Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: derek west on October 23, 2009, 05:58:25 pm
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2 foot by 2 foot, quite alot by the sounds of it, whats the best way to tackle this bad boy?
derek
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Methalated spirit will dissolve emulsion paint if has dried the only thing to watch is that it doesnt effect the latex on secondary backed carpets
it is a useful stain remover to have on the van as it will evaporate quickly normally before it has an effect on other materials you just need to be sensible with it. it is best applied with a trigger sprayer.
Peter
www.carpetcleanercardiff.com (http://www.carpetcleanercardiff.com)
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cheers pete, is that the same as white spirit, and whats the diff between them and alcohol? cos it was whiye spirit or alcohol i was gonna try.
derek
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Depending what the carpet is worth Derek, its probabley going to take you more time and hassle than its worth.
Mark
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oops! quoted £70. :(
derek
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If its dry I wouldnt like to tackle it.
and even if its wet - I still wouldnt.
Make a right mess of your tools and hoses when you flush.
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Joes right its all the resedue that it leaves behind in your tools.
Even worse if it has got through to the back of the carpet ::)
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Derek,
I had a look at something similar last week, was a Red 80 / 20 carpet and the patch was about 2ft x 5 nearly a full 5 litres had gone everywhere and had been in nearly a week the insurance company told them to get somebody to have a look at it, I said on the phone its probably permanent now but i will have a look for you either way its going to cost you £60.00. Went to have a look was a right mess so just charged them £60 for a report to send the insurance.
Paul
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paul
this is the same as you.
gonna take photo's and explain methods i will attempt, then if it don't come out, bill the insurance company. still £70 either way. its a win win. woohooooooooooooo.
derek
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Derek,
Charge the customer for the report, otherwise you could be in for a long wait for your money, Just say it will be £70.00 leave them your business card and then say you will send a written report in the next few days.
No chasing money then Derek ;D
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Derek,
Charge the customer for the report, otherwise you could be in for a long wait for your money, Just say it will be £70.00 leave them your business card and then say you will send a written report in the next few days.
No chasing money then Derek ;D
naaaaa.
bill the insurance company for 2 reasons.
1) customer has to pay excess so bit unfair if they have to pay twice cos i couldn't get it out.
2) the guy they rang before me said what you said, thats why they rang me, customer for life with lots of referals, just the way i do business all though its not to everyones taste.
derek
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With that much paint the carpets a right off. You can't bill the insurance company. You need to bill the customer or else you need to have a mandate signed by the customer giving the insurance company permission to pay you. Then it could take months before you see the money.
Bill the customer, they are going to get it back plus a new carpet.
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so should i say to the customer, "i'll have to bill you but don't pay me till the insurance company has payed up for the new carpet and this bill" cos i don't want to go back on my word.
seems wrong that the insurance company has asked the customer to get an independant evaluation of the situation and making the customer foot the bill, very unfair.
derek
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the customer gets it back.
you get your money without delay.
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Hi Derek,
As John K says bill the customer and in any case your cost generally comes out of their excess so they do not pay any extra.
Tony
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run
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as others say..do the report,get custy to pay and walk away..
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ive told the custy i'm not charging them unless i get it out and i'm a man of my word, so charging the custy is not an option.
any help other than that is welcome.
i go monday.
derek
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What happens if you spend the whole morning trying to get it out and you cant are you still not going to charge them to me thats nuts.
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pretty sure i'll have a good idea if its gonna come out or not in the first 30 mins.
derek
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Derek sometimes you can remove up to 90% or more of the stain or spillage its when you cant get the last 10% or so what do you do then thats why i always charge for the call out but good luck anyway.
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understand what your saying darren, and advice taken on board, but if i'm no where near the last 10% within half an hour then i won't carry on, this is my first insurance call out and i promise i'll learn from it, but at the mo ive made a promise to my custy and i'm sticking by it.
if its a wasted morning then so be it, its not the end of the world and like i keep saying, i'm no where near fully booked so its all a learning curve.
not disagreeing with your comments, i'm just saying ive all ready made my bed, and i'm a stand up guy so i'll honour it.
derek
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I would leave it also derek.
I know you want to get the client for more work but its a difficult one..
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Derek I admire your sentiment in the early days I too had the same view as you but after 30 yrs I can tell you things have changed.
My advice would be to go along with what you have promised and if the paint will not come out of the carpet ask the customer for their insurance details and ring up while your there and ask their insurance which roote to take.
That way your starting the ball rolling on their behalf.
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nice one dave, cheers for that.
derek
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well derek, how did it go?
colin
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col
wool berber, shed loads of paint, didn't even attempt removal, told them i could get the paint out but it would probably ruin the carpet and therefore not worth attempting, no charge for my advice or my letter to insurance company. rang the insurance explained, they were fine just wanted it in writing, will do the report in a bit, email it off. end of story.
customer was very friendly, had a brew, showed them the truckmount and told them the 3 houses i'd all ready cleaned in there street. they asked for a card and i'm sure if they ever need a carpet cleaner, they will deffo call me first. thats the theory anyhoo.
20 mins driving and 5 mins doing the report. some will laugh but for me its marketting and experience. and like i said, i'm not flat out busy so i have the time.
derek
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Dont know if youre aware Derek that you can charge for an insurance report and the insurance company will pay for it.
Mark
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i wasn't aware mark, was told i need a mandate, whatever that is? sounds a bit gay to me. ;D
never mind, all done now.
derek
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derek, when you are starting out i don't see any harm in taking on anything and everything to get experience, most customers who have a problem with their carpets are only too pleased that somebody had a go at helping them out. in the last week i have had been asked to clean 2 poo accidents, one was a dog, what a mess! and the other was a grandchild? this customer unfortunatley is not very well so i'm not sure the poor grandchild deserves the blame but hey ho, there but for the etc etc. i told both customers that i could only do what i could but that at the very least the carpet would end up cleaner than before i arrived, the dog one was probably 95% better and the other one 99% better. but 2 happy customers and i got a bit more experienced in poo removal!!!! ah, what i way to earn a living, you listening dave?
:o :o colin
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Glad you have come around to cuppa marketing derek. :)
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mike
been doing it from day one and getting quite a lot of stick for my freebies. but hey ho, wtf do they know, there innit for the money, short term. i'm innit for the fullfilment, long term ;)
my new saying
"theres only so many customers you can shaft" ;D
or what about
"a customer is for life, not just for xmas presents"
i'll get me coat.
derek
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mike
been doing it from day one and getting quite a lot of stick for my freebies. but hey ho, wtf do they know, there innit for the money, short term. i'm innit for the fullfilment, long term ;)
my new saying
"theres only so many customers you can shaft" ;D
or what about
"a customer is for life, not just for xmas presents"
i'll get me coat.
derek
I meant having a cuppa and a chat rather than going for speed cleaning records. It makes sense.
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derek, i often do little freebies if it suits me, really good customer relations if you do it for the right person, some will say your a schmuck but i have had some really good referalls from people who i have done little favours for and anyway if it is only going to take you a few minutes, in the great scheme of things, why not?
colin
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All ears Colin ;D
Who said this isn't a crappy job :-\
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I did a leather visit today - 'paint on leather' so i had visions of loads of it. went all prepared, and it was a small amount. siad that it would be £60 min and probably more if i had to re-colour.
well it came off with just a clean. The total time i was there was 5 mins. I said that i couldnt poss charge for it, (it wasnt that far out of my way anyway). she insisted i take a tenner and asked for my card. she was very very happy but i know she's gonna recomend me like mad. like derek said - long term gain. if i had taken the £60 she would have thought that i was ripping her off a bit, and i hate that.
Mark
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Derek,
printers use alcohol for thinning inks so that product is particaurly good for removing ink. along with a lot of other things but meths does dissolve dried emulsion paint and is the thing to use on that. White spirit is totally different again white spirit does not evaporate quickly, will not dissolve the emulsion and will attack the latex or rubbed backing if there.
I do a lot of this type of work and it is successful but you do have to be realistic. A a lot of very dark paint on a white carpet would not be feasable or economically viable but a lot of situations are.
A lot of the time it is patience and perseverance but can always be made lucrative it is a matter of qualifying the situation. I have done work for insurance companies where the loss adjuster has felt that the spill was done in order to get a replacement carpet and have been successful.
Peter
www.carpetcleanercardiff.com