[mark_roberts]

Having talked to a few carpet fitters and retailers over the past few weeks and countless customers over the past years I have come to the conclusion that our industry needs independation research and education provision on the TRUTH about carpet cleaning especially resoiling.

I've just had a fitter in my house to fit a carpet, say that 'washing carpets ruins them' and for scotch guard you may as well use hair spray.  Countless customers have similar beliefs.

We need an independant body to conduct tests to prove that cleaning works, is benefical and does not leave a residue when done properly.  We could then quote this to customers etc as being an idependant body preferable one they already know about.

Its not enough for us to say that our methods dont leave a residue as we're bias, as is the NCCA, IICRC etc as we all have a stake in the industry.

Any ideas or am I way off.

Mark

[Karl Wildey]

Sounds like a catch 22. ICRC and NCCA could provide such info, but as you state no one would beleieve them as they are try to the carpet cleaning industry.

Only one such group of people and that would be the consumer assocaition, the people behind which?
Maybe the public would believe them.

But.... it would then come down to the cc, and we all know that there are as many bad cc as good ones, so conclusion is you need the independent tests and the general public to use only trained cc, either NCCA, or IICRC.

[gwrightson]

Karl, are you saying infact, that unless your a member of the n.c.c.a or IICRC
 the puplic should avoid your services.
As you are well aware, I,m sure, their are many compatant and knowledgable
c.c. out there who are not members of a trade association, from your comments it would appear that is what you are proposing!! Maybe im misenterpreting your comments??? 
 Geoff

[eco freindly. peoples champion ron .sherlock]

there are many associations and by belonging givesthe customer no extra guarentee of reliability.should you be turned down from joining one association you can quite easily find another. you could go through the internet join dozens and put there logos after your name. so what sherlock. dip hyp.

[Eddie Conroy]

in my short time carpet cleaning I too have come across the comment that Cleaning leaves a residue

I bought a book from NCCA  - Fundamentals of Carpet Maintenance by Eric M Brown which amongst other things
covers 'propensity of re-soiling'
Perhaps Doug will make a comment on this
It would not be an overly expensive thing for the NCCA or other interested body to commission an independent report or study from a university or organisation such as FIRA (or is it PIRA) But admittedly these costs would have to be recovered
Eddie

[Doug Holloway]

Eddie,

There is no doubt that old style shampooing left some serious residues which caused fast resoiling.

Modern detergents used correctly cause far less of a problem and then of course there is the microsplitting thing with its fresh water rinse.

I think the NCCA could carry out testing although it would probably have to be non manufacturer specific so as to avoid litigation.

e.g

Microsplitter A,B,C vs Detergent A,B,C

Quality of clean and resoiling.

Got to go but will expand later.

Cheers,

Doug

[Karl Wildey]

gwrightson - what I was trying to say is that if you could prove no residue was left in carpets and an indepnedent company carried this out, but, who would check the cc's  for the correct cleaning techiques.

Ncca/IICRC cc are trained, so a good choice,  but, you will always get bad apples in trained assocaition, and you will get very good cc who are not in these assocaitions. A catch 22.

[jcbdfa]

i agree, products should be assesed in a controlled manner. unfortunately testing on the job is not really on due to the enormous variables. why would naming products result in litigation. asking manufacturers if their products could be tested against their competitors could assist the good product spectacularly, and would condemn the rubbish. "which cc chemicals". the tests could easily be devised and need not be scientific to the extreme just plain consumer testing of their safety and effectiveness. cc is full of psuedo science with very little proven FACT. some carpet chemicals ARE better than others and offer better value, longevity of clean but which ones?. manufacturers would have to take notice of this and scrap their rubbish products.

[Dave_Lee]

I often get asked, as Im sure others do, whether carpets get soiled quicker after being cleaned. I always explain simply but detailed enough, as to why this is widely believed to be the case, why it could happen, why and when it will happen, and how to avoid it happening. I have never lost a job because a prospective client was concerned over this issue and Ive never had a problem with rapid resoiling. Its all about how you comunicate with the client on a face to face level. Personaly educate each client with simple instructions for post cleaning, then its up to them. Rapid resoiling is more about how the cleaned carpet is treated afterwards than how its been cleaned, providing its been thoroughly cleaned that is, and thats the basis of what I, for one, tell them.
Dave.

[Barry Pearce]

The cost, and sentimental value of particularly Silks, Wall Hanging, Rugs, Tapestrys. there is an air of caution to almost every enquiry about cleaning, as if they already know of some bad experience, as well as going through all the details of what I would do with their precious heirloom I always show them a small greek kelim that I cleaned 25 years ago, all the colours ran.
Mark is on about the need for setting standards and you can have all the skills in the world, but first impressions count and that means gaining your customers confidence, then you have to put your money where your mouth is.

Barry