE! You say you're not going to clean for him anymore? LOL Yes you will, and you will be doing it for free because all he has to do is threaten to give you a bad review. I"m sorry, I know no better way to put this then you need to strap some balls on and man up. You got screwed, and now you're screwing yourself.

 

[Mama Fen]

So I really wanted to tell the guy that I can't help him out. Because it is ridiculous. He flat out told me he is going to leave me a bad review on every forum that he can. We talked about 10 mins. I told him basically that he is a ridiculous person and that it is sad that he wants to hurt my little business over this. He asked if I would at least take a look at the pictures. I told him absolutely. He txted me. It looked pretty horrible, but god knows why. Probably suntan lotion sprayed everywhere and attracting soil. I called him back and told him that it is still not my fault and 99% of cleaners in America would tell him that it's not their problem. But I told him on the sole fact that he is threatening to leave bad reviews, something I do not want, that I would go back and give him a traffic area cleaning. Only the really dark areas, and I would put a little encapuguard on it after cleaning it with only cleanfree. I also told him that I will not do work for him anymore, as I am not even servicing that far out anymore for less than $400 anyways.

He txted me back with lots of smiley faces and thanked me. I'm hoping that maybe he will be so happy that he even leaves me some good reviews. I feel as though I really shouldn't be doing this. But I'm gonna go over there on a day where I'm not super busy anyways, and the fact that I can guaruntee no bad reviews is worth the couple hours lost I guess.

Your gut has told you this wasn't the right move, but you want very much to have a satisfied customer so you're going out of your way to please him.

I cannot and WILL not judge you for making this decision. I've been known to break down myself, and do things to appease people who I know will NEVER be consistent customers, just because I don't want someone to be unhappy.

It's not the wisest thing I've done - but it's taught me that bending over backwards for an unreasonable customer doesn't usually get you the result you wanted. They complain anyway, more often than not. Live and learn, says I.

So I will wish you luck in the re-clean, and I truly do hope he leaves you glowing reviews. Your desire to do right by customers speaks well of who you are, and while it might sometimes land you in hot water (no pun intended), it's a trait I wish more people took to heart.