[wayne zabel]

Just done a job this morning - medium soiled straw coloured PP carpet with bad pile distortion in traffic areas.

Presprayed,Sebo aggitation,dwell,extract.

Carpet looked fine,spots had gone,pile raised but no doubt will soon be flat.No wow factor as carpet wasnt really dirty.

Showed customer carpet when finished and she looked a bit unhappy."Its OK but I thought it would have taken you much longer than it has done" she said.I showed her the dirty water that had come out and dhe still didnt seem happy.

I was in the house from start to finish for 1 hour and 45 minutes!!

How long would you experienced guys have taken to do that job.

I dont know what some people expect from a clean.

[davep]

Just say you can clean fast as you have invested in quality gear. Takes me a Hr for thru lounge

[neil 47]

Wayne

When i clean carpets  that dont look dirty or i think will not give that wow factor.

 I always explain to them My expectations of what is the likely outcome.

 This then stops the disappointment that you have mentioned .

The customer always says its ok i just want to know its been clean this then avoids the senario you have just mentioned .

Takes me about 1 and a half hours to do a through lounge .

Neil

[clinton]

Hi Wayne

Maybe next time tell the client you can do your best but as the carpets not that dirty you wont see a masive improvment..Did you tel her about the wow factor

sometimes you caint keep everyone happy mate..

Me about an hour to do that job as well mate..

[gary hall]

Wayne - you've done everything right  , and showing the client the dirty water is always a scene stealer - dont worry about the reaction that they thought you would take longer - they are paying for your expertise not your time !!! Me - it would take about the same time ( in between 1 and 2 hrs )  You did the job , got paid - walk away - happy days
always remember "people are strange" Gary

[Simon@arenaclean]

Ditto a couple of hours including pre-vac. Along with other comments it's also worth explaining the removal of grit which actually causes wear. I see that as more important. I let folk have a nose in the recovery tank too

[Simon Gerrard]

I Can do a thru lounge in just under an hour. That's dry vacced with a flexi 5, prespray, agitate with flexi 5 and extract with tm.

Simon

[wynne jones]

It's nothing to do with the clean, she has taken your price, worked out the hourly rate (not deducting costs of chemicals, insurance, training, depreciation....) and decided that's far too much for a cleaner.

It's something I'm aware of with the TM and I usually turn the reduced cleaning time from using a portable in to a benefit for her sake, as she gets rid of me quicker.

[Mike Halliday]

working as a 2 man team pulling onto the drive with easy access we would do it in 35-40mins. that a pre-vac pre-spray, scrub and extract... with time for a cup of coffee.

[Steve Chapman]

45 mins to 1hr if im feeling lethargic 

its funny as most my customers ask when will i be done ? 

maybe they just want to get rid of me 


steve

[Doctor Carpet (Ret'd)]

Just say you can clean fast as you have invested in quality gear. Takes me a Hr for thru lounge

....and to follow on from that you can always say something like,

"Well if you prefer madam I could have done it with inferior equipment and chemicals. It would take longer and wouldn't be such a good clean. And don't forget madam it's not just about the clean it's how long it takes to dry."

Rog

[markpowell]

Same as Mike Halliday 40 mins on average, with 2 of us.
Dont loose any sleep over it Wayne, it will have been pile distortion, the light reflecting at different angles, not soiling.
You could have wiped a clean terry towel across the carpet in the dark areas to prove no soil transfer to the customer.
Mark

[clinton]

Wayne how much did you charge mate?Did your client think it was expensive you mean too?

[wayne zabel]

Wayne how much did you charge mate?Did your client think it was expensive you mean too?

I charged £50.I dont know whether she was thinking it was dear for the time I was there.

She basically had a crap cheap PP carpet and was expecting me to return it to how it was when it was laid I think.

She watched me most of the time too - she wasnt Asian -so she could see I was doing a thorough job.

I know I did my best and couldn't have done any more to get it any better,I suppose some think we are magicians.

[wynne jones]

It's obvious at £50 she has no clue. Forget about it, move on and concentrate on those that appreciate you. Job done. 

[james roffey]

Most customers are reasonable, i always downplay what the results will be before i start this does help a lot and nearly always they are very pleased, i did a dreaded shrinking type wilton last week with my envirodri sponges the customers was not impressed so i re did it with HWE very carefully much happier with result thats the first time i have ever redone a carpet took me 3 hours for hall stairs and landing ! but at least i have not lost that customer, as has been said some people look at your charges and divide by the hourly rate if i think a customer is doing this i explain that as a professional i have insurance, quality equipment etc etc.

[John Milnes]

As above and' it doesn't matter how long it takes you.

Some carpets will look dramatically better than others and some will not show much difference.

I recently had a one in one thousand customer who's expectations were far from achievable (and I told him so). A barn conversion where the carpets were fairly new and only slightly soiled. He expected the pile to be raised more than what it's length was and said they did not look like new :

I knelt down on the carpet and asked him, how could the pile be raised longer than what it acutally was and he just looked miserable.

This idiot wanted carpets better than what were actually fitted in the house

[derek west]

knowing when to walk is a skill you will develop as you get better at your job. luckily, walking is few and far between but you do develop a sense for it wayne.

you can't please all of the people all of the time, just move on mate,

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Sometimes customers want a new carpet but 'put up' with a clean because it's cheaper and less hassle with no shopping for carpet and not having to empty a room for the carpet fitter, you can't win with these people it's not you or your cleaning it's the customer, sometimes it's buyers remorse, I once cleaned a carpet for someone who said after seeing the huge difference in cleaning that they didn't want to pay as they decided that they fancied a new different coloured carpet, I just laughed and gave them the bill and she paid up but she was dead honest with what she had said.

Shaun

[Simon@arenaclean]

I think the area you missed Wayne is pre-qualifying your customer. Spotting the pile distortion and the fact the pile will quickly flatten again are the points you can bring up as well as your general expectations. At the same you can fix the price and then say i'll be done in 1.5 to 2 hours and the ask "are you happy with that?" That's the last thing I ask before unloading. You're really begining to get your nouse and your instinct is kicking in, pass that on to your customer.