[L.Doubtfire - The Blade Runner]

Does anyone know if any Chem-Dri franchisee has been accused of shrinking a carpet
after cleaning,or being accused of colour running after say cleaning a suite by a customer?
If so,what was the outcome? Looking forward to any replies and thanks in advance.


L. Doubtfire, Liversedge Carpet Cleaners.

[lee_gundry]

i have  heard of many  (i mean MANY

Lee G

[gwrightson]

im intrieged to know why the question Lee,
i notice you are a window cleaner, do you clean carpets also.
sorry cant help you with an answer, but im sure a few would know
 geoff

[Chris R]

My local chem dry will not clean belgium wilton carpets "because they shrink"- his words.
So i assume he`s shrunk one in the past 
That  leaves only me in my area who will take on the belgium wiltons without a waiver. (dry Fusion)
Chris

[dave401uk]

i looked at a suite last week that had been chem dryed!!!

it was a very good example of something being cleaned, with out the operator know what he/she! was working on,
It was,and is no longer a very nice(if you like that sort of thing0 Italian brockade, mostly red,now almost pink!!

Dave

[eclipse]

i cleaned an off white glazed cotton suite that they had previously cleaned by the above mentioned franchise  last week
 needless to say they forgot to dry the buttons quickly and all the buttons were rust marked and also looked like a little bit of overwetting    (i am also an EX CHEM-DRY Technician   )

[Jim_Lynch]

It always amuses me how people jump on the bandwagon when someone reports a bad experience with ChemDry. One person doesn't do a good job, so therefore, all those nasty CD guys are equally as bad.

It's a bit like someone buying a Ford which turns out be a lemon, and then everyone jumping on the bandwagon and screaming..."yeah, all Fords are rubbish!" The fact Ford sells millions of vehicles a year has nothing to do with it.

I suppose I could detail all the experiences I have had related to me about shoddy work carried out by independent cleaners. According to this logic, all of you are incompetent.

CD is a very diverse organisation, operating in 50 countries with around 4,000 franchises. Add on employees, and you can see there are many people involved. Now, as with all aspects of life, you will come across people who are skillful, motivated and keen to perform their work to the best of their ability. On the other end of the scale, there are those who really don't care about their work. And there are the majority in between.

Because CD has such a large presence compared to the independent operators, I guess the chances of mistakes occurring is greater than a single operator. But, please don't suggest from that , that all CD work is the same.

In my 15 years in the system, I have never shrunk a carpet, nor have I had any misfortune with upholstery cleaning. Lucky? Maybe, but I prefer to think I know my trade.

Just like Ford, there are millions of satisfied customers around the world, so I guess we must be doing something right 


Jim

[Nobby]

I have to agree with the above, when I was wet cleaning I regarded Chem Dry as a threat to my business and thy did take away some work so I was naturaly a little hostile to their presence on 'my patch'.  That is no longer the case and there's plenty of work for all (and I now use a low moisture method). Although I have heard the odd moan about them from customers I'll bet there are just as many customers moaning about me!  You know what people are like (not just cc customers) we all like a bit of a moan!  In answer to the original question though I have not heard of CD shrinking a carpet nor causing damage to upholstery dyes.

Nobby

[paul@ctcs]

Can anyone tell me what machinery and methods chem dry use?

Paul

[Len Gribble]

Have to agree with Jim.

No I haven’t heard of any CD doing any of the above, it probably has happed!
 
Re Belgium Wilton I have and not ashamed to say so, but I have the tools to put it right!!

Paul

The one I saw in the states use a TM what the use over here don’t know.

Len

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Although I appreciate what Jim is saying, if you go to one of Chemdry's websites they do knock HWE perhaps it's a case of what goes around.. but as been stated before it is down to training and the technician irrelivant of systems.

Shaun

[eclipse]

but apart from the old style bonnet buffing with natural 2 solution chem-dry do most of there cleaning in this country with a HWE machine called a VELDA or a new model called a POWERBASE so how can they be knocking HWE if they use it so much???

[eclipse]

PUT THIS POST ON WRONG TOPIC SO I HAVE MOVED IT   DOH!!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Having started in the carpet cleaning world with Chem-Dry i know that there are some really good franchises out there but the same as almost everything in this world you only really hear of the bad ones as the above posts have stated

Any operator franchise or not is only as good as the training he recieves and also the willingness to learn
if you are not interested in learning and striving to offer your customers a first class servisce from the moment the phone rings and  onwards then you are not going to survive in business very long  (just ask jasonb!!)

[Jim_Lynch]

There is no centralised advertising in the CD system. Each franchisee is responsible for his own advertising. Some cooperate in Y/P ads, for example, mainly on a geographical basis.

As a rule, you won't see large TV or press ads for CD, as the organisation does not fund them, and the costs are prohibitive for a single operator, as I'm sure you all know.

The advertising on the corporate websites is exactly that...a corporate view. I don't advertise in that manner (in fact, I don't advertise at all), but some franchisees do use that verbiage in their advertising. Just as an independent operator can choose his style of advertising.

So, don't assume that all franchisees place as much emphasis on the type of detail shown on the websites as the corporate line.

CD have used a form of HWE for about ten years, the original unit being the Velda (a very unfortunate name IMHO) It was followed by the Powerbase, coupled with a modified RX20.

A TM, a modified HM 450, has been in use in the States for a year or two. It hasn't reached OZ yet, and I'm not sure if it is the UK yet either.

The bonnets are still in use here in OZ, but not in the UK as I understand.

I'm happy to answer any questions if I can, but if you only want to bash the system...forget it!


Jim

[The Great One]

Hi

One question I have is...

if they advertuise as chem dry, why are they using an HWE? I have seen the flyers here in the Uk, putting down HWE but on the flyer was an operative using one!?

I use a dry system personally and would not use anything else, so I really am dry but do not put down other systems...

Thoughts?

Regards

Martin

[Jim_Lynch]

Once again, we have the amorphous "they".

"They" as in CD franchisees in general, do not advertise in the manner you suggest. Rather, an individual franchisee has advertised that way. The franchise does not operate in the manner of most other franchises. As I stated earlier, each individual franchisee is responsible for his advertising...so don't get upset with all franchisees because you don't like the advertising tactics of a particular one.

If you feel strongly enough about it, complain to the appropriate advertising standards body.

Jim

[Mike Halliday]

Jim, I agree with you to a point, but as chemdry sell themselves as 'the worlds biggest carpet cleaners' they must consider themselves as a single unit,  if they wants this global image they must also take the blame as a whole when one of their operators does bad workmanship.

it seams an easy cop-out to say each Chemdry is a seperate company and is respnsible for its own workmanship & advertising, surely they are policed by the master franchisee who let them get away with unproffesional working practices.

THis is not a bash at Chemdry because I'm a big fan on thiers

Mike

[Len Gribble]

I believe I have CD latest flyer (the corporate one) no were in this flyer or in five yellow page books I have is it knocking HWE (steam cleaning), web sites GB doesn’t, the other English speaking ones DO and give same drying time as I do!

Also noted within flyer under Quality quote Stringent quality control guidelines unquote. So I would take this to mean if a problem occurred by the independently owned & operated CD, they would go back!

Have to admit cant understand why I’m sticking up for them but I do recommend them for an alternative quote!

Len

[The Great One]

hi

I can feel the anger in your posts.

I am certainly not putting Chem-Dry down only stating what I have seen.

In fact I have only seen 1 Chem Dry flyer in my life! which for such a wide spread company is odd.

On the flyer it did state ' dry in one hour ' and the picture was what looked a steameasy pro. Now I am not saying that that is not possible but I did not see anywhere any blowers?

All your posts I have read have a real anger about them. I am a former franchisee for another business so have an inner knowledge of how they work. I have to agree with Mike here, it does take one bad apple but this is the same with most trades.

Not all builders, plumbers, electricians etc etc are cowboys but the rouge few make it difficult for the good ones.

Regards

Martin