How do you handle stain only calls?

[PTMatt]

Lately i've been getting alot of calls from customers wanting us to come out and try to remove a stain with no other cleaning involved. Typically we do most of our stain removal while we are doing other cleaning in the house and if its a stain we cant remove we won't charge. So how do you handle when someone wants you to come out just to look at stain? Do you have a minimum charge to come out regardless if you can remove the stain or not, or do you require other cleaning inorder to take a look at a stain?

 

[sam miller]

I have a $60.00 Minimum one spot or more other then that I tell them how too's. Depend on what it is.

 

[Magic One]

minium charge or tell them you will clean the traffic areas as part of the minium charge

 

[Jim Nelson]

I go clean it for free. Why because they called me.

 

[Bob Foster]

I tell them I will have to clean the room the stain is in when I remove the stain as the area it is in might show up a cleaner than the rest of the area. I'm firm on that too.

 

[John Watson]

I used to charge $150 Min. But, I would tell them if when I arrived and it was iffy if I could make it better or not I would walk away with a $60-75.00 trip charge. (depending on what they expected the final result to be) If I brought the tools out of truck just to attempt, it was the min. I also had all my repair tools on board so if needed I could put in a bonded insert. but the cost was higher, depending on what the spot or stain size is.

 

[brendan]

kinda depends if the caller has used us before and where they live,,,if i can drop in and its not out of my way then i probably wont charge ,people love that and i find i get loads of recommendations from this alone,,not saying it cant be a pain in the ass when im busy ,,,even some people that have never used me i sometimes dont charge,,then when they wont there carpets cleaned your in the door,,,,

 

[Art Kelley]

kinda depends if the caller has used us before and where they live,,,if i can drop in and its not out of my way then i probably wont charge ,people love that and i find i get loads of recommendations from this alone,,not saying it cant be a pain in the ass when im busy ,,,even some people that have never used me i sometimes dont charge,,then when they wont there carpets cleaned your in the door,,,,

A customer worked at a beautiful professional school and told her boss to call me to clean a large coffee spill in their hallway they couldn't deal with. I went there and did a 150 hose run and rinsed it out and had to apply homemade stain magic. Didn't charge them, and they were dazzled when it disappeared the next day. They've been calling me twice a year now for $1200 cleaning jobs that are a piece of cake to do.

Sometimes I charge for spot cleaning, usually $35-$50, and sometimes I just go in and zap it and don't charge. It's not a big money maker, but it's good business to treat custys well.

 

[Jimmy L]

Don't do it for free or they will tell everyone , charge for your time you are a professional.

 

[Bee Busy]

I charge them my minimum charge if they're a first time customer and i'll tell they can get the whole room plus another one done as well, some go with it and some don't. When a past custy calls, depending on who they are, I discount it down a bit.

I just recently had a good customer call me 4 times in a 2 week span because his dogs on meds and kept peeing in certain spots.

 

[Magic One]

I tell them of my minium charge and that includes doing the traffic areas

 

[CarpetCleanersOfUSA]

There are few important aspects:
a) First understand the kind of stains. Caller may be pretending that the stain in not so obvious and once you visit the place, you see them big enough.
b) Give a rough estimate and calculate actual after you see them.

 

[roro]

generally $110 will be our min. charge -tell customer- if it is soil we can remove it- if it is a stain we can't guarantee removal - some are locked in there especially if it is a wool fibre - if we can't remove it we will give you a letter for insurers or arrange for a bonded insert/retufting/spot dyeing at additional charge
roro

 

[Larry B]

I have a $60.00 Minimum one spot or more other then that I tell them how too's. Depend on what it is.

Same here

 

[Ron Werner]

depends on what effort is needed to deal with it and what caused the stain.
Other than that I agree with Bob, clean the room or you'll see a clean area.

I was called out today to clean a 1/2" ink line from a sofa, the drive took 35 min, took less than 30 min with some spotters (mostly O2) and a cloth. Charged her $50.