[Aquakleen Restoration Services]

Hi all

A customer rang me today complaining her carpet smelt 'musty' after I cleaned it last week. She said her carpet took '3 days to dry'. I cleaned it over a period of bad weather when it was very wet outside. I told her mother who was there that she needed the room to be well ventilated for the carpet to dry quickly.

Well the customer rang today in a right strop. I told her that because the carpet had not been dried quick enough she may have gotten some mildew and that the smell would eventually go in a week or two.

Did I do the right thing? She is calling me next week if the smell has not gone.

I have come across this problem 2 or 3 times before and is really annoying.

John.

[M.Acorn]

Job i did last week for the nightmare that was Pedro,wanted the house he was moving too cleaned,as they had a dog there,all wool throughout,was raining out but told him to leave all windows open ! did o/d on the od fresh to be sure,he went in day after and was on about replacing all the carpets ! he said it was the dog he could smell and was adamant it was not just the wool !
Didn`t take 3 days to dry though  as used my turbo fan

[Roy Edwards]

Hi John
 If you have come across this problem few times before i can only suggest your over wetting or not doing enough passes with the wand afterwards ,I know we have had alot of bad weather lately but 3 days to dry something wrong

[Mike Osbourne]

John

I think I would have been a little more proactive in sorting it out, partly to get to the bottom of it for myself and to show concern for the customer, even though they may be partly responsible for it.

Get round there and see where the problem is and perhaps spray a deoderiser on. I would reclean if custy would let me, but I'm very confident my kit and technique is not the cause of problem. If you have had this three times I be concerned it's your vac motors or your wanding.

Mike

[Joe H]

I had a problem the other week where the customer put a rug I had cleaned back onto a carpet I had cleaned too early - started smelling.
I went back, cleaned the carpet again but left an air mover over it, took the rug away and sorted that at home.

All sorted now and customer thanked me for "attention to detail".

Sounds like too much wet going down or not enough being removed, or a combination of both.

[Aquakleen Restoration Services]

Thanks for the replies. I did offer to go around but she said she was working and could not accomodate me so Im not sure what she expected me to do in that case. As she is local I would be happy to go around.

I have been doing this 5 years. The first time was when the guy had his carpet stainguarded (adding a lot more moisture to the carpet). The second time was when (like Joe) a guy put his rug over the top of a wet carpet. This is the third time. I cleaned my own carpets in exactly the same way on Tuesday and took 4 hours to dry and made sure I had plenty of ventelation. My feeling is she did not do this properly.

[davep]

Maybe swapping your Prowler for a vax was a bad idea John 

[Aquakleen Restoration Services]

LOL nah my vax is the ultimate baby!

[Aquakleen Restoration Services]

Nah been using Extracta for 5 years so know its not that. Done jobs after hers and been great (including my own carpets)...figure its her time of the month thats all!
John

[Paul Redden Countryfresh]

you could always mist over with a microbial like ch*msp*cs ultrafresh, very efficient at this kind of problem. 

[CARPET KNIGHTS]

So what causes the horrible musty smell you get in old cottages i find even just vacuuming stirs it up and it stinks?

Cheers Goron

[Mike Halliday]

on the big list of things you don't say to customers......

'I've caused mildew in your carpet'

must be pretty bloody high on the list. what must she be thinking now!!

hopefully when the carpet completely dries, the smell will go

[lands]

Good point Mike

Most things that happen to relatively experienced operatives are not due to "error in judgement" but fact they have never experienced that particular thing. How many of us have read a thread/post and learnt something that we now know for the future in case it should happen to us.

Would never own up to something unless I was sure it was down to me which is never of course

[John Kelly]

This is not that unusual and usually happens around this time of year. Main problem is the relative humidity of the air. On a warm humid day its not unusual to have relative humidity up into the high 80 -90s. When this occurs very little drying of carpet takes place. Moisture can not evaporate into already saturated air. This results in a perfect environment for mould and mildew to grow in the interface between the carpet and backing. It is this microbial growth which gives off the unpleasant odour. Once the carpet has dried out the fungal growth dies because it needs moisture. However the spore are always there and if the carpet should get damp again it will re-bloom.
A good dose of Ultrafresh is the best cure or enforced drying.

[Aquakleen Restoration Services]

Can you just spray the ultrafresh on John or do you need to hwe it? If she rings me back next week I shall nip in and purchase some from you.