Low moisture impressions from a customer

[Bill Soukoreff]

This post is not intended to bash low moisture as I use the proccess as well but rather to simply pass on the impressions of a new customer.

She phoned me to get her carpets steam cleaned even though she had another company clean her carpets only 2 months prior. I asked why so soon?

She explained how they came in with a big yellow buffer and pounded the carpets with it while she and the tech coughed up a storm. Then they took a drill and did the same on the stairs. They finished her 3 bedroom house with a family room and 30 stairs in an hour. They told her to vacuum like crazy for the next few weeks to get all the dirt out.

She was not impressed and just felt the carpets were not clean.

I went and cleaned her house in two hours and the price was only $15 more then the low moisture guys.

She was super happy and now is a cheerleader. Also, she phoned me later and carpets took only one hour longer to dry then the low moisture method.

I know there are tons of bad stories about steam cleaning as well, but I can't help feel that more and more people are going to feel duped by the cimex and brush machine only guys.

She felt scammed in the end.

 

[Greenie]

well.....they are gonna keep on making $200/hr cleaning everyone in your town ONCE.

Someone will sell them a Porty and a wand eventually....

 

[diamond brian]

I get the same stories from my customers, Bill.

They don't have enough technical information to bash the padders like we do, but their intuition tells 'em that a better cleaning job could've been performed.

 

[Bill Soukoreff]

well.....they are gonna keep on making $200/hr cleaning everyone in your town ONCE.

Someone will sell them a Porty and a wand eventually....

I know the owner, he used to run a truckmount until it started to give problems and so he switched to cimex and some padding. He was complaining that he was down 30% last year before the economy crashed.

I just think our customers are getting smarter and that's a good thing.

 

[Padden McFadden]

Sounds like this guy did a scrub n run with a rotary? I agree that's a hackish thing to do, but not all low moisture cleaning is hackish if it's done well.
I hear the same kind of things from callers about "steam cleaners" They want to make sure I'm not going to steam clean because the last guy did a bad job.

Then I get calls who want to make sure I'm not going to "dry clean" because the last guy did a bad job.
I have both systems available so I can go either way lol

I always tell them it's not the system that failed, it was the guy running the system.
I don't think we want customers hiring a carpet cleaner based on equipment? If that becomes then case then we all need to get a vortex or quit.

 

[ACE]

You have to feel sorry for the average customer opening up the yellow pages. Those that actually try to take the time to educate themselves are feed BS or thrown to the piranhas, huh I mean sharks.

 

[Jeremy]

Since I got my TM iI have had customers say that the hoses are more impressive although they think the results are comparable....

 

[Mikey P]

I think John Guerkink should be the only one on the planet to be allowed to VLM carpet.




According to him he is the only true master at it.

 

[steve frasier]

where is Derek when you need him

if someone cimex shampooed a residential carpet and didn't rinse it then it is the operator

 

[idreadnought]

if it was an olefin berber then I might consider vlm a residential carpet. Commercial... a different story. These folks want good appearance and really don't care about clean.

 

[Greenie]

to be fair...there are two kinds of resi vlm....true shampoo and run, and some type of absorbent pad extraction where you actually remove soil and contaminants. Big difference.

 

[CleanEvo]

I pulled out my rotary, looped bonnets and Carbonated Solutions pre-spray today on a condo that the lady wanted low moisture cleaned. I was pretty impressed with the results (she was thrilled), I'm not sure I could have gotten it much cleaner with my TM? In the right situation, low moisture can work very well. But there has to be some type of pad absorption, scrub and run doesn't cut it. That being said, it was nice to hook up the TM on the next job.

 

[Mikey P]

I would have to guess that 10% of my resi jobs could be VLM'd and everyone would be happy.


maybe 20% if I were a master like Guerk.

 

[Ron Werner]

I would have to guess that 10% of my resi jobs could be VLM'd and everyone would be happy.


maybe 20% if I were a master like Guerk.

would they be asking "where's the big truck??"

 

[The Preacher]

it's the tech fo show!!!

 

[Shorty]

Very Low Moisture does not only relate to padding, bonnet, rotary, Cimex or whatever else you want to call it.

It can be quite effectively be used in hwe methods as well if you follow the guidelines.

ie; How dry do YOU leave the carpet ??

Well that's how Lonnie 'splained it to me many moons ago.

Ooroo,

:roll:

 

[Derek]

what a hack

 

[greenclean]

Hey guys im new on mikeys board. However, I have the same problem I use a TM and more and more clients are "fooled" by the various low moisture advertisements. Any suggestions to help keep them on the TM "STEAM" side?

What are the pro's and con's of the low moisture...I don't do it...I know a little about it..any help would be appreciated

Thanks

 

[greenclean]

can you email me some of the lit you use or refer them to I'll give it a shot!

 

[Greenie]

How dry do YOU leave the carpet ??

Well that's how Lonnie 'splained it to me many moons ago.

I've preached this for a spell.

But I was of the opinion that the LMCCA's official position was....low moisture was defined by the amount of water you CLEANED with, not by the amount of water you LEFT behind.

Otherwise the LMCCA would promote big blowers, 2.5" vac hose, 2" Glided wands, Bayco valves, etc....

Am I mistaken?

 

[Shorty]

http://www.lmcca.org/aboutus.asp

What is Low Moisture Cleaning?

Low Moisture Cleaning is methods or procedures that allow any fibers to dry to its natural state in less than 2 hours. For a more detailed paper see our White Paper Defining this Term in the Document Manager Area.






If I am not wrong, I also remember seeing at one time, an article about using a Steamin Demon to clean carpets and that this machine was also acceptable to be used in VLM cleaning.

As far as I am aware, the S.D. is meant to really flush the carpet, yet they say it can still be considered for VLM, due to the limited distance from carpet to vacuums which allows a fast dry.

Never having used one, I don't know.

Ooroo,

:roll:

 

[The Great Oz]

There are HWE hacks that give the Bonnet hacks their ammunition.

There are times when using a powder or shampoo makes sense, so those methods shouldn't be completely dismissed. For everyday residential cleaning I'd rather leave as little residue behind as possible. Beside removing soil and allergens from the carpet and the interior environment, HWE cleaning is fast and effective and leaves only a trace of cleaning residue.

As Greenie said, HWE done skillfully will result in both low levels of residual moisture and cleaning product.

PS: The whole CRI testing program (that we all railed about) was an attempt to scientifically demonstrate what the carpet mills know, HWE is preferable for cleaning carpet. Trying to force everyone to buy an IICRC certification (that we railed about too) was to try and eliminate the HWE-with no-training-guys. Overall, good ideas that need to go back in the oven.