[paulchambers]

A cutomer of mine unfortunetly couldnt get hold of me today as i was travelling back from being away and my mobile is now knackered for some raeson.  

Any she runs a guest house and someone dropped a pot of hot tea on a new cream 80/20 carpet, as i wasnt around she got a cc from plymouth to do the job plymouth is a two hour drive away, he charged £100 and hasnt got the stain out and left the carpet dripping wet and he also rubbed the carpet with a towel causing a lot of fuzzing.

I am going to look tomorrow but feel the damage may be permanant the carpet was new in april anyone got any views on this or is the cc on this forum   Paul

[woodman]

Hi Paul

£100 for a job with a round trip of 4hrs plus time on site plus fuel and to do a very un-professional job aswell, including overwetting probably using faulty equipment (if as wet as you say) and causing pile burst by rubbing at the stain, almost certainly causing permanant damage.

Can't be anybody from this site, as we all know by now that this is not the way we carry out business.

I bet she wished she had waited for you now instead of using the not so local splash & dash operator.

[Big_Fish]

Wasn't us!

Did the cc give your customer any limitations before he started?
Has he made the problem worse?

If you do anything to this now, the problem becomes yours. She should get back in touch with the cc that done it and ask to claim on his insurance (always assuming he has some).

Good advice to your customer now will make her think a lot more of you than if you work on it and can't make any improvements.

Good Luck
BFN

[Dynafoam]

Paul,

Very hot tea will have opened the dye sites of the fibre allowing the dyes within the tea to enter.

This was a permanent stain from the time that it would have taken her to call you. I would not have gone or taken any money on a lost cause.

The current situation is that she has no claim against the other cleaner for failing to remove the stain (unless he gave her a guarantee of removal). She does however have grounds for a claim for the damage he has caused in the attempted removal.

Do nothing to the carpet.

A courtesy call to explain why you would not have attempted removal is worthwhile, as you will have an opportunity of cementing your relationship by impressing upon her that you would not have taken £100 but offered her a report for her insurance company, for a nominal documentation fee.

What is also worthwhile to you is that a lesson (not at your expense) has been learned............

Attempting a guaranteed lost cause remediation will at best make you look an unprofessional failure, at worst will cost you a carpet.

John,

[John_Flynn]

As Grandad John above states, walk away, the problem is now that of the bloke who cocked up!!, as soon as you attempt to remove it becomes your problem.

Like the Wise Old Man says bond with your client offer your best advise and Walk Away.

[woodman]

Running a guest house and having a cream coloured 80/20 is not very practicle I would say. :

I would agree that the claim will not come on bob-a-jobs carpet clean as she let him loose on it,in other words she gave permision, but from her own contents insurance and being a guest house I would guess she has a very high excess £250 + which is why she wanted an attempt at cleaning first.

As John says do her a report for a small fee her insurance may even request that you do attempt a removal at their expense of course this is entirely up to you but if this is the case make sure she pays and claims it back otherwise you could be waiting a very long time for your money

[paulchambers]

Thanks everyone for the advice  paul

[Ian Gourlay]

It is interesting that  many of you have said other cleaner should not have tried.

Spotting solutions I have state they remove tea.

Could those of you who have this advanced knowledge explain why you should not attempt to remove tea stains.

What other stains would you not try.

[paulchambers]

yes i find it interesting that the experience memebers wouldnt attempt tea stain removal. I think i will follow suit but would go and see customer to expalin why and maybe gain there confidence for furthewr work Paul

[Ivar_Haglund]

mix a little ammonia and peroxiced spay on leave for 15 minutes and rinse out



IVAR

[woodman]

Hi Paul

I think what we are trying to say is with lots of experience and training we should know what is and is not going to be removed succesfully.

Having said that, if a client still wants you to try to improve a situation on the understanding that it will probably not be removed then thats fine IMO.

They will ask this if they either do not have adequate insurance or simply do not want to lose any no claims bonus as is probably the case with your lady

[Dynafoam]

Hi Paul & Ian,

It was stated that it was a pot of tea - presumably near boiling hot.

The most that we can expect to achieve on a wool carpet without causing consequential damage, is to remove the surface staining.

As I stated in my earlier reply, at this sort of temperature some of the staining elements of the tea would have entered the dye-sites that had been opened by the heat and blended with the original fibre dye. The amount of liquid involved means that the fibres were kept at the elevated temperature for long enough for this process  to be completed to an advanced degree.

I would agree with Woodman on the improvement issue, but since a fairly high proportion of the stain would be unreachable, in this instance it would take a lot to persuade me to proceed. Custards sometimes will encourage an attempt, then come back with "I thought it would look better than that)

If an insurance company requested the attempt, against my advice, that would be a slightly different matter in that the chances of shifting the liability to me (provided  the attempt was to a professional level) would be removed.

John.

[Ian Gourlay]

John perhaps you have illustrated another point.

Listen to the facts.

A pot of tea. hot.

What about a cup of tea cooled with milk.

[Dynafoam]

Ian,

Even this can be too hot, but the cooler it is the better our chances of sucess.

There is also a noticeable difference between a dropped cup (from hip hieght) and a cup placed on carpet and kicked over - how many times have you seen this within easy reach of acoffee table?

[paulchambers]

I was in the area of the tea stain today , so i did a courstey call on the poor women the tea stain though there is only a slight brown hint on a light blue carpet but the fuzzing caused by the cc rubbing it is quite noticable   Paul.

[Mike Halliday]

you should have taken your hair clippers and given the carpet a shave! this I find often makes the fuzzyness go away

Mike

ps the same goes for where the cat scratches the stair carpet, a quick shave and bobs-ye-uncle all gone

[Dave Parry]

Would that be the carpet or the cat mike.