[big murphy]

  I am looking at all the options before starting a carpet cleaning venture and read a lot about, Hwe, Dry Fusion and I I would like to hear some views about Chem-dry, as used by a franchise and the shampoo foam process, also like to hear what members think about carpet franchise, operations. Thanks Guys!  All the best for Christmas and New Year. John

[Chris R]

Hi,
use the search button.
Lots of info available.
Chris
ps Its Chem- dry 

[Liahona]

avoid chem-dry like the plague

[homenclean]

from what i know about chem dry, good marketing, poor system also be carefull as i have heard on the great vine that they are about ot loose all of the insurance work now they are part of home serv. Home serv are taking this all in house leaving the franchisees to fend for them selves.

john

[Spot On cleaning]

I looked at the prospect, but at around £26000 decided not to.I am sceptical about franchises as after all they are out to make money for themselves. Correct me if i'm wrong, but many originated in the states.

Again correct me if i'm wrong, but was it not a useful thing to remove stains using fizzy water from a soda syphon, and if this concept originated from this.

I have enjoyed building up my business from nothing as i am sure, everybody else. So why pay a service charge to somebody else for i think 5 years for fancy advertising. If you look at the yellow pages a lot of franchisees have done their five year stint and have broken away. They still use the franchise name but have added another name either in front or behind. Again correct me if i am wrong.

Dave

[nick_brown]

It makes interesting reading to see your comments on Chem-Dry,for such a "poor process" it has made remarkable progress in the last 20 years -the new cts truckmount to be launched this year in Uk will further enhance the services we offfer.Please remember it is a process,how it is done is just like your cleaning dependent on the person doing it .

I can only speak from personal experience that done correctly the results are excellent ,mind you we use the powerhead RX20 to do our cleaning-we clean to a quality not a price.
Best Regards Nicholas Brownl

[Spot On cleaning]

Nicholas,

I have looked at your website, and it occurs to me that you play on peoples fears of carpets being left wet and wicking to name but a few. I think the old adage is correct that a fool and his money are soon parted. Yes there are still customers out there who think to receive a quality result they have to pay extortionate prices, as do they when buying double glazing because there are the big companies out there who are still charging 3 to 4 times as much for something that does the same job.

I did a job for a customer that was previously done by a fellow franchisee of yours, and for a small rear lounge, small lounge and hall stairs and landing was charged £175 last year. Whether this included vat or not i don't know.

She was very plesed with the job at a price of £85 with my portable twin vac machine. Now i have a brand new truck mount from prochem, and after 3 and a half years in business with courses from prochem, i do no think my service is inferior to yours.

I think the franchisees have to charge high prices to recoup their initial investment aided by the americanised advertising strategies. I will agree there are plenty of cowboys out there and they can sometimes tarnish the carpet cleaning industrys reputation. I believe there is a web page or two listing carpet cleaning faults of the franchisees. No offence, but i would have more respect for you as a carpet cleaner if you had started out on your own instead of hiding behind the easy option franchise. Incidentally the money that i have spent on my vehicle and trukmount could have bought me a franchise, but i prefer it as it is, and subsequently enjoy dispelling some of the myths portrayed on your website to protect my own interests as well as that of the other carpet cleaners.

Dave

[Geoff Jewkes]

Customer had chemdry in to clean last week........... £106.40 for lounge / diner and hall. I went today to clean it properly £76.00.

[CATMAN]

Went to a customer last week, she'd been qoted £50.00 by an independant, I said we'd do it for £25.00, someone else came along and said they'd do it for a tenner.

The point here is this , we can all quote lower to get the work, but who'll quote higher and still get the work.

Chem-Dry can quote higher and get the work, because of their market position.

I read so much on here about splash and dash. Seems odd to be knocking a company (franchisee) for charging a decent rate.


Regards

CATMAN

[Spot On cleaning]

Catman

I am not faulting them on price, good luck to them on that score. But looking on their respective websites, they seem to put the boot in and instill fears into peoples minds to divert business away from us to the likes of them with their super super process.

Some people still believe that to pay a high price you get the very best service. Of course there is the other end of the scale that is often described as splash and dash.

Dave

[cleaning co]

u dont c many of the franchise boys on here or do they keep it a secret,  is there a rainbow int on here ? chemdry?  anybody think of any others? i looked into a few some years ago wow some were lot money !!

[Neil Grainger]

Catman

Its all well a good but I Know a number of Chem Dry guys in Hampshire/Surrey that are just not upto the task or have just got lazy, They think because they have Chem Dry behind them they can charge high and Clean bad.

I have picked up 6 jobs from Chemdry over the last 3 months because there system just does not get the carpets clean enough and there customers have been unhappy and come to me.

Just love cleaning after they have cleaned, what a difference.

These things come up all the time about unhappy customers with Chem Dry, For me there process is just not any good.

[therapist]

Interesting comments all round and we probably, all, have loads of stories of sorting other peoples mess.

I love it when quoting, after, not just C D, or R B, but anyone who claims to be , super powerful, or whatever and more often yhan not.......knocking everyone elses system.

My approach has always been, to say that there are a number of ways to clean, with some giving better results than others..............but, the main criteria, is..........the product being used, the correct use of the product and the skilll /application of the operator.

You don't need to knock anyone else to justifya good value and ethical service, in fact it's one of the cardinal sims in business,  Never mention negatives[/

rob m

[Ian Gourlay]

I am confused, as I was under the impression that Chem-Dry used a HWE machine adapted to put the bublles into the Cleaning Solution, plus one of those Super Duper attatchments instead of a wand.

I thought one of the Negetive things about Chem_Dry was that you are forced to upgrade equipment and buy their Chemocals.

So Im not clear How their System does not clean as good as any other HWE system.

[Len Gribble]

Ian

Think the bubble has burst, think now its two agents mixed together and water?

Quote casually dry in 1 to 2 hours - not the 1-2 days you may have experienced with other methods like steam cleaning. Our secret is that we use hot water extraction unquote.  Which slap & dash let that cat of the bag?


I for one like them and cant sing there praise high enough, as they are the only ones I recommend to a potential customer after quoting I even supply the numbers.


Rob

Totally agree (cardinal sins in business) raised eye brow works wonders.

Len

[Kinver_Clean]

C D have done all independents a favour over the past years.

We have been able to raise our prices and still look reasonable.

Trevor

[mark_roberts]

Customers buy you and not your system.  The price you get reflects your ability to sell not how great a cleaner you are.

Undercutting in not something you should be proud of rather be embarrassed that you have to charge cheaper to get the work even if your better?

Mark

[Mike Halliday]

I never knock Chemdry whats the point, they are just people like us, trying to make a living and support thier families.

I often quote for work when my local C/D have already been and given a price, all I say to the customer is that I will make thier carpets as clean as they can possilbly be, i will try and remove all the stains (and if I can't get them out then no will)


I then tell them that Chemdry wil do as equally good a job  as me, whoever they chose, they will get the best clean possible.

more often than not I get the job, because to put it simply ( and some may disagree ) I'm a likeable, genuine person who dresses smartly and makes a good first impression

it does'nt matter how I'm going to clean the carpet they chose my company because they like me

Mike

[Spot On cleaning]

I totally agree with this statement that people like people. I remember once going to price a job after a competitor and his female assistant had been there.

The customer for some reason had taken an instant dislike to the cc and his "floosy" as she put it, and i got the job.

Maybe i reminded her of a grandson or something.

Dave