[Susan Dean (1stclean)]

 ncca good or just fat cats ? ive never been a fan of joining groups like this due too if you not in the click ! it just doent work. 



what does the custmer get out of people joining this group ? if you ruin there carpet does the group send out one of there people with the groups check book to pay for the damage ? then the group claims off yourself ?   if not i cant see the benafit ?

i rang the ncca five  weeks ago got to speack to a girl that realy hadnt a clue about anything i wanted to know

why if there so this and that have they got a  very thick girl anwsering the phone ? that doesnt know anything about cleaning ?

so she gave my a number of a guy thats runing a corse,  after  three calls and three txs to his moblie and no return call i give up what a shower of poo

im not haveing a go at the ncca but just  after this frist dealing with them i cant this the benafit , maybe the prochem corse would be better i mean they do make the chems we use surely these guys must know more ?

let have you thoughts on these groups please

susan xx

[carpetguy]

I'm not a member of the NCCA and joined the IICRC years ago, but never kept up my membership. I believe the NCCA are beginning to improve and they ran a couple of practical courses last year.

Depends what you are looking for, from the course.

There are a number of courses throughout the country, but, you have just become a T/M owner and I'd  imagine Prochem / Hydramaster / ETC , who sell T/M 's would be your best bet.

I'm sure a couple of the guys will suggest something.

[Ken Wainwright]

Oh susan xx, what a lot to take on board

Firstly, my apologies, on behalf of the Association and my fellow directors for a breakdown in communications.

For an insight about some of what we do, please read my posting under the topic of "Important Lesson"

The staff in our office are administrators who carry out the administrative duties of the Association as directed by us, the directors. For this, and other reasons, referal to a director is the best way of making contact about specific queries.

One of the objectives of The NCCA is set training standards for Members. This means that any applicant for membership will have to attend an approved "generic" course and pass a test. A manufacturers course rarely meets the generic requirement. Upon obtaining a pass, an applicant will then show proof of holding both Public and Treatment Liability Insurance. Once these requirements have been met, and the membership fee being paid, the applicant becomes a Full Member of The National Carpet Cleaners Association.

So where does the consumer come into this? By choosing an NCCA Member to clean their carpets, the consumer has the assurance that their chosen contractor has received formal training, passed an examination, has Public and Treatment Risk Insurance and will abide by a laid down code of practice. If something goes wrong on the job, the Member will have the back-up of the above mentioned Insurance. Peace of mind and security for both the customer and the member. If there are any disputes between the Member and the customer, The NCCA will act as arbitrators.

So that nobody is under any misapprehension, The NCCA will NEVER accept any financial or other liability for errors made by any individual member. I regard that as being a totally unreasonable expectation. I am not aware of any type of organisation offering that type of guarantee (insurers excepted).

As for Membership Benefits. I know that this is going beyond your enquiry above, but here's some of them.

Newslink magazine (11 months a year)
FREE legal Helpline
Website with your own listing (Google Carpet Cleaners)
Link to your own website (one off fee required)
Technical Help and Support
Referals from website and office
Discounts on NCCA organised events
Technical Roadshows
Workshops
Help with Press releases
Low cost YP and Thomsons advertising
the list goes on and on, but these are the main headline benefits.

The NCCA trainers are highly skilled and knowledgeable. A major advantage they have over many other organisations is that as well as being trainers, they are also very experienced carpet and upholstery cleaners. They are also very highly regarded throught all sectors of our industry. Paul Pearce, our Technical Director, is widely regarded as being one of the top trainers in the UK and, perhaps, beyond.

If you have any further queries you would like to discuss susan xx, then please drop me a line at: ken@ncca.co.uk and I'll do my best to answer your queries.

Safe and happy cleaning
Ken Wainwright
Marketing & Media Director,

NCCA
In business for yourself
Not by yourself

[spickandspan]

Oh Susan just get some proper training and away you go why line other peoples pockets for nothing.
As you say just fat cats.

[carpetguy]

Changed your mind Susan ?

Ken's the man who did the hands on shows last year and with Derek Bolton, you have a couple of experienced and " mature "gents

Spick and Span

Why do you say that and Susans not new to this business, just raising her game and credibility

[spickandspan]

No problem with that,  sorry but i dont have much faith in NCCA, or other groups only thing they are interested in is ................

[Teddycare]

The NCCA is not a bad thing, especially if you are starting out in carpet cleaning for the first time, because let's face it, you know absolutely nothing, and as I found out in the early years that can be very expensive.
If you want steering in the right direction then any body That knows more than you is a good thing, after saying that I left the NCCA for a short while (probably about ten years) and was refused re-membership unless I retook their courses which of course I didn't really need, as I actually had 10 years more experience, I actually have been cleaning carpets and upholstery for twenty five years, probably longer than a lot of you, and I consider it an insult when I'm invited to re-join an organisation, to be told that I have to resit those exams, especially when the person who is in charge at this time I have never heard of.

So please form your own opinion whether it is worth joining this particular body of men, personally I do very nicely without them, yours sincerely Ted, an extremely professional carpet cleaner.

PS, I have also been a truck mount operator for the past 15 years so hopefully I know what I'm talking about. 

[Teddycare]

Nice one Glenn, at least I'm not the only one

[Steve Chapman]

I had been cleaning carpets for about 12 years and went on the NCCA course and still learnt a bag load of new things - And to have a legal dept and technical helpline at hand is really useful, something people only find out when they hit a problem or difficult situation.

Incidentally being a truckmount operator does not neccesarily make a proffesional carpet cleaner  -  up to date training does!

regards
steve

[Buster Ingram]

Well said Steve the key factor to any success is training.
I am not a member of the NCCA but like many others that does not give me an  opportunity to have
a pop at them.
There is good and bad in all associations but what the NCCA do have to offer is training and surpport.

I was told once that if I wanted to change things you have to be a part of it to do so :

[Ken Wainwright]

Ted

In some ways, I agree with you, but I hope you will agree with what I have to say about the sort of situation we could be  put into.

Many people, when they attend training courses, will learn quite a bit. But not all of what they have been taught will be retained. They will typically put into practice some of their new knowledge and teachings, but much of the rest will fade from memory due to lack of application and practice. In a hypothetical case, we could have a technician who attended our training course 30 years ago and has spent his time since with a rotary machine offering a crystalisation (shampoo) maintenance programme to his clients. He has rarely cleaned upholstery. After an initial couple of years as an NCCA Member, he decided not to re-new.  He now wants to reapply for membership. Do you think his skills are upto date? Would it be responsible of the Association to just let him in? I, and my fellow directors, think not. Hence our policy. IICRC have not too dissimilar arrangements for their Registrants.

OK, someone in your circumstances Ted, have a much broader experience base than the example I have given.  But we have to draw the line somewhere.  For this reason, we have an option, which you would need to talk through with our Training or Technical Directors, whereby you can take a written exam providing certain conditions have been met e.g. proof of a previous pass in an approved exam/test.

When you look at the bigger picture, I hope you will appreciate our reasons for setting these standards.

As for an assumption that because someone has a truckmount, so they must no what they are talking about, it is very dangerous for us to assume. The NCCA is frequently called upon, not only by Members, Trading Standards or the consumer, but by non-members too, to inspect damged carpets and upholstery. We seem to be attending more and more problems created by T/M operators. They are frequently established businesses with many years experience, but the amount of heat, sometimes combined with elevated psi, is creating pile burst and over wetting related problems. In recent years there has been a growth in the amount of lower grade carpet on the market. To compete at a lower price point, corners have been known to have been cut to meet a lower price. So I hope you will all agree that, although a Truck Mount is probably the most desireable tool for us Carpet Cleaners, it doesn't suddenly make us the font of all knowledge.

As for the NCCA, we have been taking steps in recent years to help our members, and frequently non-members, to keep their technical knowledge and skills upto date. There have been technical seminars for many years at the AGM, but we extended this three years ago when I started the Technical Roadshow series of events. This has now been extended even further by introducing a workshop element into the events. This started last autumn with the LM and VLM workshop, and continued earlier this month with an Upholstery Cleaning Workshop.

Like most organisations, the NCCA isn't perfect. But we're listening to constructive criticism and addressing the issues where possible.

Safe and happy cleaning
Ken

[John Gregory]

As a complete newbie i joined the NCCA last monday paid me 135 quid ,40 quid for some stickers for the van . I got my first enquiry tonight off there website 3 bedroom mews in a really nice part of Manchester is it worth it?

PS if your watching Dave Ingram , i will ringing you to ask some advise how to price it      Thanks John NCCA 1735

[Robert Watson]

I`ll be renewing my membership.

[carpetguy]

Whether you join an association or not is entirely up to YOU..........but consider the advantages.......
we have been members of an association, for 6 years, at around £300 per year.

In that time we have been kept up to date with all Legal and Health and Safety issues / best advice for virtually all matters we're likely to come accross/loads of training material / all of the policies and guidelines, for staying Legal and Safe

Last week , we were saved at least £3000, possibly £5000 when we had expert representation at an Employment Tribunal.

The cost was fully covered, through our being members.

I don't know how extensive the NCCA coverage goes, but it will include some of the above and you never know when you might need help.

rob

[Geraint Jones]

Hi

I've been involved in the trade on & off for the last 20 years but only joined the NCCA begining of this year , best thing I ever did ,   The carpet cleaning industry is a relativley new trade compared to most trades , fitted carpets were only introduced in the 50's , so the trade is still young.
As most will agree the whole profile of the industry needs to be raised, this in turn will allow us to become more proffesional & in turn demand greater earnings .The NCCA are at the forefront of this  drive in my opinion , if you don't like them then fine  don't join but please still give them some respect for the work that they are doing for the whole industry in generall . Every proffesional trade needs a regulatory body  & standards , what are the other options?

Geraint

[Susan Dean (1stclean)]

i not causeing trouble just trying to rise my came in the c.c world and looking at all things now

we have started uping the prices and with moveing forward with the gear and chems we use thanks to a good few on here ! 

im just trying to find out veiws on other things , for the last 20 years our buisness as been ticking along doing ok but now it time to move on to bigger and better things the only way to do this is buy try to take on board and much as possable
 

[carpetguy]

Susan

I don't imagine anyone thinks you're trying to cause trouble, by enquiring about training courses, it's just, that a great many people have, for the past thirty years, wished there was a way of improving the industry's  image and get rid of the cowboy type operators.

So this kind of discussion comes up regularly.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Remember though.....the NCCA isn't there to get you work, only you can do that.

Shaun

[craigp]

not a member myself, but the NCCA is a good thing and will undoubtly add creditibility to your company.

personnally im going to become IICRC certified firm instead (have to be IICRC quilified in all services you advertise)

and im too tight to do both


ps. does not matter if you been cleaning carpets 50 years, if you been doing it wrong you just been doing it wrong a long time, lol.

[spickandspan]

If you have been c.c for 50 years you cant be doing it wrong???