Had my first rainbow customer and how do I answer this...

[kmatt]

without making this lady mad. I cleaned this lady's carpet last week and she has a Rainbow vaccuum. She said that a day after I cleand it, she vaccuumed and her water was still dirty. How do I tactfully answer this question without offending her by telling her that not even a 2000.00 vaccuum cleaner and steam cleaning is going to make the inside of her hoses clean?

 

[Scott S.]

tell her she needs to change the water every time she sweeps.. and maybe stop by and show her just how dirty the inside of her hoses are.. or sweep with your sweeper and show her.. or better yet forget about her.. because she sounds like one of those haggeling customers who is never happy with anything now matter how awesome of a job you did..

 

[Becker]

It is a vacuum, it sucks air. The air is filled with dust all the time.
It does not take much to soil a small basin of water.
As described below. Was the vacuum completely of all soil, was the basin completely rinsed prior to refilling.
did she vac off the carpet onto hard surfaces, or under beds, or furniture not moved when cleaning?

 

[floorguy]

ask her if here clothes are 100% cleaned out of the washing machine...

it aint gonna happen...you are not going to get things 100% clean, they are not "made new" again

 

[Mikey P]

If you had a Vortex she could have drank that water.

 

[CanYouHemiNow]

I'm not familiar with the Rainbow vac. I take it that it somehow filters the incoming dirt through water? My guess would be that it doesn't actually suck up anymore dirt than a regular vac but it sounds like a great marketing gimmick... am I close?

 

[Mikey P]

any closer and you'd win a free crock pot.

 

[CanYouHemiNow]

any closer and you'd win a free crock pot.

Check out the big brain on Tom!

 

[steve frasier]

white towel test your carpet cleaning next time

 

[Farenheit251]

Why did she vacuum the next day? She obviously had a goal in mind-justify spending $2000 on a crap canister vacuum.
I cleaned a berber with no electric last week. Went back to check on the pet treatment today and had power so I vacuumed. Filled a third of a canister with grey dust and dirt. But my vac only cost $99.
Btw my property managers have me reclean alot of properties when they aren't happy with the results from the tenants cleaner. It is not uncommon for me to fill my Bissel twice even though the carpet has been truckmount cleaned already.

 

[steamclean]

Return to her house when she is not home and take the vacuum, then sell it on EBay.

 

[RIP IT]

Tell her to compare what's in your waste tank compared to hers.

 

[Chris A]

I had a lady do the same thing to me over the summer, no biggie, just cwaZY...

 

[Jim Pemberton]

I've done some carpet inspections where the lady ran the Rainbow to clean up after the installers.

The complaint was that there was foam in her water and dirt inside of her hoses. Each time the Rainbow owner thought that it proved that she was sold "second hand carpet" or that someone soiled it at the carpet store and shampooed it.

The fact is, even new carpet has detergent in it that was used provide yarn lubrication. And even new carpet (and the air in the house) has dirt in it.

No way you'll pass that "test".

 

[R W]

Wow....I thought that you might have meant Rainbow customer as in "same sex couples". The international sign for them is "The Rainbow". Not that there's a problem with that........

 

[kmatt]

I called our local vacuum repair guy who used to be a carpet cleaner and told me that it takes almost no dirt to dirty a Rainbow and to ask her when the last time she had her machine serviced was. I called her tonight and did so and it took care of all her questiones and thanked me for looking further into it. I really think she was hoping I would just give her a discount to keep her quiet. But gosh, could a customer really try to put one over on the carpet cleaner? I guess maybe the world is a much darker place that I thought! ha ha. Thank you all very much for your input.

 

[Ron Werner]

for one thing, all it takes is a teaspoon of soil to make the water dark, that isn't a lot of soil.

If you didn't prevac before steam cleaning, yes, she was pulling up soil with her rainbow, esp is you presprayed and cleaned with only a porty. Even a TM, even a V or AT, will leave soil in the carpet if thats all that's used.

So to explain things to her in a way you can get away with, you washed the carpet fibres of the soil that was stuck ON them. Dry vacuuming will remove the soil that is IN the carpet.

 

[steve r]

sounds like she was just curious and once she got a satisifying answer that made sense she was good with it.you may have made a cheerleader.

i get strange questions from customers now and then and when you tell them what they want to hear they will always remember you.they just want to be reaffirmed that thier money was well spent.

good job!

 

[Ron Werner]

Just remembered a rental I cleaned.
She rainbowed it after and complained that it was still dirty cause the water got dirty.
I forget who hired the buy, but a padder came out, worked the carpet and couldn't get much, told her the carpet was clean. Easiest money he ever made!

 

[Nate The Great]

Just remembered a rental I cleaned.
She rainbowed it after and complained that it was still dirty cause the water got dirty.
I forget who hired the buy, but a padder came out, worked the carpet and couldn't get much, told her the carpet was clean. Easiest money he ever made!

I guess if you were really OCD about vacuuming, you'd have a rainbow vac and not stop till you seen clear water. I'm glad you don't have one Ron.

 

[Ron Werner]

mE TOO!

pLUS, Rainbows are a drag behind. I watch the canister for soil coming in. Be a "real" pain in the neck to be looking behind me all the time. ANd dumping all that crap when its wet??? ewwwwwww I'd rather use a Sanitaire.