Your Last Upholstery Cleaning Problem

[Desk Jockey]

I think I would have thrown in the towel once I found out I had miscalculated my production rates.

Cut my losses even if embarrassed that I had to admit my mistake. I'd rather take a small loss and walk away than to do the whole thing and continue to loose more.

 

[The Great Oz]

The latest problems all have to do with Chinese furniture/fabric. "Outdoor" fabric that looks like Sunbrella, but color rinses away if the fabric is actually used outside. Marker and stenciling used on stuffing in the body of the piece. Light colored cotton/poly blends that turn yellow over time and can't be corrected.

And chenille. The stuff is so ugly that I was surprised it made a comeback and continue to wonder why people are still buying it.

 

[Dolly Llama]

Personally would not touch nasty theater seats for $5 each..

knowing what i know now, I won't touch 'em for less that seven-fiddy.
We did over 1400 on a theater restoration project we were part of.
I underbid them @$3.50 ea...the REAL problem was I grossly underestimated how tenacious the soils would be.
Took nearly three times longer than I expected ....I'd of lost my azz if not for all the other stuff we did in the resto


..L.T.A.

 

[Mikey P]

I cleaned a $500 LL Bean dog bed today.

Caked with Nylabone crud. Really thick. She ran it through her Maytag and nada.

Pretty much had to use a BBQ brush on the microfiber to get it all off.


Success!

 

[mike r]

I cleaned a $500 LL Bean dog bed today.

Caked with Nylabone crud. Really thick. She ran it through her Maytag and nada.

Pretty much had to use a BBQ brush on the microfiber to get it all off.


Success!

So....did the dog pay you in milk bones?

 

[SamIam]

I had one cushion on a raw cotton canvass had a light blue stamp on the bottom of the cushion started to pull through.
I pulled out stain solv put a plastic tab in between the ink and the fabric and cleaned the stain right out. Still scares you when look for that stuff don't see it then it pops on you!

 

[SamIam]

It was actually stamped on the bag with stuffing. Inside the cushion.

 

[Brian H]

This was an issue we uncovered...

A large off white cotton sectional in an exclusive gated sub. The customer was an elderly woman who called us out to remove "spots" on the sectional. It turns out the spots were water stains where her cleaning people had spot cleaned the upholstery. There were several baseball sized stains and through out the upholstery. The crew realized that nothing really could be done so they just went through the motions to appease the customer as she wanted us to try "something". The crew applied a dry cleaning solvent and light vacuum and the fabric disintegrated. Of course, now it's OUR fault...

I went out to examine the upholstery and asked what was used to create the initial stain. The customer didn't know, she said it was something her cleaning people used to remove shoe marks and other stains. I could detect the smell of chlorine on some of the spots we had not touched and came to the realization that her cleaning people had used a chlorine bleach solution on the not so "white" sectional. The bleach rotted the fabric and of course she wanted to blame us and have us recover her entire sectional.

I explained all this in detail to her and told her she could also get other company's opinions if she didn't believe me. She finally accepted that it was not our fault and I suggested she turn it in as an insurance claim. A million dollar home and she said she didn't have enough money to pay her deductible. She wanted to see if we could patch in an arm cover to hide the hole.

I sent out one of our rug restoration specialists and he patched in the arm cover. According to him, it looked "okay" and she was happy.

 

[SamIam]

I hate when people try to make their mistake mine!