[Tony Rowley]

Was cleaning a very nice house today and as soon as I started wanding I could see the foam coming out the carpet, now I knew that this lady had used carpet cleaners before as she had told me so and also there were still some furniture tabs under furniture from when it was done last, very nice company personalised tabs with their details on so I thought I would have a look at their website and see what method of cleaning they use that could lead to so much foam being activated.

This is from their website:

Our Cleaning Method.
We at ********* have, for the past four decades, utilised a foam shampoo system for cleaning carpets and upholstery.  Our machines convert a mixture of hot water and special powder based detergent into foam which is brushed into the fibres and simultaneously extracted without applying excess moisture.  Most importantly, this system requires no rinsing.

What the others do.
Forty years ago we realised that the vast majority of carpet and upholstery cleaners in this country use water extraction (“steam”) machines.  This system works by spraying water and liquid detergent into the fibres and extracting by way of suction.  The problem with this operation is that firstly, in most cases, there is no brush action and more importantly the liquid detergent (which usually has a defoamer additive) leaves a residue, which not only attracts dirt but causes future cleaning to be more difficult.


This has to be marketing BS at its very best!


Now surely if their system requires no rinsing then that should mean no foam in the carpet, foam equals detergent residue or am I wrong on that, also on their website it honestly looks like a large rugdoctor but all in black and the amount of foam in front of the machine looks amazing.

Job took ages longer than it should have and on a Friday of all days.

Tony

[prodry]

They use Von Schrader system. They are recommended by Harrods, Selfridges and are a High end cleaning co.

BS sells. The fact there are a 100 better ways to clean a carpet and with the availability of information nowadays. Anyone with a few £100 could come up with a decent (much better) low moisture set-up. Just need the BS and balls to get it in front of the right people and the right niche marketing.

True with many trades and walks of life some of the best are never heard of and the ones that are the ones that shout the loudest.

[Mike Halliday]

sounds like they are using the Von Schrader system, which is a recognised system of carpet cleaning, what they say about their system is correct...... what they say about HWE is slightly misleading.

http://www.vonschrader.com/our-carpet-cleaning-method


edited......sos posted as I was typing

[Phil @ Extreme Clean]

People will always say why there set up is best blah blah blah but at the end of the day it was you they called next time  did you ask why they called you and not the people they used before ?

[Nigel_W]

Often referred to as "Lowgrade"  carpet cleaning

[Tony Rowley]

People will always say why there set up is best blah blah blah but at the end of the day it was you they called next time  did you ask why they called you and not the people they used before ?

Only that she had used them before but had decided that she wanted to find/use a more local company and that they were based in Hertfordshire and we and she are in South London and she found me on the internet, so it wasn't that she seemed to be unhappy with their service.

It was also a rare occasion when I actually went to the property to quote as where I am its pretty much standard victorian terrace houses everywhere so I usually quote over the phone but she was from the best end of town and I knew that it was not a terraced house so went round. Although it was fairly straight forward I took my time to consider how much I should be charging her because going in too cheap would not have got me the job as I think she would have considered a cheap price to be a sub standard job and as she was paying a bespoke ( ) company from Hertfordshire to come down to South London I am sure they would have been charging her a pretty penny.

Her cleaners let me in on Friday as she was working so although everything looked good when finished I do like to walk the customer round to ensure they are happy with the work before paying, anyway took cheque left by her and alls good.

Then I recieved an email from her yesterday evening and a feeling of dread came over me...............but no need to worry she says she was really pleased and will be contacting me again.

If all my customers were like her then I would be a wealthy man. Note to self : must target the area she lives more heavily.

Tony