Call Back......

[Charlie Lyman]

Got a call back from a lady that has some dark spots. I get there and they are shadows from the partition in the window. I try to explain that they are shadows (they are straight, come off the window at the same angle as all of the other shadows, I stand in front of the window and cast the same shadow, ect...) she wouldn't believe me. Finally after 20 minutes of trying to get her understand what they are, I move the coffee table and the spots around it move with the table. She finally says "I guess I'll have to accept them as shadows, but I still don't like it".
Sheez.

 

[Ken Snow]

Lol- if i had a nickel for every one of those,.........

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[Jim Martin]

whats worse is being a carpet cleaner and spending 20 minutes trying to clean a shadow out of the carpet...............


just was not on my A game that day............

 

[Charlie Lyman]

I've cleaned many shadows......

 

[Desk Jockey]

People can be nutty!

I had a lady bring in a small tufted pillow with buttons on it ($12.00), we clean it and she picks it up, a few hours later she calls saying we ruined it, we asked to to bring it back and she did. She was complaining because she thought we removed the buttons for cleaning and did not get them back in the right order.

I told her they must have gotten turn as we cleaned the cushion, because we do not remove them. She insisted they were removed and that we had put them in the wrong position. I told her we could not afford to take them off for cleaning and replace them after cleaning all for $12.00. She said some businesses have loss leaders and that's how we could afford to do so.

I told her that was not the case but offered to turn the buttons back to their original position. She denied the offer, instead left in a huff still thinking we removed them and didn't get it right.

 

[Jim Martin]

I've cleaned many shadows......

and now I don't feel so bad..............

 

[Charlie Lyman]

and now I don't feel so bad..............

I am almost legally blind.....

 

[Charlie Lyman]

People can be nutty!

I had a lady bring in a small tufted pillow with buttons on it ($12.00), we clean it and she picks it up, a few hours later she calls saying we ruined it, we asked to to bring it back and she did. She was complaining because she thought we removed the buttons for cleaning and did not get them back in the right order.

I told her they must have gotten turn as we cleaned the cushion, because we do not remove them. She insisted they were removed and that we had put them in the wrong position. I told her we could not afford to take them off for cleaning and replace them after cleaning all for $12.00. She said some businesses have loss leaders and that's how we could afford to do so.

I told her that was not the case but offered to turn the buttons back to their original position. She denied the offer, instead left in a huff still thinking we removed them and didn't get it right.

Maybe you could use a Sharpie and number the buttons next time. Kinda like numbering spark plug wires when taking them off.

 

[FLYERMAN]

I cleaned for a sweet little old lady, at least she was until she called the next day. While I was there I saw a bright spot on the carpet from the sun and wondered how bad that was going to look once the carpet dried. Well sure enough she called mad as heck about my bleaching her carpet. She would not take my word for it and got more than a little nasty with me. I told her over and over that it was/is the sun coming in from between the blinds. She wouldn't even go over to the window while I was on the phone. I told her to get over it and not bother calling to apologize when the sun went to the other side of the house and the "bleached spot" disappeared. Then I hung up.

 

[Dolly Llama]

Only one call back for shadows that i recall

two little spots in the middle of a kitchen carpet
"Watch this, Mrs Beatrice" ...as i reached up and touched the pull chain knobs on the ceiling fan .
the "spots" started moving



did a job for a carpet installer ..touch up for suspected grease/oil spots from a freshly lubed power stretcher.
Sure enough, two spots near the bottom of dresser
hit them with the spotting machine...nothing
I took my white towel and degreaser and got no transfer ...hmm
Moved the halogen floor lamp next to dresser for better light ...bam.."grease spots" disappeared .
they were shadows from the dresser drawer knobs

so yea...yea I've worked on shadows before too...


..L.T.A.

 

[Zee]

I'm pretty sure most of us that cleaned for many years had done that...cleaning shadows.. the dark long area along the breakfast bar...yeah until you realized that was the shadow and not the worn area from people sitting there.


My all time worse is when people have little prism trinkets hanging and the focusd light create a "bleached out" spot or certain redish yellowish greenish colored spots and you can not do anything to make them better...and when you call the homeowner to talk about the spots, by the time you come back the spot moved away from your tools because the earth moved.

These are all pretty much happy ending situations after some explaining/demonstrating...but when it comes to carpet shadowing/pooling/pile reversing...now thats not always a happy ending; even after demonstrating the "walk over on the other side and see the "dirty" area is in fact now lighter than the rest of the carpet because light now refletcs on it differently".

That is much more difficult with certain customers, to make them understand that those areas are as clean as the rest but the nap lays in a different direction.

 

[mcatt]

Man! I thought I was the only one. I have had a a couple of crazies like that also.

 

[Jim Martin]

Man! I thought I was the only one. I have had a a couple of crazies like that also.

must be something in the water....the idiots have been running a muck around here for the last week of so...........

 

[Royal Man]

I cleaned for a sweet little old lady, at least she was until she called the next day. While I was there I saw a bright spot on the carpet from the sun and wondered how bad that was going to look once the carpet dried. Well sure enough she called mad as heck about my bleaching her carpet. She would not take my word for it and got more than a little nasty with me. I told her over and over that it was/is the sun coming in from between the blinds. She wouldn't even go over to the window while I was on the phone. I told her to get over it and not bother calling to apologize when the sun went to the other side of the house and the "bleached spot" disappeared. Then I hung up.

You have an interesting "rapport" with your clients.

 

[steve frasier]

I had a college intern this summer, messed with him pretty good with the disappear/reappear spots at one house

 

[Jay_wat]

I've cleaned many shadows......

x2!!!! Lol

 

[Brian H]

I can't tell you how many times we have had shadows be "spots that were not there before cleaning". It is pretty funny to tap the hanging chandelier and have the "spots that were not there before cleaning " move!!

We had one one time where the customer claimed we created a stained area under the tarp when we cleaned her sofa. I went out one time and tried to convince her it wqas a shadow from her front window and she wouldn't accept it. I went back with a scrap piece 4 x 6 scrap piece of carpet and showed her how the line moved across the carpet as I moved it. She still didn't believe me and thought is was some kind of magic carpet!! I ended up telling her to try it herself with her own sheet or towel after I left. I never heard from her again...

 

[Zee]

Thes are all fun and games to prove that those are shadows but I'm always afraid to really make them feel dumb and embarrass them.
I try to take the approach where I tell them how I thought was a spot too and how I was feeling funny that I didn't realize it sooner etc etc..

Just to make sure we don't lose a custy because we embarrassed her/him.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Great point Zee! You don't want to embarass them.

 

[Willy P]

 

[carpetcleaner]

I have only been called back out for a shadow 1 or 2 times. They usually catch it in the post cleaning inspection. I handle it the same is Zee.

 

[mirf]

I have cleaned a few shadows myself, I always get mad that I did it again. Maybe now that I know I am not the only one I will be more forgiving.

 

[hogjowl]

I did that once. The lady came in and I was pointing out the stain (it was in her DR). I reached up to scratch my head as I was explaining how hard I had worked on the stain and it just wouldn't budge. My arm hit the light over the table and ... you guessed it ... the "stain" moved. We both laughed and I carried on with the rest of the job.

 

[Ron Werner]

I mention it to the customer now. I show them as I push on the chandelier. I clean anything that "doesn't move".