Regrettably, this is NOT fake NEWS. The idiots (a married couple themselves) that own the business have issued an apology. He said he is sorry for doing it but doesn't think they deserve to be treated like "wanted persons". Just another idiot carpet cleaner. I don't know about the UK but in the United States attempting to collect " missed appointment or cancellation fees " is a waste of time. You will lose every time regardless what terms you put on the web or what you tell them when they book. Google the company name, they made world NEWS. Lots of really bad unnecessary publicity , so stupid. Great lesson there.
Years ago I was cleaning a dryer vent at the home of a police officer and he asked me if I had heard of a certain company. I had not then but enjoyed the story. He gets dispatched to a home where a carpet cleaner is refusing to leave a home without being paid a $50 cancellation fee. The homeowner didn't like his price when he got there and declined service. The officer tells the carpet cleaner, hey bud that's a civil matter but refusing to leave someone's home is trespassing and you have to leave. The idiot just keeps repeated " it's on the work order so that's legal." The officer takes him by the arm and say's lets go you have to leave. Then the idiot pushes back shoving the cop. Then he gets taken to the ground and cuffed. Now he is getting charged and taken to the detention center.
The idiot's assistant tech is equally stupid and married to the fool now sitting in the back of a police car. She pulls their van behind the cruiser and jumps out screaming at the officer causing a "disturbance" (now she has disorderly conduct charge). That wasn't enough so she stands in front of the cruiser and starts pounding on the hood. Ordered to move so the primary officer can leave ,she lays down in front of the cruiser. She is refusing to move as back up arrives and arrests her. She then resists arrest, bites an officer's hand and stomps on another's foot. Then she ends up getting tazed after she kicks out the side door window on the cruiser. So idiot head tech is charged with misdemeanor trespassing ($250 fine) and his delightful wife is charged with felony destruction of private property, and two counts of assault on a police officer . Assault on a officer is a felony in Virginia that carries a minimum of 6 months and up to 5 years. She plead it out and they dropped the destruction charge and disorderly conduct / interfering charges but slammed her on the assault charges. She got 18 months and a $1,000 fine.
Years latter I met this couple at an open house / mini-trade show thingy. They seemed like normal, nice people and were very polite to me. Made me wonder if the cop was just a thug that escalated the whole situation or exaggerated it. Latter I asked my local distributor if he knew them and he said " I have never had an issue with them, but she intentionally crashed their van into another customer's truck for "stealing" one of their accounts. That guy was cleaning a pizza joint one night and she drove up ramming his truck. Clearly these people will have a lot of problems in life until someone shoots them. Supposedly she is far worse than him and has been arrested for assaulting her husband as well. Moral of the story: don't marry a wackadoo, especially if you are one too.
