[derikraven]

I did a job yesterday where I was originaly going to clean three bedroom carpets and a staircase in an empty house. The customer changed his mind at the last minute and asked me to lift and dispose of all but one bedroom carpet.I agreed to do this and told him I would wash the hard floors once the carpets were gone. Now, to cut a long story short, he's not happy that I dumped his underlay too.
   my question to you is, would you have assumed that when the customer asked for the carpets to be lifted and disposed of the underlay was to go too

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Derek

I would say you're both at fault for failing to communicate clearly.

Cheers

Doug

[John Kelly]

Just tell him that using second hand underlay would have caused his new carpets to wear quicker. Underlay is a shock absorber and cushions the footfall when people walk on the carpet. After a few years it looses its resilience and the carpet starts to wear. I used to advise my customers who looked after their carpets to change the underlay every 5 years. Those that did had a new lease of life from their carpets.

[Colin Day]

But you told him you would clean the hard floor once the carpets were lifted.... You couldn't have cleaned the hard floor with the underlay in place, so he should have picked up on that. Sounds

I'm on your side on this one!!!

[richie]

As already stated more communication was needed however, most people do replace the underlay when replacing carpets and as John Kelly has stated underlay does deteriorate.  As you also informed him that you would be washing down the floor boards i would have thought that he should have picked up on the fact you would be removing the underlay.

Richie.

[derikraven]

when you talk communicate with someone you expect them to be listening. The customer agreed it was his fault for not paying attention

[robert meldrum]

Wow.....................that Derek sounds like some pretty bad attitude your showing and would make me wonder about your interpersonal skills.

As the service provider it's YOU who must listen and question and get clear agreement before starting any work.

[derek west]

if you ask a carpet fitter to replace the carpet, the first question they would ask is "do you want new underlay"? and then they'd speel as to why underlay needs replacing, personally if your doing a job for someone then its up to you to make sure all the facts are correct before commencing. so allthough i wasn't there and didn't hear the conversation, my answer to the post is your in the wrong.

i'm pretty sure that even if i hadn't initially asked if he wanted to keep the underlay, once i'd ripped up the carpet i would of then been reminded to ask and would of asked or phoned him, if i couldn't of got hold of him, i would of rolled underlay up and put it too one side till i could ask. i would also be in a position to let him know if it was worth keeping or not.

hope this helps

[Michael Smallwood]

Another pain in the butt aspect to this is carrying trade waste. Do you have a waste carriers licence? If you are caught without one your vehicle can be impounded on the spot and a fine of up to £10k issued.

They are quite hot on this in Kent becuse of fly tipping and the high number of do as you likeys. The licence is £152 for 3 years from the environment agency.

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk

It is effectivley just another tax for the small business.

Cheers

Mike

[Ian Gourlay]

As you said there are lots of people who pick up wasteand flytip.

Hence the need for regulation.

I do not think all customers realise there is a very high cost in lanfil charges to dispose of trade waste.

You find cowboy cleaners taking customers waste to household recycling centres
when they should go through the trade refuse route

[derikraven]

cost me £30 to dump the carpets at the council tip ( standard charge )

[cml]

Hi,

Clients will always assume that a contractors or company providing a service is the professional for whom they seek guidance. 
In this instance the instructions were to remove carpets. Although you spoke about cleaning the floor and this meant that the underlay had to be removed it is clear from the clients actions that he intended to keep the underlay and expected you to relay it after cleaning.  Regretably assumming that the client expects your proffessional guidance you did not check whether he wanted to keep the underlay so in this instance an error on your behalf was made.