When customer's try to do their own stain removal!!!

[wandwizard]

Just a week ago I was called out for "an emergency" stain removal. I talked with the customer a little to determine just how big of an emergency it was. This was on Friday and the "emergency" happened on Christmas day when they had guests over and all were sitting by the Christmas tree. One of them had a little boy who tossed his Christmas cookies up all over a 2,000 dollar 15 1/2 X 13 ft. Berber wool area rug. So what happens next? They frantically try to find something to get it out with trying several different products and a SCRUB BRUSH which did far more harm than good and removed virtually NONE of the stain. In fact, the brush did some permanent damage. I agreed at that point to come out Saturday since there was really no emergency. Any harm to the rug was already done. I explained to the customer that there could be some permanent color damage caused both by the stain and what they had used on it and therefore couldn't guarantee complete removal.

She hired me based on referral and decided to get the whole rug and 2 other wool rugs cleaned while I was there. I believe I removed the stain, but the damage from scrubbing the area with a stiff brush still shows a bit. The customer was satisfied with the results and plans on having me back for some upholstery cleaning soon.

Btw, one of them was planning on using something like Shout on it! I told her that it would almost certainly have removed the color from the rug. The owner herself tried some weird product that was sold to her years before that I've never even heard of and I think they may have tried dishwashing liquid. Anyway, it was a bummer to get all of it out but looked pretty good when I got done. I was being extra cautious with what I used on it so as not to cause even more damage, especially not causing any color loss, and to thoroughly rinse all the other stuff out!

 

[Todd the Cleaner]

Gotta love all the expert homeowner cleaners out there.

Just last week I was at my fathers house and one of his friends I know was visiting. This friend of his used to manage a carpet business that did nothing but commercial work. That being said he does know all about professional carpet cleaning. He’s been retired for a few years now.

While talking he said he wants me to come clean his carpet next week. He asked if I would call an hour before coming so he could go through and treat all the stains and spray oxy clean on all the traffic areas. I asked him to please not pretreat anything and just let me deal with it. Hopefully he listens.

 

[wandwizard]

Gotta love all the expert homeowner cleaners out there.

Just last week I was at my fathers house and one of his friends I know was visiting. This friend of his used to manage a carpet business that did nothing but commercial work. That being said he does know all about professional carpet cleaning. He’s been retired for a few years now.

While talking he said he wants me to come clean his carpet next week. He asked if I would call an hour before coming so he could go through and treat all the stains and spray oxy clean on all the traffic areas. I asked him to please not pretreat anything and just let me deal with it. Hopefully he listens.

I warn customers about using spotters labeled "oxy", especially on wool and nylon a lot especially since they'll be putting it down and almost certainly won't rinse it out thoroughly. I tend to believe the prolonged exposure of these products is what does a lot of color damage to nylons, wools, and even some polys. I've seen color damage from using the wrong type of spotter many, many times over the years. I think the woman above said at least 3 of them tried to remove the vomit with 3 different products. All they really succeeded in was making my job a lot harder! I'm at least glad they had the good sense not to use Shout on it too!

 

[mrotto]

Hopefully he listens.

let us know how that turns out

 

[Todd the Cleaner]

let us know how that turns out

I think I convinced him not to pre spot for me.

 

[jack zerkie]

Simple answer the homeowner can not pre treat the carpet evenly on all the carpets like you can and will create other problems.If your hired its your job not his.