[stuart_clark]

We cleaned an 80/20 mainly cream carpet last week, I used Chemspec one clean powder which is woolsafe approved and after doing a few colour tests we cleaned the carpet, i missted on deodourising acid rinse afterwards as we were going to stain guard the carpet and you need to remove as much residue before applying the product, we left the carpet slightly damp and the customer was over the moon with results
the next day the customer rang me to say about eight smallish pink patches had appeared over the carpet ! after returning to see what had happened I noticed there had been a small fleck in the carpet which apparently must of had a loose dye, I cured the problem with Chemspec coffee stain remover and then rinsed out with deodouring acid rinse!! I dont think any amount of pre testing would of made a difference in this case as the dye in the flec of the carpet was realy slow in migrating and we had applied acid rinse after the clean ! Anyway with a bit of good luck and quality chemicals I was able to rectify the situation

Regards stu Clark

[JS2]

Stuart

This is a good pre-warning to keep us all on our guard.  Am I correct in presuming the fleck was not detectable before the clean ?

Regards

Pete (JS2)

[lands]

Stuart

This is a good pre-warning to keep us all on our guard.  Am I correct in presuming the fleck was not detectable before the clean ?

Regards

Pete (JS2)

Where does the buck stop though Pete. In the land of common law it's all about duty of care and of course we owe our customers one but how far does that duty extend? Only a case will decide that. I don't think Stuart could have been liable in his situation as he had taken "reasonable steps" to ensure the safety of his custy's carpet.

Pete (not JS2)

[stuart_clark]

I had tested the carpet quite thoroughly before we cleaned it and then I only used a low ph woolsafe chemical !
If I could not have rectified the problem I would of still taken full responcability and I would of had to make a claim from my Insurance
I stand by the NCCA moto 100% service with integrety

[stuart_clark]

P. S we cleaned a carpet a few months ago and the next day the customer telephoned us to say two yellowish marks had appeared on the carpet ! the carpet in question was an 80/20 dark green in colour, after i had spoken to the customer Celulosic browning came to mind ! I had brought it to the attention of the message boards and it got various views from an old stain wicking back to the customer spilling coffee on it after the cleaning process.
when I arrived at the customers house I was armed with browning prescription and coffee remover but looking at the carpet it looked to yellow to be any of the stains i had mentioned ! I took a black light over the carpet to find it was urine ! the customer to this day denies that her cat had peed on the carpet

[lands]

Stuart,

Thats very admiral but as you say you did everything you should have done. I am not talking about shirking responsibility i am talking about right and wrong. I made a mistake once and it cost me dearly but I made sure it was my fault first. Got Paul Pearce in to inspect and he gave his recommendations. They did not work and the cause was of my doing as his report suggested. The insurance (in my naivety) did not cover me so I coughed up £3500.

Point I'm trying to make is that when something happens you should be certain that it was your fault (and could have prevented it). Sometimes things happen that are beyond our control so why should we bear the brunt for the sake of a motto that would not hold up in a civil court of law.

Pete

[JS2]

Good points, however my posting wasn't really focused on liability issues, since it is most obvious that this job has been done very professionally, both as a first service and as an after-sales service.  I was more interested in knowing how difficult it might sometimes be to detect a paler fleck in a pre-cleaned carpet.

Regards

Pete (JS2)

[lands]

Agree about trying to put it right without question (I always do) but when it's going to cost you alot (insurance or not as your premium will rocket) you need to remind yourself of your responsibilities whether they be employees, your wife, your children or even you.

p.s. I don't live in a caravan

[lands]

Good points, however my posting wasn't really focused on liability issues, since it is most obvious that this job has been done very professionally, both as a first service and as an after-sales service.  I was more interested in knowing how difficult it might sometimes be to detect a paler fleck in a pre-cleaned carpet.

Regards

Pete (JS2)

I think it could be impossible to tell without pre-testing a square metre or so. As you know soil hides even paint stains sometimes so how far do you go perhap you test a small area, then a bigger, then a bigger etc.

Pete

[Shaun_Ashmore]

From a business point of view it makes sense to quote over the phone as it's a time saver and money saver providing you get lots of phone calls because the call to conversion ratio goes down especially if you are at the higher end of the pricing spectrum.

But Stuart has a secret weapon......................................Jimmy- ex telesales to the sand pit where the Arabs buy from!

I'd love to listen in on a call that he recieves when converting a job, spoke to him earlier in the year nice bloke (wouldn't expect anything else as Stuart is also) but had the gift and also the 'key words'

Shaun

[stuart_clark]

I had recieved a piece of this carpet fro the customer to do some tests with, approx ten inches square from an offcut of the stuff
I had tried using a high ph sufactant but with no joy I couldn't get the flec to release any dye, I also tried high ph acid and again no joy with any dye transfer
maybe it was just a fault in the dyeing process as it only effected the carpet in about eight areas
regards stu clark

[JS2]

Stu

When reading the posting I did wonder if extraneous factors were at play here, in partcular, in relation to other tests that could be done.  However I expect the custy will always believe the effect is due to the cleaning, which is unfortunate in our business.  Nonetheless, its good to see how effectively you dealt with the problem.

Best regards

Pete (JS2)