Choosing a carpet or upholstery cleaner isn't easy, with misleading advertising, confusing claims or simply bad information you can easily find yourself getting ripped off.
This consumers guide has been written to help you better make the right choice when choosing you carpet & upholstery cleaner helping you avoid the “rip-off” companies and avoid costly mistakes.
Common Rip-Off’s
No. 1 - Fantastic low prices? - We all like a good deal but the truth is “You get what you pay for”. Call the cheapest company and your guaranteed to get a big sales pitch but very little cleaning. The fact of the matter is that these companies have to cut costs somewhere, usually by using cheap cleansing agents, inferior equipment or unqualified operators spending as little time as possible cleaning your carpet.
No. 2. - Bait & Switch - First, they 'bait' you with a basic clean at an unbelievably low price in their advertisement, then when they visit, they try to 'switch' you to a more expensive type of cleaning or try to persuade you to purchase “add-ons”. If you don't fall for their switch and choose their basic service, you'll likely receive inferior cleaning or poor workmanship using little or no cleaning solution.
No. 3 - One company as good as another - Wrong. Some cleaners will use inferior equipment that barely cleans the surface of your carpet, such as hire or DIY machines. While other cleaners will use equipment for which they have had little or no training. It is important to know what you are doing when cleaning carpets, anyone can pickup a carpet cleaning machine and advertise themselves as a carpet cleaner but only someone with the correct training will know what they are doing and why they are doing it. The consequences of using an uninsured company who do not train their cleaning operatives can be disastrous and cause thousands of pounds in damage.
The Facts About Carpet Cleaning:
FACT 1: The Dirt in your carpet - Each day piles of sandy soil, grit & dirt are taken from the base of many carpets. It is in yours too! Spread the yarns apart and look deep in the base of your carpet and you will see for yourself. This sandy soil is scratching and dulling your carpet. It is grinding the expensive yarns of your carpet down into worthless fibres that fill up your vacuum bag.
FACT 2: Traffic lanes - These are the areas of your carpet that are in constant use, and therefore attract the most dirt, the areas become oily & sticky and grab dirt locking onto it. Through a process called ‘oxidation’ soils bond with the carpet, causing colour change. If you wait too long, you are throwing away the key to unlocking dirt and oil from traffic lanes. Clean before traffic-lanes show up! The longer you wait between cleaning the more soil becomes permanent.
FACT 3: Pollutants in the air filter down through your carpet and become trapped in the fibres so that you aren’t breathing them over & over again. But once the trap become full you & your family start to breath in these pollutants, bacteria and other unpleasant substances causing breathing difficulties and aiding illness. Clean every 6-12 months and you can breath easier.
