[benny d]

Hi all,
Can anyone advise me with this please?
I did a job six weeks ago of a lounge and hallway using my TM. Did everthingcorrectly as usual. Nice house, etc. Carpet didn’t look dirty at all, but wanted to maintain it. Correct thing to do!
I Used Chemspec protector to finish, and left. Got 10 out of 10 from the customer testimonial form.

Got a call yesterday, to say that the “indentation marks caused by the furniture will not come out after a few days.  Before the cleaning and protecting, all indentation marks would disappear after a few days”
So I went to see them a few hours later after changing a few jobs around.

Of course there were indentation marks of the round bottomed wooden chair, and also the indentation marks caused by the weight of the chair onto the polystyrene blocks placed there. (Going to use large plastic sheets from now on).

His complaint, stroke question to me was - ”Does the protector cause the fibres of the carpet to very lightly “stick” together so that if furniture is placed on it, and moved after a few weeks let’s say, the fibres do not bounce up again if the protector wasn’t applied”?

So I got onto Chemspec, they very kindly called me back later and said that, as we all know, the cleaning has brought the pile back up a few millimetres, and with the furniture placed on it, the indentations will seem worse than before, and that obviously Chemspec wouldn’t manufacture a protector that causes problems.

We finished the re clean and came home.
5.30 PM I get another call and says that I have taken a lump out of a piece of furniture whilst re cleaning! I honestly know nothing about this, as far as I remember I didn’t hit anything with my wand. If I did realise, I would have been devastated/annoyed with myself, but I would have told him.

Can anyone advise on any further action I need to take? If I had done something wrong, I would have held my hands up, but I didn’t.
Thanks
Ben

[Joe H]

Oh dear we do get them occassionally and its not very pleasant.

I think you going to have to go and take a look and ASAP.

Maybe as you see the "damage" you will recognise whether it was like that before you started - ie a memory jogger. See if there are signs the damage has been done for sometime.

[PaulKing]

another option

go out look at it as before, and if he gets shirty offer a full refund as a gesture of goodwill. Cost customer money to take it to court so maybe they would be happy

[mitch2810]

Ben
This is probably the reason he called you back out. He has probably damaged it himself, brought you back with the piece of furniture moved so you could not see the damage and has viewed it as a way of getting it replaced free of charge by getting your insurance to pay for it. The indentation marks were probably an excuse.
If I was confident I had not caused the damage I would not offer a refund and not allow him to claim on my insurance. I know its bad for customer relations but once one person gets away with this, word gets around and everyone tries it.
I would certainly know if I had caused any damage to a customers property and would put my hand up and admit liability straight away, but pride would not let me take responsibility for somebody elses negligence.
Good luck
Phil

[Dave_Lee]

Are you an NCCA member, if so they can help. If not, there are inspectors who would go out and inspect (at a cost) you could offer to call in an inspector and suggest that the loser pays the cost. If hes trying one on, he will know he hasnt a leg to stand on, and this tactic may be enough for him to back off.
Dave.

[mitch2810]

Dave
Its not the carpet he has a problem with. The customer is claiming that he has damaged a piece of furniture. Funny how he only noticed once he had gone

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Guys

Firstly the protector will not have any effect on indentation and secondly he is trying it on with the damage, it's not the sort of thing you would fail to notice.

I would have nothing further to do with him, who needs customers like that.

Cheers

Doug

[Simon Gerrard]

Ben,

The indentation marks thing is just a ruse. For this customer to know that after cleaning the indentation marks don't come out as before is total rubbish and  he would have to prove that in a court of law for you to be liable.
The 'You've damaged something' ruse usually means that you have encountered a real S-O-B of a customer, the thankfully rare breed of parasite that preys on other people's vulnerabilities.
If I were you I would go back and have the customer show you the supposed damage and then photograph it from a variety of angles and if possible photograph it with your wand in the same proximity to the damage.
At some point you need to say something along the lines of, 'So what do you want / expect me to do about it?' This flushes out what they are after, because they are always after something. It may only be a refund, but maybe a lot more but the sooner you find this out the better then you know exactly what you're dealing with.

The next thing you do is put it all in writing, the dates, the times, the chemicals, the tools AND the photos and send it recorded delivery to the customer. If you are convinced you are not at fault, say so boldly and let them know in no uncertain terms that you dispute what they are claiming and invite them to make any further communications in writing.

Simon

[lands]

Fromn a Public Liability point of view what Simon says is exactly right. I especially like the "what do you want me to do" comment.

Custy sounds like they are trying it on but give them the benefit until they trip themselves up.

You may well find that close examination of the "clump" will show that it is not a newly damaged piece of wood ie. very defined and ununworn (possibly still splinters). But remember, he may well have done this himself recently so as Simon says, take a photo with the wand near it and this will get him worried if he's trying it on and will confirm in your own mind that it is not something you did.

Pete

[benny d]

Thanks alot for your thoughts.

I'm not sure what to do. Was he just tring it on to get a refund at the time I went back to re clean? He didn't get it, so he possibly brought the damage point up? Has he thought to himself, I've tried it, but got nothing so i'll move onto someone else about something else?

I used to work at a big company where people came to drive racing cars, rally cars and motorcycles etc on days at the track, and my boss always got complaint letters from people he called "professional complainers" who do it all the time about everything!

I'm possibly waiting for a letter to drop in the post about it.  I think if that is the case I will have to follow up, but might just let it lay until that might happen??
Thanks
Ben

[mark_roberts]

Do you have a glide on your wand.  If so Id say its next to impossible to take a 'chunk' from a piece of wood furniture with a glide on as it acts as a protector.

Pulling hose around door frames is probably the main source of damage.  I damaged one my first week with the TM.  But you'll know straight off if this was you.

Also consider the type of wood of the furniture and gauge just how easy or difficult it would be to damage it with any of your cleaning equipment.

Mark

[benny d]

Hi Mark,
No I don't use a Glide wand. But I am thinking about getting one, or adding a Glide attachment.

[Jason Hedges]

Hi Ben,

Sorry to hear about your situation, not nice having someone complain.

I'd recommend you go back asap and try and resolve it. Better off dealing with it face to face quickly.

Firstly, light furniture indentations may reduce or dissapear after cleaning depending on the weight of furniture and the type of carpet / underlay.

Sometimes with heavy furniture and thick carpet / underlay the damage will already be permanent and the carpet and underlay crushed.

Just make sute that you qualify this with customer before you start and always put furniture back in same position and on protector tabs. If you're replacing the furniture into existing dents there's no problem.

As for the furniture damage, go and see what the damage is then you will know whether you could have caused it.

One of my workers took a chunk out of the corner of a wall with the wand grab handle once, didnt tell me or said he didn't realise.

Received the phone call next day, went after work to have a look and was satisfied it was caused by wand. Arranged for a decorator friend of mine to go and fill and re-paint damaged area. Job done happy customer.

Some people are after something for nothing and may be trying it on, however give them the benefit of the doubt and go back to see for yourself. You'll know if you could have caused the 'aparent' damage.

Good luck anyway

All the best,
Jason.

[stevegunn]

Benny try the sticky tabs they act as slider too

www.youtube.com/user/stickytabs